Finally Frozen

So, I believe I mentioned recently that the only movies I see in a movie theater are Disney movies (the Disney brand includes Pixar and Muppets, both of which are favorites of mine as well).  You would think, then, that I've seen Frozen, the most recent Disney animated feature, at least a dozen times by now, right?  I mean, I know the songwriters - I must've gone to see it repeatedly!  Uh, nope.  And I have no idea why.  I fully intended on seeing it over Thanksgiving weekend and didn't.  Then I thought I'd see it when I was home for Christmas.  Nope.  It's embarrassing to admit that I've finally seen Frozen, via the DVD I bought and popped into the player over the weekend. 

Maybe after hearing so much about it, I was afraid to see it.  Afraid I'd had my expectations built up so high that the film couldn't actually meet them.  I'm here to tell you, my expectations were met and exceeded.  I loved Frozen!  It's definitely going into my 'watch again soon' pile.  If only I could remember how to get in and out of my DVR with my new cable box...  Oh, spoilers will abound in my thoughts below, so if you are even more tardy than I about seeing the movie, you might want to wait until after you've watched it to read on. I'll wait...

Welcome back!  Frozen was great, right?!  :)  OK, serious now.  I think it's significant that a woman wrote and directed Frozen and a woman was part of the songwriting team.  There's an acknowledgement of the princess fantasy that every girl grows up with, mainly thanks to Disney, and there's also an upending of the fantasy.  I can't tell you how thrilling it was to watch a Disney movie that didn't have the female protagonist depend on a man for her happiness.  Not that there's anything wrong with that - many a fairy tale and longstanding legend includes that dynamic, but there's also nothing wrong in celebrating the female spirit and the strong bonds between sisters.  And celebrating the discovery of what's special inside yourself that doesn't depend on anyone else.  

I liked how characters knowingly made fun of time-honored Disney tropes - love at first sight, the wise inanimate sidekick, the villain's 'bait and switch.'  I especially liked how everyone made fun of Anna for falling in love so quickly.  Much was made of "you're going to marry someone you just met?"  It was very funny to me and reminded me of the time my sister and I took our cousin to see a retrun of the Disney Snow White movie.  Our cousin was probably five at the time (so this is maybe 20 years ago?).  At the end of the movie, when Prince Charming kisses Snow White to save her, our cousin very loudly said, for the whole audience to hear, "Ew!  She doesn't even know him!!"  It was embarrassing and hysterically funny at the same time.  I thought of that and laughed every time someone made fun of Anna.

The animation was gorgeous and the songs were terrific (of course, I was predisposed to enjoy the songs because I do know and love the songwriters) - very clever lyrics and excellent storytelling.  I liked how the songs were very specific to character and said things about characters you didn't even realize on first hearing.  Naturally I've heard the Oscar-winning song "Let it Go" many many times, but it was incredibly moving in context of the movie.  And seeing Elsa's beauty blossom once she dropped her fear and became fully herself was inspiring.  Of course that couldn't last, but how she got it back was so touching.  I adore my sister and would gladly throw myself in harm's way for her, and to see one sister do that for another in Frozen seriously got me sobbing.  And the incredulous tone of the character who realizes the sister's love is the true love they had all been talking about throughout - beautiful.  I also loved that they used wonderful Broadway actor/singers for the voices - there was none of that celebrity distraction, they were just immediately the characters onscreen.

I actually almost watched the movie again right after my first viewing - I felt I wanted to go back and see what I missed on first sight, but I decided to wait.  I also didn't watch any of the DVDs special features - I may do that this coming weekend.  I love 'making of' featurettes, plus I'm dying to hear everything my favorite songwriting team had to say.  Bottom line: Frozen takes its place among my favorite Disney flicks.  Finally.  I feel like I could say so much more about it, but I'll stop here.  And if it becomes a Broadway musical someday soon?  I promise I won't wait so long to see it...

(I borrowed all of these photos from the internet.  I'll remove them if asked.  Obviously.)

Review - The Mystery of Irma Vep

A darling, devastatingly handsome friend gave me the gift of theater for my birthday, but our schedules have been so busy, we hadn't been able to coordinate.  Happily, yesterday, he and I caught the matinee of The Mystery of Irma Vep at the Lucille Lortel Theater.

