This 'n That

I don't want to jinx anything, but I believe that the trip that I'm dying to take around Thanksgiving is really going to happen.  Everyone, please just cross your fingers and put good travel juju into the air. Please.  But now, saving money has become imperative.  I won't be seeing as many shows, that's for sure.  I will be depending on the kindness of strangers (or Tony voters or free ticket offers) much more often.  It will all be worth it, of course, once I'm experiencing the wonder of my much-longed-for trip.  But it will make reading my blog exponentially more boring.  Sorry, everyone.

Having said that, I have been out and about a bit lately.  Here's a little bit of what I've been up to (including a brief 'guest blogger report'):

Last Thursday, I went with my goddaughter and her mom to check out the live showing of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Kenneth Branagh.  You may remember that we saw the production of Winter's Tale last year and I enjoyed it very much.  After seeing that the play starred the gorgeous young actors who were in last year's film of Cinderella, my goddaughter was especially eager to go.  Interestingly, they showed the broadcast in black and white, because Branagh's concept for the play was that it was set in Italy in the 1950s, sort of like a Fellini film.  I'm guessing his sets and costumes were all black and white, too, but it was cool to see everything play out in black and white on the big screen.  It's always so gorgeous.

Lily James and Richard Madden were pretty good as our title characters; actually, I enjoyed James quite a lot.  But the real star was Derek Jacobi, surprisingly playing the role of Mercutio. Branagh told a story in the pre-show portion about a time George Orwell went to Paris as a very young man and he sat drinking with a much older man who wanted to be one of the boys.  The much older man was Oscar Wilde.  Apparently, that story always stuck with Branagh and he remembered it when casting Romeo and Juliet.  Jacobi was brilliant, as he generally is.  The Queen Mab speech was breathtaking and the way he played a man who doesn't think of himself as old until the very last moment (losing his life to Tybalt) was stunning.  He was the best part of the broadcast.  There were several actors I didn't like in the extreme, and I think Branagh cut far too much of the text, though the production did have a speed and vigor I appreciated, but I missed quite a bit of the dialogue that had been cut.  All in all, it was a very enjoyable production.  I really like watching these live broadcasts of plays in a big movie theater.

For my summer Friday, I went to a very interesting seminar on producing new work at the community theater level. I'll be giving a talk on that very thing later in the summer, so I thought it would be a good idea to check this seminar out.  I did get some excellent ideas and learned a few things, so that is always a good outcome.  After the seminar was over, I went over to Ca Va for a little cocktail/snack before going home. You see, I was a little low after my Roger lost his Wimbledon semifinal, so I thought a nice strong cocktail was in order.  I definitely got one.

I really enjoy Ca Va.  The restaurant is very nice, but I especially like sitting in their lobby/lounge area.  It's nice and roomy, no one rushes you out, and I can sit there and read as long as I like.  I asked my very attractive waiter how spicy the Light My Fire cocktail was - he said I could get it as spicy as I liked.  So I ordered the drink, asking it to be NOT very spicy.  It was a delicious drink, with tequila, agave nectar, lime and pineapple juices, plus some jalapeno.  I still thought the jalapeno was a little much, but it was tasty all the same.  I also ordered the avocado toast (I nearly always order avocado toast when it's on a menu) - it was incredible, with delicious toasted peasant bread topped with avocado slices, pickled onions, peekytoe crab and a lime aioli.  SO GOOD.  I could've eaten another portion, but that would've been a little out of my price range.  I stayed there quite awhile, reading a guidebook for my (oh please) upcoming trip, and I also was eavesdropping on the couple across the big table from me.  I cannot figure out what they were doing - he seemed to be auditioning for something. I thought maybe he was a wedding planner, but I don't think that was it.  He kept name dropping theater names, talking about seeing 'the original production', and then he said something about doing Carousel on Governor's Island, or maybe doing Damn Yankees at Yankee Stadium.  So, the gal was a site-specific producer? I still don't know.  But their conversation was fascinating, as was my guidebook.

Friday night, my parents went to Cleveland to see the national tour of Phantom of the Opera.  They love that musical - I took them to see the Broadway production many years ago and they also went to see it in Toronto.  My dad got some kind of group rate with friends, so back they went.  Here is my mom's Guest Blogger Report:

from the Phantom tour website

"The stage looked really small, as if everyone wasn't going to fit on it at first.  I liked how they revealed the chandelier, which was gorgeous.  The singing was great, though I don't remember seeing the actor who played the Phantom on The Voice, even though his bio said that he was on it.  "Masquerade" looked different to me (there weren't any stairs) and the staging of the fight between the Phantom, Christine and the other guy was very weird at the end - they kept tugging on her and pushing her around.  I don't remember it happening that way before. Oh, and there were a lot of pyrotechnics.  I didn't like them. I don't know why they put them in, but they didn't add anything, in my opinion.  The audience was very quiet, on their best behavior, and I didn't see any cell phones the whole night. That was good.  All in all, we really liked the show and feel like we got our money's worth. Oh, and before the show, your dad and I stopped at McDonald's to get something to eat before the show.  Your dad ordered a cheeseburger.  He was halfway finished when he realized there was no meat on the sandwich.  So he basically got a cheese, ketchup and pickle sandwich.  That made us laugh."  My mom's reviews are much more succinct than mine. You may prefer that she take over the blog in the future...

I spent much of the weekend watching either Wimbledon or the US Olympic trials. Tears, tears everywhere.  I also watched the second episode (biscuits!) of the new season of one of my (and my mom's) favorite shows, The Great British Baking Show.  Obsessed. More tears.  I'm such a softie.  It was a nice quiet weekend, and even though I'm disappointed Roger couldn't get Grand Slam #18, I was happy to watch Serena win #22 and I was doubly happy to see Serena and Venus win their 14th doubles title.  

Monday night, I went to a fundraiser for Equality Florida, in memory of the people who lost their lives at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.  A young friend of mine wrote a musical that is meant to take place in a nightclub, so it seemed like the perfect show to do as a fundraiser.  The cast assembled, a who's who of young Broadway stars, all donated their time, as did the band. It was a very moving evening and I'm so glad I was there.  I also think that my friend's song "Waltz" is one of the best theater songs I've heard in ages.  It never fails to move me.  I hope he didn't get embarrassed by my crying (I was lucky enough to be in the seat next to him).  As he said in his intro, we all express our outrage about current events on social media, but most of the time we feel as if there's nothing we can do. This fundraiser was a concrete action that will directly help the victim's families in Orlando.  There's great power in that.