Young Frankenstein

Tuesday night, I attended the opening night production of Mel Brook's "Young Frankenstein". I had no idea what to expect, as I had never seen the movie and knew nothing about the story line. When the show began, my first thoughts was about how corny the whole thing seemed (this being just a couple weeks about seeing the more modern "Rock of Ages"). But as the show went on, I realized just how funny (and riskee) the script was, how creative the songs were, and how talented the performers were. I thought the whole cast had amazing singing voices. Better than some of the other musicals I've seen at the Des Moines Civic Center. At the end of the night, I was so glad I had decided to see the show, would recommend it to others, and now have a desire to see the original movie.

Young Frankenstein plays through Sunday, so there is still time to get tickets and have a very enjoyable afternoon or evening with lots of laughs and good singing. Visit the Des Moines Civic Center website here for tickets.

Dinner Side Note: Doozie's Bar & Grill at the Embassy Suites

Before seeing Young Frankenstein, my friend Sara and I had dinner at Doozie's Bar and Grill at the Embassy Suites on the east side of the Des Moines River. We chose to go here because it was close walking distance to the Civic Center and we had a BOGO coupon from my entertainment book. I never have high expectations for a hotel restaurant, but I was again pleasantly surprised. The menu was limited, but what we ordered was very good. I ordered a tortellini dish with Graziano's Sausage and Sara ordered a rack of ribs with sweet potato fries. Salads were served before our main course. They were salads of fresh dark leafy greens and a fantastic house vinaigrette. If the salad's were any indication, our main dishes would be very good as well. The first thing I tried when our dishes arrived were Sara's sweet potato fries. YUM! I kept picking on them the whole rest of dinner. They were coated in brown sugar. My tortellini was in a marinara sauce and the sausage was mild, not spicy, just how I like sausage. Sara really enjoyed her ribs (I'm not much of a rib person, too messy for my liking. As we discussed, neither of us are fans of the stickiness.) Overall, great place... I'd go back again with another BOGO.