Over the last two day's I've watched the six episodes of SMASH out there, as of two-thirty PM PDT.
For those who don't know, SMASH is, theoretically, about the development of a new Broadway show based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. Like most TV shows that are procedurals, though, it's really about the characters and their lives. And that's where it falls flat, for me. Right now I only really like two characters. The first is Eileen Rand, played by the deliciously scene chewing Anjelica Huston, the producer of the play trying to pull together the backers and money to put on a workshop of the play. The other is Derek Wills, played by Jack Davenport (which is fun because I've been slowly working my way through the original version of Coupling where he plays Steve), the plays director.
The problem with these two characters is that they are so buried in the world of Broadway that they don't provide a way into that world. They know the tricks and rules so they don't explain anything to the audience. Maybe that's part of why I like them so much. They know. They're inside. That's the world I want to know.
There are two characters that are new to the Broadway world: Karen Cartwright, played by Katharine McPhee, and Ellis Tancharoen, played by Jaime Cepero. Ellis is the assistant to Tom Levitt, played by Christian Borle, a co-writer of the play and Karen the the wide-eyed mid-west girl come to the big city to be a star. These are characters designed to lead an audience into the weird world of plays. I don't like them, though.
Karen is too naive. She's constantly shocked at, well, everything. (Except for one time where the director wanted her to sleep with him and she didn't. That was a great moment.) She's exhausting.
Ellis was who I hoped would be the audience surrogate. He's the assistant to one of the writers. He has a front row seat to the creation of the songs and book. He can ask all the questions about how the songs are written and help the audience see how plays are created. Unfortunately, it looks like he's going to is a villain, and he never asks questions about the creative process.
The fact that I don't really like any of the characters isn't my real problem with the show, though. I want to delve into the behind the scenes creation of a play. I like to see how the sausage is made. I want the boring dirty details that go creation.
It seem to me that SMASH moves too fast. The songs are too finished. Where's the revision? Where's the evolution the the music? The alteration of the lyrics? The dances are perfected. Where's the choreographer practicing by himself in front of the mirror finding the perfect step, turn, turn, step, kick, step? Where's the frustration at teaching the chorus the step? Yes, I like seeing the dance numbers and hearing the songs, but when they come out complete it makes everything seem too easy. I don't just want to hear about Julia Houston, played by Debra Messing, having trouble writing the book and lyrics. I want to see her agonizing over finding the perfect lyric, the perfect line. (There was a moment in the third episode when Julia was trying to figure out how to write "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," but it was only a taste of the agonizingly beautiful frustration of creation I want to see.)
And then there are the musical numbers. They are so polished. So finished. I don't just mean the choreography. I mean that the songs are very finely produced. Example: In the first episode Karen sings the song "Beautiful" while she auditions for the part of Marilyn. It starts out with her singing with only a piano accompanying her. Then in come stings and whatnot. Yeah, the lighting changes, suggesting that this is a bit of a fantasy sequence, but why can't it just be a simple audition? Oh, yeah, the people in charge of the show want to be like Glee and make a shit ton of money selling covers, and originals. Still, when they're rehearsing and the only instrument is a piano and then I hear drums and strings and horns I get pulled out of the show and wonder where the orchestra is sitting? At least in Glee they always magically have an orchestra with them.
I plan to keep watching this show, even though it bothers me. I don't hate it like I do Glee. This show was built for a person like me. I love theater, including musical theater. I love TV shows that go behind the scenes. So I'll keep watching.
Showing posts with label musicals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label musicals. Show all posts
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Monday, May 16, 2011
"Did you know the clitoris is a holy sacred thing?"
NPR has posted the cast recording to The Book of Mormon, the Musical.
While I recommend you listen to the whole thing, if you won't here's where the individual songs are found. To get the best gist of the play, listen to "Hello!" then "All-American Prophet" followed by "Making Things Up Again" next "Joseph Smith American Moses" and finally move to 3:16 of "Tomorrow is a Latter Day" to finish the story.
"Hasa Diga Eebowai," "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream," and "I Believe" are pretty spectacular, too, but the first is purely funny and the other two are about a character rather than the mission he's on.
I really don't want to travel to New York, but I'd really like to watch this play.
While I recommend you listen to the whole thing, if you won't here's where the individual songs are found. To get the best gist of the play, listen to "Hello!" then "All-American Prophet" followed by "Making Things Up Again" next "Joseph Smith American Moses" and finally move to 3:16 of "Tomorrow is a Latter Day" to finish the story.
"Hasa Diga Eebowai," "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream," and "I Believe" are pretty spectacular, too, but the first is purely funny and the other two are about a character rather than the mission he's on.
I really don't want to travel to New York, but I'd really like to watch this play.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Book of Mormon, the Musical
First, I'm going to scream my head off, again, because I don't live in, or near, New York.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Okay, now that that's out of my system there's an interview with Parker and Stone done by John Stewart on the front page of The Book of Mormon website.
Once again, I must curse the world and how far it put New York City away from California. Son of a bitch.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Losing the Heights
In The Heights is in SF for the next couple of weeks. Its a show that I'm very curious to see. It won a Tony, so it's probably petty okay, even if it might not be great.
There are three problems with going to see the show:
1. The with work, cheapest ticket is $64 dollars, since it hast to be bought through TicketMaster, the fuckers.
2. Doing overtime, which is what will give me some extra money next month, I could only get into SF on a Sunday to see it.
3. The show is leaving on June 18th. That give me four Sundays, one of which I will not be here for and all of which are before the overtime check will be in my chubby hand.
*sigh*
Maybe I'll just wait and go see Young Frankenstein when it gets back to SF in July. That might be fun.
There are three problems with going to see the show:
1. The with work, cheapest ticket is $64 dollars, since it hast to be bought through TicketMaster, the fuckers.
2. Doing overtime, which is what will give me some extra money next month, I could only get into SF on a Sunday to see it.
3. The show is leaving on June 18th. That give me four Sundays, one of which I will not be here for and all of which are before the overtime check will be in my chubby hand.
*sigh*
Maybe I'll just wait and go see Young Frankenstein when it gets back to SF in July. That might be fun.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Interpretations, in the End
The first time I ever learned that there were people out there who didn't like the ending to My Fair Lady, I was in college. I was admiring a picture of Audrey Hepburn (I'm pretty sure it was from Breakfast at Tiffany's, but memory fades.) my friend had up on the wall of his bedroom and mentioned it to him.
"I love Audrey Hepburn," he said, "except at the end of My Fair Lady."
I didn't ask why. Although I wondered.
Years later, talking with another friend and her husband My Fair Lady was brought up (probably by me, but I can't be sure about that) and she mentioned how she preferred the end to Pygmalion. I asked about the difference since I hadn't read the play, and she said the difference was that in Pygmalion Eliza doesn't go back to Higgins.
I don't remember discussing it any more, but I do remember thinking that if Eliza didn't show up at the end of the movie then My Fair Lady would have to end either after Higgins sings (or "sings" when talking about Rex Harrison) "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" or after Mrs. Higgins says, "Bravo, Eliza." Both seem logical endings, with the former being much more sad.
I wondered, though, if something was wrong with me that I've never felt disturbed by the end of the movie/play. I can see why my friends would prefer Eliza not to show up in the study at the end: she's freed herself from a controlling, self-centered, arrogant, asshat of a man and taken her fate into her own hands. (If it had ended this way for my whole life, I would probably agree with them.) Most people who like the end probably like it because they think Eliza and Higgins are in love and now -- sigh -- they can be together, forever, and get married.
Me? Well, the more I've thought about it since that first time the more I realize that I like the end of the movie/play because Eliza has taken hold of her life and, frankly, I think she's chosen the best life for herself that she could find in early 1900s London.
She doesn't return to Higgins because she's in love with him. Yes, she cares for him a great deal, she probably loves him, but she is not in love with him, as seen here:
She cares about him, probably does love him, but Eliza Doolittle is not in love with Henry Higgins. I've always thought that she looked at him as the older brother she never had or the father she wished she had (although the father position is probably better filled by Pickering).
And Higgins isn't in love with Eliza. "I've Grown Accustom to Her Face" is a song about fondness. About how he likes that she's around. He sings, "I've grown accustomed to the tune that / She whistles night and noon." because it's part of the background of his life making what he thought was a nice life even better and more comfortable. "I've grown accustomed to the trace," he sings, "Of something in the air; / Accustomed to her face." She's made his life better in a smaller, simpler, and, perhaps, stronger ways than he made her life better.
Then why, if it's not love, does she come back to him, right?
Academics and economics.
When she first comes to Higgins she wants to be a girl in a flower shop. She wants to earn a better living for herself. She wants to move out of her social class and into a class that she sees as better. Eliza never expects to live with Higgins, though. She thinks she'd do it like her friend who took French lessons. She'd come to Higgins's house once or twice a week, clear up her accent, get a job in a shop, and move on with her life.
