Now I know that perhaps I am overreacting about this post but to be honest I never imagined that I would ever go to an Oprah show let alone her surprise farewell double taping at the United Center. But I (we) did. One of my patients at work is friends with a producer of the show and has been offered tickets multiple times before. He does not really care for the show nor the lady of the hour and so he never really took up the offer. Somehow it came up in conversation that I would have loved to have gone to a show just for the experience. I haven't seen a show since we moved to the States but nonetheless if Oprah tickets presented themselves, count me in. As it turns out this patient promised he would try and get me tickets to a show if he could especially as the season was rapping up etc. Well get me tickets he did! ...to a special double taping of Oprah's Surprise Farewell which ended up being similar to a benefit concert with all of Oprah's favourite people. Ryan and I had no idea really what to expect (yes Ryan came too and if you follow him on fb you'll see that initially he felt a little out-numbered by all the oestrogen circulating in the stadium) and when it came to our seating we were absolutely BLOWN away. We were sitting in the section reserved for the Mayor (ex-mayor Daley), Jerry Seinfeld and Dr Oz's wives, Lisa Ling, the Queer Eye for Straight Guy people and tv producers from various networks. Whatever... we all cheered at the same level! We unfortunately only had our cellphones to take pictures and without a zoom the pics aren't the best but you'll some famous celebs all in one place at the same time.
Waiting in line, I left the sun in this pic to prove that there actually is sun in Chicago!
Inside the Center..
I forget this guy's name.. Carson? but he is from the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy show and now he has his own show launched by Oprah (of course!).
Lisa Ling - hardcore journalist that is very into women's rights and I think does some dangerous investigating in the middle east and China. Anyhoo, if you watch Oprah, you'll know who she is.
So those were some of the celebs sitting in our section with their names on the chairs etc. That was cool even before the show had begun! Now on to the really good stuff!
Oprah came out on stage not really knowing what to expect. She knew the time and place of the event and that's all. Even for Oprah, I think she was pretty overwhelmed. If you manage to catch the show, you'll see her get very emotional in some instances. I didn't use my complimentary Oprah Kleenex under my chair (all 13 000 of us had tissues provided) but had Oprah needed any extra, I would have been glad to oblige!
Tom Hanks hosted the first show. He appeared very loveable and sweet on stage and hosted the show really well.
OK so I didn't take pictures of Josh Groban, Patty Labelle, Madonna, Beyonce nor Tom Cruise because we were told that we weren't allowed to and would be escorted out. Anyway once Katie Holmes came out and I noticed that everyone had brought proper cameras and were clicking away, I broke those rules and started taking a lot more pics. So, above is Halle Berry, Katie Holmes and Queen Latifah.
At the end of the first hour, the Rascal Flatts played a soppy song and everyone came back on stage. Oprah in the mulberry and to her right are Tom and Katie and you can kind of see Beyonce in the greeny dress. Sorry the photos suck but if you zoom you can see better.
Onto half #2: Will Smith hosted this hour and wife Jada is in the white.
Michael Jordan galloped passed us - you see with no zoom how close we were?! MJ had to make an appearance - after all the United Center is home of the Chicago Bulls.
MJ and Ms Mulberry.
Then from the audience out pops Jamie Foxx singing "Isn't She Lovely?" and then from the stage, Stevie Wonder rose up with the piano and carried on.
Uh..?! Oh yes that is me pointing to Will Smith who came down to be filmed where we were sitting!
The back of Jerry Seinfeld talking to Oprah and Jamie Foxx sitting in front on him. This is when Ryan decided it actually was cool to be here.
Maria Schriver and Gail King. Uh, I think Maria decided to be on the show before the news broke of Arnie's child with the maid. In fact the day we taped the show was the day the news broke in the US :(
Kristen Chenoweth from Wicked singing "Because I knew you". Google, it's a soppy inspiring Oprah song. Oprah loves Wizard of Oz and Glenda the good witch which is what Kristen played in Wicked and which was the role that made her famous. I think she's also been on the show Pushing Daisies and definitely on Glee as a drunk.
Tyler Perry on Oprah's right with Maria.
Alicia Keys and Maya Angelou. Alicia played the piano while Maya read Oprah an original poem celebrating (Oprah's) life.
Ms Aretha Franklin. I think it's a big deal that she made an appearance. Oprah appeared very shocked and stoked.
Woohoo!!!!!
