The New iPhone 7 and Carole King Musical at Orpheum

Beautiful, the Carole King Musical, had its last performance at the Orpheum 9/18/16.

Watching the Carole King Musical at Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco yesterday, I was struck by the odd thought that there are women, even today, who blame the man in their life for their failure to reach dreams. That’s not Carole King’s story, because she was successful with and without her husband, and made it to Carnegie Hall without him. But there are women who like to blame other people because they aren’t living the life they want. Usually they figure it’s some guy’s fault.

They say things like if I hadn’t married him, I could have married Tony from my cultural diversity class who now lives in a mansion in Beverly Hills, where I would be living if it wasn’t for my stupid husband. Or some other guy they hadn’t yet met. I know women like this. The fact is whatever you make of your life is up to you and nobody else. A women doesn’t need any specific person, much less a mate, to be successful.

There are quite a few feminist elements inserted in Beautiful, the Carole King Musical, which is good because there are also millennial females who think we don’t need feminism anymore because we’ve already won everything, when we aren’t even a president. Yet. Women still have a long ways to go. We can’t even get equal pay.

Yesterday was the last performance of  the Carole King Musical, so it seemed like a good idea to drive into the City for the matinee. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get there, and we left Sacramento at 10 AM. That made us too late to make dim sum at Yank Sing, so we opted for the lunch at Market Street Grill at Hotel Whitcomb, across the street from the Orpheum Theatre.

Along the way, I discovered that my email sending option did not work on my new iPhone 7 Plus. When I ordered this phone, it was on backorder with a ship date expected between 9/17 and 10/24. Instead, the phone showed up, out of the blue, on Friday afternoon on my front porch. I downloaded everything from iTunes, activated it, and never noticed it wasn’t sending email.

I could receive email; I could not send it.

To a busy Sacramento Realtor, that is like a kiss of death.

My husband got on the phone with our service provider as we drove along. No help whatsoever. Then, as we were sitting at the front of the Orpheum Theatre, with the lights about to dim, I received an email from a prospective seller. My M-O is to respond immediately. But I could not send an email.

I tried to copy and paste the email address into my webmail account, but the lights were dark and the show was starting. I considered dropping to the floor and lying on my back on the floor in front of us, holding my phone toward my face to avoid shining light anywhere irritating, plus it would be a while before an usher would find me on the floor . . .

Opening stage set for Beautiful, the Carole King Musical at the Orpheum.

Abby Mueller, who plays Carole King, struck a few notes on the piano, So Far Away, and I abandoned that idea and turned off my cellphone. I was mesmerized. Not once did I think about the fact I could not send email. Well, at least until intermission. It wasn’t until this morning that I figured out how to fix my email on my iPhone 7. By accident, too. Delete the accounts and reenter. Thanks for making my life more difficult, Apple.

The show was spectacular. It centers on the story of Carole King and her husband / partner Gerry Goffin, and their friendship with two other songwriters in the 1950s / 1960s. It ends with a performance of a few songs from Tapestry, with many delightful girl and boy groups sandwiched in between.

I asked my husband while I drove us homeward bound: are there any women in the world more beautiful and glamorous than Black female singers from that era? I love the glitter, glam, color, feathers, diamonds, just the whole showmanship of groups like The Shirelles. But then I also asked him if anything could be more delicious than my succulent steamed clams at lunch, and he responded yes, a hot dog.