By moving into Higgins's house and working with him on a Daily basis, Eliza is pushed into the world of academia. As she speaks her vowels and practices her "h" sounds and says those tongue twisters she also overhears Higgins and Pickering discussing dialects and the human condition. It's easy to imagine that sometimes she might have even join in the discussions, once she starts to speak-up.
After the ball, knowing that the grand experiment is over, what's she to do?
Can she go on and work in someone's flower shop and be happy?
Can she really marry Freddy?
I don't think she can do either one.
Marrying Freddy's out because he's self-centered and an idiot. If there's any conversation to be had between the two of them, it'll be about him. (His song is about how he feels to be near her, which is sort of flattering, but I'd have more respect for him if he sang about how it felt to be with her.) It's like he thinks she's a trinket that he can put in a case and admire because it makes him feel good to know he has something so nice. There's only status in him, no vigor or life, no real thought. By the end of My Fair Lady Eliza learns how to think and isn't likely to marry just for money.
Working in a flower shop could be more likely, but where's the challenge to Eliza. She's been working and learning for months. Not only does her way of speaking change, but her view of the world (and the world's view of her). Before, she knew how to read and write, but that was all. After, she knows how to analyze what she sees and reads and use it to her advantage. The ball was where the audience sees her using the things she had been taught to her advantage: adapting as the situation changes, and letting the people think of her what they want. Working in a flower shop isn't a place where she could stretch her mind.
She couldn't marry an idiot (if she had, I would hate the movie/play with a passion). She wouldn't be happy simply selling flowers. What other choices did a woman, with no money, have in the early 1900s?
Eliza had another choice. Was it the perfect choice? No, but I think it was better than the alternatives.
Perhaps what really gets to the people who don't like the ending is that the last thing Eliza tells Higgins before showing up in his study at the very end is that she can do bloody well without him, but she, in the end, decides she does need him. I can understand how that could stick in their craws, but I still think that, for the time she lived in, she made the best choice.
"I love Audrey Hepburn," he said, "except at the end of My Fair Lady."
I didn't ask why. Although I wondered.
Years later, talking with another friend and her husband My Fair Lady was brought up (probably by me, but I can't be sure about that) and she mentioned how she preferred the end to Pygmalion. I asked about the difference since I hadn't read the play, and she said the difference was that in Pygmalion Eliza doesn't go back to Higgins.
I don't remember discussing it any more, but I do remember thinking that if Eliza didn't show up at the end of the movie then My Fair Lady would have to end either after Higgins sings (or "sings" when talking about Rex Harrison) "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" or after Mrs. Higgins says, "Bravo, Eliza." Both seem logical endings, with the former being much more sad.
I wondered, though, if something was wrong with me that I've never felt disturbed by the end of the movie/play. I can see why my friends would prefer Eliza not to show up in the study at the end: she's freed herself from a controlling, self-centered, arrogant, asshat of a man and taken her fate into her own hands. (If it had ended this way for my whole life, I would probably agree with them.) Most people who like the end probably like it because they think Eliza and Higgins are in love and now -- sigh -- they can be together, forever, and get married.
Me? Well, the more I've thought about it since that first time the more I realize that I like the end of the movie/play because Eliza has taken hold of her life and, frankly, I think she's chosen the best life for herself that she could find in early 1900s London.
She doesn't return to Higgins because she's in love with him. Yes, she cares for him a great deal, she probably loves him, but she is not in love with him, as seen here:
Higgins: In short, you want me to be as infatuated about you as he is, is that it?The important bit again: "Not to want you to make love to me and not forgetting the difference between us, but more friendly like."
Eliza: No, I don't. That's not the sort of feeling I want from you. I want a little kindness. I know I'm a common, ignorant girl, and you're a book-learned gentleman, but I'm not dirt under your feet.
What I done-- what I did was not for the taxis and the dresses, but because we were pleasant together and I come to-- came to care for you. Not to want you to make love to me and not forgetting the difference between us, but more friendly like.
She cares about him, probably does love him, but Eliza Doolittle is not in love with Henry Higgins. I've always thought that she looked at him as the older brother she never had or the father she wished she had (although the father position is probably better filled by Pickering).
And Higgins isn't in love with Eliza. "I've Grown Accustom to Her Face" is a song about fondness. About how he likes that she's around. He sings, "I've grown accustomed to the tune that / She whistles night and noon." because it's part of the background of his life making what he thought was a nice life even better and more comfortable. "I've grown accustomed to the trace," he sings, "Of something in the air; / Accustomed to her face." She's made his life better in a smaller, simpler, and, perhaps, stronger ways than he made her life better.
Then why, if it's not love, does she come back to him, right?
Academics and economics.
When she first comes to Higgins she wants to be a girl in a flower shop. She wants to earn a better living for herself. She wants to move out of her social class and into a class that she sees as better. Eliza never expects to live with Higgins, though. She thinks she'd do it like her friend who took French lessons. She'd come to Higgins's house once or twice a week, clear up her accent, get a job in a shop, and move on with her life.
By moving into Higgins's house and working with him on a Daily basis, Eliza is pushed into the world of academia. As she speaks her vowels and practices her "h" sounds and says those tongue twisters she also overhears Higgins and Pickering discussing dialects and the human condition. It's easy to imagine that sometimes she might have even join in the discussions, once she starts to speak-up.
After the ball, knowing that the grand experiment is over, what's she to do?
Can she go on and work in someone's flower shop and be happy?
Can she really marry Freddy?
I don't think she can do either one.
Marrying Freddy's out because he's self-centered and an idiot. If there's any conversation to be had between the two of them, it'll be about him. (His song is about how he feels to be near her, which is sort of flattering, but I'd have more respect for him if he sang about how it felt to be with her.) It's like he thinks she's a trinket that he can put in a case and admire because it makes him feel good to know he has something so nice. There's only status in him, no vigor or life, no real thought. By the end of My Fair Lady Eliza learns how to think and isn't likely to marry just for money.
Working in a flower shop could be more likely, but where's the challenge to Eliza. She's been working and learning for months. Not only does her way of speaking change, but her view of the world (and the world's view of her). Before, she knew how to read and write, but that was all. After, she knows how to analyze what she sees and reads and use it to her advantage. The ball was where the audience sees her using the things she had been taught to her advantage: adapting as the situation changes, and letting the people think of her what they want. Working in a flower shop isn't a place where she could stretch her mind.
She couldn't marry an idiot (if she had, I would hate the movie/play with a passion). She wouldn't be happy simply selling flowers. What other choices did a woman, with no money, have in the early 1900s?
Eliza had another choice. Was it the perfect choice? No, but I think it was better than the alternatives.
Perhaps what really gets to the people who don't like the ending is that the last thing Eliza tells Higgins before showing up in his study at the very end is that she can do bloody well without him, but she, in the end, decides she does need him. I can understand how that could stick in their craws, but I still think that, for the time she lived in, she made the best choice.
Useless Labels:
movies,
musicals,
over analyzing
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Odds
You know, with all the obsession about vampires out there, has anyone figured out how they defecate? Do they pee? Do they poo? Are they like birds and both kinds of waste at once?
No system is perfectly closed, so there has to be some kind of waste and they're going to have to get rid of it some how. I don't care if vampires have a piece of a demon soul in them, they still have to get rid of the unusable parts.
I've really like the weather in Northern California the past couple of months. We've gotten a storm every 6-10 days with days in between that are sunny or have patchy clouds. It's been nice to have a real variety in weather. I hope it stays this way the rest of the year.
If this is how climate change is going to effect my life, I'm all for it.
I know the stuff is just fan fiction, but is it wrong to get upset inside when I read a story where the author doesn't seem to know the word "than" exists (he only ever writes "then" to mean both "then" and "than") and then read a review praising the author's writing ability as the one of the best out there and even complimenting the grammar as being "spot on"?
Seriously, I don't understand. People out there will pick on writers mixing up "its" with "it's" or "there" with "their" and "they're" or "to" with "two" and "too," but do they not even see the "then"s replacing the "than"s? Maybe they just don't care, but if that's true, why do they pick on other grammatical errors?
I suppose, on the plus side, the author constantly makes this mistake. Consistency is a good thing, right?
For $5 movie Tuesday I went and saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
I had to go see it. I like the books: they make me laugh. I liked the movie: it made me laugh.
The director and writers (two of whom were Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah, which surprised me and made me happy) keep the potty jokes to a minimum and the big one, that I remember, was both well earned and hilarious. (Not that I'm against potty jokes. (Hell I opened this post with a potty joke.) It's that I hate that so many writers and directors out there think it's the only sort of humor that kids like and/or get. Kids ain't that dumb.) The "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" scene was worth the admission price alone, well for me and the mom that brought her son to see it, at least. Also, they animate the art from the book and it's gorgeous.