I've seen Irma Vep a couple of times - I caught the Off-Broadway revival from about
fifteen years ago and adored it.  I also saw a production in San Francisco starring a dear college chum and also adored that one.  Irma Vep is just such a theatrical joy, with so much brio and tour de force performances and it spoofs all my favorite kinds of movies.  I guess you could say this play is totally in my wheelhouse.

I had a grand time again yesterday, laughing and smiling nearly the whole way through, although I have to admit the play dragged just the tiniest bit here and there.  I don't remember that happening the other times I saw it, so I guess it could've been a combination of my always knowing what was coming next, or maybe because it was the end of an eight-show-week, or...who knows?  I'm not saying I didn't have fun again, because I most certainly did.  I laughed loudly and happily throughout.  I guess maybe my memory of the play being continually side-splittingly funny could be an exaggeration.



photo credit: Carol Rosegg

Robert Sella and Arnie Burton comprise the entire cast and they each play several roles beautifully.  Each character is their own person, with distinct vocal and comic characteristics.  Burton's Lady Enid is a charming ingenue - a former actress who always enters a room as if she's taking bows, and Sella's Lord Edgar is the virile lord of the manor.  That they both also play the gamekeeper and the maid (along with other various comic inventions along the way) is just a testament to the crackerjack writing and supple comedic timing of the company. 

 

Seriously, if I live to be 100, I will never get tired of watching two of Burton's characters have a conversation with each other (a strategically placed door and quick wig work make this SO funny) and seeing one character exit stage right and enter stage left, seemingly in only a second, is just a wonderful reminder of how magical theater can be.  Lots of the directorial choices were also inspired - I was especially tickled by the way everyone fell asleep instantly when opening Lord Edgar's book about Egypt; oh, and how one character pulled a lit cigarette out from under his fez to smoke; oh, and Sella's drunk scene was comic perfection. 

Oh, poo, don't even bother with my silly quibble above.  I had a great time, laughed a lot, and again appreciated Charles Ludlam and his inspired theatrical lunacy.  Everyone, go go go.  A good laugh now and then does everyone a world of good.

 As a postscript, I took myself out to dinner after the show - I went to AOC on Bleeker.  There was hardly anyone there (I was there between the lunch and dinner crowds, I think), so I had everyone's full attention.  I ordered a glass of cotes du rhone and the coq au vin.  Delightful.  Both were rich and luscious, but not overpowering.  Thumbs way up.  I'm also going to include at the bottom some photos from my recent walks around town - it has been so nice to enjoy little sunny weather now and then... :)

 

 

 

 

Pre-Tony Nomination Thoughts

The Tony nominations will be announced on Tuesday morning - my nerves are already jangled!  As I've been reading things online and going through my calendar, I realize I haven't seen all that many of the contenders.  I really need to do something about that - there are at least ten productions that I'm dying to see if I can get my hands on steeply discounted tickets.  Let's hope that some of my Tony voter friends will want to take an eager guest with them sometime soon...

Since I haven't seen much, I can't really hope for much, I guess.  I actually saw way more Off-Broadway productions (and I agree with a lot of those shows that are nominated for Drama Desk Awards, but hello Drama Desk - no Cherry Jones or Mark Rylance?!).  That won't stop me from sharing some thoughts.  Below are some of my hopes for what we'll hear on Tuesday, with the caveat that some of the Tony admin committee's determinations about billing and award placements haven't been finalized yet...:

BEST PLAY

Act One - James Lapine
Outside Mullingar - John Patrick Shanley
(I'm embarrassed I've seen so few of the new plays, though I guess I wouldn't be upset if The Realistic Joneses is nominated since it's at least trying something, more so than A Time to Kill, which is the only other new play I've made it to so far)

BEST MUSICAL

The Bridges of Madison County
A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
If/Then
Rocky
(OK, I haven't seen all four, but I love the creators so much, I want them all to be nominated. Sue me.)

BEST ACTOR IN A PLAY

Samuel Barnett, Twelfth Night
Tracy Letts, The Realistic Joneses
Ian McKellen, Waiting for Godot
Brian F O'Byrne, Outside Mullingar
Roger Rees, The Winslow Boy
Tony Shalhoub, Act One
Patrick Stewart, Waiting for Godot
(whoops, too many.  oh well, I like them all and would be happy to hear any of these names)

BEST ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Cherry Jones, The Glass Menagerie
(I just want her to win, so I'm not jotting anyone else's name down. sorry, Toni Collette)

BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY

Michael Cumpsty, The Winslow Boy
Brian D'Arcy James, Macbeth
Santino Fontana, Act One
Peter Maloney, Outside Mullingar
Alessandro Nivola, The Winslow Boy
Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night
Brian J Smith, The Glass Menagerie
(oops, too many again. I'm a greedy girl. someday I should do a post on why there are more great roles for men on Broadway...)

BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY

Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Andrea Martin, Act One
Tonya Pinkins, A Time to Kill

BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Andy Karl, Rocky
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Steven Pasquale, The Bridges of Madison County
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
(I know, I know, I haven't seen Hedwig.  But seriously, NPH should be nominated for everything everywhere, as far as I'm concerned)

BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Kelli O'Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
Margo Seibert, Rocky

BEST FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL

Terence Archie, Rocky
Hunter Foster, The Bridges of Madison County

BEST FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL

Lisa O'Hare, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder

BEST SCORE

Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, Rocky
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Tom Kitt & Brian Yorkey, If/Then
Andrew Lippa, Big Fish
Steven Lutvak & Robert L Freedman, A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder
(I know I've again chosen too many, but I want to hear all those names SO much on Tuesday morning!)

My limited viewings skew my nomination hopes, I'm sure, but I'll be up early on Tuesday morning, cheering on my favorites!  GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!!!

Review - The Realistic Joneses

I've been hearing about Will Eno plays for years and years now (at least it seems like years and years - you know how I am about gauging the passage of time).  I know that some critics consider him a successor to Beckett or Albee or Pinter, and I know his use of language is quite divisive audience-wise.  I've only seen one play of his, Gnit, at Humana last year.  I remember enjoying a lot of the play, though I went in with a preconceived enjoyment of Peer Gynt, and I also remember finding some of the play arch and overly smug.  Well, after snagging a TDF ticket last night to his Broadway debut play The Realistic Joneses, I kinda am still on that same arch/overly smug Eno page.

I was taken with a lot of the dialogue in The Realistic Joneses - some of it was hip, funny and relatively profound.  Taken line by separate line, there was some interesting stuff throughout.  And the acting was uniformly quite fine.  But after about an hour of the same repetitive speech rhythm, I began to beg (in my brain) for the show to be over.  I wasn't touched or even really engaged, I was just vaguely curious about what might come next.  Which I guess can be a good response to a play, but it's not a successful response for me, as a viewer.

The four characters in the play - two married couples - all sound exactly alike.  They have the same quirky off-kilter vocal patterns that indicate to me they all sound like the author instead of themselves.  Well, I guess two of the characters were MORE quirky than the others (and, truthfully, they sometimes seemed to have a sort of personality disorder to me instead of just being quirky, so that laid a whole other flavor to the proceedings), but they still all seemed to talk alike.  So my brain started to rebel and I could only hear blah blah blah.  Which probably ISN'T a good response to a play.  When one character says (in my paraphrase) "We're, I don't know, throwing words at each other," and I think, "uh, yes you are," that's not necessarily a good thing.



Photo credit: Joan Marcus

I adore Tracy Letts and Toni Collette, so they were the most successful actors (and characters) to me.  I found Letts' searching, but at the same time remaining willfully ignorant of what was going on around him, very intriguing.  And Collette had some very interesting shadings and fun line readings in her more caretaking role.  If I found the other two actors to be just a little too much, I guess that's just me, because they have been getting rave reviews across the board and even last night's audience seemed to be raving about them (I overheard quite a few conversations on the way down from the mezzanine, on the way to the subway, and even on the subway car, all raving about how much more interesting their two characters were; clearly, I am out of touch with society as a whole).

I guess I could see where themes of mortality or infidelity were woven into the evening's proceedings, but they were so obscured (for me) by the ceaseless clever dialogue and masses of non-sequitors.  All together, they didn't add up to anything for me.  With a Beckett or Albee or Pinter, for me there's always something roiling underneath those characters and the unique dialogue, and it's the something underneath that makes me feel something or think about something.  I haven't found the 'underneath' yet in an Eno play.  Maybe I won't.  Maybe that's just the way it is.  Maybe he doesn't WANT me to find the underneath or there is no underneath.  Who knows?  I guess it's like anything else - you like what you like, other people like what they like, and sometimes, never the twain shall meet. 

It's New Food to Me!

