Senator II: Dreamgirls

After my delicious lunch at Atwater's I shuffled over to the Senator. Walking over all the sidewalk panels displaying various movies premiered (for our town, if not the world) at the Senator, I snapped a photo or two. Okay, I had done that earlier in the day when I bought my ticket, but one or two more never hurt.

I walked in and noticed only a few people milling about. Maybe this was because most people were done with Dreamgirls, so only a few had come to see it again. There was a short mix-up with my ticket, which was easily exchanged - not a long line for tickets (another odd thing, I thought), but again perhaps this was due to most people having already seen the movie. Even my friends that I saw it with before said they were pretty much done with Dreamgirls. They headed to the Charles to see Venus instead.

I wanted to get a photo of the concession stand. Neither that I took turned out very well, but I did get some of the inside of the actual viewing room. No, not during the movie. I was still waiting for it. Nobody tried to stop me, which was odd - or perhaps it was because nobody saw me. To be sure, few people seemed to give a damn tonight. They didn't even do the obligatory announcement before the show started. You may know the one: they thank you for coming to "the Historic Senator Theatre" and whatnot. Tonight they just weren't into it enough. And the audience wasn't as inspired either. That really stuck with me. I figured that, if anything, there would be more people there tonight. But no, and when the movie hit that critical Jennifer Hudson piece that won her all those awards (hopefully one more), one person applauded. That is different from the first time I saw the film, when many people were getting into it. I even almost applauded. I didn't, though - I mean, it's not like she could hear me.

Forgive me for saying, and I doubt the owner feels this way (he's spoken passionately on WYPR about saving the Senator), but it honestly seemed for a little while as if the Senator herself was ready to give up the ghost. Just for a little while, like she had gotten despondent.

The popcorn was pretty average, too. It was cold, unlike what I usually get at the Rotunda (that other Senator-related theatre). And the extra butter wasn't terribly buttery. It was almost on par with the buckets that pass for small popcorn at most megaloplexes, and a bit less the cost, but it didn't seem like anyone cared to make it hot. Still, it was a hell of a deal, with a small soda totaling $6 for the soda and the popcorn. I can spend $9 or $10 getting much the same thing at Arundel Mills.

I stuck around for most of the credits for Dreamgirls - they show production sketches at the end, which is fun if you want to get into the crew's minds. At the end I snapped a photo or two more (yes, in the lobby and outside the theatre), and headed to my car. Perhaps it will be the last photo I take of the Senator all lit up, hopefully not. And if the Senator is despondent, I hope she gets out of it quickly.