Hollywood Bowl
June 7, 2025
I drove straight from Cerritos to the Culver City bus for the Hollywood Bowl. I’d chosen the 6:00 departure time rather than the 5:30 departure time even though I knew that didn’t really matter. They don’t check. They just look to see if you have a ticket. I was pleased when I checked the week before the show and they had added the Culver City line to the Park and Ride options, because it had not been available and my next closest option was Santa Monica College. I would not have made that bus, which meant driving out to Hollywood and I did not want to do that. Traffic was awful. The closer I got to Culver City the worse it was. I suspected something was going on in Inglewood – at SoFi, the Intuit Dome or the Kia Forum – because so many people were trying to get off the 105 at Prairie and the 405 at Manchester. I later learned there was a night time half marathon going through the area. Who does that???? Apparently Nike.
I made it to the bus at 5:45. Not bad, all considered, and grabbed the bag I had packed at 11:00 am with 2 frozen water bottles, 1 non-frozen water bottle, 1 string cheese, 2 pastries and a cup of hot tea. Julie had to go home and do some visits and she had a little more time than me since she parks at the Zoo Lot and those shuttles are continuous. This meant she was able to bring actual food. She brought sandwiches, chips, fruit and mini Boston cream donuts. I have to say I was especially pleased with myself for remembering my seat cushion. You can rent a cushion for $1 and they are free for Amex cardholders, but the seat cushions at the Bowl are very soft. Once you sit, your butt sinks right to the bench. It’s the illusion of cushion without real cushion. So last year I bought myself a super lightweight but very firm cushion. I love it. Last year they finally installed the sensors you walk through so you only have to stop at bag check if it beeps. Finally the rest of the world has caught up with Magic Mountain because they had those first! I did not beep, so my entry process was very, very quick. I went to the side entrance as usual and there was no one waiting in line there. I made my way to Promenade 3 and as I was walking by the cushion guy, he was telling someone they were out of cushions on that level and he needed to go down to Promenade 2 to get cushions. They did have “programs” so I grabbed one for Julie and one for myself. We have a new strategy of trying to get in the center of a section so people aren’t climbing over us. This meant I was climbing over a few people but then people still came and climbed over me. This strategy may be a fail. I was in my seat by 7:30. Julie texted me when she got on the bus and I texted back telling her to get a cushion on Promenade 2. She said she had to park in overflow and suspected this show was sold out. I’m fairly certain it was. By the time she got there, there wee no cushions on Promenade 2 either. She made it to her seat at 7:58 for an 8:00 show (which really means 8:05 as we all know). The sandwich was very welcome and delish. I had a few chips and shared a pastry with her and we each had one of those donuts. Yum. And somehow the tea I’d made at 11:00 am was still pretty warm.
The “program” is in quotation marks because it wasn’t really a program. There was a who’s who list, a lot of thank yous and a lot of ads. The conductor for the evening was Thomas Wilkins. I have heard him conduct countless times at the Bowl, so I knew he’d be great. The first half of the show was orchestral pieces. The people around us did not stop talking for the entire set. And I mean CONSTANT, loud talking. They brought 18 high school seniors from YOLA out to join the band for a piece and the people still would not shut up. At intermission, I turned to Julie and said, “Could you imagine being the parent of one of those kids and not being able to hear them play at the Hollywood Bowl because the people around you would not shut up?” I am semi-seriously considering printing up business cards that say, “This is not your living room. Kindly refrain from talking during the show.” I mean, I guess I should have suspected it would be bad when the concertmaster took the stage and the woman 2 seats away said, “Why is everyone standing up for HER???”
Hugh took the stage for the second half and opened with Crunchy Granola Suite. It seemed like a super odd choice. I whispered (WHISPERED!) to Julie that I didn’t know he was in the Neil Diamond musical. Later in the show he introduced Sweet Caroline by saying he was in a movie that’s coming out on Christmas Day based on the music of Neil Diamond. Mystery solved. Overall, Hugh Jackman was entertaining. He did make some questionable song choices and his voice wasn’t as strong as his back up singers and his special guest (whose name I don’t know since there wasn’t really a program in that big glossy book they handed out). He did a lot of Greatest Showman and Music Man songs, as you would expect though. He spent a lot of time on the walkway in front of the Pool Circle and even went down into the crowd for a bit. There was a fireworks finale and it was good, but not as good as last year’s. In fact I think the whole program for last year’s opening night – Mancini 100 – was better than this years. Maybe I’m just getting snobby.
The ride back was uneventful. I made the first bus and no one sat next to me. I had the crossword mostly done before we got back to the parking lot. The gates were all locked and the bus had to drive around the entire campus to get back to the parking lot so as we were walking to our cars the Bowl guys in the green shirts were telling us we had to go out the way the bus came in. Home by midnight and I slept very, very well that night!