I just went and checked out the Wikipedia page for the movie and saw the section on the reviews. Rotten Tomatoes says, "Unlike its bestselling source material, Diary of a Wimpy Kid fails to place a likable protagonist at the center of its middle-school humor – and its underlying message is drowned out as a result." Funny thing is, Greg's a jerk in the books, too, it's part of the charm. I found him to be just as likable in the movie as he is in the book. Maybe seeing a real little kid doing the things a cartoon little kid did, not that he does anything horrible.
Bah, I don't need to defend the movie and I don't have to explain myself, but I enjoyed it.
The CDs I bought with the Amazon gift certificates(? Letters? Emails? They're not cards, so what are they exactly?) I got for my birthday got here yesterday. The one I'm most excited about is the cast recording of "Sunday in the Park with George."
Listened to it twice last night.
If only... Right?
No system is perfectly closed, so there has to be some kind of waste and they're going to have to get rid of it some how. I don't care if vampires have a piece of a demon soul in them, they still have to get rid of the unusable parts.
I've really like the weather in Northern California the past couple of months. We've gotten a storm every 6-10 days with days in between that are sunny or have patchy clouds. It's been nice to have a real variety in weather. I hope it stays this way the rest of the year.
If this is how climate change is going to effect my life, I'm all for it.
I know the stuff is just fan fiction, but is it wrong to get upset inside when I read a story where the author doesn't seem to know the word "than" exists (he only ever writes "then" to mean both "then" and "than") and then read a review praising the author's writing ability as the one of the best out there and even complimenting the grammar as being "spot on"?
Seriously, I don't understand. People out there will pick on writers mixing up "its" with "it's" or "there" with "their" and "they're" or "to" with "two" and "too," but do they not even see the "then"s replacing the "than"s? Maybe they just don't care, but if that's true, why do they pick on other grammatical errors?
I suppose, on the plus side, the author constantly makes this mistake. Consistency is a good thing, right?
For $5 movie Tuesday I went and saw Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
I had to go see it. I like the books: they make me laugh. I liked the movie: it made me laugh.
The director and writers (two of whom were Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah, which surprised me and made me happy) keep the potty jokes to a minimum and the big one, that I remember, was both well earned and hilarious. (Not that I'm against potty jokes. (Hell I opened this post with a potty joke.) It's that I hate that so many writers and directors out there think it's the only sort of humor that kids like and/or get. Kids ain't that dumb.) The "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" scene was worth the admission price alone, well for me and the mom that brought her son to see it, at least. Also, they animate the art from the book and it's gorgeous.
I just went and checked out the Wikipedia page for the movie and saw the section on the reviews. Rotten Tomatoes says, "Unlike its bestselling source material, Diary of a Wimpy Kid fails to place a likable protagonist at the center of its middle-school humor – and its underlying message is drowned out as a result." Funny thing is, Greg's a jerk in the books, too, it's part of the charm. I found him to be just as likable in the movie as he is in the book. Maybe seeing a real little kid doing the things a cartoon little kid did, not that he does anything horrible.
Bah, I don't need to defend the movie and I don't have to explain myself, but I enjoyed it.
The CDs I bought with the Amazon gift certificates(? Letters? Emails? They're not cards, so what are they exactly?) I got for my birthday got here yesterday. The one I'm most excited about is the cast recording of "Sunday in the Park with George."
Listened to it twice last night.
If only... Right?
Friday, January 29, 2010
Friday, May 29, 2009
Sometimes, I wish I sounded like Burl Ives.
I don't know the context in the movie, but I sure like the song.
Three creaky wooden stairs
Those squeaky rocking chairs
The well worn welcome mat
The lattice vines
The happy times
All I want to do
When the day is through
Is linger here on the front porch
With you
From the wicker swing
While the night birds sing
We'll watch the fireflies sparkin'
Do some sparkin' too
How the hours fly
As the moon drifts by --
How sweet the air
As we stare
At the sight
Oh! How I love to linger here like this
Hold your hand, and steal a kiss
Or two
On the front porch with you
All I want to do
When the day is through
Is linger here on the front porch
With you
From the wicker swing
While the night birds sing
We'll watch the fireflies sparkin'
Do some sparkin' too
(Some sparkin' too!)
How the hours fly
As the moon drifts by --
How sweet the air
As we stare
At the sight
Oh! How I love to linger here like this
Hold your hand, and steal a kiss
Or two
On the front porch with you
Written by: Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Performed by: Burl Ives
Three creaky wooden stairs
Those squeaky rocking chairs
The well worn welcome mat
The lattice vines
The happy times
All I want to do
When the day is through
Is linger here on the front porch
With you
From the wicker swing
While the night birds sing
We'll watch the fireflies sparkin'
Do some sparkin' too
How the hours fly
As the moon drifts by --
How sweet the air
As we stare
At the sight
Oh! How I love to linger here like this
Hold your hand, and steal a kiss
Or two
On the front porch with you
All I want to do
When the day is through
Is linger here on the front porch
With you
From the wicker swing
While the night birds sing
We'll watch the fireflies sparkin'
Do some sparkin' too
(Some sparkin' too!)
How the hours fly
As the moon drifts by --
How sweet the air
As we stare
At the sight
Oh! How I love to linger here like this
Hold your hand, and steal a kiss
Or two
On the front porch with you
Written by: Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Performed by: Burl Ives
Friday, August 01, 2008
Many Plays, 2
There's still plenty to do, but I have to take some time for myself. Which is funny since I'm at work and getting paid, sort of, maybe, that should be my focus, but I'm going a little crazy.
Anyway, like I wrote before, this last month I went to see a lot of plays and I thought it'd be fun (for me) to go over what I saw and what I liked and didn't like about each.
The Women:
At its most, it's the story of a bunch of women in New York and how they deal with men. Divorce, cheating, dating, and remarriage are all big parts of the story. Not that the play's a downer, because it's not. It's really funny. The only real problem with it is that the playwright didn't do a very good job of transitioning from comedy to the drama and them back. It's like laugh, laugh, laugh, and then get hit upside the head with melodrama and weeping; new scene: laugh, laugh, laugh, hit with melodrama. And it does this over and over again.
Still the good far out weighed the overwrought drama and most of the women were spectacular at the comedy and those that weren't were really only important to the drama aspects.
The Producers:
Only one of the most fun musicals ever written. People cheating old ladies out of lots money after having sex with them to put on the worst play ever and after it closes take the extra cash and run off to Rio, with flaming gay men, a Nazi, and songs, what's not to enjoy?
In fact, I enjoyed this version almost as much as I did the touring company Wings and I saw years ago in SF. I did wish that Ulla had a better blonde wig and that we could see the dancers in their swastika formations during "Springtime for Hitler," but an overhead mirror would have cost too much for this little theater.
The Crucible:
This power of this play, when it's performed, rest on the shoulders of one character: John Proctor. Which was the problem with this performance. The guy playing John was too young and he just wasn't that good of an actor. When he's having dinner with his wife, Elizabeth, and she's poking at him because he screwed around on her, John should be played with righteous fury, like he's about to blame his affair on Elizabeth because she got sick and he couldn't have sex with his wife; the actor played it more like a teenager whining to his girlfriend about how sick he is of her teasing. The lust between John and Abigail Williams should be hot and animalistic; she draws him in with her sex appeal and he simply can't resist, but, again, this actor played it more like a first time crush, all awkward and bumbling and clammy.
The rest of the cast was spectacular, though. They took the words of Arthur Miller and really turned them into a morality tale and saved me from being totally bored with the play.
Kiss Me, Kate:
With this play, Cole Porter was trying to move his writing from what Broadway used to be -- a show with songs that were good, but had little to do with the plot -- to what they were becoming -- shows with songs that were integral to the characters or plot -- but didn't quite succeed. There may not be a lot of songs that are useless to the story, but the very first one, "Another Op'nin', Another Show" sure is and so is one of Porter's best songs ever, "Too Darn Hot." And it really bugs me.
Yeah, I enjoyed the show and really all the songs are wonderful, and the actors were great, especially the women who played Lilly/Katherine and Lois/Bianca and the show are extremely strong. I guess that why the non important song, like "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," bother me so much, the play is nearly perfect and these songs, as fun as they are, just take me right out of the story.
A Chorus Line:
Talk about you musical for those who love musicals.
It's all about the casting of a chorus for a play. It's one act of like 17 characters standing on an empty stage dancing, and talking about themselves or their love of dance, and practicing. And the dancing is amazing. From the perfect solo dances, to the practice groups where people misstep, to the high kicking finale.
Spectacular.
Snoopy!!! The Musical:
This play so wanted to be You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, but it just couldn't be and doesn't ever come close.
Frankly, to me, Snoopy is the most boring character in Peanuts. Yes I like his imagination, but everything always works out for him, or, if it doesn't, he just says it did and then moves on to something else. He's just so boring.
So is the play. Between the songs are short sketch like things that are supposed to be like a daily strip brought to life. Some of them are funny, but none of them connect to each other except that they include Charlie Brown, Lucy, Sally, Linus, Peppermint Patty, and Snoopy, other than that, nothing.
