Don't say anything

If you don't have anything nice to say . . .

This is going to be a very short post.  

Hoping for some real laughs, Steve and I went to see Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad and Good for the Jews tonight at the Wheeler Opera House.  

We laughed a few times for real and a few more times because we wanted it to be funny but mostly we just wished it would be funny or wondered when it was going to get funny.

South Pacific

The Aspen High School performed the musical South Pacific March 5th, 6th and 7th. It was very well done and the students had a good time. Which is kinda the point with a high school musical.

The kids also worked very hard with almost constant rehearsals and set building sessions. The staging was minimalist and effective, giving the audience a sense of place without overwhelming the stage or the production.

The musical itself deals with some fairly adult themes of war, racism, death and, of course, romance. I did find it a hallmark of its era that both of the interracial couples ended in death. More of the tragic mulatto.

Adding a bit more drama to the drama was the fact that a bomb threat was discovered at the Aspen High School at 4 pm on Thursday, opening night. The handwritten threat scrawled on the wall of a boys' bathroom claimed that the school would be blown up on Friday, March 6th. The school board and the superintendent allowed Thursday's opening night performance to proceed as planned but elected to close the entire school campus (high, middle and elementary schools) on Friday. At the end of Thursday night's performance as the news spread through the audience (via emails received on PDAs), there was some grumbling about the fact that the performance, which took place in the elementary school, not the high school, was allowed to continue. I think the whole thing was handled appropriately. Balancing the probability of the threat with the repercussions of canceling the performance was the reasonable course of action. Bomb sniffing dogs on Friday found nothing more in the high school than a starter pistol in the athletic department. And supposedly there are several leads on the perpetrator.

Second City Touring Company

We went to see the Second City Touring Company on Friday, February 13th at the Wheeler.

I'd seen Second City previously at their Chicago theater and came away feeling ambivalent. It just seemed really spotty, not consistently funny.

I got the same vibe at the Wheeler. Parts of the night just felt so forced.

However, this time I did come away with a greater appreciation of just how much talent and intelligence it takes to perform the sort of comedy for which Second City is known. The improvisation where the cast members took suggestions from the audience is quite challenging and I was impressed by the depth of creativity the cast members exhibited.

They performed a debate where two cast members had to figure out words suggested by the audience. The only clues they had available to them were mimes by the rest of the cast members. Their words were scintillating necrophiliac masturbation. It was hilarious.

So, while a bit uneven, on the whole, the evening was a success. I am glad that I saw them a second time.

Chicago

We went to see the Aspen Community Theater's production of Chicago last night.

Fabulous.

This was my seventh ACT production and by far the best. Professional and tight. With creative staging, provocative dancing and singing, the ACT has raised the bar for future performances.

Henry Rollins

Wow.

What a bundle of energy.

What a show.

Went to see Henry Rollins at Belly Up Aspen last night. What a smart, funny guy.

He came out on stage, assumed what my friend who knows more about these things called the punk rocker stance, and proceeded to talk for 2 hours without stopping, without even taking a drink of water.

He talked politics, travel, TSA, economics, music, school, touring, movies. He referenced Malthusian economics. I'm betting that less than 5% of the people in the room had ever even heard of Malthus.

If you're in Seattle on November 26 or Santa Rosa, CA on February 6, do yourself a favor and go see him.

Dr. Atomic

First, the simulcast. This is a very cool thing. The New York Metropolitan Opera offers live HD simulcasts of select performances in movie theaters around the country. In addition to the opera, the simulcast provides a view of the New York audience as they await the start of the opera and the second act, a behind the scenes view as the maestro is called to the pit and special intermission interviews with the lead and the composer. It is an awesome way to see New York Metropolitan Operas without the expense and hassles of travel to New York.

The opera was a bit of a disappointment. It's the story of the few days leading up to the Trinity test of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos and we were all very intrigued by the subject matter. The staging was visually engaging but the tempo of the opera was too slow for our tastes. We all felt that Kitty's role was puzzling and overdone. I felt that, in trying to capture the angst of creating such a destructive force, the opera made Oppenheimer look unbalanced.

We are willing to acknowledge that, since we're not really opera aficionados, perhaps some of our criticisms stem from a lack of familiarity with the genre.

Exercise in Nostalgia?

Jesus Christ Superstar

What a fun afternoon.

From the start, it was clear that the music was very familiar and much loved by many present.

When Ted Neeley appeared, the crowd erupted. The staging was specially designed to enhance this reaction but still, there it was.

While I'm extremely familiar with the original recording, having listened to it untold times, I had never seen the live theater production. I enjoyed it as much because of my appreciation for the music as for the performances.

Corey Glover as Judas Iscariot and Tiffini Dodson as Mary Magdalene shone and Craig Sculli's portrayal of Pontius Pilate was a pearl.

It was cool from the perspective of nostalgia to see Ted Neeley live but, while he did a remarkable job for his age, the role is really one more suited to a younger man.

My only other complaint is that the ending of the play was marred by the crucifixion scene which was too long and overdone.

That and the fact that the girls were in Row B while I was in Row V.

But that just gets back to the cool mom thing . . .

