No long review this time, just the highlights.  There were eight forum members present,  John (Meavman), Dave (BigDave), Dwight, Ralph, his sister Connie, and I were together in the front orchestra row, just left of center.  Scott (Furface) was in the last row of the pit in front of us and Tony (ALCAN1) was front row pit at the far right of the stage.  Our seats were not the greatest and interaction was minimal because we were hard to find.  We were found eventually, though.

Radio City is, of course, one of the premier venues for performers and the girls showed their recognition of that fact tonight.  In each of their individual song introductions they mentioned Radio City specifically and thanked everyone for braving the weather to attend.  The sound was cranked up, but this time the venue was big enough to handle it and it was great.  If there was ever a venue where I would automatically expect perfect lighting this is it.  And it was.  The only bad thing was the audience.  We had full-scale VSS at the end of the first act.  It was like roll call at a forum meeting:  “Will all of the forum members please stand?”  We did and we were the only ones; eight people out of probably 5,000.  At least it made us easy to find, for those girls that hadn't already.  The second act was a little better, but not by much,  Everyone stood after You Raise Me Up but they had to be pried out of their seats again after the Finale.

Our guests for the Meet & Greet tonight were Chloë and Alex.  It was a very large M&G with over 50 people, no doubt due WLIW's earlier screwup.  One pleasant surprise was the presence of Rachel, for the first time since Roanoke.  It was nice to see her again and she chatted with us for quite a while.  Chloë and Alex were delightful and I got a few things signed for others that I had pending.

After the show, Tony, Dwight, Scott and I looked for a place for an after show snack.  We ended up at Rosie O'Grady's, an Irish restaurant a few blocks from Radio City and had some great food.  It was a very appropriate way to end the night.

We have a very special show Saturday night with the PS22 children's choir joining the girls.  I can't wait!

The original review is here.

This probably won't be a short review, but no fair peeking ahead.  There were six of us tonight: Ralph and Connie, Dave, Tony, Scott, and myself.  We decided to splurge and go to a fancy New York steak house for dinner.  Hey, when you're in New York you have to have at least one  expensive meal.  We met at Ruth's Chris Steak House at 5pm and had a wonderful dinner with great conversation.  Dave was the newbie of the group and got a great education.  We all had steak except Scott who, being the exception that he is, had lamb chops.  After dinner, when the waiter brought the check, there were a few gasps.  Most of us had never seen a restaurant tab that large before.  It was worth it though; the steaks were excellent, the atmosphere was elegant, and the service was impeccable.

Tony and Scott had temporarily stored some things in my hotel room so we headed back there briefly while Ralph, Connie and Dave headed to the theater.  After getting seated, Tony got a panic call from Scott that Dave has lost his ticket.  They were trying to have the box office reissue it but they needed my ID so I went back outside.  Dave and I headed for the box office and the girl there told us that they couldn't reprint a PBS ticket and sent us to Guest Services.  The lady there told us that she couldn't do anything either and sent us to the PBS table.  We met Amy there and she verified that I was on the list, checked the seat numbers, and walked with us back to the box office to get things straightened out.  After talking to a different person and showing him her list he said that he couldn't reprint a PBS ticket and sent us to Guest Services.  Do you see a flaw here?  And did I mention that it is now 7:50?  Finally we located a supervisor and he exerted his power and walked us through all of the ticket checkpoints like we were celebrities.  A near disaster was averted and it was good omen for the rest of the night.  Thank you Amy and unnamed (sorry) supervisor.

Finally seated, we waited for the show to start.  While the seats in front of us were still empty I remarked to Dave that, despite being in the front row orchestra rather than the pit, the view was reasonably good.  Then, suddenly, the seat directly in front of me was no longer empty and my view of the stage was severely impacted.  A woman with large frizzy hair was now between me and my view and she shall forever be known as the brunette Q-Tip.  It not only prevented me from seeing much of the show but it, of course, made me invisible to the girls so there was no interaction tonight.  Oh, well.

