Last Dance

You guys know I love broadway, and right now I’m in even more of a musical phase than ever before.

Last night Paris and I went to see Summer! The Donna Summers musical on broadway and it totally blew my mind.

You also probably know I love a theme, so naturally I wore this blue off the shoulder jump suit because disco. Also because if you know Donna, you know she always wore blue and this rang true throughout the musical.

My plan for today’s post was to share how my mom and I would see 6 shows in 5 days when visiting New York back in the day but after seeing the show last night I have SO MUCH TO SHARE that I decided to make this a show review post – and I’ll share that tip later on.

SHOW REVIEW

I’ll start by saying I’m not a theatre critic, and all though I was a classically trained competitive dancer for 15 years I’m not a professional. I’m not an actor or singer (except for in the shower) and I’m actually quite tone deaf. I’ll also say I’m not planning on ruining the show or sharing any spoilers because I hope you go see it on your own and don’t want to take that chance from you, I just want to give you a little understanding of what you’re walking into and maybe persuade you to buy a ticket.

WHY WE SAW IT

I showed up to Summer! knowing nothing about the show except for the fact that it centers around Donna Summers and her life and that it started Ariana DeBoise who I follow on Instagram. I make an effort to avoid musicals without original music (like this one) because I feel it’s just a plug and play to find song that’s fit to the story and it usually feels forced. I love Donna Summers & disco again, I don’t love musicals without original music so two weeks ago I walked by the musical and said to my mom I love Donna but I’m not interested but boy was I wrong. A few nights ago I was on Instagram when I realized that Ariana was starring in Donna & that she was nominated for a Tony for it. I knew of Ariana because she’s such a great dancer, and because she’s a mixed curly girl so you know I support her ! I honestly had no idea if she could sing or act but thought let’s go support her and all the other amazing black women in this show and give it a whirl.

PRESHOW PREP

So I put on my disco dancing shoes (that are so comfortable by the way) and a jump suit before sprinkling my look with green accessories and larger than life Donna hair and we trotted off to see the show. Before we went for dinner at 44 x 10 which is one of our favorite pre show restaurants because it’s close enough to Times Square without being at Times Square and lets us walk to the show. Plus it’s never that busy and the food is good, pricey but good. I drink maybe once or twice a year, and usually only half a martini when I do because I like the taste but never want to be buzzed. 44 x 10 had a Donna summer martini with blue cheese stuffed olives so I had half of it and it was delicious along with my short rib dinner, Paris had the steak. We ate dinner at 615 then walked over to 46th and 7th where our show was stopping that take these pictures along the way.

SHOWTIME

So without giving it away here are some things I loved about the show.

Ariana DeBoise – I honestly don’t have words for her performance. Paris and I both agreed that it was the best leading role we’ve ever seen done on broadway, and keep in mind we’ve seen wicked original cast, Hamilton original cast, and countless others with stellar performances.

Double dose of Donna – the other donnas are amazing too, DeBoise just stands out to me specifically because she can dance so well and your rarely get to see the star dance so much and soooo welllll. But all of the Donnas are stars and the show was stellar

Dancing – in general there is so much dancing in this show and it’s just so darn good. Plus it takes you through the evolution of song and dance that aligns with Donnas life.

Music – obviously the music is great because it’s mostly disco and up beat, which is a nice twist to some of the sleepier songs they usually use to fill a musical. You’ll find yourself singing and dancing all show long.

Set – the show has a much more simple set then what I’m used to but it used technology in a new and cool way were starting to see in more shows (mean girls did something similar too). I kind of like that they kept it pretty simple and let the stars of the show really shine.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

The show has no intermission so be sure to use the bathroom before hand if you need it. The show has three Donna Summers in it to show the different stages of her life, it’s pretty clear and easy to follow but just know to look for the blue and you’ll find Donna ! The show is also fairly new but it’s so clean and clear I wouldn’t have guessed. Usually when you see a musical in its First month they’re still working out the kinks but this was flawless.

THE VERDICT

Go see it go see it now !!!! I’m not sure how long the original cast will be doing the show, so do yourself a favor and go see it now. Most shows are almost all would through but I was able to get the last few orchestra seats the day of so you should be able to get a few seats for each show from the box office or website directly instead of going through some resale service. We paid about 175 per ticket because I’m a snob and have to sit really close, but some start around 50 dollars.