November 18, 2025 • 25 mins
When was the last time you attended an orchestra performance? Better question is: when was the last time you attended an orchestra performance beachfront while the sun was setting on a gorgeous estate? There was something magical about seeing the Michigan Philharmonic play Broadway hits at Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores, MI, as a way to close out the summer. The Edsel and Eleanor Ford House was the perfect place for an evening full of music, laughter, and gathering with friends and family to enjoy Broadway classics spanning the decades.
In this episode of the Box Seat Babes podcast, host Brian Kitson and special guest Ryann Ferguson break down the On Broadway night at The Ford House! This one-of-a-kind experience blended our love of all things theater and Broadway with the beautiful nature that Michigan has to offer. With a wide array of classic musicals, such as "Memories" from Cats, "Don't Rain On My Parade" from Funny Girl, to more modern theater, such as pieces from Wicked and Hamilton, the Michigan Philharmonic captured the energy and vibrancy of Broadway! Which pieces from this experience at The Ford House were our favorites? What were the overall vibes from our night out at The Ford House? Would either the host or honoree Box Seat Babes attend another night out with The Michigan Philharmonic? What were their standout moments from this production? Listen to this exciting episode to find out!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back, theater lovers, to another exciting episode of the Box Seat Babes Podcast.
(00:05):
Today we'll be talking about the Michigan Philharmonic performance of Broadway classics atthe Ford House, which took place back in August.
But before we begin, follow and subscribe to us on all major social media platforms tostay up to date on news and reviews from here in Michigan and the larger theater
community.
Joining me today is our honoree, Box Seat Babe, Ryann Ferguson.
Thank you so much again for joining us today and for going with me to this.
(00:27):
Of course, anytime, thank you for having me.
I feel like this was last minute that I sprung the sign of you.
was like, listen, I have tickets.
Let's go.
uh
it was day of, wasn't it?
Or day before?
It was very close.
was, I had been debating for a while buying tickets to this because, I had never done anexperience at the Ford house since, you know, school.
(00:53):
So I was like, do I want to go back?
You know?
but first I got to ask you, have you ever been to the Ford house before the Ford estate?
have not.
ah Which is surprising because like I didn't grow up too far from there and I feel like wewent on field trips to like very similar things all the time so I'm slightly surprised.
ah But I know that my grandma's been a bunch of times because she's always talking aboutit.
(01:16):
She goes to shows with like a bunch of her church friends all the time.
That tracks, because of the people that were there, that seems to track.
ah It's funny because I did go there quite frequently growing up in, you know, I grew upin Eastpointe um which is only two, three miles on the road.
And so this was a place that we frequented um quite a few times.
(01:38):
um And not to be that person, but I hated going because I always felt that the place washaunted and I was a scared little kid.
I was like, there's ghosts.
vibes.
It does.
It does.
percent.
you go inside that building and like you can tour and there's one room.
remember this cause I still sometimes dream about it when I'm having like a stressful day,but there's a room where there's wedding dresses from like the Ford people.
(02:01):
Um, and I used to refuse to go into that room because it reminded me too much of thehaunted mansion with the floating bride.
And I was like, I'm not doing it.
Is it?
It is.
I really like the part at the end where there's like the mirrors and the ghosts like jumpin the cart with you.
I get really excited when I get the lesbian couple.
(02:25):
You're like a dream come true.
It's me.
I actually was eight years old and my mom had to bribe me to go on that ride.
I was terrified of it.
I could not, would not.
oh Yeah, so I think it's cool then that, you know, me who got to conquer a fear and gothere, but you had never experienced the Ford house.
And while we didn't get to go inside of it, we did get to walk through the estate all theway up to the beach front at the house where the performance was going on.
(02:55):
I want to talk to you about what your experience was, I guess, walking into that state andwalking, what was essentially like a mile worth of walking to get there.
It was a very long path.
um And the path wasn't like super clear either, which I thought was interesting.
Like you saw people kind of going different ways to kind of all get to the same spot,which I thought was kind of cool.
(03:15):
um I thought it was the landscaping was beautiful.
um It was a very nice.
little walk and I especially like that like where you go for the performances you're kindof coming around I think that that was the house right that we were in the backyard of the
house so you like come around the house into the backyard with the waterfront like it wasand everybody's just there with like lawn chairs and everything it was it was a cool like
(03:38):
little thing to to experience.
Yeah, so I was, when we were walking up there, while we were walking with different groupsof people, ah I was not expecting the amount of people that were behind the house because
the way that it was positioned, it's kind of hidden from your view.
And when we came around that corner, there was, it was full, it was packed.
There were so many people there to see this performance.
(04:01):
And there was like a full on like food thing with a bunch of grills and like that, eventhat I was like, wow, this is, this is crazy.
Absolutely.
And granted, we didn't get there too terribly early, but we did get there early enoughthat we had time to walk and sit down before the performance began.
And we were still pretty far from the stage.
(04:22):
There was like, there was, by the time we got there, it was been so full of people.
um A lot of them, like you said, probably your grandma's age, you know, or just younger,but a lot of them were there.
And this seemed like this was such a, a community thing that had been going on for a longwhile.
Yes, I would agree with that.
And so that also leads me to ask you the question, have you ever seen a MichiganPhilharmonic performance before?
(04:48):
No, not with that that orchestra.
No, I've done Some shows down in Detroit.
