My fav musical of all time, Rent, tours through Ohio

Oh my goodness! I was pleased as punch to be obsessively surfing the net for nothing in particular 2 nights ago and stumbled upon news that the musical Rent would be performing at Ohio University (not The Ohio State University for you out of townies like me who don’t readily recognize the difference. To make a mistake like that around these parts is fightin’ words.) in Athens, Ohio. I had no idea where Athens, OH was nor have ever heard of Ohio U. but I knew I was going. It turns out it’s only 1 1/2 hrs from Columbus.

I was able to get one my local chick friends who is probably the only person I know around here who’d be up for a spontaneous adventure to come along. I bought the tix online that night and last night we were off to Athens! We had a lot of fun. It’s invigorating sometimes to venture into the unknown on a whim. It was like every part of the trip was an experience in itself. Neither of us knew how scenic the drive down state route 33 would be. We got the kiddie giggles as the roads had less light but churches that nearly equaled in square footage to the towns themselves. I was cursing my hubby in my head because he had my GPS…the one he gave me as a xmas gift…eh-hem…the one he uses more than me…eh-hem (it turns out he has it with him on his business trips this week)…so I was relying on my last minute chicken scratched directions that I jotted down from the internet.

As we allegedly got close to campus, we still had that chill of disbelief that there wasn’t anything to be found in this town. But, lo and behold, the campus surfaces out of nowhere. It’s actually kind of cute. We were pleasantly surprised to see the little boutiques and pizza joints and artsy fartsy stores surrounding campus.

We stopped to ask an Asian student where to find the campus and she gave us some general direction. As we got into campus, we asked a black guy of foreign descent where to find the auditorium. He said he didn’t know but then knocked on our window a few moments later and pointed right behind him…college kids…I tell ya. I mention the heritage because I was a little perplexed to find 2 international students as the first 2 students we interacted with in this small college in the mountains of Ohio.

Parking. Now that was a Thelma and Louise moment. They had a parking garage that only accepted quarters. Perfectly useless. So I drive around and find a tight but do-able spot. Now mind you, I’m from the land of planned communities with pull in spaces so getting my “swerve” on to wiggle in this spot was pretty advanced for me. We were a pitiful sight. I tried like 20 times. My chica tried like 20 times. Then I tried a few more times and finally wiggled my way in. I know anyone watching was totally entertained. I usually point and laugh at such sights myself. Who gives a shit? This spot was F-R-E-E baby!

We missed the first 10 minutes which meant we missed “Rent” and “One Song Glory”, but that’s ok to me since I’ve seen it before and there was tons more delicious entertainment in store. Damn parking spot!

At intermission, students kept scurrying to the window to look outside at the moon. They were taking pictures with their camera phones and everything. We kept looking at each other perplexed and kind of giggling that these strange kids in the mountains of Ohio were so fascinated by the moon. Even after the show, as we left the auditorium, people were outside with telescopes or their naked eyes pointing and staring at the moon. We were about ready to get the hell out of this crazy town before the students turned into werewolves and ate us “dark meat” for dinner. The last laugh was on us when my gal pal mentioned that the moon seemed partially black, it occurred to me that there must’ve been a lunar eclipse that night.

The show was utterly fantastic. I know the story and songs so well that I had to press myself against the chair to keep from wanting to rock and belt out every tune myself. Oh, how I dream to be on stage… I’m sad that Rent is in its last few months of performing but I’m happy to have seen it one last time. It is definitely THE musical of our generation. I did, however, forget how sad it gets towards the end, and had to work to keep myself from crying. I mean I know for sure the girl next to me was not following the storyline at all…per her loud ass conversation on her cell in the middle of the show.

Ok, did I get to tell you how cold it’s been in Ohio? It snows like every single day, and I’m over it already!!! It was like 1 degree last night as we trudged through dirty snow around campus. That bone chilling cold that takes hours to get over. My genetic make-up does not like me to be exposed to the cold so long. Waaaaaaaa! Yes, I want some cheese with my whine.

Given the cold and hunger pangs that I’m sure we both had for hours, we did a random coffee shop stop at a place called Donkey. Apparently, it’s the best rated coffee house in Ohio according to Ohio magazine…or so they had posted. It was a cool vibe. We could totally see ourselves lounging there and having deep intellectual conversations about nothing like you do when you’re in your college years. We both had hot choco, the non-coffee drinkers we are, and I had mine with soymilk to save my tummy from churning all the way home and also not offending my gal pal’s sense of smell as I would surely fart the whole way home, too.

Ooh! and we got muffins, too! I had blueberry and gal pal got lemon poppy seed. Both were magically delicious. Yummy!

I wanted to get signatures from the cast, but this was a heck of a journey to begin with that I couldn’t see myself waiting backstage for another half-hour to get signatures. Yes, I’m one of THOSE people. Get over it! When I have truly treasured memorabilia, like my Gym Class Heroes signed ticket stubs, you all will be jealous.

Instead, I bought a lot of junk that I will probably never find the right occasion to use or wear. I got a t-shirt, a journal, and a playbill that came with one of those flimsy drawstring backpacks. I won’t tell you how much I spent because it was a known rip-off, but it made me feel good.

In the car, I introduced my gal pal to some of my classic girly song cds. “It Ain’t Nothing but a She Thang” that was put out by Levis jeans for women years ago and my absolutely favorite Tracy Chapman album “Crossroads”. It all added to the ambiance of the night. The kind of night that makes you feel cultured, you know? We’re so cool!

Cheers to a random road trip to the hills of Ohio (a novelty in itself because like Christopher Columbus, I assumed Ohio was all flat)! I’ll have to make my way back there in the spring and during daylight. Maybe find a little cabin in the woods and do the outdoorsy weekend.

Holla!