Weekend Festivities

Naoyuki turned 39 on Sunday (May 4) and to celebrate Saturday night we went to see the traveling production of Broadway’s Avenue Q at Shea’s Performing Arts Center in downtown Buffalo’s theatre district.

We already knew a bit about it so we weren’t surprised by the colorful language (and equally colorful puppet activities!), which may not have been the case with many of our fellow audience members. From what I can tell Shea’s core demographic is retirement and/or upper-middle aged. A lot of people in that group were pointedly not laughing but just about as many were.

It was our first visit to Shea’s. Quite a grand old movie palace (which, naturally, has certain built in limitations as a performance space.) Very similar in layout / design with its many contemporaries, including those in Ann Arbor (Michigan Theatre), Atlanta (the Fox), and Pensacola (the Saenger.)

Sunday evening we joined our across the street neighbors, the Weppners (Matt, Anita, Hannah, Erin, and Brennan, plus a cat, three dogs, and two bunnies) for “pasketti” (courtesy Anita), garlic bread (courtesy me), and birthday cake (courtesy Wegman’s.) A good way to end a pleasant birthday weekend!