I've been fortunate enough to find some tasty new food spots lately.  You all know how I love to eat.  Trying new restaurants is one of my very favorite things to do in New York!  Here are just a couple of my new favorite spots:

I met a handsome chum for drinks downtown at Terroir.  When he told me the name of the place, it sounded vaguely familiar, and then I remembered it's a spot owned by a chef I've seen frequently on tv.  I'll be honest - that chef was kind of a jerk on the first tv show, but he has since grown on me.  A little.  However, after eating his food, I'm tempted to forgive him all.

Terroir is a wine bar with small plates - we went during happy hour, so there were some discounts available.  The bartender let us try each of the five red wines available at the happy hour price - the progression of them was very interesting, from maybe the softest to the harshest.  After I tried the first wine, I didn't think I'd choose it, but then I did.  And I was very happy with it.  I got the Negrette, vinum.  It was very nice.  We also tried quite a few plates of food, since some of it was offered at happy hour prices.

We got the funky beef balls, lamb sausage with sage, whipped lardo, some prosciutto and a blue cheese made from buffalo milk.  We also had apple cider doughnuts.  Because, hello, when apple cider doughnuts are on the menu, you have to order them.  It's a rule.  For some unknown reason, the only good photo from that night that I can find is of the doughnuts.  Huh.  Anyway.  Everything at Terroir was seriously and monumentally yummy.  Perfectly seasoned and just the right size portions.  I would highly recommend Terroir and I plan on going back soon - they have a white wine from Italy that I had when I was in Sorrento and rarely see here in the States.  Looking forward to it. 

A couple of weeks ago, it was gloriously sunny on the weekend, so I went wandering around my neighborhood.  I saw a new restaurant nearby - The Bao Shoppe.  Being a fan of bao, I stopped in to give it a try.  I thought I'd play it safe the first time out, so I got the Colonel Bao, which is fried chicken with slaw and a pickle.  I also took a little container of BBQ sauce with me.  Good golly, miss molly, it was DELICIOUS!  The bread was pillowy, the chicken crispy and the pickle was incredible.  I'll admit to taking most of the slaw off the sandwich (I'm not a huge fan of globby, mayo-y slaw), but the cabbage seems nice and crunchy.  I can't really describe the BBQ sauce - it was slightly sweet, slightly smoky, and just a touch bitter.  There were a lot of flavors going on, which I loved.  I will definitely be going back to The Bao Shoppe in the near future (hey, I wonder how late they're open tonight)...

 

I decided to take myself out for Easter dinner - we always used to go out to eat when I lived in Ohio, so it's a nice tradition.  I looked around the Open Table website to see what I could find in Astoria.  After looking at some restaurant websites, I settled on Psari, a Greek/seafood restaurant over by Kaufman Astoria Studios.  The website looked rather fancy, so I deigned to not wear jeans for once.  After a lovely stroll on a pleasant sunny Easter afternoon, I arrived at Psari, which isn't quite as fancy as its website.  It's very nice, don't get me wrong.  It's more a neighborhood place than an elegant restaurant.  But whatever.  They were packed, which is generally a reliable sign that the food is good.

I sat at a window table up front and ordered a glass of Boutari Moschofilero from Greece, and an appetizer of tzatsiki.  The server also brought me a nice basket of bread, which I discovered was garlic bread!  What a nice touch!  So when I ran out of pita to eat with my gorgeously lemony tzatsiki, I could use garlic bread to finish it off.  I had a lot of bread (no wonder I was so full when I got home). 

For my entree, I got the grilled salmon with lemon potatoes.  This was also very delicious and the portion was enormous (especially after eating so much bread)!  I was very happy to take half of it home with me for a later meal.  I might have lingered a little longer over a second glass of wine, but may I just say that the toddler at the table next to me was having diaper issues, but the parents were a little too inebriated to notice and the aroma was not conducive to eating more food.  Polite enough for you?  ;)  I'll definitely want to go back to Psari and try some other things (and hopefully that smelly toddler won't be there) - even though the walk was a little longer than I expected, the restaurant was nice enough to warrant a return.  Of course, I should just keep trying new places - new food is fun food!  At least most of the time... 

Review - Act One

(My home laptop has died, so now I'm typing this post from my new tablet, and we'll just have to see how this goes.)

I've been very interested in seeing Act One since it was announced - of course I've read Moss Hart's book, though it has been years, and I am generally a fan of Lincoln Center, especially when they produce large cast plays like this.  When the production came up on TDF, I pounced.