I think it like the Fisher before And then I grew up like in an orchestra But outside ofthat no, I don't go to shows all that often
So I'm dragging you to this performance.
(05:10):
It's I willingly go.
I like to experience new things.
you grew up in an orchestra.
got to pause here for a second and explore that for a second.
I started playing the violin in...
so they did like that whole thing in elementary school, I think it was like fifth grade,where they like bring in the instruments for like a week and you get little lessons for a
(05:32):
week in fifth grade.
um And then um you had to choose like if you were going to enter band or orchestra forsixth grade.
And so I played the violin from like fifth grade all the way through high school.
Yeah.
really cool.
good.
Like, don't ask me to whip it out and play anything for you, because I'm not good at all.
(05:53):
But I was there, and I participated.
So you won't be performing with the Michigan Philharmonic anytime soon.
no, I honestly I was shocked.
We went oh to the national tournament um twice while I was in high school.
Once my sophomore year in New York and then again um my senior year in DC.
(06:14):
And I'm pretty sure I know at least at one of them we took first place, but I want to sayat both of them we took first place and I don't know how we did that with especially with
me on the team.
You're like, how did we get here?
ah That is so cool because I've always wanted to play violin and I've never played violin.
(06:37):
ah But to learn that I know somebody who's played the violin is such a cool just.
It does, and I've noticed it before and I've never, ever, never crossed my mind.
That's the one I've had since, trying to remember when I transitioned to a full size.
Probably eighth grade, I'd say, because there's like different sizes.
(07:02):
So they like start out smaller and then kind of grow like with you.
And I know we like leased this one to buy it.
So I know I had it for quite a few years.
And ladies and gentlemen, this is when Ryann Ferguson will be pulling out her violin toput on a performance for us.
Absolutely not.
It needs all new strings right now.
(07:24):
I don't even think I've touched that thing in like 10 years.
so I think the interesting thing about the Michigan Philharmonic was that up until thisperformance, and this is going to sound so bad as like a, like a theater gay, but I don't
think I knew that Michigan had a Philharmonic team per se.
I have heard of like the symphony orchestra, you know, down in Detroit and stuff likethat.
(07:47):
Um, if that's the Michigan Philharmonic playing, never knew, but I've also never seen ashow.
This was not something like.
I went to go see musicals, went to go see plays, but I didn't necessarily go to seeorchestras, because that feels like that's like a music gay, not necessarily like a
theater gay.
I just had never been on my radar until it cross-sectioned with Broadway here.
(08:08):
And I was like, well, why haven't I?
And this is probably something that should be covered.
Yeah.
No, and that's funny because like growing up we used to play like theater, you know,things all the time.
I remember we, my orchestra teacher was obsessed with like Phantom of the Opera and Ican't tell you how many times like he would whip it out like at least once a year and make
(08:31):
us play like a different song.
He was not letting that one go.
But that is the kind of music that you would see, like, cause that's the thing is likewild Broadway doesn't always have like, especially community shows.
don't have an orchestra, but like a lot of shows that are touring specifically likePhantom of the Opera have orchestras and that's what a Philharmonic is.
It's, it's an orchestra of all the different instruments.
(08:54):
so it makes sense as to that would be a show that people would perform because Phantom ofthe Opera is both iconic has probably one of the biggest
band, like the biggest orchestras out there, and really showcases all the differentinstruments depending on what song you're pulling.
so all this to say, I had no idea what I was getting myself into or getting you into.
and since then I've now seen another show.
(09:17):
saw the Witcher, um, concert down in, the Fisher recently.
And this also had a, um, it wasn't a full orchestra, but it was definitely orchestra like.
So, I can now say that I've done two of them.
Um, but before we jump into the experience, I do want to give a shout out to the musicaldirector conductor.
Nan Washburn because this seemed like this was a really intense show.
(09:42):
This was about two hours, two and a half hours.
They were playing for most of it outside on like essentially what is a beach because we'reright on the water.
um People are having alcohol, they're eating, they're socializing.
This is not like exactly necessarily a uh
I don't know.
It's not like you're going to a theater to see the show and you feel like, like we're allfocused in, but it was a lot more relaxed and it was a lot more, the vibes are a lot more
(10:09):
like we're sitting here enjoying the music as we're kind of also enjoying each other.
Is that a good way to kind of describe the vibes?
Definitely, definitely.
I think that was one of my favorite parts about it was that like you didn't have it wasn'tsomething that you just sat there and listened to for two hours straight in like complete
silence.
It was like people were having conversations and like you could tell it was it was a veryrelaxed vibe.
(10:34):
I mean, right in the description too.
says, bring a picnic blanket or lawn chair, relax beneath the evening sky and enjoy thesymphony surrounded by the charm and elegance of the Ford house.
Like it truly just feels like you'd be almost being transported back to when the Fordhouse was like actively a house and like you're enjoying the music or having fun.
And what a kind of a cool way to close out summer because now that we are officially infall, dear Lord, we are in fall.
(11:00):
uh
But it was kind cool that this was like one last experience that you and I, we got to goout and just, just vibe and chill and enjoy music that everybody recognized and everybody
enjoyed.
Yeah.
Um, so speaking of the show, there was kind of two parts.
Well, I mean, there was multiple different parts, but there was two sections.
Obviously there was an intermission.
(11:21):
Um, and leading up, you know, the first one we open up and there's, starts off with,there's no business like show business, which is such an iconic Broadway song.