Before the show started, Laura Savini of WLIW came out and gave the standard PBS thank you speech, although she threw in a surprise.  She mentioned that Lisa's solo The Moon's a Harsh Mistress was very special to her and that we should all applaud extra hard for it.  The reason?  Laura's husband is Jimmy Webb, the composer of that song.  Laura has been instrumental in supporting CW in New York and she brought Orla to Long Island in December so it's interesting that she now has a personal Celtic Woman connection.

On my LSPA (lighting, sound, performance, audience) scoreboard I give the show a 10, 10, 10, 8.  Radio City nailed the lighting and sound as they did last night and the girls were perfect, of course.  The audience seemed a little perkier tonight, clapping enthusiastically and cheering.  But, in the end, VSS kicked in and it was another forum-only standing ovation at the end of the first act.  In the second act we finally got everyone clapping along to The Mason's Apron and things were looking up.  The girls were all doing a little ad libbing during their song introductions and Lynn really changed her speech.  She asked if anyone spoke Irish and then, when nobody said they could, she said she was glad because that way nobody would know if she was lying regarding the seaweed!

I was wondering when and how they were going to include the PS22 chorus when the time finally arrived.  After Non C'e Piu, instead of Máiréad moving the side of the stage to introduce You Raise Me Up, she moved to the center while the children were brought on stage.  Around twenty-five kids in purple shirts were on the left and 25 in yellow shirts were on the right.  Their conductor, Gregg, stood in the last row of the pit.  Máiréad gave a lovely introduction to YRMU and then turned things over to Chloë.  She explained how they had become fans of the kids at the Christmas tree lighting ceremony and that it was their honor to be performing with PS22 and not the other way around.  I'm not ashamed to admit that the tears were flowing as they all gave a very emotional performance.  A spontaneous and unanimous standing ovation immediately followed.  The kids left the stage while the girls performed the Finale and then returned to join in a rollicking rendition of Spanish Lady.  It was an awesome night.

After the show, Amy from WLIW got everyone organized for the Meet & Greet.  This was another very large one, bigger than last night's I believe.  I would guess there were almost 100 people altogether.  Our guests were Máiréad and Lynn.  They arrived a little late because, as Rachel put it, they were still “herding the children around.”  Rachel was doing Claire's job tonight working the exit end of the table while Kelly, as usual, worked the entry end.  Máiréad asked how I liked the show and I told her it was absolutely amazing.  She said, “That's high praise indeed coming from you, Mike.”  Perhaps I've been a little too critical lately?  I only had a few things to be signed and I wanted to talk more but there were still 30 people behind me and I didn't want to make the girls any later.  It was already midnight and they have a 5pm show in Manchester, NH, tomorrow.

It was a truly special night and the PS22 chorus was a wonderful addition to the show.

I've arrived in Manchester and I need to add a few things here.  I kept nodding off while typing my review last night but I wanted to get at least something up.  At one point I awoke from a brief catnap and was looking at about 70 pages of m's because I'd fallen asleep while pressing the 'm' key.  That's when I knew it was time to call it quits for the night!

Egad!  I can't believe that I left the most important thing out of the review: Máiréad did 12 spins.  When she does that I know she's juiced, and she was.

Alex made a wonderful little comment when she was introducing my favorite song of hers.  She said that she "remembered as a young woman standing across from Radio City Music Hall, on a snowy day like today, and wondering what it would be like to perform there."  It was a very touching comment and, of course, now she knows.

As you all know, the highlight of the night was the PS22 chorus.  I was going to type a more detailed description of their performance but now that the videos are up I don't have to.  As I just now watched those videos, all of the emotions from last night came flooding back and I am sitting here in my hotel with tears streaming down my face, again.  I am so, so glad that those videos were made available so that everyone can see the amazing magic that was in that hall last night.

What those videos don't show is Gregg's very animated style in conducting; he's a little like Máiréad without a violin.  You also can't see the joy and pride on his face as he coached the kids.  He is truly a treasure and what a better world this would be if every teacher, music or otherwise, shared his enthusiasm and passion for what they do.

Brunette Q-Tip notwithstanding, last night's show ranks up there as one of the best ever.  I wish more of you could have been there to witness it first hand.  It was truly special.

The original review is here.