Hamilton in Chicago

On our last night in Chicago Sean and I were able to see Hamilton at the CIBC Theatre.  This was my eighth time (it was Sean's second) seeing this amazing show in the sixth city (New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas) and I was just as excited as I was the first time!  Because I've seen it so many times I immediately notice the different variations from production to production and I really loved this company, especially Miguel Cervantes as Alexander Hamilton.  He was the first person to play this role after Lin-Manuel Miranda and he was hand picked by Miranda who told him not to do what he did on Broadway but to make the role his own.  Cervantes played him with a lot of swagger and he had cocky grin on his face (we were sitting so close that we could see the facial expressions of all the actors), especially in his interactions with Aaron Burr (Akron Watson).  This arrogance throughout the show made his rendition of "It's Quiet Uptown" even more poignant because he was humbled and very emotional.  This is one of my favorite moments in the show and I always judge every actor playing Hamilton by whether he can move me to tears in this song.  I was practically sobbing!  Tamar Greene, as George Washington, is a large and imposing man and he absolutely dominated the stage during "Right Hand Man."  I had goosebumps when he charged onto the stage ("We are outgunned!  Outmanned!  Outnumbered!  Outplanned!") and I had goosebumps again when he raised the roof in "One Last Time."  Every Thomas Jefferson I've seen has done something different in the Cabinet Battles.  Paris Nix did the running man and it was absolutely hilarious when Hamilton mimicked him!  I also loved it when he gave a pamphlet to the conductor ("Have you read this?") during "The Reynolds Pamphlet." Most of the actors I've seen play King George have been completely over the top but Andrew Call gave the character a bit of angry vulnerability in "You'll Be Back," especially when he laughed while telling us that he will send a fully armed battalion to remind us of his love.  This is one of the best productions I've seen and I am so glad that I was able to see this brilliant show again, especially with my nephew who sat riveted the entire time.  It was the perfect way to end our wonderful trip to Chicago.

The Field Museum in Chicago

Sean really likes going to museums and Chicago has a lot of them to choose from (my favorite is the Art Institute of Chicago).  He picked the Field Museum, an incredible natural history museum that we both really enjoyed!  There were displays of animals from around the world, artifacts from different regions (I loved the Polynesian displays), and fascinating science displays (Sean spent more than an hour at a microscope station).  However, we both absolutely loved the dinosaurs!

Maximo the Titanosaur!

Sue is the largest and most complete (90%) Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil ever found and it was very impressive!  There is a really cool light show which shows which bones are not real and explains what they have changed from the original exhibit after studying the T. Rex (they positioned her shoulders differently and raised her tail).  It was fascinating!

We spent most of the morning here and it was definitely well worth our time.  I would highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the Chicago area.

Men in Black: International

Last night I went to see Men in Black: International.  I only remember seeing the first movie in the franchise but I really enjoyed the pairing of Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson in Thor: Ragnarok so I thought this would be a lot of fun.  Twenty years earlier, a couple who sees an alien in the back yard is neuralyzed (their memories of the alien are erased) but their daughter Molly is missed and becomes obsessed with finding the Men in Black.  Now an adult, Molly (Thompson) tracks down the organization and impresses Agent O (Emma Thompson) enough to be taken on as a probationary agent named M and sent to the London branch.  High T (Liam Neeson), the head of the London branch, pairs her with H (Hemsworth), one of the top agents who helped T keep an alien collective known as the Hive from reaching Earth but is now lackadaisical and reckless.  Agents H and M, with a little help from an alien pawn (Kumail Nanjiani), must now stop the Hive from acquiring a powerful weapon and uncover a mole who has infiltrated the Men in Black.  The story is incredibly predictable and I figured out the plot twist way before it actually happened.  I also thought that some of the CGI with the aliens and in some of the action sequences is very obvious and a little bit distracting.  Having said that, I still had a lot of fun watching this movie.  Hemsworth and Thompson are both very charismatic and have a lot of chemistry with each other.  They also have great comedic timing and I found myself laughing out loud quite a bit.  I really enjoyed Emma Thompson as Agent O (I wish she had a bigger role) and Rebecca Ferguson is absolutely hilarious as an alien arms dealer and ex-girlfriend of Agent H.  Much like this movie, I would recommend Men in Black: International to fans of light summer blockbusters.

