Today was our first time at the New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park, KS. The show was a matinee of the show “Million Dollar Quartet”. This will be a review/reflection on the experience of the New Theatre Restaurant and the show.
We drove to the theater, expecting to be able to find it relatively easy from what we knew of its general location. I can around the end and saw the main entrance on the west side of the building, only to be unable to get through to get to the parking, because a bus was fully blocking the way and preventing us from getting to the parking lot.
So we backtracked our course and eventually parked on the east side of the building, in the strip mall that lets out to Metcalf. We saw a sign for the New Theatre Restaurant and parked there, then tried to follow the signs to the theater.
Our tickets instructed us to “please use the right entrance”. but all we could find was the back door, not the “right entrance”. So we were walking around the building through an alleyway to get to the front of the building, intending to find the “right entrance”. Someone from the theater came out a door and told us we had gone by the entrance. I mentioned the need to find the right entrance, and he told us we had gone by it.
So we eventually went back to the back door and went in, found the main lobby, realized there were two doors in there to the theater itself — a left and right — and got in the line for the “right entrance”. But that theater guy still didn’t understand what I was talking about when he sent me back. And the tickets certainly weren’t written to make sense to someone who hadn’t been to the theater before.
But once we were in line (long), we got seated in a reasonable timeframe (smooth moving line).
We had seats in the Dress Circle (nosebleed section), which really weren’t that far back, though somewhat close to the ceiling. We really aren’t interested in sitting too close to the stage. We need a moderate amount of distance (perspective).
Our table for two was fine, and we had a nice waiter, who took our drink orders and explained to us the pattern for the buffet, and how dessert orders are taken near the end of dinner for intermission.
Buffet opened at 11:40. We started at that time, and being in the middle of the room, didn’t get to the buffet before a moderate line had formed. We took 20 minutes to get through the buffet and back to our table. That was plenty of time to enjoy the courses, and go back for a final plate of fruit before the show.
They were very attentive to refills of Betsy’s soda, a little less attentive on refreshing the hot water for my tea.
During intermission, they were very efficient about bringing the desserts, which were as delectable as they looked. They were also very pleasant about processing the check unobtrusively.
And so to analyze the show.
Million Dollar Quartet is a show about the origins of four Rock and Roll greats: Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley. But what it really is about is the emotional journey of Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records and the one who discovered them all. It is about a jam session between the four greats, the one time they were together, before they went on separate ways.
I enjoyed the show, especially the way they played Sam’s journey. I believe people are supposed to key to the great songs of the period that they four sang during the session. I enjoyed the music, but it isn’t my music, and so I didn’t get the buzz I think people are expected to get from the music of the show.
Even so the music was good. The plot wasn’t really very heavy, but it did carry the show. If you really enjoy the four artists of the quartet, you will probably have a really great time.
The experience was good enough for us to consider going back to another show sometime, possibly even do a season ticket.
At The Rainbow 