For those who want to skip my normal long-winded travelogue, here's the Cliff Notes version.  The show was absolutely amazing, definitely one of my top ten and very possibly a top five show.  All of the girls were in top form, Máiréad did ten (yes, ten!) spins during Coast of Galicia, and Scott and I got many, many looks from all of them.  The Meet & Greet was with Chloë and Máiréad and, needless to say, I was in heaven.  The local PBS personnel were very gracious (and generous) and a good time was had by all.

OK, now for the long version, but first a little back story.  Ralph (my “Upstate New York connection”) had contacted me when the fall tour dates were just being announced and wanted to know if I'd be interested in going to the Rochester show.  He had an inside contact who would let us make pre-broadcast pledges for M&G tickets.  Well, he didn't have to ask me twice and tickets were quickly secured; Ralph got a pair for himself and his sister and I got a pair.  Since Scott (Mustang) lives in New England, I gave him first shot at my second ticket and he quickly accepted.  Later, when Syracuse tickets were announced, I got a pair, initially for Ralph and myself.  When Ralph ended up getting a pair for himself and his sister I again gave Scott first dibs on my second ticket.  After some negotiating with his employer he was in.  Then came Buffalo (although not a PBS show, I scored pit seats from TicketMaster) and Mohegan Sun.  I had also gotten M&G tickets for Columbus, the second of which went to Rick.  Scott got a TM ticket for Columbus and we thus ended up going to the same 5 consecutive shows.  It only made sense to carpool, so we planned what became Roadtrip Northeast USA '09.  For the non-show day on Thursday, October 29, we discussed a number of options and Scott had the brilliant idea of visiting the real Isle of Hope, Ellis Island.  The logistics were a little tricky, New York is long trip from Rochester, but we came up with a plan and the final piece of the puzzle was in place.

My mini-vacation actually started a few days earlier.  I left on Sunday to spend 2 days in northern Pennsylvania and the southern tier of New York, hoping to catch the final days of fall color and do some railroad photography.  Heavy rains a few days earlier had, unfortunately, knocked most of leaves off the trees but I did have glorious weather and enough color to make for some lovely pictures.

On Tuesday, I was picking up Scott at the Syracuse airport, although he was not flying in.  He chose to do a one-way car rental and drive in, with his rental return location being the airport.  I believe this was the first time I have ever met someone at the airport who did not arrive by plane.  Scott arrived right on time (actually 2 minutes late, but who's counting) and we headed for our hotel to get situated.  We were  meeting Ralph and his sister for dinner and had several hours to kill so we headed downtown and did reconnaissance for later that night.

Downtown Syracuse is an interesting place.  Most cities have good areas and bad areas, interesting architecture and modern buildings, city parks and back alleys.  I can't remember ever being in a city, though, where the transition between those areas was so abrupt.  Scott and I walked around for about an hour, checking parking and the theater, and we literally would cross the street or move over one block and it was like we were in a different city.  It was really quite jarring.

The theater is in one of the less than pristine areas of downtown but is itself quite an interesting building.  Like most downtown theaters, the exterior, other than the marquee and entrance, is nothing to write home about.  The interior, as we found out later, is nicely restored although it seems to still seems to be a work-in-progress.  The style appears to Middle-Eastern or Egyptian and is done mostly in gold with a few red accents.

We met Ralph and his lovely sister at Applebee's for dinner and then headed for the theater.  Parking was quite reasonable, only $5, compared to some other places, like Manchester, NH ($20!).  We had to walk around the equipment truck and buses to get to the theater, but who's complaining.  Scott and I were front row orchestra, as close to dead center as you can get without sitting in the aisle, and Ralph was a few seats to our left.  The pit section was empty, literally.  There were no seats there and it is just as well as the height of the stage would have given everybody neck cramps by the time the show was over.  We met Bruce and talked about Orla for a while and then met Lauren and her parents.  This would be their first show so we prepared them.

Finally the recorded announcement was made and we got ready.  I had my prized Fiddler Crossing sign, as well as my Chloë and Lisa signs from Paducah.  Even though I've seen the show so many times, I still get that little shiver of excitement when the lights dim.  Ray and Nicky walked out on stage and, as would prove to be true all night, we started a round of applause for them.

And then, there she was.  She played those first five notes and I melted away.  The girls were really juiced and we were quickly spotted.  I was wearing my Máiréad shirt which Lisa, pretty much as always, noticed before Máiréad did.  We started, or attempted to start, standing ovations for SDS, all of Máiréad's solos, and many of the other girls' solos.  Unfortunately, the audience just didn't “get it” and sat through the whole show.  It wasn't until O, America that we got any significant standees.  One advantage of being the only ones standing, though, is that we got lots of grateful looks from the girls.  I even got a personal “Thank you” from a certain fiddler.

Sigh.

There have been several minor tweaks in the arrangements.  Chloë has changed her phrasing slightly during When You Believe and Máiréad always makes subtle little changes during her solo pieces.  Despite the lackluster crowd it was obvious that the girls were having a great time and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The stage at the Landmark Theatre is much smaller than most and the crew really had to shoehorn the set onto the tiny stage.  The risers, where the chorus stands, were right up against the piano and the band and the front of the main platform was only a foot or so from the edge of the stage.  Máiréad really had to be careful and was hardly able to do any leaps or jumps.  She was watching where she was going all the time and was noticeably less frisky than usual because of it.  It didn't affect her ability to spin, though, and she did an amazing 10 spins during Cost of Galicia.  I've really seen a difference since she has healed from her Spring injuries and isn't wearing the leg braces anymore.  In the second act, after she changed into her “poofy” dress, when she crossed the stage in front of the platform her dress actually brushed against the speakers that are lined up along the front.  During Lynn's part in At the Ceili when Lisa and Alex hang out around the piano, there was hardly room to stand so Alex sat on the piano bench and Lisa sat on the risers.  They still hammed it up as usual, though.

After the show, the PBS representative came down to the front and chatted.  Then a new CW person lined us up in the side aisle and checked names for the Meet & Greet.  As it turned out, we were not going to another room; they had set up a small table in an alcove (actually Exit 12) along the side of the theater.

Soon we found out that we would be meeting Chloë and Máiréad and I was ecstatic.  I hadn't talked to Máiréad since New York in March and after suffering through the Raleigh/Portsmouth shows I had so many things I wanted to say.  Of course, once I got to the front of the line I forgot virtually all of them.  The first thing I told her was that she had done 10 spins and she replied, “One of these days I'll have to start counting them myself.”  After that my mind went blank.  It wasn't so much what she said, it was the fact that she was actually talking to me!  I thought I had this M&G thing under control, but apparently not.  I had a few new pictures that she graciously signed, one of which is a picture of Glenn's amazing portrait.  Still in a daze, I moved over to Chloë and we chatted a bit.  I have absolutely no recollection of what I said!  I got her to sign my ChloëFest sign from Paducah and another picture.  Both signed a new group photo from the Powerscourt show, graciously provided by Ralph.

After the show Ralph and his sister headed back home to Rochester.  Scott and I went to Denny's for a late night breakfast and talked about the show until the wee hours of the morning.  It was a wonderful night.  Little did we know that it would only get better from here.
 

The original review is here.