Fireside is a dinner theater. I had heard several references to it since moving to Wisconsin and seen a variety of advertisements about it. We decided to check it out while this show was playing:
I really didn't know what to expect. All-in-all, I ended up liking the show, but the dinner part of it was kind of.....tacky.
I'll start at the beginning. Here is the outside of the building.
Folks arrived starting at 4:45 PM. The show wasn't scheduled to start until 7:30 PM. I was wondering what would occur during that 2 hour and 45 minute window. My fear was that we would all be herded as a large group. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. After picking up tickets at will-call, you could go at your own pace until the show started. There are several shops in the building down a long hallway from will-call to the dining and theater area. The shops looked cute, but we didn't go in any. Rather, we quickly found the bar.
The bar area was sunken and had a dark, cozy atmosphere. I especially liked the chairs. Very retro. Loved 'em.
Our bar tender was a young kid who didn't even look old enough to serve alcohol. He was friendly, though, and shared with us it was his first night on the job. Scott asked what kind of draught beers they had. The kid looked a little puzzled and asked, "Can you give me an example?" God love him. He didn't know what "draught beer" meant. After a brief tutoring session with Scott in which the young man learned that "tap" and "draught" beers are the same thing, we were in business. The poor kid was really embarrassed, but he apologized and we joked about it and we left him a big old tip.
There is a limited dinner menu at Fireside but I was glad that you could order dinner whenever you wanted to between the 4:45 arrival time and the 7:30 show time. After a drink at the bar, Scott and I made our way to the dining area. The Fireside website indicated dress should be "dressy to business casual". Um, really? Here was kind of the first clue that "dressy to business casual" might be overdoing it a bit. This is what was on the dining table.
Cheap salt/pepper shakers, butter pats in a bowl and a paper coaster under the water glass. I don't have a problem with any of these things, but "dressy to business casual? How about jeans and a sweatshirt...?
They serve a 5-course meal at Fireside. The appetizer on the limited menu that night was guacamole. You don't need to check your glasses. You read that right. Guacamole.
It actually tasted pretty good. It was served in a bowl, on a paper doily, on a black plastic plate with water spots on it. The chips came in a basket, wrapped in paper napkins. "Dressy to business casual". Riiiiight.
The most expensive bottle of wine on the menu at this "dressy to business casual" place was under 20 bucks. Hey, that was all good for us. We ordered the malbec. I love malbec's; that's my go-to wine.
Now, there were plenty of other drinks we could have ordered. For example, I saw a couple sharing what appeared to be a grasshopper--- one drink, two straws. Ain't that cute? Or, the ladies at the table next to us ordered some kind of....I don't know what it was....a fruity-type drink with these huge......"things" in them. They weren't really umbrellas. I don't know what they were, but you know I had to get a picture.
Can you see those big round colorful things? WTF. I don't know what they were, but they were right up in that "dressy to business casual" place. When I see things like this, I don't think "dressy to business casual" in Wisconsin. I think bikini and tiki hut in the Caribbean.
After our guacamole appetizer and French onion soup came the Caesar salad. Interestingly, this one had slices of lunch meat on it. I think I laughed out loud when I figured out that's what it was.
OK. I'm done with that now.
The basic meal you paid for when you purchased tickets to the show was some kind of pork chop with stuffing. Scott and I opted to upgrade from the limited menu. He got steak and I got salmon and scallops. The food wasn't great, but it was quite decent. Decent enough for Scott to spill on his shirt.
Is he cute or what?
Our table was towards the back of the expansive dining area, near a waterfall.
The waterfall was nice. Because I promised, I'm not going to make a reference to the stack-able chairs at the dining tables and the lattice and how that doesn't really scream "dressy to business casual". I promised I wouldn't. So I won't.
After dinner and another drink at the bar (which I'm sure we needed), we walked by the fire (they don't call it Fireside for nothin') to the theater.
The theater is small, but still comfortable. There is seating on all 4 sides of the stage and a balcony. I suspect all the seats in a theater this small are good seats. We were in the third row. The middle of the stage rises and drops. For the show we saw, the band was on that part of the stage and they got raised and lowered between acts. The performers worked the perimeter of the stage, around the band. The picture below shows the stage and the seating. They removed those yellow cones once everyone was seated. During the show, the performers went up and down the stairs on the 4 corners of the stage as they segued from one act to another.
Scott and I both enjoyed the show. It was all singing and a little bit of comedy from an MC. They sang a bunch of rat pack songs (you know I love Dean Martin, right?) and Celine Dion and it wouldn't be a Vegas show without a little Wayne Newton. And there were others. They even had a couple show girls. I thought all the performers sang really well.
Scott and I have been living a pretty fun life here in Wisconsin and the trip to the Fireside Theater fit right into the fun, tacky dinner and all.
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