Tonight was my perfect evening.
An incredible evening at my favorite restaurant in Chicago – Rose Angeli’s.
Followed by a performance of my all-time favorite musical – “Les Miserables.”

The night started with an incredible meal at Rose Angeli’s with my friend Nancy.
With plenty of time, we decided to start with an appetizer of spinach-artichoke dip…
but amped up with a ton of cheese and great portobello mushrooms in the mix!
The best spinach-artichoke dip EVER!!!

Followed by their “special of the week” pasta… pumpkin raviloi with a marsala wine
marscapone cheese cream sauce with roasted red bell peppers, chopped scallions,
toasted walnuts & dates!!! Incredible! Savory & sweet. It’s the chopped dates
that makes the whole thing come together!!! Love ’em.

Then for dessert, we of course had to go with my all-time favorite – hot caramel sauce…
with a side of brad pudding as the “vehicle” to get the caramel in my mouth! But…
and oh, but wait there’s more… our waitress, the amazing Catherine, also brought us
a complementary dessert of homemade chocolate & peanut butter ice cream, with cold
caramel sauce, bananas & fresh blackberries! C’mon now!!! I’m sure the people at the
tables around us thought we were complete pigs with huge entree dishes AND two huge
desserts for the two of us. But we only ordered one dessert, really… I swear!!!

Then we headed downtown for my favorite Broadway musical! Les Miserables.
Yes, I’m a dork. And I must admit that I’ve seen the stage show live “several” times.
I own three, okay, after tonight, four CD versions of the soundtrack… as well as the
DVD of the 10th Anniversary Concert event! Which I have watched endlessly at the studio!
I’m hooked. It’s the perfect musical – story, songs, emotion, talent, staging, everything!

It’s hard to believe that it’s the 25th Anniversary of the show?! So they’ve re-imagined
and re-staged the musical to give it a new look. Still the same story, but this time it was
a lot darker & grittier. The voices were still incredible. And no revolving stage?!
Instead, the back cyc wall continued to change & move with projected images of
Victor Hugo’s original paintings! The imagery moved as the play evolved in a seamless
and creative way. Nicely done! I would tell you all to go see it, but sadly, tomorrow
is the last performance here in Chicago!

Once again, Eponine was my favorite. The actress had incredible voice and she got
to sing my favorite Les Miz song “On My Own.” And then dies a couple songs later…
SPOILER ALERT! As well as Jaevert’s big suicide scene… incredible staged with
possibly the longest “drop” ever!

So again, tonight was possibly a perfect night.
Great food with a great friend. And an incredible performance of “Les Miserables.”