Black Friday got a lot darker with the passing of Steven Sondheim. At 91, yes it was inevitable but still feels like a shock. I imagine this is what it felt like when Shakespeare died. His body of work, the sheer artistry of his words will continue to outlive all.
I didn’t see the news until after finishing a few hours of pulling weeds out back. It’s funny we both responded by getting show tickets. Tomorrow we will see Twelfth night the musical, next Friday I’ll catch the 25th Anniversary of RENT, and February 1st we will see the Band’s Visit. The theater must go on. That said I hope Broadway dims the lights.
One of the things I hope they mention in at least one of the obituaries is his mentoring the next generation of writers. It was surprising hearing his voice on the answering machine in Tick Tick Boom toward the end of the film. Sondheim asked to rewrite the phone message scene and offered his voice to it. Bradley Whitford played him physically in the movie.
In terms of movie musicals, 2021 has been a pretty active year. I’m looking forward to viewing an all new version of West Side Story. If it does turn out to be excellent, I wonder how that will play come Oscar time. The original won many Oscars. In The Heights is worthy and Tick Tick Boom. I hope they all get nods in the Best Musical or Comedy category.
All the World is a show, particularly if you’re inside a theater.
Shows are back in London, and it felt like things were back to normal for at least a couple of hours. Yes, I was double-masked. We had a buffer in the Garrick Theatre of a few rows in the stalls that did not sell, but we’re as COVID careful as we can be.
Honestly, all concern vanished once the show began. I didn’t feel any mask once that first song was underway; that’s the magic of the west end.
The Garrick Theatre was on the ball. All of their communication around the tickets and signage for the performance spoke of requiring masks for the show, and the show-goers for this performance were good with the requirement.
I was pleasantly surprised by The Last 5 Years. I’ve always enjoyed the music from the Jason Robert Brown show, but the movie version underwhelmed me, and it consequently put me off from seeing the stage version. That was a mistake. The hook in this failed relationship musical is that the two leads are going in the opposite direction. Jamie is singing from the beginning of the relationship and Cathy from the end. Part of the creativity here relies on the audience to fill in these scenes based on the songs. The only thing on the stage is a piano, and the two performers sing their parts leading to their story. Jonathon Boyle’s brilliant minimalist direction lets the words in each song have their effect: one actor would sing like the other plays on the piano or becomes a prop in their partner’s rendition.
Oli Higginson was powerful as Jamie, an author whose star is rising while meeting his “Shiksa Goddess.” Molly Lynch’s Cathy is effectively sympathetic, a role I found more cold in the film. She evened out that performance for me; I thought Lynch was fine. The show, as presented, has a real nightclub feel.
It was a Theater Thursday in London, so after a brief coffee break, we were off to the Barbican Theatre. Unfortunately, it was a different mask experience. The folks sitting to my right had masked, but the two older women to Joel’s left could not be bothered. We had one seat there as a buffer (Garry’s chair and had he been there, he would have left).
Sutton Foster did not disappoint. Anything Goes is a pure old-fashioned show with numbers and schtick that kept this audience afloat for the three-hour cruise. Foster is so incredibly solid as Reno Sweeney. When I heard Megan Mullaly had dropped and Foster would take over, that’s the moment we bought tickets.
Actually we overheard a story in the row behind us regarding what happened with Mullaly. I don’t know if this is accurate so take it with a grain of salt but according to the row behind she left because she couldn’t do all the tap choreography and tried to get it completely cut from the show. When Foster was called she only agreed to do it with all the tap back in. Anyway, the tap dance numbers were very good. The show of course was an evening of Cole Porter classics, Foster, Robert Lindsay and the talented cast made sure Anything Goes was a night we wouldn’t forget.
I’m relaxing while listening to some lively tunes from Willie Colon. The SF skies are promising a little rain but that’s coming a little later. We could use some. Bring it.