Most of the songs are light and airy and useless. Snoopy almost always sings about how great his life is or how great he is and how everything should focus on him.
And then there are the two songs that Focus on Peppermint Patty that completely mischaracterize the Peppermint Patty I remember from the strips. She has a crush on Charlie Brown. We all know it. (And yes, I'm aware of the lesbian jokes with her and Marcie, and even if Peppermint Patty's gay she can have a crush on a boy that's kind to her. I'm sure it happens all the time out there in the real world.) In the strips she constantly denied it, but she also called him up or sat under a tree with him and talked about love to him, but he never got the hint and she'd get frustrated. She'd never admit to the crush, though. But in this play she first asks him about her looks and when he mentions her big nose and how she might grow into it she then sings a song about how she wants her face to catch-up to her nose and later she sings Charlie Brown a song where she calls him "poor, sweet baby." It was all just so overt. The strip tended to balance her crush by having Marcie mock Peppermint Patty by insisting the crush was there. The play just has Peppermint Patty throw the crush in the audience's faces.
The last song, "Just One Person," while having a nice message, wasn't earned. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown earned the sweetness of it's final song, "Happiness," by sort of tearing down Charlie Brown and showing him as a failure, so him and his friends finding happiness in little, everyday things was earned. This Snoopy!!! play shows some disappointment, but every time something happens to him, Snoopy turns it into a victory up to the point where he's actually proclaimed the Head Beagle. There is just too much winning to then delve into such a super sweet song.
The acting was decent. The guy who played Snoopy really hammed it up, but the woman who played Peppermint Patty was wonderful, I wish she'd had a bigger role in one of the other plays. It's too bad they had such a poor play to perform in.
And there we have it. All the plays I've seen in the last month, or so. It's pretty obvious which one I saw last, isn’t it? Here's hoping, if I'm still around then, next year is as enjoyable.
Anyway, like I wrote before, this last month I went to see a lot of plays and I thought it'd be fun (for me) to go over what I saw and what I liked and didn't like about each.
The Women:
At its most, it's the story of a bunch of women in New York and how they deal with men. Divorce, cheating, dating, and remarriage are all big parts of the story. Not that the play's a downer, because it's not. It's really funny. The only real problem with it is that the playwright didn't do a very good job of transitioning from comedy to the drama and them back. It's like laugh, laugh, laugh, and then get hit upside the head with melodrama and weeping; new scene: laugh, laugh, laugh, hit with melodrama. And it does this over and over again.
Still the good far out weighed the overwrought drama and most of the women were spectacular at the comedy and those that weren't were really only important to the drama aspects.
The Producers:
Only one of the most fun musicals ever written. People cheating old ladies out of lots money after having sex with them to put on the worst play ever and after it closes take the extra cash and run off to Rio, with flaming gay men, a Nazi, and songs, what's not to enjoy?
In fact, I enjoyed this version almost as much as I did the touring company Wings and I saw years ago in SF. I did wish that Ulla had a better blonde wig and that we could see the dancers in their swastika formations during "Springtime for Hitler," but an overhead mirror would have cost too much for this little theater.
The Crucible:
This power of this play, when it's performed, rest on the shoulders of one character: John Proctor. Which was the problem with this performance. The guy playing John was too young and he just wasn't that good of an actor. When he's having dinner with his wife, Elizabeth, and she's poking at him because he screwed around on her, John should be played with righteous fury, like he's about to blame his affair on Elizabeth because she got sick and he couldn't have sex with his wife; the actor played it more like a teenager whining to his girlfriend about how sick he is of her teasing. The lust between John and Abigail Williams should be hot and animalistic; she draws him in with her sex appeal and he simply can't resist, but, again, this actor played it more like a first time crush, all awkward and bumbling and clammy.
The rest of the cast was spectacular, though. They took the words of Arthur Miller and really turned them into a morality tale and saved me from being totally bored with the play.
Kiss Me, Kate:
With this play, Cole Porter was trying to move his writing from what Broadway used to be -- a show with songs that were good, but had little to do with the plot -- to what they were becoming -- shows with songs that were integral to the characters or plot -- but didn't quite succeed. There may not be a lot of songs that are useless to the story, but the very first one, "Another Op'nin', Another Show" sure is and so is one of Porter's best songs ever, "Too Darn Hot." And it really bugs me.
Yeah, I enjoyed the show and really all the songs are wonderful, and the actors were great, especially the women who played Lilly/Katherine and Lois/Bianca and the show are extremely strong. I guess that why the non important song, like "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," bother me so much, the play is nearly perfect and these songs, as fun as they are, just take me right out of the story.
A Chorus Line:
Talk about you musical for those who love musicals.
It's all about the casting of a chorus for a play. It's one act of like 17 characters standing on an empty stage dancing, and talking about themselves or their love of dance, and practicing. And the dancing is amazing. From the perfect solo dances, to the practice groups where people misstep, to the high kicking finale.
Spectacular.
Snoopy!!! The Musical:
This play so wanted to be You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, but it just couldn't be and doesn't ever come close.
Frankly, to me, Snoopy is the most boring character in Peanuts. Yes I like his imagination, but everything always works out for him, or, if it doesn't, he just says it did and then moves on to something else. He's just so boring.
So is the play. Between the songs are short sketch like things that are supposed to be like a daily strip brought to life. Some of them are funny, but none of them connect to each other except that they include Charlie Brown, Lucy, Sally, Linus, Peppermint Patty, and Snoopy, other than that, nothing.
Most of the songs are light and airy and useless. Snoopy almost always sings about how great his life is or how great he is and how everything should focus on him.
And then there are the two songs that Focus on Peppermint Patty that completely mischaracterize the Peppermint Patty I remember from the strips. She has a crush on Charlie Brown. We all know it. (And yes, I'm aware of the lesbian jokes with her and Marcie, and even if Peppermint Patty's gay she can have a crush on a boy that's kind to her. I'm sure it happens all the time out there in the real world.) In the strips she constantly denied it, but she also called him up or sat under a tree with him and talked about love to him, but he never got the hint and she'd get frustrated. She'd never admit to the crush, though. But in this play she first asks him about her looks and when he mentions her big nose and how she might grow into it she then sings a song about how she wants her face to catch-up to her nose and later she sings Charlie Brown a song where she calls him "poor, sweet baby." It was all just so overt. The strip tended to balance her crush by having Marcie mock Peppermint Patty by insisting the crush was there. The play just has Peppermint Patty throw the crush in the audience's faces.
The last song, "Just One Person," while having a nice message, wasn't earned. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown earned the sweetness of it's final song, "Happiness," by sort of tearing down Charlie Brown and showing him as a failure, so him and his friends finding happiness in little, everyday things was earned. This Snoopy!!! play shows some disappointment, but every time something happens to him, Snoopy turns it into a victory up to the point where he's actually proclaimed the Head Beagle. There is just too much winning to then delve into such a super sweet song.
The acting was decent. The guy who played Snoopy really hammed it up, but the woman who played Peppermint Patty was wonderful, I wish she'd had a bigger role in one of the other plays. It's too bad they had such a poor play to perform in.
And there we have it. All the plays I've seen in the last month, or so. It's pretty obvious which one I saw last, isn’t it? Here's hoping, if I'm still around then, next year is as enjoyable.
Useless Labels:
acting,
musicals,
over analyzing,
plays,
songs
Monday, August 06, 2007
In Which I Had A Good Weekend
The interview seemed to go well, but we all need to remember that every interview I've gone to and thought went well (or great) I still didn't get hired.
The whole thing was very déjà vu-y. It was in a room I've been to before with two people who have interviewed me before, sitting in the same seats as before, who asked me the exact same questions in the same order as they did before for the same job I interviewed for before. My answers were different though, and they weren't wearing the same clothes as before.
The last question they asked was what teamwork means to me. I said, "It's like Mike Brady says, we're like sticks, together we can't be broken easily, but by ourselves, it's easy." Immediately, I wasn't sure whether it was smart to refer to The Brady Bunch at this interview, but it was too late to take it back. The woman sort of laughed and the guy smiled. Still...
After the interview I was off to my grandparents' house for a cousin's birthday. She turned 17. It was pretty nice. The food was good. Some of the conversations were interesting. I told my cousin, who was opening her gifts, that the way to get one gift out of the box was to lick it until it deteriorated. That earned me dirty looks from her and some of my grandma's friends, buy my grandpa had a huge grin on his face and my great uncle gave me a smile and a nod. Also went down the hill to an uncle's house and met the new kittens.
On the way back to my parents' house, I noticed a cat laying in the road and told my mom about it. As we passed, I noticed a long line of drool coming out from its mouth and knew that it wasn't warming itself on the asphalt. I stopped the car, backed it up, and parked in my uncle's driveway. We got out and saw that it was the daddy cat. My mom went to tell my uncle and I wrapped it in a sheet from the back of their car. It couldn't have been hit too long before because it was still really loose. My uncle, who had gotten some of his spine fused a week or so ago, really couldn't come out and deal with it, so we ended up taking it up to the grandparents' where my grandpa said he'd take care of it in the morning, which he did.
