OK - Going to TRY and form intelligent thoughts and use my words to describe last night's Hugh Jackman show, and not to make it too incredibly long. But last night's show was FANTASTIC!!!!!
First of all, he was on the stage himself, and performing almost the entire almost 3 hours of the show, with only 1 20-minute intermission. And HIGH ENERGY dancing, including tap dancing. He also played the piano, and the drums a little bit. He thanked SO many people in his entourage - singers, dancers, orchestra/his musician members (the guy who was Animal in the Muppets is his drummer!!), Broadway singers./songwriters (it's NYC, so makes sense a lot of them were there), he even had the songwriters for Greatest Showman, La La Land, and Dear Evan Hansen on stage, and thanked them.
Trying to remember ALL of the selections he did is so hard, and some I don't know what show/movie they came from, but calling what comes to mind quickly he did a LARGE portion of the Greatest Showman soundtrack, a song from Dear Even Hansen, stuff from Carousel, stuff from a Boy from Oz, other Peter Allen stuff, Les Mis and" GASTON" from Beauty & the Beast!!!!! It was also all beautifully woven together with video, lighting effects, and had an actual, well told storyline about his life, so was so PERSONAL.
I had made a "show buddy" (we ended up trading seats to sit together, and chatted all night) from Melbourne outside, before the show, and we were talking about "all things Jackman", including his wife, how long they've been married, etc. I ended up getting applause from a packed elevator of disabled people - suffice it to say those of us with mobility issues were NOT treated kindly, and were physically jostled, just short of being pushed, and crowded around, over, and through with our various mobility devices, by others getting on the SLOOOOOOOW elevator, which was for suites and disabled - the nasty ones were definitely the SUITES guests, and it showed in their entitled behavior, leaving us poor mobility issues folks behind. One group, in particular, had a loud, obnoxious, entitled (trying to use NON curse words here!!!) "leader" who actually asked me to get OUT OF THE ELEVATOR, so the rest of his party of 6 could get into an already-PACKED elevator - and I had my Rollator!!!!! He also gave 3 of his party to stand so close behind me between me and the elevator doors that she pushed me, and I actually fell forward, slumped OVER my Rollator, to avoid falling over completely. Well - let's just say the Joisey in me came out, i put a stop to all of this, and he and his entire party GOT OUT, AND TOOK THE NEXT ELEVATOR!!!!!! Like I said - the rest of the packed elevator all clapped, and I bowed. LOL
So.....other than that - everybody that worked at Madison Square Garden gave wonderful treatment to disabled - helping me find my way, asking courteously if I needed help, folding./storing my Rollator, making sure I was comfortable, etc. Just awesome service, and I made sure and email MSG this morning, talked to a manager before I left, and Tweeted my thanks again this morning.
So - back to she show - Keala Settle SLAYED her perfiornmance of "This is Me", and looking STUNNING in a gorgeous, sparkly outfit. I appreciated this, since that's my favorite song (yes, I bawled - with a HUGE smile on my face!!!!), and I'm a big girl too, so seeing her look so fantastic was wonderful.
Hope this hasn't been too long and boring - suffice it to say I could go on for HOURS, and i thoroughly enjoyed myself - even more than I ever thought I would.
@PlutoFan10 - I think you are going to LOVE the show in Philly tomorrow - please let me know if you get a chance, and think of me!!!
Thank you all for indulging me in sharing this experience. I will not soon forget it!