starry-eyed and stormy...

Last night was a beautiful evening to be at Ravinia, blue cloudless skies, moderate temperatures... the only sign that gale force winds and torrential rains had ripped through the region just days before were the large areas of lawn space that were roped off, with warning signs "Extremely Wet Grounds - Sit Here and Get Your Ass Wet.' Parking fees were back to 10 bucks - did people complain or something? Did some of those parking lot volunteers put up the 20 dollar sign one night just for giggles and take the extra cash, or what?

But I digress. We had some (overpriced and yet not all that good) food for dinner, and wandered about the (wet) grounz - and who should we see? Mary Nell and Tim, enjoying a picnic. I also found an ex-colleague and his partner and stopped to chat with them right before going into the pavillion. Had the usual seating problems, as in, person with abnormally sized head sitting in front of me, and next to him, of course, his wife with large poofy style hairdo, who keeps moving around to try to see around the huge melon in front of her, etc.

And then, it was time for our Divas to take the stage. They opened with a duet called "Pack up your sins" which Audra (AKA Andrea McArdle)said was the first time she & Patti (LaBelle) had sung correctly and in public. Patti, literally, ran off the stage, causing Audra to cluck "She sings and runs away."

I would commence to regale you here with the full set list, but it wasn't published. Patti said something like "we only met on Friday the 13th and last night" to which Audra said "what?" Meaning - they had about 2 days to put the show together. So. No set list. Audra sang one from "The Apple Tree" and then one from the person who wrote "The Apple Tree" she sang lots of Sondheim "The Glamorous Life" -- uh --- one she dedicated to Barrack Obama from Anyone Can Whistle, "Not a Day Goes By" with... something else... She also sang "When Lola Sings"and something else. About happiness and joy. From a movie. Don't remember (sorry).

She started to sing "Can't Stop Talking" but then had to stop the orchestra. "Sorry," she said "I had to burp, and I thought better now than in the middle of the song." Which caused Patti, on her next sweep across the stage, to say she was going to burp the whole of the next song (and somehow, I believe she could have, if she put her mind to it). I remember her songs more distinctly - "Don't Rain on my Parade" "Peel Me a Grape" "Meadowlark" "So in Love" "Buenos Aires" "Ladies Who Lunch" "Losing My Mind" and "I Was Here" (might have forgotten some...) Together, they sang "Wrong Note Rag" and "Ohio" from Wonderful Town and oh, there was another one.... Patti threatened to do some kind of Evita duet, since Audra also played Evita in her hometown ("No," Audra insisted. "It's not gonna happen.")

They also sang the "Get Happy/Happy Days are Here Again" duet as an encore, which I just love. They came back and sang that one again (but standing on opposite sides of each other, since Audra said "We've never sung this and stood on this side of each other before" and Patti claimed "We're not crazy." (okay) They left after that, after giving us 2 of the same encore,which seemed peculiar at the time, but which we later learned was because Audra had to catch a flight back to LA to begin filming Private Practice, the Grey's Anatomy spinoff. Audra + Taye Diggs? Reason enough for me to watch at least the first new episode (I do not care at all about Kate Walsh, Amy Brenneman, or what's his face - Tim Daly).

It was a great concert and on stage, our Divas did not disappoint. But no intermission. Oye. Fortunately, everyone in my row was very well behaved and didn't get up to leave during any part of it. If I was not a fan of Audra's before (but I was!) I certainly am now. She is warm and bubbly, chatty and charming. What a great presence and a gorgeous voice. I saw her last year at Ravinia at the Martin, and I'd absolutely see her in another solo concert.

Patti was Patti in every possible sense.
(Beforehand, someone asked me how many times I'd seen her this year - I was kind of surprised that it's been like 7. 2 Mahagonnys, 3 Gypsys, 1 To Hell and Back, and that concert. I wish I could explain what it is about her, that would induce bi-coastal travel to watch her, but I can't. They were also surprised that I was a little bit scared of her, which is completely true. I can't summon any words except I think "hello" and "thank you" which you know are probably pretty safe.)

Yes, we went to the stage gate afterwards, but that is a story for another time, to be told face to face, possibly over some wine, foie gras and french fries (which means we'd also have to go to New York, or at least some restaurant around here that does not mind flouting the rules). Or, in the words of the OMC song (what happened to OMC, anyway??) "Wanna know the rest, hey? Buy the rights! How Bizarre..."