Over here it’s a countdown to the October London trip. Joel will be flying to San Francisco (from Vegas) overnight then we are on a big bird flying across the pond on a non-stopper. Garry is not ready to get on a flight so Delta set him up with an ecredit, which is a nice way of saying: we don’t want to give you the money back.
The curveballs are beginning to happen. Delta / Virgin shutting down our return flight (not enough people?) and putting us on a plane that would give us an extra day in London. I immediately requested a change in my Airbnb for another day. Meanwhile, we are trying to move Joel’s seat but it can’t be done on the Virgin site so a phone call on their time zone is required.
All in all, I’m happy we didn’t make the COVID test appointments yet (UK side) as they’ve announced some changes that I have to find out about. The best advice I can give to anyone planning international travel today is to stay on top of things and be flexible (if you can) because anything goes.
It looks like Brits are tired of losing out on tourist money so now they are easing things early in October. It may translate into taking a cheaper COVID test coming back. We will see.
If we actually get to do it, it’ll be my first international trip since the world went COVID. London is making more sense as the first travel leap since before the lockdown. I feel comfortable there, the theatre, the museums, and all the great city walking.
We will be double masking for theater. #suttonfoster
We’re going away for a few days over the holiday. Originally, we were heading to Las Vegas. Circumstances have changed the location of the trip and it hardly matters, except to jot it down.
Brian has been having a rough time with the proton treatments. The pain after each session is proving to be great so even with cannabis gummy bears it’s rough. The sessions themselves haven’t gone liked planned. They were supposed to have been done by the holidays but they’ve had to cancel a number of them because of the equipment.
What am I talking about? Let’s back up a second.
Garry and I made plans to see Brian and Joel over the holidays. The two have always been my logical family or fathers from another gene pool. We’ve been going out to Vegas for the last couple of years around the holidays to visit.
Brian has continued to fight a nasty skin cancer that has caused him to lose one eye. The latest treatment for him has been proton treatment, that is meant to kill everything in its path. The treatments have taken him away from their home in North Las Vegas to Loma Linda, California, where he is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. According to Brian, there is the treatment center, his Studio apartment across the way and nothing else.
It’s been tough on them as Joel has been back in Vegas working. Brian, alone in nowhere California is doing treatments and going back to an empty room. He is a fighter. It’s been his life for quite sometime. It will be great to see them.
An old friend of theirs called Guy, lives in Palm Springs and they’ll be staying there over the holidays. Joel drove to Linda, picked Brian up and made the trip to P.S.. Garry and I were able to put the points back in the Southwest mileage plan and get Palm Springs tickets to boot.
It’s not about location. I’d meet them on the moon so long as there is transportation.
Enjoyed the sunny weekend even if I don’t physically feel great today. I started the day with a bit of a migraine. I tried walking it off and having an extra cup of coffee. Naturally the extra caffeine helped me to be more awake about my headache. 🙂
We spent Thanksgiving at a friend’s home in San Rafael and the spread was impressive with hands down the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever put in my mouth. It all was good though, the turkey was moist and flavorful, the gravy (for me) sat there untouched because I didn’t want to mess with flavors I had and the string beans were tasty (yes string beans). There were a couple of different pies for dessert and Garry made a pumpkin pie, that I thought was good and creamy but Garry is a harsher critic of his own stuff.
I drove us back in the rain, which is not my favorite. I did get to drive Garry’s Mazda CX3 for the first time. It’s what is called a crossover vehicle; it’s somewhere between and SUV and car. I like the way it handles. The safety features are neat. It let’s you know when you’re getting close to a car, or driving on the white road lines.
It was great to get back home to Luna as she was alone for awhile. She’s having a tough go of it with her best buddy moving out of the neighborhood. She was friendly with the airdale next door. They were play buddies. He has packed his dog toys (with owner) and moved to another neighborhood. Luna has been mopey. Extra treats and love for a special dog
The Beard and the Cap 