The Divine Ms. B is in the hizzouse

Before the re-cap of last evening's glorious concert, a quick Elijah news update:

Wood sparks role in WIP's 'Illuminated'

Going from middle-earth to Ukraine, Elijah Wood is set to star in Warner Independent Pictures' "Everything Is Illuminated." Liev Schreiber is making his directorial debut on the feature, which is being produced by Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf. Based on Jonathan Safran Foer's best-selling novel and adapted by Schreiber, "Illuminated" tells the story of a young American Jewish man (Wood) and his quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather in a small Ukrainian town that was wiped off the map by the Nazis.

The Ukraine! C'mon, that is so totally a shout out to me. Luv you, Lij! :)

Secondly I have two cats, but between them they managed to barf three times this morning. At least one of the three was on the linoleum. *sigh*

I'm thinking I'll probably give Rakkasah a pass tonight. Going over my "To do" list for this weekend and realizing it'd all pretty much have to be done on Sunday if I did go tonight made me nearly want to weep. Best to just get it done and have some time to relax on Sunday (well, after the yardwork gets done that is). And not having an excuse to spend more money would be a good thing. So far I've budgeted myself pretty well and I'd like to keep that trend going.

So, on to more pleasant topics, Sarah Brightman puts on one helluva show. You can really tell the girl comes from a musical theater background. The staging was fantastic (it quite literally looked like a Moorish palace in the south of Spain), the lighting amazing, the dancing...well, it left a bit to be desired, but I'm a snob on that front, and wow that voice... I loved that she had her dancing girls all done up like belly dancers, but I can't say much for their middle easter/jazz fusion moves. They did, however, serve their purpose in distracting the attention while Sarah changed costumes or positions.

And wow the costumes! I've seen DVDs of her performances in the past so I went into it knowing that she really likes to go wild with her outfits. Still, a few of them surprised even me. Gotta' say, though, when she rose up out of the stage, veils billowing behind her as the song "Harem" kicked in and the golden lights made her glow like a goddess descending from the heavens, my heart nearly stopped. I am no longer content to have her as my pretend girlfriend, as soon as it becomes legal she is going to be my pretend wife!

Oh, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, you are a fucking moron for dumping her.

She did pretty much everything from the "Harem" c.d., a few with new and fantastic arrangements. She also did "Who Wants to Live Forever?", which was on my "Must hear Sarah sing this live someday!" list. And she closed the first half of the performance with "Nessun Dorma", which nearly brought down the house. The animated hearts were bursting like firecrackers over my head at that point.

During the intermission xleste and B- disapppeared, only to return with B- saying, "You have to come with me, it's legit." The rest of us followed them to the information booth to discover they'd managed to get us closer seats (we started in nosebleed territory), all we had to do was exchange our original tickets and run down to the other side of the arena. Lower Bowl Seats!!! The second half of the evening was even more amazing than the first.

We were all thoroughly enjoying ourselves when she suddenly broke into, "Twisted Every Way" and xleste and I gasped in unison. Our jaws dropped as she left the stage and the "Phantom's Theme" kicked in. She returned in a white gown and veil to sing "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again". I forgot to breathe a couple of times during the rendition. Just...damn.

And we got not just one, but two encores, culminating in the ceiling raining down confetti and then a pyrotechnic explosion to finish the show. Oh and did I mention that Sarah did one song suspended from the ceiling in a harness and doing flips? "Understated" is not a word I'd ever associate with her, and part of the reason I adore her so.

What I couldn't get over was how the audience reacted to her. I mean this crowd just worshipped her and they'd burst into spontaneous applause whenever she gave them enough time to do it. I just can't imagine how her voice can hold up as well as it does after over two hours of singing. And we're talking opera, pop, and musical singing in the same show.

I considered picking up something at the concessions, but the prices were so incredibly outrageous. I think instead I'll get the "Harem" dvd videos and content myself with that. But if she ends up playing anywhere else around here I am so there!