This past weekend we went to see the musical "Chicago" at the Dodge Theatre in downtown Phoenix. We were so psyched to see the show... especially since Barbara loves the movie. But in retrospect that may have been part of the problem (seeing the movie first.)

The venue was nice and new, and I was eager to check out the Dodge Theatre (I had never been there before.) The first thing we noticed was that the theatre was rather large. I think they can hold up to 5000 people. As we sat down in our seats we noticed that the seats were very narrow. Anyone larger than myself would have a hard time being comfortable. Additionally, it appears that the side sections were rather empty. On the sides you could see that there was another section of seats further to the sides that were blocked off by a fake fabric "wall." I guess they open it up for larger events.

The orchestra was situated on the stage in a big band tiered setup (probably about 20 feet tall) and in the center was an doorway that allowed actors to emerge from behind. The first note from the orchestra hit my ear, and I assumed that they were still warming up or tuning cause the volume was so low. It was so low that I could hear people talkin in a section over and several rows behind me! Their voices were louder than the music! What kind of bullshit is that???? I could hear people tapping their feet (and singing along) from rows over. It was louder than the music and actors on the stage.

Even with the dissapointing sound, I thought that maybe the acting and singing would make up for it... no such luck! While several actors were very good (and better than some of the movie actors) the rest of the performance was absolutely awful!!!!! I couldn't believe how bad it was. There was no set besides the band's setup and the costumes consisted of sheer jazz outfits and tuxedos. No costumes from the period... no jail house sets! It was bad. At first I thought that it was maybe one of these minimalistic type of plays where the costumes and sets were at a minimum (similar to one-man performances.) But after talkin to my parents about the Broadway performance, I found that our show was just incredibly bad. Maybe it was the limited engagement at the theatre (8 shows)... maybe it's cause I'm spoiled with Broadway performances... or maybe it's cause it was a traveling production. I don't know... either way we were absolutely dissapointed! It was sooooo incredibly bad!!!!

At the end of the performance we sat there as the rest of the audience stood and applauded. We looked at each other in sheer amazment wondering if we had just seen the same show as everyone else! It definitely did not deserve any applause whatsoever! We were in no hurry, so we sat there and waited till everyone else left, and then finally made our way back to our car in fair disgust and disappointment.

Our next stop was The Compass Room at the Hyatt (not too far away from the theatre.) The Compass Room is an amazing restaurant that revolves on top of the Hyatt downtown. It's pretty cool! You go up a glass elevator that takes you up to the 24th floor. When you get out there's a little host desk and then you step out onto a revolving platform (dining area.) It's weird at first cause you can feel the floor slightly moving, and you see the exterior walls and the center area staying still while you move. It takes about 50 minutes for the whole restaurant to make a full 360 degrees.

We got there super early, so we sat at the bar for about an hour and had some drinks and an appetizer (crab cakes.) We finally got seated at a small (but intimate) table. The food was very good... we both had a Filet and stacked Shrimp dish. It was all very good, but last weekends dinner at Mastros was much better. The restaurant isn't that large so there is very limited seating. There are multiple section sunken down a few steps and then a few higher sections in between. We watched the sun set and then the lights of the city begin to light up. Luckily it was a nice night and we could see from one end of the valley to the other.

Overall a very good dinner...but I think Mastros is still my favorite in the whole valley (so far.)  ¶ 12:13 PM