Adult Pleasures #1: Dinner Theater

 I've been living in an adult community for a year now, Affinity at Copperleaf--minimum age is 62. It's different from living with family members, as you can be as sociable or isolated as you choose. Now that the COVID pandemic is "officially" over, more people are coming out for activities, and few people are wearing masks. 

Even so, I notice that when I go out for large group activities, such as Affinity group BBQs and potlucks, family birthday parties, and church services, after about three days I'm down with a cold for the following weekend. This is a true aggravation. Still, I am grateful it is only a cough or sore throat and not the mild-but-worse-than-a-cold COVID virus I've had twice now. Thank goodness we have vaccines now, so the viruses are no longer as deadly (5 million people deadly, I mean) as when the pandemic began.

I did go out over the weekend to the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse with my friend Lisa to celebrate her birthday with prime rib and a performance of "Cats!" I've never seen "Cats!" before. We both enjoyed it tremendously. Our waiter Daniel played the flute, sax and oboe in the eight-person orchestra. The dancing and prancing of the cats was a delight and there were some outstanding singers.

In fact, we had such a good time I signed up for season tickets starting this fall. Don't tell anyone, but I'm planning to take my daughters and grandchildren to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" for their Christmas gift. We all love the theater, and my younger daughter Rebekah was in the cast of Joseph when she was in a high school production. I think the grandkids will get a kick out of that!

Another tip is that if you have a group of 12, you can qualify for a group rate. There was a group from a different senior village attending last Saturday. I wonder if I can set up some group carpooling for one of the productions. Or maybe create a dozen from Affinity with season tickets for Season 16 this fall. My late husband and I had season tickets for many years while we lived in Longmont, a bit closer.  Our server Daniel told us that the Boulder Dinner Theater, which was planning to close this summer, has an encore season planned for fall and Christmas, presenting "Fiddler on the Roof." That would be fun, too, though I've seen "Fiddler" almost as many times as I've seen that other old favorite, "The Sound of Music." (My mother had the role of a nun in a production by the Muscatine (Iowa) Masquers, when I was in high school.)

The only other musical I've been to recently (that did not involve the grandchildren as performers) was a 10-day Broadway run of "Les Miz" I attended with daughter Rebekah and grandson Rylan and our exchange student Mario at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. (This was a combined Christmas and Mother's Day gift. She knows what I like!) I hadn't seen "Les Miz" before either, so that was a pleasure. We went at 2 pm on a Thursday afternoon in May near the end of school, and the theater was packed! 

My older daughter Abi was in a Salt Lake high school production of "Anything Goes," which I have also seen at the Candlelight. Not as much joy as seeing Abi in the chorus line!

I'm looking forward to next season at the Candlelight, as "DreamCoat" is the only one on the schedule I have already seen. A season of theater is a gift to myself I can savor in advance as well as on that special night!

###