"The Phantom of the Opera" at Bass Hall

Those of you who might have missed it, that very famous masked man made an appearance at Bass Hall.  And not that the masked man who rides a white horse and leaves a silver bullet behind.  This masked man wears a white mask and leaves a rose.

Funny if you think about about.  The good masked man wears a black mask and the bad boy wears a white mask....hmmm something to ponder!

Needless to say The Travelling Toe with 5 Dear Friends went to see the man of mystery, "The Phantom of the Opera".  The touring show had several performances at Bass Hall and we went to the Sunday afternoon production.

The storyline and the magnificent music really make this musical as special as it is and as popular as it is. The Broadway production is still going strong and from the number of audience members in attendance the Sunday we went, the touring show is just as popular.

The staging has been refreshed somewhat and changes made. But the story is still the same, as is the music,and that show piece of the play, the chandelier.

We totally enjoyed the performance.  The actor who played the Phantom, Derrick Davis, had a majestic voice and did justice to those romantic songs of lost love.

Hope the Phantom comes back again soon!

BASS HALL

Bass Hall

Day Trip to Wills Point TX

Wills Point  TX
picture from the internet

City of Wills Point web site


Recently, The Travelling Toe and a Dear Friend journeyed to the small East Texas town of Wills Point.  The reason for the day trip was for the friend to visit relatives who had just recently located there.  The town of 3,524 is just off Highway 80 in northwestern Van Zandt County.  

Willis Point
downtown scene

Wills Point was founded in 1873 and was named for pioneer Williams Wills.  He arrived in the area around 1848.  The arrival of the Missouri-Pacific Railroad helped the town grow.

In the 1920's the streets in the downtown area were laid with red bricks on packed stand and the are still in use currently.  The city also boasts that many of the original buildings that over 100 years old are still in use. 

Jack O'Lantern
hay bale

We had a yummy lunch at "Nanna and Papa's Blue Bird Cafe".  It looks like a cafe you see in so many small Texas towns.  We each had ordered something different and it was all good.....with the french fries just coming out of the vat -  warm and delicious.

One of the stops we made was the Wills Point High School - home of the Tigers.  The high school has a large FFA program with numerous buildings to support the program.  We did see some delightful Halloween scenes that the students had assembled for credit.

By that time it was early afternoon and wanting to avoid heavy rush hour traffic, we made our adieus to Wills Point.  We did make one stop on the way home.  There is a new pit stop destination just off Highway 80 - Buc-ee's. It is a fun place to stop, refuel, both the car and the body and just look around at all the stuff they have for sale.  Plus there are lots of restrooms (even on the women's side) and are kept clean and tidy.


Another fun day on the highways and byways of Texas! 


(photos by The Travelling Toe)

"Inferno" (movie critique)

INFERNO
movie poster

Well, the Friday Movie Mavens and The Travelling Toe went to the local multiplex to see the latest flick which is based on Dan Brown's best seller, "Inferno".

Dan Brown
author

Official Website for Dan Brown

As the plot of the movie is somewhat convoluted, the overview below is from the internet: 

Famous symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) follows a trail of clues tied to Dante, the great medieval poet. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. Together, they race across Europe and against the clock to stop a madman (Ben Foster) from unleashing a virus that could wipe out half of the world's population.

This is the third movie starring Tom Hank as professor Robert Langdon.  The previous 2 movies were "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons". Esteemed director, Ron Howard directed all 3 movies.

Ron Howard
director

The Travelling Toe gives this movie 2 middle toes up with a city map to Florence and Istanbul as you will need it running, hiding and seeking the baddies.

Disclaimer:  The Travelling Toe is not a professional critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.

Il Divo at Verizon Theater

VERIZON THEATER
Grand Prairie  TX

Verizon Theater

Very recently, The Travelling Toe and a Dear Friend went to the Verizon Theater in Grand Prairie, to see "Il Divo" in concert.  The Travelling Toe must admit that she has seen them on their PBS concerts but has never attended one of their live shows. Our seats were towards the middle of the venue but we could see directly onto the stage. The orchestra is seated on stage and gives the performance just an extra musical touch.

They performed selections for their newest CD "Amor & Pasion".  Most of the songs were sung in Spanish but were so enjoyable.  One member of the quartet, Carlos, did a solo tribute to the 100th anniversary of Frank Sinatra's birth by singing "New York, New York". Then all four sang a marvelous rendition of "I Did It My Way".  

Il Divo
Amor & Pasion
CD

"Il Divo"  was created by Simon Cowell after hearing the Three Tenors - Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo perform.  Each of the four members bring their own talents to the group. Three are classically trained and one is a pop singer.  The group is made up of Carols Marin, Spanish baritone, Urs Buhler from Switzerland is a tenor, baritone Sebastien Izambard is from France and American tenor David Miller.

Il DIvo

They put on a fabulous concert.  Each singer had a solo number and they all played different instruments during the program such as the piano,guitars and a form of a concertino accordion.  Must mention that David, who has operatic training, sang the beautiful aria from the opera Turandot, "Nessun dorma"......oh it was breathtaking!

The show closed with the beautiful song, "Time To Say Good-bye".....and it was!

What a marvelous concert and we will go see them again when they return to Texas!

