My Journal

ARCHIVES: The Meg'an Sho Show

*Tues, 4/1/08
Upright Cabaret Presents: "The Meg 'an Sho Show" - Monday, March 31, 2008

My Review:
It was awesome and hilarious! At the opening of the show, which was adorable, Megan Hilty came in from the front door wearing a big furry, white overcoat. One of the boys handed her a mic while we all screamed and cheered to welcome her. She then started singing "Enough Is Enough (No More Tears)" as she walked over and up onto the stage, "It's raining, it's pouring. My love life is boring me to tears, after all these years." Then came Shoshana Bean from the back of the restaurant (right behind where I was sitting. I didn't know she was there at first.) "No sunshine, no moonlight, no stardust, no sign of romance, we don't stand a chance," as she walked up onto the stage. As the song continued they took off their coats to reveal matching, purple, mini-skirted dresses with low neck lines. FUN! Needless to say, they rocked that song! Awesome.

In an hysterical twist in the second half, they interviewed Melissa Peterman from "Reba"... frickin' hilarious this girl! Megan could hardly say a word cause she was laughing so hard. But she had the best line of the night... Sho was asking most of the questions in the interview, with Megan sitting in the middle, looking back and forth between questions and answers (while laughing every few seconds). At one point, Sho was complimenting Melissa about her eyes or something... really gushing over this woman... and Megan said, completely dead-pan, "Do you two want to be alone?" LOL! I cried. Too funny.

But the very best part was Sho and Megan switching parts and singing bits and pieces of almost every Elphaba and Glinda song from Wicked. (The two played these roles together on Broadway.) Sho hit those high notes with such ease in "No One Mourns the Wicked" and "Thank Goodness". Megan nailed "The Wizard and I", adding exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures. Mocking Megan at the beginning of "What Is This Feeling", Sho dragged out the "Unusually and exceedingly peculiar" line waaaaay more than Megan ever did. To top it off, Sho imitating Megan in "Popular" had me almost on the floor dying... with Megan looking at her a bit terrified, as if to say, "Is that really how you see me doing that?" Too hilarious! But more tears were shed by me with Megan's deadpan, practically bored "This is never going to work... I have to go." LMAO!

Megan sang a beautiful portion of "I'm Not That Girl," a little more than she normally does in the show... yet playing off a bit of humour with the extremely low final note. Cute. Megan pulled out the humour once again to cover her vocal struggles with "Defying Gravity" due to her nagging vocal problems of late. She pretended to have a broom under arm, doing the whole "And nobody in all of Oz..." bit. Too funny! At the beginning of "No Good Deed" Sho had to direct Megan for a second, reminding her of the whole spell making, hand/arm movements, but she quickly picked up on it and over did it to great affect. Finally, when it came time for "For Good" they looked at each other so longingly and said, "I want my part back," so they swapped roles and sang the heart of this gorgeous song... tears in eyes and throat, having once thought that they would never sing it together again. In addition to crying with laughter and wonderment at these two amazing voices, I did a lot of screaming and cheering. They had the packed house in the palms of their hands. Wonderful!

Then after the show, Chris and Shane (the producers) talked about the girls doing the show again at a theatre in Hollywood on May 5, Cinco de Mayo, and hinted like: Oh look, there's Kris Cusick in the audience. He has some Mexican blood in him, doesn't he? Maybe we can get him to sing... I know there's a performer with true Mexican heritage in the house. I'm sure we can persuade HER to join the fun.... The place erupted with screams and cheers as Chris said Eden Espinosa's name. So cool!

Finally, everyone got up to leave, huddling around Megan and Sho to congratulate them and get pictures taken, etc. [Eden was out of there like a shot. I saw her stand up from her booth and chat with a few people, then in seconds all I saw of her was a brief shot of her back headed towards the patio, presumably to say "hi" to the girls and leave.] My friends and I stayed at our table and chatted, waiting for our check and then for the crowd to dissipate before leaving.