And while we're not going to go through every single song, I think that it's important tostart here because this is a.
This is a, an arrangement that every single person who loves theater knows.
(11:43):
Mm-hmm.
Like it's so, this is iconic.
And I think right off the bat, we both knew this one.
And we felt like maybe we were old people tapping our foots a little bit because we gotright into it.
yeah, well, and like right off the bat, could tell that like even the just like the peopleperforming, like they were having fun with it.
Like they were all very excited to be there, excited to be playing these songs.
(12:06):
Absolutely.
mean, I think that people need to understand too, when we got into there, not every songwas played fully.
Like this first one called Curtains Up was an arrangement that had no business like showbusiness.
The Phantom of the Opera from the Phantom of the Opera.
One from Chorus Line.
There's a lot of older songs on here.
Don't Rain on My Parade by Funny Girl.
You know, everything's coming up roses.
There's so many iconic songs.
(12:29):
albeit I think the Phantom of the Opera is the youngest one on that line, which ishilarious to me because that show is 30 years old.
but like to see this and like, you've got a little bit of taste of those songs, um,without, uh you know, this isn't just like a fan of the opera concert.
get to, it's like popping in a Broadway CD and hearing your favorite tunes.
(12:50):
Mm-hmm.
It's like now, now that's Broadway.
Now that's Broadway!
Remember those CDs?
Yeah, exactly what it is.
Now that's what I call Broadway.
ah With the sections, there's quite a few sections, and I'm going to name a few off herebecause I think that, again, we're not going to talk about all of them just for the sake
(13:12):
of time, but like we had a My Fair Lady section, we had a Les Mis section, we the WestSide Story before the intermission.
Out of Act 1 with the opening, the My Fair Lady and the Les Mis,
Which one stood out to you?
Because I think I remember which one you definitely were like, I can't wait to hear thatone.
But I'm trying to see if you remember.
(13:34):
I don't know if I remember which one I said I can't wait for.
I do remember and I don't remember if it was in Act 1 or in Act 2, um but that I wasmid-sentence and stopped because they started playing Memory from Cats, which is my
all-time favorite Broadway song.
I literally cry to that song in my car at least once a week.
(13:55):
um
Okay.
Oh, yeah, I did.
I do remember that.
That's another one of my favorites.
I have like a whole list of like sad Broadway songs that I'll play sometimes.
(14:15):
And those those are like the first two on them.
Yeah.
as a therapist, I'm going to ask who hurt you.
We can't get into it.
Sad Broadway songs.
There's just a playlist somewhere.
is.
It's a playlist and it's like, I Dream to Dream, uh Memory from Cats.
What else is on it?
(14:36):
um There's like two songs from Waitress on there.
um It goes on.
It's so funny to me that you mentioned that memory was your favorite song growing upWaitress is your favorite musical you the first time we hung out by ourselves.
You made me watch it and Then you mentioned lame is which might be quite possibly my leastfavorite musical to ever exist I don't know if I ever told you the story, but when it too
(15:03):
word here, RJ and I went we took some friends with us And they played the opening song andlike they had a digital screen
And the opening song was like 20 minutes and then it said, Les Mis across the back.
And I literally said, oh, fuck, that was only the opening song.
And RJ tried not to, he tried not to laugh because I was just like, this cannot possiblybe where we're at right now.
(15:28):
Have you seen how thick that book is?
It only computes that a book that's this thick would turn into a musical that's equally aslong.
I in high school, I took French for two years.
And the greatest, the most I learned in that class was that um you can watch a wholeseason of Veronica Mars in a week.
(15:48):
um And he had that book and he was like, anybody could read this for extra credit.
And I looked at that thing and I said, I am never picking that book up.
That thing is so thick.
It's so sad.
I don't think I've ever seen a book that's that thick, like, since I saw that.
What I love though about, I dreamed a dream is that I think you said during the curtainsup arrangement, said if they play I dream of genius, swear to fucking God.
(16:11):
And then when they did, you were mid sentence for that one as well as memory.
And you stopped and you said, think you even grabbed your chair a little bit.
were like, like, like you were just like, so like you were so pulled in.
that's what I loved about this experience was that it could stop you in, in your track,your train of thought when your favorite song came up and you're just a part of it in that
(16:32):
moment.
And that like.
and then you can come back out.
everybody got to kind of experience that, you know, everyone got to touch their favoritesongs and then come back and experience them differently.
Yeah.
Um, but yeah, no, I, when you did that, dreamed of you and I was like, Oh gosh, that wasclassic.
is, it's funny though because Les Mis isn't even one of my like favorite music.
Like I don't know when the last time I watched it was.
(16:56):
But I love that song.
Like there's certain songs.
I feel like there's shows that I'll go forever without watching.
ah But then there's like one song like that I will like listen to very often.
Yes, yes, no, I will agree with that.
I think that like I love Sweeney Todd.
(17:17):
I don't listen to the soundtrack to Sweeney Todd all the way through all the time.
um But there is the opening song to Act Two, which is um That's Good, where it's like theyfinally have come to terms with like they're going to start cooking people.
um And I will very, like very much like ADHD, a little bit of the tism, will listen to thesong and repeat because it's so
(17:41):
Like it's so good that I'm just like, I'm going to listen to this song and like I getstuck on that.
And I, I've never just turned on the whole album.
I recently turned on the whole album, listened to it once, but like, don't really turnthat on to listen to it, but like, that's what I love about highlights.
