Awesome Audra

Went to Ravinia last night for one of the final performances of the summer season - Ms. Audra McDonald. It was my first time seeing Audra, and she was tremendous... but before I get to that...

The rest of the evening is a story in itself. Mom and I turned up at the Park WAY WAY too early. It was a gray, cold, rainy evening, and although it was almost 5:30, the parking lot was nearly deserted. Not even an attendant on hand to collect the money. So we parked free. As I said later, we could have set up shop ourselves and collected parking money and no one would have known the difference. Just a thought... So, we thought we'd grab a bite and sit in the cafe until showtime.

Well, it would have worked out fine, had the cafes been open. All of them were closed except for one kiosk at the front. We got some "hot chocolate" (really just hot flavored water) and panini and went back into the car. It felt like a stakeout - the two of us hunkered in the car, watching people and making up amusing little stories about them to pass the time.

Took a brief turn around the (mostly empty) lawn. There were a few (foolish) souls out there. Honestly. If I'd just had lawn tickets I would not have gone. Too cold, and wet to sit on the ground. If it had been in the pavillion, you could at least go and crowd around the edge to see the show. But Audra was in the Martin Theater, and so the lawn people couldn't even peer in to see her. I would not have been on the lawn last night for anybody. Not even Patti or Renee. Apparently the love knows bounds - however, the love also leads me to buy early and often for those two, so I would not have been stuck on the lawn in the first place!

Anyway. Audra came on - I didn't know what to expect, I just knew I liked her voice - and she did not disappoint. She sang an ecclectic program - Laura Nyro, Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, John Mayer, and in between songs was chatty, and funny and charming. I really liked her and so did mom (a relief because I dragged her there and made her sit in the car and have a subpar dinner... some night out!).

Will definitely be checking out her new album....