Concert #838 - Mary Poppins at the Morgan-Wixson Theater (July 21, 2018)

Once a year, my Better Half and I host Sara and Kate, our two Seattle-based granddaughters. While scouring the net in search of some suitable form of entertainment, I stumbled upon what appeared to be a low-budget and most likely amateurish stage production of Mary Poppins. Good enough for my six and seven year old young ladies, I said to myself, so I bought four tickets, which - at $28 each - set us back a little over one hundred bucks. Was it money well spent? Read on!

Not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined what was in store for us. From our front-row seats, we witnessed an incredible performance with excellent singing, outstanding acting, dazzling dancing and, overall, lots of pace, color and professionalism - take it from someone who has seen both the Broadway and Los Angeles production of the same musical. From Mary, Bert and the Banks, to the Bird Woman and Miss Andrew, everyone on stage was practically perfect in every way! Mesmerized by the show, our granddaughters remained focused way past their normal attention span and they celebrated with enthusiasm the demise of the terrifying Miss Andrew and her Brimstone and Treacle potion. And just like the rest of, Sara and Kate absolutely loved Sadie Fisher and Ethan Kuwata, whose performance as the Banks children was exceptionally good.

Mary Poppins at the Morgan-Wixson Theater

L to R: Ethan Kuwata, Philip McBride, Sadie Fisher, Amanda Greig

Main roles

Mary Poppins: Amanda Greig

Bert: Philip McBride

George Banks: Spencer Johnson

Winifred Banks: Eileen O’Donnell

Jane: Sadie Fisher

Michael: Ethan Kuwata

Bird Woman: Kelly Gable

Miss Andrew: Kim Peterson

There's nothing like going to a show with low expectations, only to be knocked out by the performance and that was precisely our experience at Santa Monica's Morgan-Wixson Theater. It is obvious that talent is not in short supply in Los Angeles and vicinity!

Amanda Greig as Mary Poppins

Philip McBride, Amanda Greig & the Living Statues

Mary Poppins at the Morgan-Wixson Theater

The chimney sweeps

The end of the show

Kate (left) and Sara at the Morgan-Wixson Theater

Santa Monica's Morgan-Wixson Theater

 

Concert #837 - Bob Neuwirth at McCabe's Guitar Shop (July 14, 2018)

This was my first time to see Bob Neuwirth as a headliner, after having seen him a number of times as a participant in events featuring multiple artist. I went to the show hoping to see a few unannounced guests, hear some fun stories, listen to a few good songs and I'm happy to say that, in all respects, my expectations were met.

Anchored by multi-instrumentalist David Mansfield, Bob's band also included Steven Soles (guitar), Tony Gilkyson (guitar) and Bob Thiele, Jr. (piano, guitar). They provided great support throughout the evening. Later in the show, it was time for the band members to have their own solo moments: Tony sang "Rattlesnake Boy", Bob Thiele delivered "What A Wonderful World", a song written by his father and Steven sang a love song whose title I did not catch.

While affected by the passage of time, Bob Neuwirth's singing voice still sounded pretty good for someone in his eightieth year of existence. He played without a set list and even though I was unfamiliar with most of Bob's songs, I could easily tell that his songwriting was and still is top-notch.

The evening's surprise guest turned out to be the legendary T Bone Burnett who was in good spirits and seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit. I first saw him almost thirty years ago, also at McCabe's, and I must say that his voice has remained pretty much unchanged, in spite of the passage of time.

The evening kicked-off with an exceptionally good set delivered by Don Heffington and his small band. I had seen him many times before, but always as a percussionist, so I had no idea that he could write great songs and also deliver them as well as he did. I liked all of his songs and was knocked out by Timothy Young, Don's guitarist for the evening. I enjoyed tremendously watching Tim in action.

Bob Neuwirth at McCabe's

L to R: Steven Soles, T Bone Burnett, Bob Neuwirth, David Mansfield

T Bone Burnett at McCabe's

Tony Gilkyson at McCabe's

Bob Thiele, Jr. at McCabe's

David Mansfield at McCabe's

Bob Neuwirth thanking the crowd

Don Heffington at McCabe's

Timothy Young at McCabe's

Don Heffington's set list

The stage