Saturday morning, my mom introduced me to a new form of entertainment for her and my dad. They have two humming bird feeders hanging outside of the dining room window, and they sit and watch the humming birds (here are some pictures, at times there are fifteen to twenty birds out there) and listening to Bach's Little Fugue in G minor (hear it performed on organ by Ian Tracey here) sung by The Swingle Singers, off the Thank You For Smoking soundtrack. It's really fun because the humming birds swoop in and out and dart around and it meshes very well. Mom and I think it would make a fun YouTube video. Too bad they can't record digital movies, yet.
After my mom left for her watercolor class, I headed over to the house of Heels and Johnny Logic. There I spent an hour, or so, rolling up a D&D character. Not only has Mr. Logic gone easy on the rolling since I last play, but I rolled some awesome numbers. I didn't even have to think about fudging. How often does a person get to place two 17s on their stat sheet? Not very. (When we played, that night, though, I didn't really play my stats, except for the intelligence, Raede is a wizard after all, so I'd be okay if his stats, other than intelligence (I earned that roll and that number! And I'd sort of like to keep the high charisma, too.), were bumped down a point or two to even him out some.) When I was finished, Johnny, Heels, their kid, Kamice, and Elex all headed off to a Mootown for some shopping and then a work related BBQ and baseball game.
While they were out, my mom and I saw The Simpsons Movie. I liked it a lot, but, then again, I like The Simpsons, a lot. The plot was wonderfully absurd, with touches of heart through out, just like the best episodes. The beginning makes fun of us for watching the movie, which was great. And we all get to see Bart's doodle. It was fun seeing it with my mom, who laughed nearly as much as I did.
Around nine, I got a call from Mr. Logic telling me that they were nearly back and I headed off for the Logic/Heels house once again, this time with Snapple, soda, and homemade caramel corn. I showed up around 9:30 and we played until a bit after 1:30. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. I got to be someone who's both annoying and useful to the party. We laughed. We argued. We fought barbarians. And I caused a moment that dropped DM Logic's jaw a little bit. (A huge guy, like seven feet tall, who carried a six foot sword covered in runes showed up in the camp and stared stomping toward the fighter-guy of the party. (I decided early on that my character was bad at remembering names, so I didn't think I'd have to.) Raede had been sleeping under a wagon and after the alarm was sounded he crawled out and forgot his weapons, but still had his (few) spells. After the big guy took a huge chunk out of the fighter guy, Raede cast the spell Open/Close on the big guy's hood and closed it. DM Logic looked surprised, a little angry, and surprised again before he said, "Okay, the hood is closed and the big guy is blinded." Best feeling a player can have.)
Sunday, I had to drive back, but "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!" was on NPR and when that ended I plugged in myPod and sang along with The Producers, The Rocky Horror Show, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Wicked, and A Little Night Music.
Today, I'm back at work hoping that soon I'll be living in Cowtown so a game of D&D with really excellent people can become a (semi-)regular thing because I need more good weekends in my life.
The whole thing was very déjà vu-y. It was in a room I've been to before with two people who have interviewed me before, sitting in the same seats as before, who asked me the exact same questions in the same order as they did before for the same job I interviewed for before. My answers were different though, and they weren't wearing the same clothes as before.
The last question they asked was what teamwork means to me. I said, "It's like Mike Brady says, we're like sticks, together we can't be broken easily, but by ourselves, it's easy." Immediately, I wasn't sure whether it was smart to refer to The Brady Bunch at this interview, but it was too late to take it back. The woman sort of laughed and the guy smiled. Still...
After the interview I was off to my grandparents' house for a cousin's birthday. She turned 17. It was pretty nice. The food was good. Some of the conversations were interesting. I told my cousin, who was opening her gifts, that the way to get one gift out of the box was to lick it until it deteriorated. That earned me dirty looks from her and some of my grandma's friends, buy my grandpa had a huge grin on his face and my great uncle gave me a smile and a nod. Also went down the hill to an uncle's house and met the new kittens.
On the way back to my parents' house, I noticed a cat laying in the road and told my mom about it. As we passed, I noticed a long line of drool coming out from its mouth and knew that it wasn't warming itself on the asphalt. I stopped the car, backed it up, and parked in my uncle's driveway. We got out and saw that it was the daddy cat. My mom went to tell my uncle and I wrapped it in a sheet from the back of their car. It couldn't have been hit too long before because it was still really loose. My uncle, who had gotten some of his spine fused a week or so ago, really couldn't come out and deal with it, so we ended up taking it up to the grandparents' where my grandpa said he'd take care of it in the morning, which he did.
Saturday morning, my mom introduced me to a new form of entertainment for her and my dad. They have two humming bird feeders hanging outside of the dining room window, and they sit and watch the humming birds (here are some pictures, at times there are fifteen to twenty birds out there) and listening to Bach's Little Fugue in G minor (hear it performed on organ by Ian Tracey here) sung by The Swingle Singers, off the Thank You For Smoking soundtrack. It's really fun because the humming birds swoop in and out and dart around and it meshes very well. Mom and I think it would make a fun YouTube video. Too bad they can't record digital movies, yet.
After my mom left for her watercolor class, I headed over to the house of Heels and Johnny Logic. There I spent an hour, or so, rolling up a D&D character. Not only has Mr. Logic gone easy on the rolling since I last play, but I rolled some awesome numbers. I didn't even have to think about fudging. How often does a person get to place two 17s on their stat sheet? Not very. (When we played, that night, though, I didn't really play my stats, except for the intelligence, Raede is a wizard after all, so I'd be okay if his stats, other than intelligence (I earned that roll and that number! And I'd sort of like to keep the high charisma, too.), were bumped down a point or two to even him out some.) When I was finished, Johnny, Heels, their kid, Kamice, and Elex all headed off to a Mootown for some shopping and then a work related BBQ and baseball game.
While they were out, my mom and I saw The Simpsons Movie. I liked it a lot, but, then again, I like The Simpsons, a lot. The plot was wonderfully absurd, with touches of heart through out, just like the best episodes. The beginning makes fun of us for watching the movie, which was great. And we all get to see Bart's doodle. It was fun seeing it with my mom, who laughed nearly as much as I did.
Around nine, I got a call from Mr. Logic telling me that they were nearly back and I headed off for the Logic/Heels house once again, this time with Snapple, soda, and homemade caramel corn. I showed up around 9:30 and we played until a bit after 1:30. I haven't had that much fun in a long time. I got to be someone who's both annoying and useful to the party. We laughed. We argued. We fought barbarians. And I caused a moment that dropped DM Logic's jaw a little bit. (A huge guy, like seven feet tall, who carried a six foot sword covered in runes showed up in the camp and stared stomping toward the fighter-guy of the party. (I decided early on that my character was bad at remembering names, so I didn't think I'd have to.) Raede had been sleeping under a wagon and after the alarm was sounded he crawled out and forgot his weapons, but still had his (few) spells. After the big guy took a huge chunk out of the fighter guy, Raede cast the spell Open/Close on the big guy's hood and closed it. DM Logic looked surprised, a little angry, and surprised again before he said, "Okay, the hood is closed and the big guy is blinded." Best feeling a player can have.)
Sunday, I had to drive back, but "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!" was on NPR and when that ended I plugged in myPod and sang along with The Producers, The Rocky Horror Show, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Wicked, and A Little Night Music.
Today, I'm back at work hoping that soon I'll be living in Cowtown so a game of D&D with really excellent people can become a (semi-)regular thing because I need more good weekends in my life.
Friday, June 29, 2007
On the Steps of the Palace
I've been trying to figure out what I want. You know? I want to figure out something that I desire with all of my being. Like a married couple who can't have kids (or are having trouble getting pregnant) but more than anything want a little life to care for. That's the kind of desire I'd like to have.
Sure, there are things I'd like to have. I'd like to own a few acres of land of rolling hills, pines and oaks, and a creek or California river running through it. I'd like to own a house. so that every payment I make gets it closer to being mine, instead lining the pocket of some jackass with money while he won't even replace a screen that's been missing since before I moved in. I'd like... shit, I don't really know what else I'd like.
A long time ago, I wrote about how much I like Into the Woods. I didn't do a great job talking about the play. Hell, I left out my favorite lyric. There's this moment where Cinderella is sitting on the stairs with the Baker's Wife talking (really singing, but come on, it's a musical) and the Baker's Wife asks her about the prince and ends with, "Is he everything you've ever wanted?" and Cinderella answers, "Would I know? / ... / [H}ow can you know what you want / Till you get what you want / And you see if you like it?" The Baker's wife isn't sure and ponders it over while Cinderella says, "All I know is- / ... / What I want most of all- / ... / Is to know what I want." Which is something that I've been able to relate to for a long time.
