An Evening at the Prairie Center for the Arts

The web site Chicago Traveler has this to say about the closest live theater to where I live: "The Prairie Center for the Arts is located northwest of Chicago, in the suburb of Schaumburg. The Center, which first opened in 1986, features performances in music, dance, theatre, film, and storytelling... With just 442 seats, the theatre at the Prairie Center is intimate, comfortable, and offers every patron an exceptional view -- no seat is farther than 15 rows from the front of the stage. Also, there is ample free parking at the Center."

Almost accurate. Free parking, yes indeed. And the venue itself is what small theaters are called -- "intimate." For Yuriko and I on Saturday night, sitting in the sixth row, the view was excellent. So too were the acoustics, something Chicago Traveler doesn't bother with.

"Comfortable," on the other hand, isn't a word I'd use to describe the seating. The seats are hard and narrow, with little leg room. If you're tall and fat, then, it's a lot like sitting in an airplane. Only about two decades have passed since the theater was built, yet the patrons have already outgrown the seats.

But if the show's any good, that's just a quibble. You forget about the seating arrangements and get lost in the musical arrangements. So it was Saturday. We don't go out for music very much, but when we do it's good to hit the nail on the head.