Sightseeing in Chicago

I have a tradition of taking Sean on a road trip every summer (we've been to the Four Corners Monument, Grand Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, and Mount Rushmore).  When we were trying to decide where to go this year every place that Sean suggested was farther than I wanted to drive (I don't mind long road trips but a long road trip with a fourteen year old boy seemed a bit daunting).  I asked him where he would go if he could fly anywhere in the U.S. and he answered Chicago.  I liked this idea because it meant we could go to Hamilton while we were there (I didn't have to twist his arm because he likes this show, too).  We had two days of sightseeing in the Windy City and we were able to cross off everything on Sean's list!

Our first stop was the Skydeck at the top of the Willis Tower, which was once the tallest building in the world.  I went out on the ledge with Sean for about two seconds but he actually sat down on it (it is a lot scarier than you might think because you can see through the floor straight down to the street).

The views of Chicago from the Skydeck were pretty spectacular!

Our next stop was the Cloud Gate (otherwise known as the Bean) in Millennium Park.  Have you really been to Chicago if you haven't posed for the obligatory picture in front of the Bean?  We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner (Sean got his first HRC pin to start his collection) and then called it a day.

We started bright and early the next morning at the Field Museum (more on this coming soon).  Sean loves museums and this is the one he chose to visit.

Next we went to the Navy Pier so we could ride the Centennial Wheel, a large ferris wheel with incredible views of the city and Lake Michigan.

After lunch (deep dish pizza at Giordano's) we finally got on the hop-on hop-off bus for a tour of the city (it's a long story).  This is one of my favorite ways to see a city.  It was raining when we started but it stopped after a few minutes.

Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan.

The old water tower and pumping station.  These buildings are some of the few that survived the Great Fire of 1871.

Some of the buildings downtown feature some really cool architecture.

In the evening we had main floor seats for Hamilton at the CIBC Theatre and we both enjoyed this cast very much (more on this coming soon).  This was such a great trip!  I really like Chicago and it was fun to spend time with my nephew (who now wants to move there).  Where will we go next year?

Summer Reading: The Last Time I Lied

The next selection on my summer reading list, The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager, is another book that I simply could not put down! Luckily I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn during the summer because I have spent far too many nights reading into the wee hours of the morning! While spending the summer at Camp Nightingale, Emma and her older and more sophisticated bunkmates Vivian, Natalie, and Allison, enjoy playing a game called Two Truths and a Lie. One night Emma wakes up to find the three other girls gone, never to be heard from again. The negative publicity forces the camp to close and in the aftermath Emma has a nervous breakdown. Fifteen years later, still tormented by their disappearance, she is a successful artist but she is only able to paint disturbing portraits of the three girls disappearing into a dark and terrifying forest. She is contacted by Francesca Harris-White, the wealthy socialite whose family owns Camp Nightingale, and offered a job as an art instructor at the newly reopened camp. She is also informed that many of the former counselors and campers will also be back. She takes the job, thinking of it as an opportunity to find out what really happened to the girls and confront her demons so she can finally move on. But when she gets to Camp Nightingale, she must figure out who is telling the truth and who is telling a lie about that fateful night. This novel is incredibly suspenseful and, as I mentioned, I could not put it down because I had to know what happened! Sager does a masterful job of creating a sinister atmosphere and I felt a tremendous sense of dread as the events of the past come to haunt the present. I loved the fact that every single character has something to hide, including Emma who is a very unreliable narrator. The mystery is so clever because the clues are all there if you can piece them together (this may be a book that I need to read again). There were multiple times when I thought that I had figured everything out, but Sager took me in a completely different direction right up until the final page! I highly recommend this riveting story but do not begin it if you have to get up early the next morning. Trust me on this!

Note:  Have you read The Last Time I Lied?  What did you think?