Do you remember the last time you blew an eyelash off your finger, or saw a shooting star and made a wish? What did you wish for? The last time I made a wish, I wished to have a wish. It's the same wish I've made since I was eleven.
Sure, there are things I'd like to have. I'd like to own a few acres of land of rolling hills, pines and oaks, and a creek or California river running through it. I'd like to own a house. so that every payment I make gets it closer to being mine, instead lining the pocket of some jackass with money while he won't even replace a screen that's been missing since before I moved in. I'd like... shit, I don't really know what else I'd like.
A long time ago, I wrote about how much I like Into the Woods. I didn't do a great job talking about the play. Hell, I left out my favorite lyric. There's this moment where Cinderella is sitting on the stairs with the Baker's Wife talking (really singing, but come on, it's a musical) and the Baker's Wife asks her about the prince and ends with, "Is he everything you've ever wanted?" and Cinderella answers, "Would I know? / ... / [H}ow can you know what you want / Till you get what you want / And you see if you like it?" The Baker's wife isn't sure and ponders it over while Cinderella says, "All I know is- / ... / What I want most of all- / ... / Is to know what I want." Which is something that I've been able to relate to for a long time.
Do you remember the last time you blew an eyelash off your finger, or saw a shooting star and made a wish? What did you wish for? The last time I made a wish, I wished to have a wish. It's the same wish I've made since I was eleven.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Be Jealous of Me...
For in a couple of months Wings and I will be going to see Avenue Q in a couple of months.
For those who don't have any idea of what Avenue Q is, here's a clip of the cast performing "It Sucks To Be Me." That pretty much explains the show.
Edit: 12:18
Okay, if you enjoyed the clip above you may enjoy the meeting between Avenue Q and Fiddler on the Roof, which is brilliant.
For those who don't have any idea of what Avenue Q is, here's a clip of the cast performing "It Sucks To Be Me." That pretty much explains the show.
Edit: 12:18
Okay, if you enjoyed the clip above you may enjoy the meeting between Avenue Q and Fiddler on the Roof, which is brilliant.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
I've...
...been singing a jumble of RENT songs in my head. I can't complete them, they're all garbled together. Bits from "La Vie Boheme," " Tune Up," "Seasons Of Love," "Tango: Maureen," "Over the Moon," and "One Song Glory"; there are probably others in there that I just don't know the titles of and I don't really want to look them up. It's a mess in there.
...been thinking about the newest Wonder Woman comic series and how disappointing it's been for me. Other than a brief infatuation with the old TV series when it was show on FX, way back in the day, I've never really gotten Wonder Woman. I like the idea of her, I think, but I just don't get the way she's used out there. Maybe it's just me, but I think that the idea or Wonder Woman should be stronger than the woman in the tights and I don't think the latest series is doing that. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's going well and I just don't understand.
...been keeping up with my work, mostly. I have a pile that I need to put back to the proper files. It's not a huge pile like I put back last week, which had stuff in it from the middle of December, but it's getting larger than I'd like it. I got a huge load today because one and a half people were missing and, for some stupid reason, when anyone, who isn't me, is gone for the day they don't get work. They're supposed to here tomorrow (although I'm not expecting one to show up), so why don't they get any work?
...been trying to ignore the subtle racism toward people of Mexican descent I hear around here. There's nothing overtly racist said, but one of the people here likes to hint that certain sterotypes about people of Mexican descent are true for all. Maybe I should be glad that she's not teaching kindergarten, which is what I used to think she should be doing with her life.
...been reading the first Sword of Truth book, Wizard's First Rule, here at work for the past two weeks. It's not great, but there's something hypnotic about it. I'm not sure what it is. One thing, though, I don't think the actual Sword of Truth should be called the Sword of Truth because the sword isn't about Truth, it's about truth or perceived truth. Truth, with the capital "t," should be objective and remain uninfluenced by anyone. The truth the sword deals with in the book, though, is the truth that the bearer of the sword sees. That bugs me. I suppose, though, that calling the series Sword of Perception would limit the sales quite a bit.
...been thinking about the newest Wonder Woman comic series and how disappointing it's been for me. Other than a brief infatuation with the old TV series when it was show on FX, way back in the day, I've never really gotten Wonder Woman. I like the idea of her, I think, but I just don't get the way she's used out there. Maybe it's just me, but I think that the idea or Wonder Woman should be stronger than the woman in the tights and I don't think the latest series is doing that. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's going well and I just don't understand.
...been keeping up with my work, mostly. I have a pile that I need to put back to the proper files. It's not a huge pile like I put back last week, which had stuff in it from the middle of December, but it's getting larger than I'd like it. I got a huge load today because one and a half people were missing and, for some stupid reason, when anyone, who isn't me, is gone for the day they don't get work. They're supposed to here tomorrow (although I'm not expecting one to show up), so why don't they get any work?
...been trying to ignore the subtle racism toward people of Mexican descent I hear around here. There's nothing overtly racist said, but one of the people here likes to hint that certain sterotypes about people of Mexican descent are true for all. Maybe I should be glad that she's not teaching kindergarten, which is what I used to think she should be doing with her life.
...been reading the first Sword of Truth book, Wizard's First Rule, here at work for the past two weeks. It's not great, but there's something hypnotic about it. I'm not sure what it is. One thing, though, I don't think the actual Sword of Truth should be called the Sword of Truth because the sword isn't about Truth, it's about truth or perceived truth. Truth, with the capital "t," should be objective and remain uninfluenced by anyone. The truth the sword deals with in the book, though, is the truth that the bearer of the sword sees. That bugs me. I suppose, though, that calling the series Sword of Perception would limit the sales quite a bit.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
A Little Night Music
I've been moving old post from an old blog that isn't used anymore over to this blog. (For those who need to know the Idiot is dead.) During the course of the moving the ones worth saving, I've also been reading the posts. I discuss my addiction to Sondheim's Into The Woods in one of them.
Reading that got me thinking about my most recent musical addiction, Sondheim's (with a book by Hugh Wheeler) A Little Night Music. (For a while it was Avenue Q, but not anymore.) My biggest problem when trying to talk about most of these plays is that I haven't seen them performed. I've only listened to the soundtrack. There are very few soundtracks which print out the entire book of the play (The Phantom of the Opera soundtrack spoiled me.), so I'm stuck just listening to the lyrics of the song and reading the few notes included to set the scene in which the song takes place.
That written, I'm gonna do my best to write about my new favorite musical.
A Little Night Music is based on an Ingmar Bergman movie (Smiles of a Summer Night according to the Wikipedia entry on the play.) and is about a bunch of rich Europeans trying not to be bored, for the most part.
There's Frederik and his new wife Anne, who's younger than Fredrick's son, who have yet to consummate their marriage, which is exquisitely laid out in the songs "Now" and "Soon" (which are grouped onto the same track with "Later" in between). Frederik wants to have sex. Anne doesn't, but she wants to keep the "good" life she has with him. The odd thing is when she finds out that Fredrick was visiting (and probably screwing) his old girlfriend, Desiree, she get's jealous, but she still doesn't sleep with him. While Frederik is visiting with Desiree, he sings of his wife and how wonderful she is, she even "gives [him] funny names-- / Like? / 'Old Dry-as-Dust.'"
There's Fredrick's grown son, Henrik, who's as sad as he can be because his father has married someone younger than he is and because he feel like he's foreshadowed by his father's accomplishment. In "Later," Henrik sings, as if he were someone else, "'Henrik? Who is Henrik? / Oh, the lawyer's son, the one who mumbles. / Short and boring, / Yes, he's hardly worth ignoring...'" Oh, he's also in love with his stepmother.
There's also Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm who is cheating on his wife, Charlotte, with Desiree. He finds Frederik with Desiree, who's an actress, in her dressing room when he comes for a "visit" and starts to worry about Desiree's fidelity toward him. He sings about how everyone should be honest and should have "fidelity like [his] to Desiree, / and Charlotte [his] devoted wife." He says the last part in a sort of aside, as if his wife's an after thought.
Charlotte and Anne are friends and talk about nearly everything. Charlotte knows her husband is cheating on her and laments it in the song "Everyday a Little Death."
The first act ends with Frederik and Anne being invited to Desiree's mother's, Madame Armfeldt, villa in the country. Anne doesn't want to go, but Charlotte insists she should go to show how much more beautiful she is than Desiree, and Charlotte figures it's a way to get her husband to herself for a weekend. When the Count learns of the weekend, he insists that he and his wife go because his wife "hasn't been getting out nearly enough." Charlotte's not happy.
The second act has some wonderful songs and some wonderful ideas, but I don't have time to discuss them right now. There are also more wonderful songs in the first act, but since I haven't seen the play, I'm not quite sure how they fit into the play overall. It's almost time for me to be away from work, and I've decided that's more important than finishing this.
I doubt I ever will.
I hope that one day, soon, I'll actually be able to see this play being performed. Until then, I'll be singing along with the soundtrack.
