Kiss me, Kate

There is a Little Theater in San Antonio. They put on several productions each year. Barb and I had not been to one of their productions. Last year in June with the heavy rains, the street from the theater was washed out and they had to cancel a couple of productions during the summer. Then we have been pretty busy. However, Kate & Jack had received 2 tickets for Monday night’s performance of the current production of “Kiss me, Kate”. They asked if we would like to go. We decided to do it; however, all the tickets were sold out. Because there are almost always some no-shows, they have a system of a waiting list. An hour and a half before the production, you can show up and put your name on the waiting list. We did that but there had been 5 people on the waiting list for the previous night who were at the top of the list. We got #6 & 7 on the waiting list. We then went back to K. & J.’s for chicken dinner. Sure enough, several people did not show up. About 5 minutes before curtain time, I overheard the manager say that there might be 12 seats available. The first 5 on the waiting list were seated. However, literally in the last minute, four people with tickets showed up. However, Barb & I got in and only one other after us.

The production was better than I expected. Several of the actors have had extensive experience in local and regional theater, mostly in the US. Not too many of the actors had really good singing voices, but the main female lead doing Katherine and the main actress had an outstanding voice. What was also interesting was that a number of the women in the chorus, who are in my age range, were able to do a creditable job of dancing. Also, the 2 men who played the gangsters and then sang the “Brush up your Shakespeare” song were terrific. The Little Theater is really lovely. It has very nice theater seats (about 250 or so seats). It also has a lovely patio for drinks and the intermission. The theater has been on the go for about 30 years, but the building is relatively new. It is very close to us (about 6 blocks or so). We shall certainly try to get to more of their productions.

Today was the March meeting of the Canadian Club at the Nuevo Pasado Hotel. They said today that this is the largest Canadian Club anywhere in the world. For today, they had arranged for 10 of the private hospitals in Guadalajara to present their medical services and facilities. They all seem first class facilities (internationally certified) with top specialists and technology. Americans especially drool at the prices they charge as compared to the US. The more we learn about the medical system here, the more impressed and amazed we are.

After the meeting, there was a Mexican fiesta. We had extra seats at our table and we were joined by an interesting couple from Lunenburg. The fiesta (including an auction of donated art) was a fund-raiser for the Easter passion pageant. It is a reenactment of the entire Easter story beginning with Palm Sunday and especially events associated with Good Friday. The actor has to carry the cross from the main church in Ajijic up the mountain to the shrine where the reenactment of the crucifixion takes place; then the body is carried back down the mountain to the church. It is the most elaborate Easter pagent in Mexico. This will be the first time for us in April.