As we got close to the door, Megan and Sho were gathering up their flowers and gifts and stuff to leave. My friend Jane said, "I'm getting you a pin." (Sho and Megan handed out pins with their logo on it during the quiz portion of the evening, while wearing t-shirts with their logo on them - so cute.) I told Jane I didn't need one, but she insisted. As she went over to schmooze one off of Sho (unsuccessfully), another friend of mine, Terri, and I were standing next to Megan. Terri told Megan how great they were, as Megan turned around to face us, holding four mugs in her hand. Megan said thank you to Terri, then looked up at me. "Oh hi," she said in recognition. I told her she made me cry... with laughter... and because she's so amazing. Megan thanked me, and Terri asked her if they were selling the t-shirts. Megan said they were going to make more stuff for everyone. Then she looked down at the mugs in her hand, at which point I noticed that they too had their logo on them. She held them up to us saying, "You want a mug?" We both went, "Yeah! Thanks!" so we each took a mug. She pointed to mine and said, "Sorry, that one's dirty." I looked at it, and indeed it was. It had her lipstick all over the rim. I said, "That's ok. I know how to clean." She laughed, we thanked her again, and she and Sho headed out... to their waiting limo.

So, there you have it. A fantastic evening of entertainment as only the Wicked girls and Upright Cabaret can provide. And I had the surprising good fortune to get Megan's mug as a door prize.

I can't imagine what LA was like before Wicked came to town. I've never been so social, spent so much money, gone out so much to see cabarets and such... My life was less expensive, but so boring before I discovered that "pink goes good with green!" Amazing! And completely inspirational.

*Tues, 5/6/08
"The Meg 'an Sho Show" - Monday, May 5, 2008 - Review:

OMG! I was crying laughing so hard!! Too many moments to relay in detail... and many you just had to be there to get. But I loved their banter. They even mentioned Allison Janney (who was sitting at the table right behind me, and who got into the act a bit) during their "getting to know us" section. Sho supposedly quoted Allison's description of Megan, her upcoming co-star in 9 to 5, as a "drunken lesbian whore". LOL! (It was a joke!) Too, too funny! Again, you had to be there to get it. I love Megan's dead pan delivery. She plays the "dumb blonde" so well it's scary.

I can't wait for 9 to 5 !! Except for the two "interview" segments, the production was really tight and polished. I just wish they had sung more, for that was the best part of the show.

The after-show VIP party was on the roof of the theatre. Eden was running late, coming from a Flora the Red Menace rehearsal, so Adam Lambert filled in the gap and sang 3 songs, rocking the non-existent roof off the place.

As for Eden... once she arrived (having run 3 red lights to get there

), margarita in hand [LOL!]... well, there aren't enough words to express the joy and amazement I feel when I see/hear her sing live. I was a little nervous for her when I saw the crowd hugging the small stage... not moving even when encouraged to. I understand the wish to be as close to her as possible, however, I was concerned it would freak her out. However, she proved me wrong, at least on the outside. She handled it all so well, and with such humour and gratitude for the love and support. However, she sang a lot with her eyes closed, more than usual I think, so I suspect her trademark nervousness was blazing away inside her. She hid it well, though. What a pro!

Such a beautiful performance. She was in amazing voice - warmed up, no doubt by her Flora rehearsal earlier that night. I was thrilled to hear her sing "Me" (I missed it at the Saturday night Upright performance in March). One of my friends with me, was blown away by that song, too. And I got teary eyed when she sang "Unexpected Song". I'm using that as an audition song next week. (I told her I hope her magic rubs off on me a little.

)

I loved her little flubs and giggles. Too, too adorable! So endearing. It made me, and the whole audience I'm sure, just love her all the more. She was so cool about it, too, not letting a forgotten lyric, or the loud, drunken guy, mess up the rest of the song. ("Then quick interuptin' mah songs, B*TCH!") Even when it cracked her up a little (adorable!), she still kept control and finished with awesome skill and power. Inspiring! It reminded me of her infamous struggles in "Popular", trying not to crack up, though some times succumbing, yet always in control and professional nonetheless.

Megan, Sho, Adam, Eden... 4 of the greatest voices EVER! True entertainers of the highest quality.

What an awesome night!