Front Row Seats to Cecille and Beyonce
Thursday started off happily at the Vallarta Factory for mango smoothies with dear Sunny (is she ever) Rossi, President of the Vallarta Garden Club. The upcoming Isla de los Muertos festival on November 01 will be bigger and better this year, with spectacular entertainment, great food and drinks, and very groovy dead stuff. More details on this day of community as we nudge closer. We also discussed the upcoming VGC Gala in January, which is traditionally THE party of the year. So much planning months in advance to make these things happen and make them appear spontaneous.
After lunch and an obligatory short nap, I turned into a billy goat and climbed up a notoriously steep hill to Richard Di Via’s house for wine and Arte Vallarta Museo (Richard is the Curator) chatter before heading to the first O & A PV Magazine Gay Mixer of the 2024/25 season.
We were met at the door personally by Publisher Jerry Jones, Name-tagged, and scooted up to the pool level of Cuale Condo Hotel and blended with more than 150 other delighted party-goers. The food was fabulous and kept coming until I had to leave to get over to The Palm Cabaret for the opening night of Beyonce.
I LOVE front-row seats – I can focus on the show’s star, come back mid-season (or when my sister arrives!), and take in more of the background, dancing, videos, etc. And the costumes! Cecille and the entire cast reoutfitted six times! I don’t mean just a different dress – jewelry, boots (spectacular boots!) and gloves. I would love to be a fly on the wall in the Palm’s dressing room. Whoever is backstage – take a bow.
From my front-row seat, I marveled at how beautiful Cecille was. Is. She stood still rarely, interacting with the Starboys and -girl dancers and always in touch with her audience. Beyonce aficionados, who know every word to every song, were in their glory from the B-girl’s early days to recent Grammy-award-winning hits.
After the show, Producer Chris Lopez apologized for the too-bright lights shining into my eyes; I didn’t notice, mesmerized by the power of everyone on the stage, choreographed beautifully. This production does not have a weak millisecond and moves at lightning speed from start to finish. Everyone looked as fresh at the end of the show, 90 minutes later as they did at the beginning. It is an absolute smash hit.