Cause like everybody has a favorite song that they can go and they can touch, know, and,um, I feel like this is happens with, Hamilton, which they did a whole Hamilton set here.
(18:05):
and my favorite song is all the ones by the king.
And so them starting off with You'll Be Back, I had that same feeling of like, god, we'rehere.
Like this is, we're back, you know?
And every song on that show is so iconic.
So getting to hear like they played five or six songs of Hamilton, um that was really coolfor me too.
know, got getting to kind of touch with that.
(18:26):
Yeah.
uh With Act 2 though, got like, again, Hamilton, got Seasons of Love from Rent, we got afew of Andrew Lloyd Webber's pieces, uh Cabaret, which again, I've never seen.
Have you ever seen Cabaret?
I have not seen Cabaret.
I just don't know the appeal of it, so I'm not going speak on that.
(18:49):
But we ended, before we got to 76 Trombones, we had a whole wicked period and girl, we arewicked fans in this household.
Ugh, it was so good.
Like looking at this list, they hit all of the important parts.
No one more is the wicked, the wizard and I dancing through life, popular, defying gravityfor good.
(19:09):
And like the world is having a wicked moment right now.
So I feel like there was no other way but to include wicked in your Ford house experience.
And you could see from everyone's reactions too, because it was like we said, there were alot of older people there, but there was a good mixture of younger people as well.
And you could see that when they started playing Wicked, because of how revelant it isright now, everybody kind of stopped and was like, definitely got quieter.
(19:37):
Where you could tell everybody was tuning in at that point.
Absolutely.
That was like the, I want to say that is like the one moment, again, I'm not a fan ofCabaret.
It was not the one I was like tuning in for.
Yes, I was hearing it and I was enjoying it.
And you sometimes I was doing that, that thing where I closed my eyes and let the musictake me over, you know, because why the fuck not?
(19:58):
But when it came to Wicked, you know, everybody had their moments where like we're tuningin here.
You could tell some people didn't like Hamilton because they liked the older music, youknow?
And then Wicked came and then...
Granted, I don't know if it was because the park was getting really dark at that point.
We were kind of settling into the evening, but everybody tuned in.
And that was when it just like, you were focused.
(20:21):
And this was like the moment that it became just, not just like a show, but like anexperience.
I would agree with that.
And not to say that the entire night was an experience.
Obviously, um we had a great time.
We did.
Um, would you do something like this again?
(20:42):
actually I think it would depend on the theme of the music for me but like all in all itwas such a great outdoors like summer experience where it was just a really nice way to
spend an evening so I 10 out of 10 would do it again.
Yeah, I did think, I'm looking up on their website right now, like they literally haveChristmas concert over the Cove, which is December 19th.
(21:09):
They have a concert over the Cove with Julie Dilworth.
Like these are things that they seem to bring back.
Obviously they're trying to have people come to the Ford house.
ah But this was one that I thought was interesting because it appealed to people who livein Grosse Pointe and want to have a night out.
It appeals to people who love theater.
(21:30):
Mm-hmm.
to families.
It appealed to younger people.
Like there was, there was like a lot of cross-generational situational things going on.
And we were all there to just enjoy a night of music together.
And again, I love this too, because it didn't go super late.
Sometimes when you're getting out of a show, it's 1030, it's 11.
(21:52):
You haven't eaten, you know, you're, you're, know, everybody's kind of cranky.
You got to get to the car.
Um.
I didn't experience that here.
Like this was like at nine o'clock we were packing up and going.
Yep, yep.
And you know, nobody was like hungry or anything like that because either people broughtstuff or you know, like I said, they had the entire like food tent with the grills.
(22:14):
uh It was so relaxed and no, we were out of there.
I do believe by like nine.
And that's including a medical emergency too.
Like we had a medical emergency, it delayed the intermission a little bit and we werestill out in time to, I mean, I went home, but you still had a night that you got to go
(22:35):
out and be with other people.
and you didn't feel like the, my whole night's gone now to this experience, but it was anexperience that you got there.
You got to enjoy it.
Um, and you didn't feel like you had lost something.
I do also want to give a shout out to Caty Calzone, who was the vocalist.
(22:56):
We had a vocalist that sang some of the songs.
Who sang I Dreamed a Dream.
And she was incredible.
That was fantastic.
I think that there was, again, overall, this was just a really great experience.
And this is absolutely something I'd do again, depending on what the theme was.
I think you're right.
Would there be some themes that maybe like you wouldn't go then?
even for the experience or with friends, you'd be like, you know, I think I'll skip thisone.
(23:19):
think maybe some of the like more classical music, but that's that mainly comes fromnot...
it comes from playing them as like a kid and not like that I don't enjoy them.
Like I love me some Mozart, but I don't know that I want to go listen to Mozart for twohours even if it is outside.
(23:41):
I can understand that.
feel like, again, that's a super niche.
Granted, Broadway can be niche-y, but feel like even that sometimes expands past that.
But I feel like there are some that are maybe a little more alienating for uh some people.
I don't think I would go see a Mozart in the park either.
ah
(24:01):
see like the Star Wars music, but that's also because I'm a huge nerd.
Yes, like sign me up for Broadway, sign me up for Marvel, sign me, you know, like thosewould be cool.
Even we've had some times recently that different places do like the, where they play amovie and they do the music over it, like Twilight's doing that soon.
Like that's cool.
ah So I think it just depends on what comes back next year um and what music they play,but.