Act One is adapted from Moss Hart's 1959 memoir, which is still an amazingly popular book in theater circles.  It tells the story about how Hart got started in the theater and ends after the opening of his first big success Once in a Lifetime.  This play, written by James Lapine, uses two narrators and a 20+ person cast to relay the same story.

The play, which runs about two hours and 40 minutes, starts with the young Moss Hart being bitten by the theater bug and being encouraged by his eccentric aunt, beautifully played by Andrea Martin.  In fact, Martin plays three women who greatly influenced Hart's life and career, and her portrayals of all three are warm and real.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

Santino Fontana and Tony Shalhoub share the role of Moss Hart, though the bulk of the scenework is done by Fontana - Shalhoub also plays Hart's father and the role of collaborator George S. Kaufman.  Fontana and Shalhoub play off each other brilliantly, showing real chemistry and connection in all of their scenes together.  Shalhoub is especially amazing as Kaufman, wonderfully eccentric but never false.

I'm not exaggerating when I say I had a smile on my face and a tear in my eye throughout most of the play.  I completely identify with the child who doesn't belong anywhere until they find the theater, plus the joy and rapture and agony of putting on a show are wonderfully depicted here.  Having said that, I found the play dragged a bit throughout and suffered from a lot of the afflictions the character of George S. Kaufman kept trying to fix in his collaboration with Hart - it's funny how the big light bulb that helps Hart fix his play within this pkay is actually also a problem with this production.   I also found the set to be much too much, moving and distracting me from the central story.  Plus, from my seat, all that set really blocked my view too frequently.

So, do I think Act One is a great play?  Probably not.  But it tells a great story that I adored and I loved the experience of being there.  If that even makes sense.  The love for the theater is amply on display and sometimes, all that affection and recognition can be enough...

I admit it, I'm a sap

I've already seen The Bridges of Madison County a couple of times (thankfully, one of my trips was comped), but after listening to a sneak preview of the cast album, I thought, gee, I need to hear this music sung to me live again.  And so it happened that I bought yet another TDF ticket to the show.

I had my closest seat yet last night, in the ninth row, just off to the side.  And I was in a romantic swoon through most of the evening.  After listening to the score quite a few times already, I could hear more and more wonderful things in the lyrics and how they're set inside the music.  I really think Jason Robert Brown has written a score that ranks up there among my very favorites.  I love me some strings and sounds of yearning.  This score is right in my wheelhouse.  The lead characters even sing of 'being weepy' and 'I'm looking for something.'  Hello.  That was totally me last night and many other nights.  Welcome to my world.  If it's a little bit masochistic for me to keep going back and watching all this beautiful romance, agony and ecstasy when I might appreciate a bit of either in my real life, oh well.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The lead performances of Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale were even more majestic last night than my other trips - they are really digging deep and finding more and more layers  in these characters.  And Hunter Foster really got to me last night - he's also finding such good stuff and making a case for his character as just-as-hunky-as-the-hippie-hunk.  At least to me.  Since I now know when the distracting (to me) character numbers were coming, I was free to listen to the songs while staying engaged in the central characters' actions.  Although, I have to admit, the song "Get Closer" was a tad overdone last night and was really distracting.  I don't recall it being done quite so broadly and for comic effect before - I thought it was a little indulgent.  But the character's book scenes were all again spot on.

I still don't like the director's use of the townspeople, I can't help it.  Except in "You're Never Alone."  Then it makes complete sense and makes an impact to have everyone involved in that song.  But having them wander around the stage, move set pieces, and be on the outskirts of all the action like phantoms just hits me the wrong way, even though I genuinely do understand the reasoning and the impulse. 

I wish I could understand why the show isn't selling better.  Last night, the orchestra looked full, which was great (I didn't check out the mezzanine), but I've read the ticket sales aren't what producers hoped.  It doesn't make any sense - there's a very buzzed about score, two actors who are gorgeous and marketed extremely well, and it's a known title.  Do men think it's going to be sappy?  I don't know.  Even with my quibbles about the directorial choices, I still think The Bridges of Madison County is well worth seeing and is my vote for best musical this year, though I still have to see a couple of the other contenders.  But this book and score are so rich, it just grabs me and won't let go.  I'm listening to "Almost Real" right now, which is one of the best theater songs I've heard in years.  Please, go see this show.  It would just be a crime if it couldn't stay open...

