Off to the Theater!

A few months ago when the touring schedule for Mary Poppins was announced, Scott and I batted around the idea of making a weekend trip (similar to the Atlanta trip) to Chicago or St. Louis to see the show and do some touristy stuff. When I did some pricing online, I found that either of those trips probably would have cost around $1,000. For a weekend! I quickly put those plans away and we revisited the idea of flying up to NYC, camping out on Jenn's couch for a few nights, and going to see a show or two on Broadway. Ultimately though, Scott wants to DO New York when we go, not just run in and out. (never mind I've never spent more than 10 consecutive hours in the city! all we ever did in my youth was run in and out!)

Fast forward to two or three weeks ago. An e-mail appeared in my mailbox from the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (TBPAC) advertising their 2009-2010 Broadway Series. Two things caught my eye right away: Wicked and Mary Poppins. In fact, they are calling it a "high-flying season." Scott and I were both really excited, but season tickets are expensive! We talked about it, put it off, talked about it some more, and finally decided to just go for it. We got tickets in the balcony, which will probably be better than the seats we've had for any previous show at that theater. And, though expensive, it's still less money than that trip to see MaPo would have cost.

Strangely enough, I now have plans more than a year from now, though I'm not sure of specific dates. Beginning in October, we'll be seeing In the Heights, Wonderland, South Pacific, Wicked, Godspell, Little House on the Prairie (the only one Scott has NO desire to see), Cirque Dreams Illumination, and Mary Poppins.

I can't wait! We've both seen Wicked before, and I saw a high school production of Godspell, but the rest are totally new to us. Hopefully a year from now we'll be renewing and not lamenting the waste of money!

(and a bonus came yesterday when I saw the line-up for Bob Carr's '09-'10 series. Phantom of the Opera is the only one I might go see...and in a venue that small it'll probably suck! They also have Xanadu, The Color Purple, and some other shows I can't remember off the top of my head)