Lehigh Valley InSite

Two Noble Kinsmen

This past Wednesday, I attended my first ever production at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, with a chance to see The Two Noble Kinsmen. Not quite knowing what to expect, I went into it with an open mind and made sure to read the synopsis a few times so I’d be able to follow the story easily. It turned out that I was able to follow the dialogue and story line without the added homework I had done. The Two Noble Kinsmen was funny, inspiring, an emotional roller coaster and an all-around great time.

The story revolves around two cousins who fall in love with the same fair lady who cannot choose between the two, and eventually they duke it out to compete for her hand. The love triangles and comedic banter made for a hilarious performance in the intimate stage setting at DeSales University.

Pride & Prejudice

Oh that Mr. Darcy! The most “abhorrent, repulsive, vulgar, rude, man in all of Hertfordshire” invaded Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival last night, much to my delight.

Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy have the greatest love story ever written. This production, which started it’s run last night, captured the essence of one of my favorite novels. The quick pace of the play was especially focused on the humor of Jane Austin’s writing, which was so refreshing.

Jon Oliver

What do you get when you combine a delicious burger and a hilarious comedy show? The perfect Friday night in Lehigh Valley.

Like so many of my other blog posts, this evening began with dinner in Bethlehem. Erin and I visited one our favorite restaurants at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem; Burgers and More By Emeril. We both enjoyed a fantastic meal of burgers and onion rings. By the time we left the casino, we were both completely stuffed and ready to be entertained.

King Henry

I had never been to Penn’s Peak for a show until recently, when Marc and I were invited to visit Penn’s Peak to experience a luncheon show, King Henry and The Showmen. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and it turns out I was not disappointed in the slightest.

We were greeted by Lynn, who not only does group sales but also performs in the show as well! We had a delicious family style lunch and talked to the other people at our table to see where they were visiting from. Three of the people from our table hailed from our neck of the woods in Lehigh Valley. As I looked around, I couldn’t help but notice there isn’t a bad seat in the place!

Daniel tosh courtesy of danieltosh dot com

I have a guilty pleasure – I just can’t get enough of Daniel Tosh’s comedy act. The first time I saw him perform standup was in New York four years ago and I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. Last week, I had an opportunity to watch him perform at the State Theatre Center for the Arts in Easton. I expected a great show and he didn’t disappoint.

After two pretty good opening acts, Tosh nonchalantly walked onto stage to a chorus of thunderous applause.  Nothing was sacred during Tosh’s set. Religion, race, sex, politics, New Orleans, Ben Roethlisberger, even the font used on the “exit” signs inside the State Theatre were all fair game. And the crowd ate it all up – every last offensive morsel. He was brilliant.

AllentownFairLogo

Back in April I blogged about how classic/prog rock band Rush was going to open up the 2010 Great Allentown Fair’s grandstand show lineup. Well, tomorrow is opening night of the Fair, which means the wait is finally over. I still think they’ll end up having the most impressive visual show of all the acts, with a lot of screens and lighting that is usually only found in arenas.

Keith Urban, Justin Beiber (still sold out) and Jeff Dunham are still slated to be taking the stage September 3, 4 and 5. Since my initial blog post, the final two shows have been announced, so here’s my take on them:

Laugh

A couple of weeks ago, Michael and I decided to check out Blue Ridge Country Club’s comedy night, which is open to full-fledged members of the club as well as social members (a social membership is incredibly affordable at just $100 year, which gets you access to the restaurant and bar in the clubhouse and invitations to comedy nights, live music events, dances, wine tastings, etc.).

The night began with a delightful dinner buffet in the club’s beautiful main dining area with its high-vaulted ceiling and stunning view of the course through the glass windows that surround the room. The self-serve buffet consisted of sliced tenderloin, jumbo lump crab cakes, chicken marsala, au grain potatoes, green beans and salad. Based on previous experience, I know the chef at Blue Ridge Country Club to be excellent, so I made sure to sample a little of everything from the buffet. Then servers dressed all in black and white brought us our dessert: mixed berries with pound cake and sabayon.

Rush-band

Move over Leave It To Bieber, Rush is coming to town (tickets go on sale in two weeks!). I know how huge Bieber Nation is right now – he sold out The Allentown Fair in under 2 hours, which is an amazing accomplishment. But this is Rush, one of the biggest rock ‘n’ roll bands of all time!

This is going to be the biggest show Lehigh Valley has seen since Metallica played the Fairgrounds in the early 90s. (You know, I could actually hear that show from my house in Whitehall.) This show is going to blow the doors off of any country star, teen pop idol, and rock band that has ever played The Allentown Fair.

Bat_Boy

One of the cool things about living in Lehigh Valley is the fact that we are home to so many colleges and universities with great theater departments. Friday night, Don and I had the opportunity to catch “Bat Boy – The Musical” at Muhlenberg College.

I knew nothing about this show other than the fact that it was a musical comedy. Sounds good to me, I love musicals where the cast suddenly breaks into spontaneous song and dance. It’s so surreal. I sat down expecting “Oklahoma”…I walked out thinking “Rocky Horror.”

State%20Theater%20Courtesy%20of%20Erika%20Liodice (2)

“What do you want to do tonight?”

“I don’t know what do you want to do?”