Movie review - The Railway Man

I don't go to the movies very often - it wasn't really part of my growing up, though I do have a vague memory of seeing Disney movies with my dad when I was little.  So I continue that tradition; when I go to the movies, it's generally to see a Disney movie (or Pixar or the Muppets, so I guess it's good that Disney bought them).  I did see the Harry Potter movies on the big screen, and I like a lot of British films (especially adapted from Shakespeare, Austen or Bronte) but other than that?  Just not particularly my thing.  But a friend from grad school and I generally try to catch the newest Colin Firth flick when it hits the big screen, and so last night, we went to see The Railway Man.  I thought I'd try my hand at a movie review - let's see how it goes!

The Railway Man is only playing on two screens in New York and one of them is the Paris.  I actually don't enjoy seeing movies at the Paris - the seats are massively uncomfortable.  They're so worn, you're practically sitting on the floor - and the floor in a movie theater is ick-ee.  But the theater was relatively empty and the audiences at the Paris are generally pleasant and respectful moviegoers, so there's always that.

This movie tells the story of Eric Lomax, a British Army veteran who is tormented by the torture he received at the hands of the Japanese after he was captured during WWII.  Colin Firth plays the mature Eric Lomax, and Jeremy Irvine plays Lomax as the young soldier trying to live through the war.  Both performances are excellent, as are the performances by Stellan Skaarsgard as a friend and fellow veteran, Nicole Kidman as Lomax's sensitive wife, and Hiroyuki Sanada as the older version of one of the members of the Japanese army.

If you know anything about Eric Lomax's story, the following thoughts will be familiar.  But if you don't, spoilers abound.  After living for years with post-traumatic stress syndrome, Lomax is finally forced into action when a fellow veteran dies.  They discovered that one of the Japanese army torturers is still alive and Lomax goes back to confront him.  The film relied heavily on flashback, as these kinds of war movies generally do, and it was effective holding the worst flashbacks for the scenes where Firth goes back to the actual room where the most horrible things happened to him. Those scenes were beautifully acted and tremendously moving, if a little too graphic for my tastes.  All the torture scenes are harrowing and I frequently had to close my eyes at the graphic horror of what was being depicted.  And when Firth brings Nicole Kidman as his wife to see where he lived and how he has finally come to terms with things, I was a puddle of tears.  If I didn't know this was a true story, I would've found the plot unbelievable.  It still is, but for different reasons, knowing the ending is fact.

The performances were all excellent and I was very taken with the musical score, though I don't think it was necessarily a great movie, per se.  It was a little pedestrian and rather relied on the awfulness of the story to get you past the fact that the way the film was put together was a little too passive.  If that even makes sense.  At times, I liked the rather dispassionate tone, but I think a more incisive director could've mined more out of the story, if not the performances (which were first-rate).

Anyway, this is definitely a story worth knowing, but I'm not necessarily sure The Railway Man is a movie worth seeing, unless you're an uber-Colin-Firth fan, like me and my grad school pal.  Variety said there's a documentary in existence and that might be worth checking out...

More flying time! And...thanks!!

As of today, I've been blogging for three years!  I can hardly believe it.  Time sure flies, doesn't it?  Sometimes I'll think, 'hey, when did I blog about ____ - last week, right?', and no, it was actually years ago!  I guess as you get older (OLD), time means less and less.  Or something like that.

I went back and took a look at my stats again (well, ok, I'm an obsessive stats checker, but I don't generally look at the 'all time' numbers, just how many people stopped by today) and found some changes in my top ten posts!  Interesting.  And #10 has nearly the same number of views that last year's #2 had!  Hmmmm.  Still interesting.  I think.  But, wait, there are only a couple of posts since last year's tally on the list!  Oh, man, math.  My head is starting to hurt.  Here are the numbers (drumroll please):

• ABT - Sleeping Beauty, 7/7/11, 299 views
• Review - The Rascals, 5/1/13, 259 views
• Post-Italy-trip-report thoughts, 5/12/12, 166 views
• Review - Ragtime concert, 2/20/13, 124 views
• Reviews - Golden Child and The Anarchist, 11/24/12, 124 views
• Weekend with John Kander, 6/4/12, 121 views
• ABT - Le Corsaire, 7/3/12, 115 views
• ABT - Onegin plus a lovely curtain raiser, 6/5/12, 108 views
• Review - Heartless, 8/15/12, 103 views
• ABT at City Center, 10/19/12, 102 views

These numbers could be off (like, why are the stats different on the All Time page vs the separate page itself?!), because...oh, gee, who knows?  This whole internet thing is beyond me.  And what do the numbers mean anyway?  Uhhhhh.  Probably nothing.  Math is not my strongest suit.  Though, if I think about it, I guess once I started using Twitter to announce new posts, I did notice my stats going up.  Social media strikes again. 

