A Night At The Theater: Cabaret

The thing about living in the North Pole and having six to eight months of hibernation due to cold and snow and my personal favorite, general grey yuck, is that we celebrate summer.  Like really, truly celebrate it.

So when summer finally rolls into town, we go festival crazy.  There is not a week around here that does not include at least three outdoor concerts and a festival celebrating something.  This past weekend was the pig fest.  Mmmm...pork!  My personal favorite!  But we can fest it out for anything from art, clam chowder, tulips, general it's summer and we like food and music along the Hudson River to blueberries and apples and more art.  We fest it up big in these parts!

Another favorite is community/outdoor theater.  And I think one of the best places for this treat is in the heart of downtown Albany (The NY state capital for those of y'all thinking that the state starts and ends on the island of Manhattan.) at Park Playhouse (not to be confused with Parker Playhouse...shout out to my Ft. Laudy peeps.).  They do these amazing summer Broadway-style musicals every summer and do you know what they charge to see their shows?  Guess.  Seriously guess!  Nothing.  Zip, nada, nilch.  They let the community come enjoy art under the stars and breezy trees for free!  It's fantastic!

So on Saturday night, I went to see Park Playhouse's production of Cabaret with a sweet Junior League friend.  It was such a delightful way to spend a summer night!  Even though the temps were in the mid 90's that day and there was no breeze to be felt, as the sun went down and the lights came up, a completely relaxing, cooling breeze blew in.  The cast was excellent and I thought the choreography was top-notch.  I will admit that I didn't read up on the show ahead of time.  And so I was surprised at how heavy the subject matter was.  It was not Park Playhouse's typical light and sweet style of show.  And actually, there was more talking than singing.  But over-all, I thought the production was excellent.  The addition of the tables and bar service was fantastic (Bobby was my server and completely fun!). 

I have nothing but praise for Park Playhouse and their awesome gift of musical theater to our fine region!  I can't wait to see Hairspray next month too.

If you are in the area, don't let the big bad scary city get in your way of a wonderful evening.  It's very easy to get to, with lots of parking available in Washington Park (though I do with the park had better signage to tell you which path to take).  Bring a picnic supper to share with your friends and family or support the local restaurants in the area before you get settled.  Then sit back, relax and settle in for a magical Broadway evening under the stars.