While I will always connotate this classic tune with Ray Walston, it was the second song sung by Bernadette Peters, and the moment of the show finally arrived.  We were at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, Michigan and were we surprised when we finally found our seats.  First there was a snafu, because about a month ago, when we bought our tickets at the theater,  the tickets that we were issued, weren’t accepted by the admission takers, and we had to be issued new tickets with the proper QR code, and I was afraid that we had lost our seats, but the seats were still ours.  The surprise came from the fact that we had purchased two on the aisle in Row B, and we were expecting people in front of us, from the original schematic drawing of the auditorium seats; there was no Row A, so the only impediment in our view were some low-profile speakers at the edge of stage. While my Bride was enjoying the seats, I was in heaven.

Bernadette Peters, born Bernadette Lazzara was born in Queens, New York City.  She is a critically acclaimed entertainer with seven Tony nominations, with two wins, along with Drama Desk Awards, Grammy Awards, and has even performed with the Muppets on television.  She is probably most associated with composer Stephen Sondheim with starring roles in his stage musicals including “Song and Dance,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” and “Gypsy.”  On the big screen she is known for Silent Movie, The Jerk, Pennies from Heaven, and Annie.  She performed for over ninety minutes straight with no intermission, just singing, no choreographed numbers, accompanied by her arranger on a Steinway grand, a classic bass fiddle, and a percussionist (who for you baby boomers, like us was Cubby from the original Walt Disney Mouseketeers).  Before the concert, we ended up having a nice conversation with two of her lighting crew, and I related how I had seen her when she opened for Rich Little, and they told us that they began their association with her, just a little later from that point.  We had wished that we might have gotten an invitation to go back stage with that story, but it didn’t happen.  We really enjoyed the show and I had to keep thanking my Bride for such a great gift, a totally wonderful evening. 

The theater appeared to be fully packed, even the balcony was full, and I noticed that they even had “stack chairs” lined up in the area between the front seats and the loge, as I wandered back to get some “refreshments” before the show started.  After all this is a wine blog, even though sometimes people think that I have forgotten that fact.  It is because I get chastised about some of the wines that I write about, but for those that understand, I write about what is available at the moment, as I am a realist.  We had Aural Kutral Sauvignon Blanc Maule Valley, Chile 2023 .  Aura Kutral is a wine group made up of two wineries in the Limari and Maule Valleys. The Aura winery owns over fourteen million liters of product stored during the fermentation process.  The Maule Valley is the largest wine-producing area in the country, as well as one of the oldest, and originally has been associated with bulk wine production; and it is slowly changing that perception. The sub-region of Villa Alegre where the winery is, gets extensive sunlight exposure and they are on volcanic soils with a sandy-loam texture.  After mechanical harvesting, the wine begins Initial Fermentation using dry yeast.  The wine stays in Stainless-Steel vats for about three months on its lees.  This pale-yellow wine offered notes of citrus, green apples and cut grass.  On the palate, a crisp light-bodied wine featuring grapefruit and ending with a short-count finish of fruit.