While scrolling through Instagram, I came across an advertisement for a show called Mesmerica. It is basically a visual plus audio show playing in a planetarium. I did not know there was a planetarium near my house, but evidently there is one at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa.
When I check the Mesmerica website, I thought the January 18th show was the final show so I bought two tickets. I was wrong; there are still more show dates available. The general admission tickets were $34 each, while VIP tickets with priority seating were $39. I just bought the cheap ticket.
Being the OCD person I am, I researched for the best seats in a planetarium auditorium. The Internet said I should get a seat near the middle or back. After lining up for the show, I noticed there were a lot of VIP ticket holders. Luckily, there were several handicapped seats in the back, and they were empty when we finally entered the planetarium. We ended up with great seats.
The show, however, was pretty weak. It was very repetitive, but the video and the audio. It felt like I was watching a screen saver for 45 minutes. There were several cool visuals, with one looking like the city bending scene in Inception, but they were rare.
Likewise, the audio was pretty boring too. The artist is James Hood, and the soundtrack sounded like generic new age music. The main musical instrument appears to be a hang, which is similar in sound to a steel drum from the Caribbeans. The first few songs were nice and relaxing, then the soundtrack became repetitive. My friend fell asleep after about 15 minutes. I stayed awake so I can make my $34 worth while.
Throughtout the show, the artist (James Hood) would make some commentary about mind and conscience. It sounded like psychobabble as he tried to make his music much more significant than it really was. That also got old really fast. Finally, there were some lens aberration issues so the planetarium screen has three large bright circies which further discracted the audience.
Overall, I would not recommend the show at current prices. It is at least double what the price should be. Even with the excitement of watching a show in a planetarium, I was thoroughly bored with the experience. I would give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Life with chronic diseases 