Sebastien, Carlos, David, Urs

Official Web Site for Il Divo

Westmont Garden Club - October visit to the Dallas Arboretum

The Westmont Garden Club celebrated fall by visiting the Dallas Arboretum’s Fall Festival.  The group went on Saturday, October 22, 2016.

                             



     

                                                        

The Arboretum was adorned with 3,000 chrysanthemums along with 147,000 other fall flowers, such as mums, zinnias, impatiens and marigolds and even multi-colored peppers just to name a few.  Pumpkins and squashes were used as flower bed borders and added just another touch of the fall season. 

The biggest draw for families was the Pumpkin Village.  It featured topiary houses made of pumpkins, gourds, squashes along with hay bales and corn stalks. Over 90,000 pumpkins, squashes and gourds were used in the displays. 

                                                           

   

Also, Cinderella’s Pumpkin Carriage was on display pulled by life sized horses made of straw.

One fun thing to do was to find the pumpkins listed in the Pumpkin Search Scavenger Hunt game.  The pumpkin search leaflet was given to visitors as they entered the grounds.   

Many families were taking pictures of little ones posed among the pumpkins.  Others were having picnics on the grounds overlooking White Rock Lake.

The weather for the day was warm with a light breeze just perfect for pumpkin peeping!!

Have you ever seen a pumpkin tree?  

The Travelling Toe took all the photos with her trusty iPhone camera.

Map of the arboretum grounds below:

"Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" (movie critique)

JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK
movie poster

With 2 other friends, The Travelling Toe went to see the new "Jack Reacher" movie at the local Movie Tavern.  This is the second "Jack Reacher" movie made starring Tom Cruise and are based on the best selling books written by Lee Child.

Lee Child
author

After working a case with Major Susan Turner, Jack travels to Washington DC to see her and take her out to dinner.  But Turner is suddenly accused of espionage and is put in military jail.  Jack knows that Susan is innocent and contacts her attorney and he tells Jack that she is also accused of having two of her team members in Afghanistan murdered.  But then the attorney is murdered and Jack's fingerprints on found at the crime scene so now he is in trouble too. He finds a way to get Turner out of jail and now they are both fugitives being chased by the military police and hitmen from Parasource, a former military contractor. Jack and Susan head out to find the truth behind the conspiracy, the murders and the frame.  Along the way they pick up a young girl, Samantha who is being tracked by the bad guys as they  think she is Jack's daughter.  Jack and Susan find clues which indicate that there is proof to be found in New Orleans with a former team member of Susan's.  Samantha steals a wallet with credit cards and ID's so the three of them to fly off to NOLA.  But the bad guys and the military police are not far behind.

So Dear Readers,what happens?  Is the conspiracy unveiled and those in charge taken down? Is Susan and Jack cleared of all charges?  Well, duh on part of that of course, because how can they make Jack Reacher movie #3 if he ends up in the slammer!!!

Needless to say there are this lots of fist fights, gun action, car chases plus running and hiding. The stunt crew sure earned their paychecks on this movie!


CAST:

Tom Cruise
Jack Reacher

Cobie Smulders
Major Susan Turner

Aldis Hodge
Captain Anthony Espin

Danika Yarosh
Samantha Dayton

The Travelling Toe gives this movie 2 middle toes up with Mardi Gas beads cause if you go to NO you gotta have some beads!

Disclaimer:  The Travelling Toe is not a professional critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.

"Keeping Up With The Joneses" (movie critique)

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES
movie poster

About 2 weeks ago the Friday Movie Mavens and The Travelling Toe went to see the comedy movie, "Keeping Up With The Joneses".

The premise of the story is that Jeff and Karen live on a quite cul-de-sac who know their neighbors and often block parties are the norm.  Jeff is the HR Director at the local aerospace company and Karen is an interior decorator who works from home  But then their quite suburban lives are turned upside down when the vacant house is sold.  The new neighbors are Tim and Natalie Jones who it appear to be the perfect couple.  He is ruggedly handsome and she is model beautiful.  Tim is an accomplished travel writer, with glass blowing as his hobby.  Natalie is a social media consultant, cooking blogger and raises money for a Sri Lankan orphanage.  But all is not what it seems for the Joneses.  Karen is suspicious and starts following Natalie.  When the Joneses go out for the evening, Karen and Jeff break into their neighbor's house and are taken back by what they see - lots of high tech surveillance equipment.  Tim discovers what they have done and soon the Gaffney's are caught up in the middle of an international spy ring.  

So Dear Readers, what happens to the Gaffneys and the Joneses?  Do they have a scary encounter with spies and terrorists?  And just like the old song, "How Do You Keep Them Down On The Farm After They've Seen Paree?"......how do you keep the Gaffney's down in the cul-de-sac after they have had a taste of a new and exciting life style?

You will just have to see the movie and find out for yourself.

The Travelling Toe must admit that there was a small concern about the show as Zach Galifianakis stars in it and he has been pretty raw in his past movies.  But this time no.  In fact the "F" word was only used one time and it was not him!!  WOW!!


CAST:

Zach Galifianakis
Jeff Gaffney

Isla Fisher
Karen Gaffney

Jon Hamm
Tim Jones

Gal Gadot
Natalie Jones

The Travelling Toe gives this movie 2 middle toes up with a dart pen......cause one never knows when the meanies will come calling!

Disclaimer:  The Travelling Toe is not a professional critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.