Reading that got me thinking about my most recent musical addiction, Sondheim's (with a book by Hugh Wheeler) A Little Night Music. (For a while it was Avenue Q, but not anymore.) My biggest problem when trying to talk about most of these plays is that I haven't seen them performed. I've only listened to the soundtrack. There are very few soundtracks which print out the entire book of the play (The Phantom of the Opera soundtrack spoiled me.), so I'm stuck just listening to the lyrics of the song and reading the few notes included to set the scene in which the song takes place.
That written, I'm gonna do my best to write about my new favorite musical.
A Little Night Music is based on an Ingmar Bergman movie (Smiles of a Summer Night according to the Wikipedia entry on the play.) and is about a bunch of rich Europeans trying not to be bored, for the most part.
There's Frederik and his new wife Anne, who's younger than Fredrick's son, who have yet to consummate their marriage, which is exquisitely laid out in the songs "Now" and "Soon" (which are grouped onto the same track with "Later" in between). Frederik wants to have sex. Anne doesn't, but she wants to keep the "good" life she has with him. The odd thing is when she finds out that Fredrick was visiting (and probably screwing) his old girlfriend, Desiree, she get's jealous, but she still doesn't sleep with him. While Frederik is visiting with Desiree, he sings of his wife and how wonderful she is, she even "gives [him] funny names-- / Like? / 'Old Dry-as-Dust.'"
There's Fredrick's grown son, Henrik, who's as sad as he can be because his father has married someone younger than he is and because he feel like he's foreshadowed by his father's accomplishment. In "Later," Henrik sings, as if he were someone else, "'Henrik? Who is Henrik? / Oh, the lawyer's son, the one who mumbles. / Short and boring, / Yes, he's hardly worth ignoring...'" Oh, he's also in love with his stepmother.
There's also Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm who is cheating on his wife, Charlotte, with Desiree. He finds Frederik with Desiree, who's an actress, in her dressing room when he comes for a "visit" and starts to worry about Desiree's fidelity toward him. He sings about how everyone should be honest and should have "fidelity like [his] to Desiree, / and Charlotte [his] devoted wife." He says the last part in a sort of aside, as if his wife's an after thought.
Charlotte and Anne are friends and talk about nearly everything. Charlotte knows her husband is cheating on her and laments it in the song "Everyday a Little Death."
The first act ends with Frederik and Anne being invited to Desiree's mother's, Madame Armfeldt, villa in the country. Anne doesn't want to go, but Charlotte insists she should go to show how much more beautiful she is than Desiree, and Charlotte figures it's a way to get her husband to herself for a weekend. When the Count learns of the weekend, he insists that he and his wife go because his wife "hasn't been getting out nearly enough." Charlotte's not happy.
The second act has some wonderful songs and some wonderful ideas, but I don't have time to discuss them right now. There are also more wonderful songs in the first act, but since I haven't seen the play, I'm not quite sure how they fit into the play overall. It's almost time for me to be away from work, and I've decided that's more important than finishing this.
I doubt I ever will.
I hope that one day, soon, I'll actually be able to see this play being performed. Until then, I'll be singing along with the soundtrack.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Wanna Go!
The more I think about it, the more I want to go and see Wicked again. Too bad I could only find tickets for $200 or more. Sometimes, rarely though, I wish I lived in New York.
Thursday, August 11, 2005
What To Say About Wicked?
Wicked is, on one level, an attempt to answer the debate over nature vs. nurture. Elsewhere, it's about growing up, or the lengths people go to gain power, or how some idealists are forced to do bad things to get their message across, or how fear unites people, or how much people just want to be liked by others. But, mostly, Wicked is about a friendship between two very different girls.
Elphaba, who eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, was born green and was always very smart and, therefore, immediately is disliked by everyone. Galinda, later Glinda the Good, was blonde and beautiful and, therefore, immediately liked by everyone. They met at Shiz, an Ozian University, and were forced to be roommates. One day, Galinda accidently did something nice for Nessarose, Elphaba's sister, which led Elphaba to do a kind thing for Galinda who then realized that just because she has a creepy skin color doesn't mean that Elphaba was a bad person and Galinda helped to get Elphaba accepted by the other students. And they started to become friends, sometimes despite their differences and sometimes because of them.
From there, the audience watches the making of a wicked witch and development of one of the most unlikely, but wonderful, friendships I've ever seen.
I've read and enjoyed the novel (Wicked by Gregory Maguire) which the play is based on and was worried that I'd hate the play, but I didn't. They cut down some of the plots to focus on the friendship between the two witches and I think that was a smart move. I liked Elphaba from the start, probably because she's a lot like me, and couldn't stand Galinda, but as their friendship grew, I saw Galinda grow as a person as her love for Elphaba grew and I ended up liking Galinda as much as Elphaba did. One of the songs they sing together (I lost my playbill, so I can't give the title, sorry) they say to each other that they're not sure if knowing the other changed them for the better, but it changed them for good. I think that's a great statement for their friendship.
The second really smart thing that the play did was mix it up with the mythology everyone knows from the Judy Garland movie, rather than the books, like Maguire did. We see the creation of the Cowardly Lion (which actually is in the book), the Tin Woodsman, and the Scarecrow. That was fun for most of the audience because it really put the story in the Oz that they've know for their whole lives. For me, who's read many of the Baum books, I found the creation of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman distracting because my insides were screaming, "That's not how it happened in the Oz books, dammit!" I got over it, for the most part.
Dorothy is in the play, but you never see her. She takes Nessarose's shoes, she weeps in the castle, and she melts the Elphaba, but the audience is never allowed to see her or get to know her. If we did get to see Dorothy, would we have a harder time seeing Elphaba as a decent, but flawed, person? If we saw her, would it ruin the original that so beloved because she melts the hero of the play? I'm not sure, but maybe.
The sets were simply amazing. A giant moving puppet/robot head for the Wizard to speak out of. An enormous clock face with moving gears. A huge map of Oz as the curtain. A giant bubble for Glinda to fly down on. Flying monkeys. And a witch that flies because of a broom.
My only problem with the play, which is usually my problem with everything, is the ending. Maguire ends his book in the way he has to. I'm going to put it here for you all to see:
So, go and see and enjoy. It's not the Oz you grew up. It's better.
Elphaba, who eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, was born green and was always very smart and, therefore, immediately is disliked by everyone. Galinda, later Glinda the Good, was blonde and beautiful and, therefore, immediately liked by everyone. They met at Shiz, an Ozian University, and were forced to be roommates. One day, Galinda accidently did something nice for Nessarose, Elphaba's sister, which led Elphaba to do a kind thing for Galinda who then realized that just because she has a creepy skin color doesn't mean that Elphaba was a bad person and Galinda helped to get Elphaba accepted by the other students. And they started to become friends, sometimes despite their differences and sometimes because of them.
From there, the audience watches the making of a wicked witch and development of one of the most unlikely, but wonderful, friendships I've ever seen.
I've read and enjoyed the novel (Wicked by Gregory Maguire) which the play is based on and was worried that I'd hate the play, but I didn't. They cut down some of the plots to focus on the friendship between the two witches and I think that was a smart move. I liked Elphaba from the start, probably because she's a lot like me, and couldn't stand Galinda, but as their friendship grew, I saw Galinda grow as a person as her love for Elphaba grew and I ended up liking Galinda as much as Elphaba did. One of the songs they sing together (I lost my playbill, so I can't give the title, sorry) they say to each other that they're not sure if knowing the other changed them for the better, but it changed them for good. I think that's a great statement for their friendship.
The second really smart thing that the play did was mix it up with the mythology everyone knows from the Judy Garland movie, rather than the books, like Maguire did. We see the creation of the Cowardly Lion (which actually is in the book), the Tin Woodsman, and the Scarecrow. That was fun for most of the audience because it really put the story in the Oz that they've know for their whole lives. For me, who's read many of the Baum books, I found the creation of the Scarecrow and Tin Woodsman distracting because my insides were screaming, "That's not how it happened in the Oz books, dammit!" I got over it, for the most part.
Dorothy is in the play, but you never see her. She takes Nessarose's shoes, she weeps in the castle, and she melts the Elphaba, but the audience is never allowed to see her or get to know her. If we did get to see Dorothy, would we have a harder time seeing Elphaba as a decent, but flawed, person? If we saw her, would it ruin the original that so beloved because she melts the hero of the play? I'm not sure, but maybe.
The sets were simply amazing. A giant moving puppet/robot head for the Wizard to speak out of. An enormous clock face with moving gears. A huge map of Oz as the curtain. A giant bubble for Glinda to fly down on. Flying monkeys. And a witch that flies because of a broom.