Twice as many people took a look at my blog in the past year - that's mind-boggling to me.  In the past three years, I've typed 376 posts that over 16,000 people have looked at.  Wow.  Just.  Wow.  So, a heartfelt thanks to everyone out in cyberspace, for taking the time to read my silly scribblings.  It means a lot to me to feel that you're out there and that I'm not talking into thin air.  To celebrate, I think I'll post a random photo from the year before I started blogging.  Just because.  See you soon to start blogging year four!!

 

photo credit: Layne Anderson
(see me in there??)

Celebrate!!

hi! I'm born!

So...the big 5-0 has come and gone.  I had a fantastic party on the official day of days, with terrific friends from the past, present and future.  I also had a fun-filled party when I went home for a long weekend.  I'm hoping to fit at least one more party in before the end of April.  Why not??  You only turn 50 once!  Unless I decide to throw myself huge 5-0 parties every year.  I mean, I can't really afford to take the big trip I wanted to take this year.  What's to say I can't just pretend to be celebrating a milestone year EVERY year and fit a trip in, just for fun??  Excuse me as I go buy more lottery tickets...

A group of chums and I went to one of my favorite New York places, Bathtub Gin, on my birthday.  I had a blast - there was much laughing and sharing.  A wonderful, beautiful gal pal from my undergrad days was there, as was a brand new friend I just met recently, alongside another dozen or so beloveds who made me feel celebrated and loved.  I swore I would only have one cocktail, but, ugh, yes, I had two.  And boy did I feel that second drink on the plane to Louisville the next morning.  But my oh my, they sure tasted good!!

For some reason, when we got to Bathtub Gin, we had to stand outside in line.  Which was odd.  I got a text from a friend asking if he had the wrong night.  I texted back, 'wait, are you inside already?  Because they won't let me in!'  It was very comical.  We finally got in, after I forced the bouncer to check my ID and tell me I looked young for my age.  And originally, when I made the reservation, they had told me we had to be out in about two  hours.  Of course, I was there for a lot longer than that.  Thankfully, Bathtub Gin indulged me.  The food was tasty, the drinks were tasty, my friends were, as always, delightful, and I had my picture taken in one of the bathtubs.  Perfect night?  I should say so.

When I booked my trip home for my nephew's birthday, I told my mom she had to throw a party for me.  I threw my own 40th birthday party and I knew I wanted to celebrate with my family again, but this time I wanted someone else to do the work.  : )  My sister rented her church basement, my mom did the cooking and made the cake (well, she bought one, too), and my nephew and dad did most of the decorating.  I helped...a little.  But it was great fun.

The church had a little stage area, where a couple of throne-like seats were placed.  Of course, while wearing my tiara, I had to go up there and sit in a big throne chair and open my gifts.  OF COURSE I DID.  I think you all know me well enough to know that's what I did.  Everyone in my family gave me thoughtful gifts, a couple of my littlest cousins helped me open them, and we all had a great time.  Coincidentally, another of my cousins ALSO had a birthday party that night.  So after my party was over, my mom and I made an appearance at his party.  I was stunned to find out we had just missed the entertainment, who turned out to be an old friend of mine!!  I was so bummed I missed him!  When I e-mailed him to tell him we were two ships that passed in the night, we decided to fit in a lunch before I left Ohio.  It was lovely.

Oh, and we also celebrated my nephew's fourteenth birthday while I was home - yikes!  Fifty doesn't make me feel that old (well, it does, but not too badly), but my nephew being fourteen sure does!!  He's so grown up!  And I keep telling him he was a baby and a toddler just yesterday!  (every time I say that, I get an eyeroll with an "oh, Aunt Tari")  For his birthday, we played board games most of the day, ate some Chinese food, and just sat around and relaxed.  That was what he wanted to do, so we did.  It was a nice calm day.  Unfortunately, he came down with the stomach flu soon after, so I didn't get to spend as much time with him as I would've liked.  I guess I'll have to plan another trip home this summer.  I have to get some more hugging in (though hugs often trigger eye rolls as well, sigh).  I'll post some more pictures from my celebrations below.  Enjoy and celebrate YOUR day!! :)