High school, a wedding, and menopause

It's been a full week now since the Hippodrome Theater announced its 2007-2008 season of shows so I've had enough time to mull it over and make some judgments.

Coming off an amazing lineup like this year which included crowd-pleasers like Wicked, I knew organizers would be hard-pressed to repeat such a success.

On my end, I'm happy enough. Here is the subscription lineup:

The Wedding Singer - Sept. 11-23, 2007
My Fair Lady - Nov. 6-18, 2007
Avenue Q - Dec. 11-18, 2007
Cirque Dreams - Jan. 22- Feb.3, 2008
High School Musical - Feb. 19- Mar. 2, 2008
Camelot - Mar. 25- Apr. 6, 2008
The Color Purple - Apr. 29- May 25, 2008

Personally, I'm absolutely thrilled about The Wedding Singer and Avenue Q. The former is the musical version of one of my favorite movies. We even had the first dance at our wedding to one of the songs. I didn't get a chance to see it during its short run on Broadway and I'm in love with the cast recording. Avenue Q is one of my all-time favorite shows. I'm so glad my family and friends will have an opportunity to see the show locally.

Now the rest of the shows? Well that's a different story. I'm okay with My Fair Lady which is a classic that I haven't yet seen, as well as The Color Purple, which I've heard good things about.

I'm far less enthused about Camelot. I can't quite explain why but I just lack any desire to see this show. It's probably fine but I can't get myself excited. Maybe I just got my fill of the Knights of the Roundtable with Spamalot.

Then there's Cirque Dreams. Rich and I actually saw this show in Atlantic City last year. They comp a lot of tickets for it. A take-off on Cirque De Soleil, the show is actually pretty entertaining but it belongs in a Vegas-like setting, not at the Hippodrome. If you do go, be careful about sitting on the left side near the front. There's a really creepy guy that stands there, covered in glitter, playing the violin. I don't think he blinks.

As for High School Musical, I have a secret confession to make. I really like it. Rich even took me to see High School Musical in Concert in D.C. a few months ago. HSM is this generation's Grease. Boy meets girl while on vacation and gosh, they wind up at the same school. Boy is seen as a tough guy while girl is the innocent/brainy type. Love blossoms. Spontaneous singing and dancing ensue. Groups that otherwise didn't get along are now "all in this together." The story is innocuous enough but the music is damn catchy. So if you can set aside the cheesiness and tween madness that accompanies the production, you might actually enjoy it.

In addition to the subscription series, there will also be two non-subscription shows: Hairspray (Oct. 16-21) and a six-month run of Menopause The Musical. I've already seen Hairspray three times so I doubt I'll go this time around. And as for Menopause, well I'll just avoid that like the plague that it is.

(Speaking of Menopause The Musical, is there anyone else that finds it highly annoying that the title doesn't contain a colon or em dash? I understand that menopause means no more periods but do you really have to abandon all punctuation? Sorry. It just really irritates me.)

So is this season perfect? Not quite. But there's enough there to keep me interested. Besides, I'm not about to give up our amazing seats. You can't get much better that Orchestra, row 3, on the aisle. We're perfectly positioned for quick runs to the bathroom.