(24:30):
Obviously if they do Broadway, I'll be dragging you along.
And probably RJ, who was unable to make it, but is, you know, where would we be withoutthe fellow Box Seat Babe?
Exactly.
uh Thank you again for joining us here and also going with me.
ah You have truly become an important part of this family here.
(24:51):
ah And we are just so happy to continue on this Broadway journey with you.
Thank you so much for having me.
I really do love you guys and love what you do here.
So I'm always willing
So We're currently running out of time, but stay tuned for future episodes of the Box SeatBabes podcast.
Take care and we'll see you in our back seats.
Welcome back, theater lovers, to another exciting episode of the Box Seat Babes Podcast.
(00:05):
Today we'll be talking about the Michigan Philharmonic performance of Broadway classics atthe Ford House, which took place back in August.
But before we begin, follow and subscribe to us on all major social media platforms tostay up to date on news and reviews from here in Michigan and the larger theater
community.
Joining me today is our honoree, Box Seat Babe, Ryann Ferguson.
Thank you so much again for joining us today and for going with me to this.
(00:27):
Of course, anytime, thank you for having me.
I feel like this was last minute that I sprung the sign of you.
was like, listen, I have tickets.
Let's go.
uh
it was day of, wasn't it?
Or day before?
It was very close.
was, I had been debating for a while buying tickets to this because, I had never done anexperience at the Ford house since, you know, school.
(00:53):
So I was like, do I want to go back?
You know?
but first I got to ask you, have you ever been to the Ford house before the Ford estate?
have not.
ah Which is surprising because like I didn't grow up too far from there and I feel like wewent on field trips to like very similar things all the time so I'm slightly surprised.
ah But I know that my grandma's been a bunch of times because she's always talking aboutit.
(01:16):
She goes to shows with like a bunch of her church friends all the time.
That tracks, because of the people that were there, that seems to track.
ah It's funny because I did go there quite frequently growing up in, you know, I grew upin Eastpointe um which is only two, three miles on the road.
And so this was a place that we frequented um quite a few times.
(01:38):
um And not to be that person, but I hated going because I always felt that the place washaunted and I was a scared little kid.
I was like, there's ghosts.
vibes.
It does.
It does.
percent.
you go inside that building and like you can tour and there's one room.
remember this cause I still sometimes dream about it when I'm having like a stressful day,but there's a room where there's wedding dresses from like the Ford people.
(02:01):
Um, and I used to refuse to go into that room because it reminded me too much of thehaunted mansion with the floating bride.
And I was like, I'm not doing it.
Is it?
It is.
I really like the part at the end where there's like the mirrors and the ghosts like jumpin the cart with you.
I get really excited when I get the lesbian couple.
(02:25):
You're like a dream come true.
It's me.
I actually was eight years old and my mom had to bribe me to go on that ride.
I was terrified of it.
I could not, would not.
oh Yeah, so I think it's cool then that, you know, me who got to conquer a fear and gothere, but you had never experienced the Ford house.
And while we didn't get to go inside of it, we did get to walk through the estate all theway up to the beach front at the house where the performance was going on.
(02:55):
I want to talk to you about what your experience was, I guess, walking into that state andwalking, what was essentially like a mile worth of walking to get there.
It was a very long path.
um And the path wasn't like super clear either, which I thought was interesting.
Like you saw people kind of going different ways to kind of all get to the same spot,which I thought was kind of cool.
(03:15):
um I thought it was the landscaping was beautiful.
um It was a very nice.
little walk and I especially like that like where you go for the performances you're kindof coming around I think that that was the house right that we were in the backyard of the
house so you like come around the house into the backyard with the waterfront like it wasand everybody's just there with like lawn chairs and everything it was it was a cool like
(03:38):
little thing to to experience.
Yeah, so I was, when we were walking up there, while we were walking with different groupsof people, ah I was not expecting the amount of people that were behind the house because
the way that it was positioned, it's kind of hidden from your view.
And when we came around that corner, there was, it was full, it was packed.
There were so many people there to see this performance.
(04:01):
And there was like a full on like food thing with a bunch of grills and like that, eventhat I was like, wow, this is, this is crazy.
Absolutely.
And granted, we didn't get there too terribly early, but we did get there early enoughthat we had time to walk and sit down before the performance began.
And we were still pretty far from the stage.
(04:22):
There was like, there was, by the time we got there, it was been so full of people.
um A lot of them, like you said, probably your grandma's age, you know, or just younger,but a lot of them were there.
And this seemed like this was such a, a community thing that had been going on for a longwhile.
Yes, I would agree with that.
And so that also leads me to ask you the question, have you ever seen a MichiganPhilharmonic performance before?
(04:48):
No, not with that that orchestra.
No, I've done Some shows down in Detroit.
I think it like the Fisher before And then I grew up like in an orchestra But outside ofthat no, I don't go to shows all that often
So I'm dragging you to this performance.
(05:10):
It's I willingly go.
I like to experience new things.
you grew up in an orchestra.
got to pause here for a second and explore that for a second.
I started playing the violin in...
so they did like that whole thing in elementary school, I think it was like fifth grade,where they like bring in the instruments for like a week and you get little lessons for a
(05:32):
week in fifth grade.
um And then um you had to choose like if you were going to enter band or orchestra forsixth grade.
And so I played the violin from like fifth grade all the way through high school.
Yeah.
really cool.
good.
