The Finer Things Club: Black Friday Edition

The whole "Black Friday" thing is a phenomenon that I do not understand. And these days, it's not just Black Friday anymore: it's now "cut your thanksgiving short to go get in line for stores opening earlier than friday." Why?? What's the fun in that? The lines I saw at the stores were ridiculous! One of my husband's friends skipped out on seeing his fam so he could go get in line. That's not cool.

That being said, something I was willing to wait in line for on Black Friday was Broadway tickets. I have been wanting to see the production of "Once" for a while now, and they finally offer rush tickets for only $40. That's a steal when the average price of a ticket is $80-$100, and you automatically have to double that because you're married (honestly, that's the worst part about being married! ha ha).

So, while most people were battling crowds at Target and Best Buy, I was sitting on the cold pavement of 45th St., waiting for the Once box office to open.

It was cold. It was stressful, since there are limited tickets. And, we looked like street bums. But, we got our tickets! And I would have had that over a television or a gaming system any day--not sure my husband would say the same thing. But it was worth it.*

As far as the show goes, this is what I have to say about it:

I really wanted to see this show because I really liked the movie, particularly the music: duh. The focus of this show is the music. So if you're expecting it to be like any other big cast, big dance/musical numbers and glitzy costumes that are all typical of a Broadway musical, then you might be disappointed. This show is much more simplistic, but so different which makes it memorable. The story is simple: a nameless guy and girl who have their own personal struggles, but come together because of the love of making music.

The show is very down to earth. The stage is an Irish pub where you can go and mingle onstage with the actors/musicians who are warming up. All the actors are the musicians as well, which shows an enormous amount of talent in my opinion. How I would love to be one of the violinists up there, but alas, I am a terrible actor and dancer. That's why I play in the pit orchestra.

There were are few things that I didn't like. The stage version was much longer than the movie, and yet there were a lot of songs in the movie that were not included in the stage version. And since this show is all about the music, I wish there would have been more of it. Also, if you have a problem with hearing "the f word," then you might not like it. I don't enjoy hearing the f word, but my husband works with Marines, so it's safe to say that any time we hang out with any of them, we hear our fair share of it, so it's just something I have learned to deal with.

That being said, I still loved this show. I just love what it says about music and the arts. Life isn't without its struggles, but music has the ability to express our joy or our frustrations and can just be so therapeutic.


"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."
Victor Hugo


"Without music, life would be a mistake."
Friedrich Nietzsche


Here's a little excerpt of the show: this song gets me every time!