Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Weeknight treat, realism and sticking it out

- A few weeks ago, friend Laura asked it I'd like to attend a play at Serenbe on Wednesday, August 10.  Serenbe is a community south of Atlanta that was created to be "connected to nature."  They have a farm with vegetables that residents may purchase and really beautiful homes to live in.  There's also a lovely inn.  It takes an hour to get there from my home, but I said I was IN!  The plays at Serenbe are put on by their playhouse and performed outdoors with mostly local actors.  I snapped three photos before the show, when the actors slowly started coming out and taking their places.

- I had seen Miss Saigon about 20 years ago at the Civic Center in Atlanta.  There's a prop helicopter usually used in the fall of Saigon scenes, but on this night a real helicopter flew in and hovered.  It was an actual Huey helicopter flown in the Vietnam war, rented for the run of the play.  Very dramatic.  And there were humorous moments from local frogs, who had decided to visit those pools of water for the duration of the play.  Someone came out during intermission and fished some of them out, but the remainder took up their song for the rest of the play.

- This guy, who played The Engineer, stole the show. but everyone was great.  And the live orchestra was inside the red container there in the background.  We were lucky to be on the front row.  And I survived a late night out on a weeknight.

The play was held rain or shine, and there was a little light rain in the beginning, but everyone stuck it out.  There's a youtube film of a demo of the helicopter flight here.  It was very dramatic to see it come in at twilight during the play.

11 comments:

Louvregirl said...

re: your comment dear Lynn; an okra flower! Who knew? :-)

Elephant's Child said...

It sounds wonderful.
Smiling at the frogs too. They don't let a lot get in their way...

LL Cool Joe said...

Haha, sounds like the frogs stole the show! I bet the helicopter was very dramatic and very noisy too!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Sounds great! And a REAL helicopter -- so cool!

Lee said...

That would've been a great experience....especially thrilling and exciting...and emotional, I would imagine....with the helicopter's appearance.

I reckon the frogs stole the show!! :)

I heard somewhere the other day that "Miss Saigon" is returning to Broadway in 2017.

Kay G. said...

Sounds expensive!

Lady Fi said...

Love those pools! So pretty.

Lynn said...

lg -

Thank you - I wouldn't have ever figured that one out!

Elephant's Child -

It was so funny to watch that guy (who, in the spirit of the play, was done up in Vietnamese garb, complete with coolie hat) zero in on one frog, only to lose him. :)

Joe and Debra -

Yes - the helicopter added so much realism and drama. I read that the neighbors were complaining about the noise of it though.

Lee -

It's a wonderful play with fabulous music - I'm glad it's coming back.

Kay -

My ticket was $25 - totally affordable. The helicopter was probably expensive. And I'd never be able to afford to live at Serenbe, but am happy for those who can afford to live there.

Lady Fi -

Those center panels in the pool were removable. One character was carried off the set standing on one while singing.

Granny Annie said...

Wow, what a wonderful experience. I probably would have declined the invitation to go because I am such a stick-in-the-mud so I am glad you went and shared the experience.

G. B. Miller said...

Nothing like having a touch of realism added to a local play to make that more memorable.

Sparkling Red said...

A real helicopter! That's pretty cool.

I think the frogs should have come out and taken a bow at the end.