Like, don't ask me to whip it out and play anything for you, because I'm not good at all.
(05:53):
But I was there, and I participated.
So you won't be performing with the Michigan Philharmonic anytime soon.
no, I honestly I was shocked.
We went oh to the national tournament um twice while I was in high school.
Once my sophomore year in New York and then again um my senior year in DC.
(06:14):
And I'm pretty sure I know at least at one of them we took first place, but I want to sayat both of them we took first place and I don't know how we did that with especially with
me on the team.
You're like, how did we get here?
ah That is so cool because I've always wanted to play violin and I've never played violin.
(06:37):
ah But to learn that I know somebody who's played the violin is such a cool just.
It does, and I've noticed it before and I've never, ever, never crossed my mind.
That's the one I've had since, trying to remember when I transitioned to a full size.
Probably eighth grade, I'd say, because there's like different sizes.
(07:02):
So they like start out smaller and then kind of grow like with you.
And I know we like leased this one to buy it.
So I know I had it for quite a few years.
And ladies and gentlemen, this is when Ryann Ferguson will be pulling out her violin toput on a performance for us.
Absolutely not.
It needs all new strings right now.
(07:24):
I don't even think I've touched that thing in like 10 years.
so I think the interesting thing about the Michigan Philharmonic was that up until thisperformance, and this is going to sound so bad as like a, like a theater gay, but I don't
think I knew that Michigan had a Philharmonic team per se.
I have heard of like the symphony orchestra, you know, down in Detroit and stuff likethat.
(07:47):
Um, if that's the Michigan Philharmonic playing, never knew, but I've also never seen ashow.
This was not something like.
I went to go see musicals, went to go see plays, but I didn't necessarily go to seeorchestras, because that feels like that's like a music gay, not necessarily like a
theater gay.
I just had never been on my radar until it cross-sectioned with Broadway here.
(08:08):
And I was like, well, why haven't I?
And this is probably something that should be covered.
Yeah.
No, and that's funny because like growing up we used to play like theater, you know,things all the time.
I remember we, my orchestra teacher was obsessed with like Phantom of the Opera and Ican't tell you how many times like he would whip it out like at least once a year and make
(08:31):
us play like a different song.
He was not letting that one go.
But that is the kind of music that you would see, like, cause that's the thing is likewild Broadway doesn't always have like, especially community shows.
don't have an orchestra, but like a lot of shows that are touring specifically likePhantom of the Opera have orchestras and that's what a Philharmonic is.
It's, it's an orchestra of all the different instruments.
(08:54):
so it makes sense as to that would be a show that people would perform because Phantom ofthe Opera is both iconic has probably one of the biggest
band, like the biggest orchestras out there, and really showcases all the differentinstruments depending on what song you're pulling.
so all this to say, I had no idea what I was getting myself into or getting you into.
and since then I've now seen another show.
(09:17):
saw the Witcher, um, concert down in, the Fisher recently.
And this also had a, um, it wasn't a full orchestra, but it was definitely orchestra like.
So, I can now say that I've done two of them.
Um, but before we jump into the experience, I do want to give a shout out to the musicaldirector conductor.
Nan Washburn because this seemed like this was a really intense show.
(09:42):
This was about two hours, two and a half hours.
They were playing for most of it outside on like essentially what is a beach because we'reright on the water.
um People are having alcohol, they're eating, they're socializing.
This is not like exactly necessarily a uh
I don't know.
It's not like you're going to a theater to see the show and you feel like, like we're allfocused in, but it was a lot more relaxed and it was a lot more, the vibes are a lot more
(10:09):
like we're sitting here enjoying the music as we're kind of also enjoying each other.
Is that a good way to kind of describe the vibes?
Definitely, definitely.
I think that was one of my favorite parts about it was that like you didn't have it wasn'tsomething that you just sat there and listened to for two hours straight in like complete
silence.
It was like people were having conversations and like you could tell it was it was a veryrelaxed vibe.
(10:34):
I mean, right in the description too.
says, bring a picnic blanket or lawn chair, relax beneath the evening sky and enjoy thesymphony surrounded by the charm and elegance of the Ford house.
Like it truly just feels like you'd be almost being transported back to when the Fordhouse was like actively a house and like you're enjoying the music or having fun.
And what a kind of a cool way to close out summer because now that we are officially infall, dear Lord, we are in fall.
(11:00):
uh
But it was kind cool that this was like one last experience that you and I, we got to goout and just, just vibe and chill and enjoy music that everybody recognized and everybody
enjoyed.
Yeah.
Um, so speaking of the show, there was kind of two parts.
Well, I mean, there was multiple different parts, but there was two sections.
Obviously there was an intermission.
(11:21):
Um, and leading up, you know, the first one we open up and there's, starts off with,there's no business like show business, which is such an iconic Broadway song.
And while we're not going to go through every single song, I think that it's important tostart here because this is a.
This is a, an arrangement that every single person who loves theater knows.
(11:43):
Mm-hmm.
Like it's so, this is iconic.
And I think right off the bat, we both knew this one.
And we felt like maybe we were old people tapping our foots a little bit because we gotright into it.
yeah, well, and like right off the bat, could tell that like even the just like the peopleperforming, like they were having fun with it.
Like they were all very excited to be there, excited to be playing these songs.
(12:06):
Absolutely.
mean, I think that people need to understand too, when we got into there, not every songwas played fully.