Spamalot

Excerpt from Las Vegas: "Broadway West?" by Victor Gluck


John O’Hurley, Nikki Crawford and the Las Vegas cast of Monty Python’s SPAMALOT
at the Grail Theater at Wynn Las Vegas
(photo credit: Carol Rosegg)

The Las Vegas version of Monty Python’s SPAMALOT which opened at Wynn Las Vegas on March 31, 2007 is even more fun than the New York version. Recreated by Tony Award- winning director Mike Nichols and choreographer Casey Nicholaw, this somewhat shortened version (which includes all but one of John Du Prez and Eric Idle’s original musical numbers) has eliminated any repetition that appeared in the Broadway version. In this “ musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail ,” Idle’s book now seems faster and funnier. The production team is exactly the same as the New York production (Tim Hatley, sets and costumes; Hugh Vanstone, lighting; Acme Sound Partners, sound design; David Brian Brown, hair and wig design; Gregory Meeh, special effects design), so that the show has the same look.

The Las Vegas cast does not have as many recognizable names as the New York show did when it first opened, but the new cast is just as much fun. John O’Hurley, best known for his role as J. Peterman on Seinfeld and as the ultimate champion on Season One of Dancing with the Stars, is a stalwart King Arthur and has a fine singing voice. In the role of “ The Lady of the Lake” which won Sara Ramirez her Tony Award, Nikki Crawford has all the requisite requirements for this larger than life role. Harry Bouvy as Sir Robin, Justin Brill as Patsy, J. Anthony Crane as Sir Lancelot, Randal Keith as Sir Bedevere, Edward Staudenmayer as Sir Dennis Galahad, and Steven Strafford as Prince Herbert all give able support to the inspired fooling. Monty Python’s John Cleese continues to play the Voice of God.

Steve and I saw Spamalot in Las Vegas on Wednesday, January 8 at the Wynn Hotel. We almost skipped it because we were so exhausted from our spur of the moment 12 hour drive but since I have wanted to see it since we were in New York in 2005, I insisted that we go.

It was very funny and immediately made us forget our exhaustion.

The play is based almost entirely on Monty Python and the Holy Grail with other Monty Python influences thrown in for good measure. They referenced the silly walks and Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. The Lady of Lake scores with quite a large part when all she merited in the original movie was a reference.

My only concern was that since it was obviously gussied up for Vegas, I was worried that the New York version might be better. The review quoted above put my fears to rest.

Now I feel superior since I clearly saw the better show.

She Loves Me

The Aspen Community Theatre's production this year is She Loves Me, a 1963 Broadway musical.

One of four adaptations of Miklos Laszlo's 1937 play, Parfumerie, (the other three being 1940's Shop Around the Corner, 1949's In the Good Old Summertime and, most familiar to us, 1998's You've Got Mail), She Loves Me is the story of two antagonistic shop clerks who are also in love with each other as anonymous lonely hearts club penpals.

It's a cute pretext with humor sprinkled throughout and well-performed by our local talent. While the first half drags a bit, the play really hits its stride in the second half and makes up for any first half shortcomings.

Real life husband and wife Nikki and Jonathon Boxer play the romantic leads and Bryan Gonzalez has a great time playing the cad, Steven Kodaly (pronounced co-day).

Fighting for Myself

Dara Harvick and Sydney Sailor in Fighting for Myself

Rachel is/was in the Aspen High School fall play which just happened to be performing this weekend, the same weekend that B3 and SIL1AOSF (see tomorrow's post if you're confused) were making their "knuckleheaded Aspen trip" (to quote B3).

So, lucky B3 and SIL1AOSF got to attend a high school performance. Aren't family obligations great? (They claim to have enjoyed it.)

The play which was underwritten by Valley Partnership for Drug Prevention and Response (the local domestic abuse agency) had a decidedly dark cast to it. It consisted of a number of short skits dealing with different adolescent/teen girl issues such as sex, drugs, peer pressure, pregnancy and alcohol.

Two days before the performance, two of the girls were kicked out/dropped out and so there was a last minute scramble to reassign parts and learn entirely new scenes. The cast was entirely female and the girls (Rachel, Erin Daniel, Heather Boronski, Sydney Sailor and Dara Harvick) became fast friends. It was awesome to see how they bonded.

They'll be performing it for the 8th, 9th and 10th grade girls next week but due to the touchy subject matter, they need to get permission slips. The subject matter also threw a wrench into the plans to perform at other schools in the valley to the dismay of the director, Merrily Talbott.

We did go out for a yummy dinner at the bar at Jimmy's afterwards. Bar menus rock.

Actually posted 11/8/07, 6:01 pm

Wicked - The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz

When Rachel and I were in Chicago, we went to see Wicked. Rachel took the train downtown on Friday to meet me and spend the night at my conference hotel.

As Rachel said to me, Wicked felt like Broadway.

We had been to see Rent on Broadway but due to the subject matter of the muscial and the faded glory/shabbiness of the Nederlander Theatre, while we enjoyed the play, it didn't feel like Broadway.

Wicked felt like Broadway. The Oriental Theatre/Ford Center for the Performing Arts is very ornate and plush.

The play, although significantly different from the book, was quite good. It convincingly tells the tale of the friendship between the two opposites, Glinda, the Good Witch of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West. For all of its pomp and grandeur, it's an intensely character driven story and, therefore, more adult oriented (not in any R rated way). As I was looking around at some of the younger children in the audience, it struck me that Rachel at that age would have been very squirmy throughout the whole thing.

The lifelong friendship between Elphaba and Glinda and the love story between Elphaba and Fiyero were both a joy to experience. We left feeling uplifted (and Rachel left significantly lighter in the pocketbook after visiting the souvenir stands, not once but twice).