Recommended by relatives and friends, we quickly found out there are no discounted tickets to Shoji. My husband called the day before and easily got tickets reserved for the next day. We swung around to the theater to pick up the tickets, avoiding the ticket line at show time and giving us opportunity to take photos minus the crowds. The mauve-and-red lobby was impressively opulent, but I’d heard the ladies restrooms were something else. Going through the double inlaid glass doors, everything was cherubs, flowers, and purple crystal chandeliers. Past the baby-changing station, complete with "baby necessities" and a diaper pail (discreetly hidden), I walked into a large washroom fit for royalty. A row of granite pedestal sinks with onyx basins lined one wall, fresh orchids at each sink. Wainscoting, an empire-tin ceiling, a fountain, and a fireplace rounded out the pretty picture. But I was to find out even more at intermission… Bob had a similar experience after I told him to check out the men’s restrooms, just in masculine format, with mahogany pool table, black-and-white tile, and less flowers but lots of ferns and foliage. Just before the show began, the staff moved those of us sitting farther back to empty seats closer to the stage. The show begins powerfully with Shoji’s Japanese roots, massive taiko drums, which, as Shoji explains (in his CD), are made from a 300-year-old bubinga tree, requiring 20 more years to age to build the drum. Shoji then played some songs on the shamisen, a Japanese banjo-like instrument. Although the rest of the show was executed highly professionally with stunning visual effects and seamless performances, I felt the opening segment had the most heart. This is not a country music show, although Shoji includes country favorites. Other segments of the 2 hours feature polka, Elvis, Broadway, Hollywood, Hawaiian, and Cajun music. Shoji’s wife, Dorothy, produces the show and choreographs the dances. A large supporting cast, laser lights, and other special effects draw "oohs" and "ahs."
It’s intermission time, and I headed for the bathroom, along with most of the other women in the two-thirds full (1,900-seat capacity) theater. Talk about structured! Attendants were on hand inside directing ladies to empty stalls. After washing our hands, we got in another quickly moving line, where another attendant squirted a bit of lotion into one palm and handed out an Andes mint in the other. The woman in front of me gushed, "It makes me feel like I won the lottery!"
Shoji also sings, in a somewhat wavering accented tenor, and talks and jokes with the audience between numbers. We learn he fell in love with country music in 1964 when he was 17 while attending a Roy Acuff concert in Japan. The show draws to a close with a moving tribute to Shoji’s son from his first marriage, who died some years ago. The rousing patriotic finale ends the show with "Bridge over Troubled Waters" and "God Bless America." Nary an eye was dry at the standing ovation.