Like this first one called Curtains Up was an arrangement that had no business like showbusiness.
The Phantom of the Opera from the Phantom of the Opera.
One from Chorus Line.
There's a lot of older songs on here.
Don't Rain on My Parade by Funny Girl.
You know, everything's coming up roses.
There's so many iconic songs.
(12:29):
albeit I think the Phantom of the Opera is the youngest one on that line, which ishilarious to me because that show is 30 years old.
but like to see this and like, you've got a little bit of taste of those songs, um,without, uh you know, this isn't just like a fan of the opera concert.
get to, it's like popping in a Broadway CD and hearing your favorite tunes.
(12:50):
Mm-hmm.
It's like now, now that's Broadway.
Now that's Broadway!
Remember those CDs?
Yeah, exactly what it is.
Now that's what I call Broadway.
ah With the sections, there's quite a few sections, and I'm going to name a few off herebecause I think that, again, we're not going to talk about all of them just for the sake
(13:12):
of time, but like we had a My Fair Lady section, we had a Les Mis section, we the WestSide Story before the intermission.
Out of Act 1 with the opening, the My Fair Lady and the Les Mis,
Which one stood out to you?
Because I think I remember which one you definitely were like, I can't wait to hear thatone.
But I'm trying to see if you remember.
(13:34):
I don't know if I remember which one I said I can't wait for.
I do remember and I don't remember if it was in Act 1 or in Act 2, um but that I wasmid-sentence and stopped because they started playing Memory from Cats, which is my
all-time favorite Broadway song.
I literally cry to that song in my car at least once a week.
(13:55):
um
Okay.
Oh, yeah, I did.
I do remember that.
That's another one of my favorites.
I have like a whole list of like sad Broadway songs that I'll play sometimes.
(14:15):
And those those are like the first two on them.
Yeah.
as a therapist, I'm going to ask who hurt you.
We can't get into it.
Sad Broadway songs.
There's just a playlist somewhere.
is.
It's a playlist and it's like, I Dream to Dream, uh Memory from Cats.
What else is on it?
(14:36):
um There's like two songs from Waitress on there.
um It goes on.
It's so funny to me that you mentioned that memory was your favorite song growing upWaitress is your favorite musical you the first time we hung out by ourselves.
You made me watch it and Then you mentioned lame is which might be quite possibly my leastfavorite musical to ever exist I don't know if I ever told you the story, but when it too
(15:03):
word here, RJ and I went we took some friends with us And they played the opening song andlike they had a digital screen
And the opening song was like 20 minutes and then it said, Les Mis across the back.
And I literally said, oh, fuck, that was only the opening song.
And RJ tried not to, he tried not to laugh because I was just like, this cannot possiblybe where we're at right now.
(15:28):
Have you seen how thick that book is?
It only computes that a book that's this thick would turn into a musical that's equally aslong.
I in high school, I took French for two years.
And the greatest, the most I learned in that class was that um you can watch a wholeseason of Veronica Mars in a week.
(15:48):
um And he had that book and he was like, anybody could read this for extra credit.
And I looked at that thing and I said, I am never picking that book up.
That thing is so thick.
It's so sad.
I don't think I've ever seen a book that's that thick, like, since I saw that.
What I love though about, I dreamed a dream is that I think you said during the curtainsup arrangement, said if they play I dream of genius, swear to fucking God.
(16:11):
And then when they did, you were mid sentence for that one as well as memory.
And you stopped and you said, think you even grabbed your chair a little bit.
were like, like, like you were just like, so like you were so pulled in.
that's what I loved about this experience was that it could stop you in, in your track,your train of thought when your favorite song came up and you're just a part of it in that
(16:32):
moment.
And that like.
and then you can come back out.
everybody got to kind of experience that, you know, everyone got to touch their favoritesongs and then come back and experience them differently.
Yeah.
Um, but yeah, no, I, when you did that, dreamed of you and I was like, Oh gosh, that wasclassic.
is, it's funny though because Les Mis isn't even one of my like favorite music.
Like I don't know when the last time I watched it was.
(16:56):
But I love that song.
Like there's certain songs.
I feel like there's shows that I'll go forever without watching.
ah But then there's like one song like that I will like listen to very often.
Yes, yes, no, I will agree with that.
I think that like I love Sweeney Todd.
(17:17):
I don't listen to the soundtrack to Sweeney Todd all the way through all the time.
um But there is the opening song to Act Two, which is um That's Good, where it's like theyfinally have come to terms with like they're going to start cooking people.
um And I will very, like very much like ADHD, a little bit of the tism, will listen to thesong and repeat because it's so
(17:41):
Like it's so good that I'm just like, I'm going to listen to this song and like I getstuck on that.
And I, I've never just turned on the whole album.
I recently turned on the whole album, listened to it once, but like, don't really turnthat on to listen to it, but like, that's what I love about highlights.
Cause like everybody has a favorite song that they can go and they can touch, know, and,um, I feel like this is happens with, Hamilton, which they did a whole Hamilton set here.
(18:05):
and my favorite song is all the ones by the king.
And so them starting off with You'll Be Back, I had that same feeling of like, god, we'rehere.
Like this is, we're back, you know?
And every song on that show is so iconic.
So getting to hear like they played five or six songs of Hamilton, um that was really coolfor me too.
know, got getting to kind of touch with that.
(18:26):
Yeah.
uh With Act 2 though, got like, again, Hamilton, got Seasons of Love from Rent, we got afew of Andrew Lloyd Webber's pieces, uh Cabaret, which again, I've never seen.
