Kirk and I had a great date last night! First, someone had given us free tickets to go see the Ten Commandments musical at the Kodak Theatre (the same theatre where the Academy Awards Ceremony is held). So, after arranging for some friends to come with, Kirk suggested we go out to dinner in Hollywood (near the theatre) before the show.

So, James & Gia and Kirk & I headed up to a little restaurant that our friend Steve had suggested (thanks, Steve! It was great), "Off Vine". The food was amazing! Kirk got the grilled pork chops (yummy!!) and Gia got the smoked mozarella & chicken ravioli. Both dishes were amazing! James and I each ordered linguine - I got chicken and he got seafood. They were good, too, but the flavors on the other dishes were really wonderful! The restaurant was in an old house, built in 1908. It was a wonderful setting for a date!

After dinner, we headed over to the Hollywood & Highland complex, which houses the Kodak Theatre. After parking in the handicapped section (there are definitely advantages to having a broken ankle), we wandered around for a few minutes before heading in and find our seats. It turned out that we were about 8 rows back from the stage in the orchestra level! The seats were great! As we got settled, one of the ushers came by and told us that after the show, the cast and crew were going to do a meet & greet, Q&A session if we wanted to stay! Cool!

The big draw for this show, of course, is Val Kilmer. It was a little hard to think of the guy made famous by "Real Genius" as Moses (even though he was the voice of Moses in Prince of Egypt). However, all the promotions for the show assure you that he CAN, indeed, sing.

When the show started, we discovered that he can sing, however, he had obviously strained his voice - he was quite raspy. There was another guy in the play - Adam Lambert, playing the part of the Joshua - who had a simply AMAZING voice! It was unreal, really! However, I found myself throughout the rest of the production watching and listening, hoping he'd have another solo. He didn't, but the one he HAD performed made the whole show worth watching (if it weren't already). On the whole, the performance was quite enjoyable. There was one scene in the second act (the Golden Calf) that was not appropriate for children (and possibly not for adults - it was quite lewd). Otherwise, despite the fact that Val Kilmer was the weakest vocal link, we had a great time.

After the show, we moved to seats even closer to the stage and get settled in, awaiting the cast. The theatre cleared out quite quickly. There were about 30 or 40 folks who stayed behind for the meet & greet. Val Kilmer and several other cast members (including the four young boys who were in the cast) came out to meet us and answer questions. Val was quite funny, really! He had a quip for practically every question that came up - and they were witty, seemingly spontaneous answers. One person in the audience asked what they did to keep their voices in condition. Val answered, "Not enough, apparently."

Labels: Food, Friends, Local Outings, Theatre