Hollywood Bowl Double Header: West Side Story + Diana Ross

Concert #1 – West Side Story @ the Hollywood Bowl, July 14, 2016

Larry & I were super-ambitious with our Hollywood Bowl ticket selections this year. We had once sworn off weeknight Bowl concerts as they can be kind of exhausting to go to after a day of work. But we went for it anyway, picking a Thursday night concert performance of West Side Story, which my mom also came with us to see. Everything honestly worked out great for the most part, except damn, Thursday night traffic was ludicrously bad. Like, the worst I’ve seen it. It honestly took us almost an hour on the bus to go from the LA Zoo parking lot over to the Bowl, and that’s INSANE. Look at the distance on the map and you’ll realize why that’s insane.

As for the show, none of us were quite sure what to expect. Our experiences with movies at the Bowl have been different, with the Hitchcock experience being various scenes from his film accompanied by their even more-famous scores, E.T. being a straight-up watching of the movie while listening to the orchestra play the soundtrack, to of course John Williams’ music being highlights from the various movies he’s scored. It ended up that West Side Story was that night going to be a performance of the songs, Broadway-style. Although we learned later that only the rights to perform the songs had been acquired, but NOT the choreography, so no dancing.

In the end, it was a fantastic performance, with wildly talented performers in the main roles. Jeremy Jordan, of both SMASH and Supergirl, was Tony, and he was awesome. So were the people who played Maria, Anita, and Riff – and hearing “Dance at the Gym” performed live is always a thrill. Just wish there had been dancing!

Ready for West Side Story to begin

In our seats

Jeremy Jordan was Tony

Picture of Quintet

Concert #2 – Diana Ross @ the Hollywood Bowl, July 15, 2016

The very next day, we were heading BACK to the Bowl for another concert. Diana Ross isn’t someone I would necessarily have said I’d have wanted to see in concert, as I wasn’t even sure she still did tour. This season’s pickings at the bowl were a little sparse, so we ended up just taking a chance on seeing if a true legend still had it. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much. She’s 72, and I don’t expect people to still bring it like they would have in their 20s, 30s, or even 40s! So how about I shut my damn whore mouth as Miss Diva fucking brought it. She tore that house down, let me tell you, and I am so happy we made it to her show.

Diana Ross performed songs from her various eras, starting us off with some Supremes action, then proceeding into her disco fun, a small journey to Lady Sings the Blues, and then ending with some pure bliss. Does she dance all across the stage? Nope, but does she own every inch of it anyway? YES. Or as Ilana would say, Yas, Queen! It was such a blast, she owned the crowd, and if you get the chance to catch her in concert, just do it and go. It’s worth it.