Have you ever seen Cabaret?
I have not seen Cabaret.
I just don't know the appeal of it, so I'm not going speak on that.
(18:49):
But we ended, before we got to 76 Trombones, we had a whole wicked period and girl, we arewicked fans in this household.
Ugh, it was so good.
Like looking at this list, they hit all of the important parts.
No one more is the wicked, the wizard and I dancing through life, popular, defying gravityfor good.
(19:09):
And like the world is having a wicked moment right now.
So I feel like there was no other way but to include wicked in your Ford house experience.
And you could see from everyone's reactions too, because it was like we said, there were alot of older people there, but there was a good mixture of younger people as well.
And you could see that when they started playing Wicked, because of how revelant it isright now, everybody kind of stopped and was like, definitely got quieter.
(19:37):
Where you could tell everybody was tuning in at that point.
Absolutely.
That was like the, I want to say that is like the one moment, again, I'm not a fan ofCabaret.
It was not the one I was like tuning in for.
Yes, I was hearing it and I was enjoying it.
And you sometimes I was doing that, that thing where I closed my eyes and let the musictake me over, you know, because why the fuck not?
(19:58):
But when it came to Wicked, you know, everybody had their moments where like we're tuningin here.
You could tell some people didn't like Hamilton because they liked the older music, youknow?
And then Wicked came and then...
Granted, I don't know if it was because the park was getting really dark at that point.
We were kind of settling into the evening, but everybody tuned in.
And that was when it just like, you were focused.
(20:21):
And this was like the moment that it became just, not just like a show, but like anexperience.
I would agree with that.
And not to say that the entire night was an experience.
Obviously, um we had a great time.
We did.
Um, would you do something like this again?
(20:42):
actually I think it would depend on the theme of the music for me but like all in all itwas such a great outdoors like summer experience where it was just a really nice way to
spend an evening so I 10 out of 10 would do it again.
Yeah, I did think, I'm looking up on their website right now, like they literally haveChristmas concert over the Cove, which is December 19th.
(21:09):
They have a concert over the Cove with Julie Dilworth.
Like these are things that they seem to bring back.
Obviously they're trying to have people come to the Ford house.
ah But this was one that I thought was interesting because it appealed to people who livein Grosse Pointe and want to have a night out.
It appeals to people who love theater.
(21:30):
Mm-hmm.
to families.
It appealed to younger people.
Like there was, there was like a lot of cross-generational situational things going on.
And we were all there to just enjoy a night of music together.
And again, I love this too, because it didn't go super late.
Sometimes when you're getting out of a show, it's 1030, it's 11.
(21:52):
You haven't eaten, you know, you're, you're, know, everybody's kind of cranky.
You got to get to the car.
Um.
I didn't experience that here.
Like this was like at nine o'clock we were packing up and going.
Yep, yep.
And you know, nobody was like hungry or anything like that because either people broughtstuff or you know, like I said, they had the entire like food tent with the grills.
(22:14):
uh It was so relaxed and no, we were out of there.
I do believe by like nine.
And that's including a medical emergency too.
Like we had a medical emergency, it delayed the intermission a little bit and we werestill out in time to, I mean, I went home, but you still had a night that you got to go
(22:35):
out and be with other people.
and you didn't feel like the, my whole night's gone now to this experience, but it was anexperience that you got there.
You got to enjoy it.
Um, and you didn't feel like you had lost something.
I do also want to give a shout out to Caty Calzone, who was the vocalist.
(22:56):
We had a vocalist that sang some of the songs.
Who sang I Dreamed a Dream.
And she was incredible.
That was fantastic.
I think that there was, again, overall, this was just a really great experience.
And this is absolutely something I'd do again, depending on what the theme was.
I think you're right.
Would there be some themes that maybe like you wouldn't go then?
even for the experience or with friends, you'd be like, you know, I think I'll skip thisone.
(23:19):
think maybe some of the like more classical music, but that's that mainly comes fromnot...
it comes from playing them as like a kid and not like that I don't enjoy them.
Like I love me some Mozart, but I don't know that I want to go listen to Mozart for twohours even if it is outside.
(23:41):
I can understand that.
feel like, again, that's a super niche.
Granted, Broadway can be niche-y, but feel like even that sometimes expands past that.
But I feel like there are some that are maybe a little more alienating for uh some people.
I don't think I would go see a Mozart in the park either.
ah
(24:01):
see like the Star Wars music, but that's also because I'm a huge nerd.
Yes, like sign me up for Broadway, sign me up for Marvel, sign me, you know, like thosewould be cool.
Even we've had some times recently that different places do like the, where they play amovie and they do the music over it, like Twilight's doing that soon.
Like that's cool.
ah So I think it just depends on what comes back next year um and what music they play,but.
(24:30):
Obviously if they do Broadway, I'll be dragging you along.
And probably RJ, who was unable to make it, but is, you know, where would we be withoutthe fellow Box Seat Babe?
Exactly.
uh Thank you again for joining us here and also going with me.
ah You have truly become an important part of this family here.
(24:51):
ah And we are just so happy to continue on this Broadway journey with you.
Thank you so much for having me.
I really do love you guys and love what you do here.
So I'm always willing
So We're currently running out of time, but stay tuned for future episodes of the Box SeatBabes podcast.
Take care and we'll see you in our back seats.
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