Thursday at the Theater

I was lucky enough to be invited to a preview showing of Ella at the Guthrie in Minneapolis tonight by a classmate who had won the tickets earlier this summer. It was my first time at the new Guthrie, and I have to say, it is a gorgeous space in a stellar downtown location.

Since neither of us had been there before, we decided to grab dinner and drinks on the same block. Much to our fortune , there is a great little place called Spoonriver right across the street which serves organic, sustainable dishes. It was an excellent little place, maybe one of my new favorites. They were sensitive to our time schedule and made sure to put our order in A.S.A.P. and the food was amazing. I think I will have to make a return visit-- looking at their website, they have a weekend brunch and there isn't much better than that!

I enjoy being in the company of talented people, and Ella certainly provided that. I can't imagine being the actress portraying Ella Fitgerald, though-- what lungs to fill! She was good though, and since I don't know that much about Ella Fitzgerald's personality and stage presence, I guess I wouldn't have really recognized if she wasn't good. The songs were fun, the stage scenery was simple and never changed, but the wonderful use of different lighting techniques provided a visual treat and marked the changing of the scenes or moods.

At one-day-shy-of-23 and 24, Emily and I may have brought the average age at the show down 10 years, not including young kids with their families, but I would say that is pretty typical for theater. And it's okay if we were young, because we looked good!