Beard of Avon

After years of not making it down when the Somniloquist was in plays, The Wife and I decided to wait no longer. He's currently appearing in The Beard of Avon (not a typo), showing at Prairie Lakes Theater in Des Plaines. Not too bad a trip from home (around an hour), but our baby sitters (Mom and Dad Fishmonger) live 45 minutes to the NorthWest! So, we made a night of it. Dinner was not at The TikiTerrace as initially planned, for The Tiki Terrace does not seem to exist! I can only assume that they moved, and took their building with them, for there was no trace of a building at the address I had. Instead, we went to Chef of Siam, which is just down the road. It turned out to be a good choice. The tempura appetizer was excellent, and my Pad See Eiw was delish. Service was quick and attentive, and got us to the show with time to spare, even though I'd spent 15 minutes driving around looking for the tiki place.



At the theater, we were joined by TheSter, which was an unexpected surprise! But, the show, you're wondering... how was the show? The show was great, of course! An interesting and funny plot, amusing characterizations (especially The Somniloquist as Henry Wriothesley and Terry McEnroe as DeVere - quite a couple they made!), and a load of Shakespeare jokes (of which I probably only caught 1/10th) all conspired for an enjoyable evening. William Shakspere and Anne Hathaway (watch that generate the search hits!) were excellent together, as well. If you've got a weekend night free during the remaining run (January 12 through February 4, 2007), make the trip out to see it.
Photos Info Tickets $18

Our trip home from the play was... excruciatingly uneventful. As in, The Wife said "Gee, it seems like traffic is slowing down" (A rarity on the interstate at midnight), just before we passed the off-ramp. Well, traffic stopped as soon as we hit the top of the overpass. A moment later, a fire truck appeared behind us and parked across all lanes of traffic, closing the road. We were trapped there for over 45 minutes. Meanwhile, we could watch approaching traffic as it was routed around us on the frontage road and then past us onto the highway. It was infuriating and maddeningly boring. Fortunately, The Wife had a book to read and I had a newspaper. Well over a dozen emergency vehicles showed up while we waited, but we never did learn what had happened. Still, on the balance, a very nice evening, and as an additional plus, with The Boy away for the night, we were able to sleep in! Ahhh... sweet, sweet slumber.