The first event was a Broadway musical called "In the Heights". The winner of the 2008 Tony for Best Musical, this is a tale too often playing out in real life. A former Irish ghetto has been recolonized by a Latino community, consisting of generations of people from the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto Rico, and their little barrio is now threatened by real estate developers, yuppies and hipsters, moving in and driving up rents and driving out the people that made this community thrive. Tell me you haven't heard this story in every major and not so major city in the U.S.
What makes this musical so enjoyable is not just that the story is topical and current, but that the music and dancing is so vibrant. A mix of Salsa, Latino, hip hop and rap, the music carries the story along from beginning to end. And the choreography and costuming is incredible. The only problem we encountered, and this is not the first time this has happened at the Flynn, is the music drowned out the lyrics in several place. The band was a live band and was a great Latin orchestra. But in a musical that depends so much on the song lyrics to keep you informed, missing those lyrics takes away from the experience. As I said, this is something we have run into before at the Flynn and you would think that with their years of experience they could get the sound mix just perfect.
I really though this was an incredible musical and highly recommend it to you if the touring company is coming to your town, A+, appropriate for all ages.
On our 2nd night out we had tickets to see Lucinda Williams. Arguably, one of the greatest living singer songwriters around. I have loved her music for years and years and got to see her once at the Ottawa Blues Festival , along with 10,000 other fans, so I was looking forward to seeing her in the intimate confines of the Flynn. A rather sparse crowd turned out but you could tell from the start we were all great fans. Her backing group also turned out to be the warm up. Buick 6 started the night about 15-20 minutes late and played a totally instrumental set of mainly alternative versions of Lucinda Williams songs. Not a bad warm-up but I would of liked to hear some of their own music.
After a short intermission, Lucinda came out. The first thing you notice is she seems to need some help. There is a person around her after every song, handing her a drink, helping her with her guitar, etc. The second thing you see is a small music stand next to her mike, with all her songs and lyrics on it. Very strange and a bit disturbing as there seems to be no explanation for it on the Internet. But the the music starts, and all is forgotten. She has a voice like no other and with this back up band really is exploring her rock/grunge side. And she certainly give you your moneys worth. She played an incredible 22 song set, with songs both familiar (to fans) like Drunken Angel and Change the locks, to covers, Allman Brother's Cross to Bear and an incredible version of Dylan's Trying to get to heaven, to brand new stuff not even recorded yet. A real experience for hard core Lucinda fans.
For those of you not real hardcore fans, this may be a hard set to sit through. Lucinda has never been about happy, happy, joy, joy. Alot of songs are dark, her main subjects being lost love, unrequited love or abusive love. But for those of you who love original, American music, do yourself a favor and go see Lucinda when she comes to your town. For me this was one of the best concert experiences ever. Another A+ night at the Flynn. Oh and the sound problems of the previous night, not in existence tonight, the sound was incredible.
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