Aladdin WOW; Disney Knows How to Spend Money

Just saw the stage musical of "Aladdin" at the Orpheum in San Francisco. I'm crazy for musicals, and I've seen quite a few, including "Cabaret" (which I found quite shocking as a young teen) and "Hello Dolly" with Carol Channing, too many years ago to count. Of course I have my faves: chief among them "Wicked", the prehistory of Wizard of Oz, developed here on the left coast, and "Jersey Boys", an all-around great musical. "Book of Mormon", which I saw in New York, was cute, but not worth the ridiculous ticket prices it commanded. However, are over-the-top visuals are your thing? "Aladdin" is made for you. It's bling central.

If all extremely well-funded corporations spent money like Disney, we'd be sending donations direct to them. No expense was spared for this production, with more than 300 people working on the costumes, nearly 9,000 Swarovski crystals in one costume alone (and there are dozens of them), and, yes, live fireworks. No need to worry, since this show premiered in New York a couple years ago, and they have the safety issues down.

Orpheum interior

Speaking of New York, this is an excellent traveling cast and orchestra; Aladdin himself is played by the NY original who developed the role, Adam Jacobs. I shouldn't call him a NY original, however, since by his own admission he was raised among the pumpkin patches in Half Moon Bay, and he learned his trade here, eventually exchanging squash for the big apple. The genie was played by Korie Lee Blossey (a stand-in for regular Anthony Murphy), who worked his heart out to portray the high-energy - and very queenie - genie, with great success.

I had my doubts about a Disney musical, but I enjoyed it. Expect some corny one-liners, evil-but-entertaining villains, and a lightweight, transparent story line with, yes, a happy ending. As a triumph of musical theater, it's pretty meh, but all that means nothing as you bounce out of the theater with a light heart and dazzled eyes, humming the last few bars of the closing tune. You will have a great time, be thrilled by the intricately beautiful stage sets and special effects and those hard-working, incredibly talented singers/dancers/actors who fill the stage. And if your child is interested in theater, you can't go wrong with "Aladdin".

San Francisco Pride--What a Party!

 The ride on the ferry into the City was windy but worth it to march in the Pride Parade in June along with a contingent of REI employees and supporters. The ferry was filled to the gills with people in rainbow shirts and an equally large contingent of folks in orange and black--there was a Giants game that day, too. The atmosphere was friendly and accepting--even among folks who found themselves in somewhat unexpected company. The Bay Area is a great place to live!


This was my first Pride parade, and I've never been to a parade or event where so many people were warm and welcoming regardless of which side of the bed you slept on.
 While waiting for the long line of marchers to reach our group (the parade went on for several hours), we had a chance to watch everyone from Disney dancers to Lyft floats, with plenty of unicorns in between. Unfortunately, the desire to walk away with as much swag as possible overcame us, and we ended up with a pile of rubber bracelets, parti-colored beads, stickers from everywhere and a few neon-bright nylon bags. Thank goodness for friends who can pass these items out to their children! The talk is that the parade has become much more corporate these days, and it's hard to dispute. Rubber bracelets with "Just be Yourself" on one side touted Chase Bank on the other. Nonetheless, it was a lot of happy people being friendly to a lot of other happy people. May it go on forever.

 A classic from the very beginning: the sisters of perpetual mercy: Exorcise hate, exercise love...

 Scientists agree, all people matter (or are matter, I'm not sure which).

Loved the Disney people dancing along to all the songs from their animated hits. Why not!? Nothing like boogieing to Beauty and the Beast.