The weather reports indicated a spell of really fine spring days were coming. Friday was okay. Saturday was really nice . . . and then Sunday was absolutely gorgeous. Peg slept in while I wrote two articles at my desk looking out my office window. A young buck with just nubbins for antlers had parked himself in the curve of our blackberry bushes. He was happy to snooze and glance over at me from time to time. I rolled a past pull date Fuji apple his way. He ignored it. Once Peg had a late breakfast and read the Sunday papers, I hopped in my Buick as the buck stood and looked at me. I slowly drove up the driveway. In my rear view mirror I could see him nudge the apple with his foot and then begin eating.
Peg joined me in the car and we were on our way to CenterStage in Federal Way for "Cardinal Sins," a brand new musical. Although, CenterStage has a Federal Way address, we can see the trees of the old seminary that was converted to public use from our deck in North Tacoma.
We knew the musical was about the Magna Carta, but had no idea what to expect. We took our front row seats and admired the set. We faced gray castle walls. A slide show of quotations about liberty and democracy alternated in locations along the battlements. Some quotations were serious, some were funny and one was from Donald Trump, so we new the play wasn't going to be as serious as I was afraid. Once the production started we were hooked.
There were enough bawdy jokes, comments, gestures, and songs to entertain the teenager in all of us.
After the standing ovation, Peg and I talked briefly with retiring Managing and Artistic Director Alan Bryce. This is his third play, which is how he planned to end his reign at CenterStage. We missed one, but really enjoyed "For All That." A poignant look at a small town's loss and a nation's loss of innocence in World War I. Alan took his same writing team of composers and lyricists with him for his journey back to the days of Robin Hood, King Richard, Prince John, and the creation of the Magna Carta, which became the blueprint of our own constitution.
After congratulating Alan Peg and I were on the road back to Tacoma and Pacific Grill for dinner. It was a lovely day for a drive, but I had pushed the speed limits both coming and going. We arrived with only five minutes to spare at CenterStage and were fifteen minutes late for dinner. A fantastic day with a fantastic musical has to have a fantastic meal involved in it somewhere. We had our normal appetizer of smoked steelhead. Peg had an order, while I had two. I had never seen the steelhead piled so high before. Peg's lamb a little over-cooked book and my pasta had too much cheese, but these were minor complaints. As always we enjoyed our selves. The best bite of the evening were the scallops. One for Peg and one for me.
This appetizer is incredible. It screams Pacific Northwest and is tasty beyond belief.
With the lamb a little over-cooked the veggies took command. The lovely cauliflower couscous will be ordered separately and shared next time around.
A little too much cheese (I don't think I've ever complained about that before), which took away from the fabulous pappardelli spring pasta. The snap peas were excellent. I chose to have it with crab and scallops, but prawns were delivered by mistake, which was easily corrected with scallops brought separately.
Lisa was our server. She did a great job for us. We also said hello to Diane, our favorite server at Pacific Grill (different station). We had the fruit tart for dessert. Most of Peg's dinner came home with us. She will make the lamb come alive with a little wine and broth.
Back home with doors and windows open we enjoyed the evening. Peg finished reading the Sunday Seattle Times and the News Tribune, while I pondered the state of the world . . . and then fell asleep early with a smile on my face.