West Side Story redux, dinner at Credo

Twas a dark and stormy night. Really! The weather people really screwed up the forecast by missing this one. I'm home on a Saturday night, in for the weekend, really, nursing a cold to prevent it from becoming something more, watching lightning light up the San Francisco sky during a downtown downpour.

This past Thursday was my last night out for awhile, and Penelope, The Minister's Rebellious Daughter and I went to see West Side Story. Beforehand, Penelope and I had dinner at Credo and this is worth bringing up. I made a 6:00 reservation on Open Table, for which we arrived promptly. Neither of us had been before and the place was packed six deep at the bar with those fi-di/Marina types who think the louder you say something the more interesting it must be. The volume was almost too much to bear for a meal and once we were seated it only increased one decibel at a time. We were going to leave, but then a server mentioned we could sit "downstairs" if we preferred, to which we replied "Please!"

"Downstairs" is a new section for the restaurant, only opened two weeks ago, and is usually where they would have put the loud, obnoxious, private party who were destroying the upstairs this evening (who refused the space and insisted on remaining upstairs).

The good folks at Credo deserve an "A" for effort on accommodating us and others on this night. The food was slow coming (because of the crush upstairs) but it was delicious, the drinks well-made and the staff obviously wanted to make sure everyone was satisfied and made a real effort at it. Bravo.

We just made it in time to the Orpheum to meet TMRD, who for once beat me to the established place. We all agreed Kyle Harris as Tony was poorly cast, with Penelope cruelly comparing him to Howdy Doody. I was less impressed with Ali Ewoldt's Maria  the second time around, who seemed very shrill in the 2nd half, and interestingly the choreography, instead of getting tighter as the run has gone on, has noticeably broken down amongst the female dancers especially, but over-all lacked the dynamic punch of opening night. Joseph Simoene's Riff, German Santiago's Bernardo, Michelle Aravena's Anita remain impressive. The set is even more impressive seen from the orchestra instead of the balcony. The run has a week left and it's worth seeing.