My only problem with the play, which is usually my problem with everything, is the ending. Maguire ends his book in the way he has to. I'm going to put it here for you all to see:
And of the Witch? In the life of a Witch, there is no after, in the ever after of a Witch, there is no happily; in the story of a Witch, there is no afterword. Of that part that is beyond the life story, beyond the story of life, there is--alas, or perhaps thank mercy--no telling. She was dead, dead and gone, and all that was left of her was the carapace of her reputation for malice.For me, it was like seeing/reading Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. These characters have to die because it's written. The play, however, ends on a much happier note. I'm sure most of the audience was pleased with this, but sometimes isn't it nice to have things end in a way that's not so perfect?
So, go and see and enjoy. It's not the Oz you grew up. It's better.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Amazing
The play was absolutely spectacular. If you have the money and a day to get to The Bay (or NY, if you're on that side of the country) go and see Wicked.
I'll try to do a better post on it tomorrow. I'm tired now.
I'll try to do a better post on it tomorrow. I'm tired now.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Play
Tomorrow, I'm off to see Wicked in The Bay. I adore the book and hope that the play lives up to it.
Saturday, January 31, 2004
"Many different herrings."
Well, this is the last post of the month. I don't really know what to write, but felt like I should some how celebrate the last post of the month. Is that weird? It probably wouldn't be if I did it each end of the month, huh? Oh well.
I guess it wouldn't be so weird if I did this each month, but I just never thought of it before today. So, here's to the end of one crappy month and the beginning to a new one.
I had my first "real" week of school this week. Two of the Design: Fundamentals classes. We cut pictures out of magazines and were given many different terms that I may or may not remember for the quiz that we may or may not have before the middle of the term. I also had the one Elementary Drawing and Comp class (it's four hours each Friday). In that class I got to draw three things. One in pencil (and I need many more pencils than the lady told me to get because I don't like pushing too hard on them), but I drew two things. One in charcoal, which I didn't care for, not enough control. And one in conte, which is sort of like charcoal, but isn't, but was easier to control than the coal was, for me. For home work, I need to do a picture in ink, joy. The teacher said that she's more interested in how we experiment with the uses of the media we use than if it looks a lot like it's supposed to, but I think she'd like it more if we could get it to look like what we are aiming for. Only Jebus knows what's going to be done next week, but I'm sick of terms and would rather just get to work, these are art classes after all.
It looks like The Producers is going to be turned back into a movie. I like the original a lot and have a great fondness for the musical. I hope they can pull it off as a movie. And I hope they're not squeamish about having Nazi pigeons.
I guess it wouldn't be so weird if I did this each month, but I just never thought of it before today. So, here's to the end of one crappy month and the beginning to a new one.
I had my first "real" week of school this week. Two of the Design: Fundamentals classes. We cut pictures out of magazines and were given many different terms that I may or may not remember for the quiz that we may or may not have before the middle of the term. I also had the one Elementary Drawing and Comp class (it's four hours each Friday). In that class I got to draw three things. One in pencil (and I need many more pencils than the lady told me to get because I don't like pushing too hard on them), but I drew two things. One in charcoal, which I didn't care for, not enough control. And one in conte, which is sort of like charcoal, but isn't, but was easier to control than the coal was, for me. For home work, I need to do a picture in ink, joy. The teacher said that she's more interested in how we experiment with the uses of the media we use than if it looks a lot like it's supposed to, but I think she'd like it more if we could get it to look like what we are aiming for. Only Jebus knows what's going to be done next week, but I'm sick of terms and would rather just get to work, these are art classes after all.
It looks like The Producers is going to be turned back into a movie. I like the original a lot and have a great fondness for the musical. I hope they can pull it off as a movie. And I hope they're not squeamish about having Nazi pigeons.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Into the Woods
Right now, as I write, my favorite musical is Into the Woods. I thought it was Caberet but as much as I love The MC and Sally, I have to say that, at least for now, Little Red Ridinghood and The Baker are just right for me at the moment.
For those of you who don't know, or hate musicals all together, Into the Woods is a story about our favorite fairytale people. These characters aren't taken from Disney, they're straight from their Grimm beginnings. Cinderella's sisters cut their feet and lose their eyes. Rapunzel's Prince is blinded by thorns. And one of the main characters is killed. It was written and originally directed by James Lapine (I meantion his direction because I have the soundtrack and this is what I'm working off of) and the lyrics and music are by Stephen Sondheim (who did the lyrics to West Side Story).
There are two things that make this play so wonderful: 1. The fact that this play is willing to take, what most like to think of as, kids stories and make them much more adult. And 2. the music.
The music was not what I expected, not traditional, harmonic, simple tunes, but hard, somtimes dissonant tunes. If you want to learn the songs, you really have to listen because the music and lyrics don't alway follow the same track, but are beautiful togeter. At first, I thought it was just the strength of the performers, but the more I listen, the more I think that the performers are using the strenght of the songs to make their performances even better.
As for the play being more adult, the song that really stands out to me is Little Red Ridinghood's "I Know Things Now." When I first heard it, it struck me as an innocent song about Red facing her fears and learning not to stray from her path, but the more I hear it, the more I think it's about her first sexual experience. First, the title. What sort of things does she know? That a wolf is dangerous? She already knew that. Then there are lines like "And he showed me things, / Many beautiful things / That I hadn't thought to explore." Take a guess at what she hadn't explored and the things he showed her. These lines "Once his teeth were bared, / Though, I really got scared-- / Well, excited and scared" who wasn't "excited and scared" the first time they had sex? I know that I was. Sometimes when I listen, I think the sex is consentaul, other times rape becuase the guy is a wolf, a predator, and rape seems more likely. Hell, when she meets the wolf in "Hello Little Girl" (a couple of songs before Red's) he as he "devours her with his eyes, mutters to himself":
Grandmother first,
Then Miss Plump...
What a delectable couple
Utter perfection--
One Brittle, one supple...
And then he ends the song with "Goodbye, little girl, / And hello..." These songs aren't just about eating her in the food sense, as much as some may insist they are. Red even sums up the lesson her tale is supposed to embody when she sings:
Do not put your faith
In a cape and a hood
They will not protect you
The way that they should
Toatally two of my favorite songs because they mean so much more than what's just on the surface.
Other songs that are, what I consider, the bes, but not very sexual, except one, are these: "Prologue: Into the Woods," "Giants in the Sky," "On the Steps of the Palace," "Agony" (the second one), and "No More." I can't say what I thinks so amazing about these, they just give me chills every time I listen to them.
Oh, and my favorite line in the enter play is "Once upon a time-- / later"
For those of you who don't know, or hate musicals all together, Into the Woods is a story about our favorite fairytale people. These characters aren't taken from Disney, they're straight from their Grimm beginnings. Cinderella's sisters cut their feet and lose their eyes. Rapunzel's Prince is blinded by thorns. And one of the main characters is killed. It was written and originally directed by James Lapine (I meantion his direction because I have the soundtrack and this is what I'm working off of) and the lyrics and music are by Stephen Sondheim (who did the lyrics to West Side Story).
There are two things that make this play so wonderful: 1. The fact that this play is willing to take, what most like to think of as, kids stories and make them much more adult. And 2. the music.
The music was not what I expected, not traditional, harmonic, simple tunes, but hard, somtimes dissonant tunes. If you want to learn the songs, you really have to listen because the music and lyrics don't alway follow the same track, but are beautiful togeter. At first, I thought it was just the strength of the performers, but the more I listen, the more I think that the performers are using the strenght of the songs to make their performances even better.
As for the play being more adult, the song that really stands out to me is Little Red Ridinghood's "I Know Things Now." When I first heard it, it struck me as an innocent song about Red facing her fears and learning not to stray from her path, but the more I hear it, the more I think it's about her first sexual experience. First, the title. What sort of things does she know? That a wolf is dangerous? She already knew that. Then there are lines like "And he showed me things, / Many beautiful things / That I hadn't thought to explore." Take a guess at what she hadn't explored and the things he showed her. These lines "Once his teeth were bared, / Though, I really got scared-- / Well, excited and scared" who wasn't "excited and scared" the first time they had sex? I know that I was. Sometimes when I listen, I think the sex is consentaul, other times rape becuase the guy is a wolf, a predator, and rape seems more likely. Hell, when she meets the wolf in "Hello Little Girl" (a couple of songs before Red's) he as he "devours her with his eyes, mutters to himself":
Grandmother first,
Then Miss Plump...
What a delectable couple
Utter perfection--
One Brittle, one supple...
And then he ends the song with "Goodbye, little girl, / And hello..." These songs aren't just about eating her in the food sense, as much as some may insist they are. Red even sums up the lesson her tale is supposed to embody when she sings:
Do not put your faith
In a cape and a hood
They will not protect you
The way that they should
Toatally two of my favorite songs because they mean so much more than what's just on the surface.
Other songs that are, what I consider, the bes, but not very sexual, except one, are these: "Prologue: Into the Woods," "Giants in the Sky," "On the Steps of the Palace," "Agony" (the second one), and "No More." I can't say what I thinks so amazing about these, they just give me chills every time I listen to them.
Oh, and my favorite line in the enter play is "Once upon a time-- / later"
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