2017 By the Numbers

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone! I hope you're having fun and staying safe, wherever you are.  Was 2017 as wackadoodle for you as it was for me?  I hope not!  It's just been crazy crazy, what with work getting out of control and practically the entire world being even MORE out of control!  I tell you, my therapist has really earned her fees this year.  If only I could get my stupid HSA to reimburse me for them.  Anyway.  For some reason, my yearly stats make me happy, so let's be happy together.  Before the numbers, let's raise a glass together (remember that joyous number from Grand Hotel?  I do, that's why the photo is above) to 2017 - goodbye to what's past and hello to what's coming in 2018.  May there be more theater, ballet, great food, spectacular cocktails, foreign travels, adventurous fun and happier days ahead!!  And maybe one date.  That would be nice, too.  If you’re still reading, here’s how my 2017 stacked up:

• Theater visits: 67
• Shows written by women:  34 (Yes!  Let's keep it going!)
• Shows/concerts/events by my darling Fellows:  20 (Almost a third of my shows, wow!  Let's keep it going!)
• Ballet visits: 13
• Readings/workshops: 13 (this is WAY up from last year - yay!)
• Concerts/cabarets: 8
• Award presentations:  2
• New museums: 3 (must.do.better.)
• New restaurants:  12 (this is way down - boo!)
• Film festivals:  1
• Movies (part of and not part of film festival):  10
• Protest marches:  1 (unfortunately, I'll need to do more of this in 2018, I'm sure)
• New charities:  10 (this year, all of my donations to liberal causes, instead of too many theater tickets, kept me broke more than usual, but it was worth it)
• Tweets:  374 (that's down a bit, I need to work on that)
• Trips for work:  4

Here are my 2017 Favorite Theater Pieces.  These are in chronological-ish order, with a couple of my especial favorites in photos at the end...

• Jitney
• Dolphins and Sharks
• The View Upstairs
• Sunday in the Park with George
• A Doll's House, Part 2
• Red Scare on Sunset
• Somebody's Daughter
• Cost of Living
• Bella: An American Tall Tale
• Assassins
• The King of the Yees
• The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin
• Pipeline
• The Red Letter Plays
• The Band's Visit
• M Butterfly
• Terms of My Surrender
• Describe the Night
• Once On This Island
• Honorable mentions to My Favorite Year at 54 Below, The Red Shoes and returns to Dear Evan Hansen, Street Theater, Sweat and Indecent
• Extra honorable mention to seeing the film Finding Babel and attending the post-screening panel discussion between Rajiv Joseph, director David Novack, and Val Vinokur, who has just published a new translation of some of Babel's short stories.  I loved learning more about Isaac Babel (a pivotal character in Rajiv's Describe the Night) and hearing those three passionate, brilliant gentlemen talk about their art was inspiring.  I felt so much smarter after their wonderful words and I maybe cried on the way home about how lucky I am to live in NYC with access to such amazing events.

And, again, thankfully, I had so much good food and drink, I had to do my Top 2017 Food and Beverage Experiences!  These are randomly ordered, with the beverages at the end (oh, man, looking at these photos is making me hungry and thirsty!):

• avocado toast and shrimp tempura at Blue Dog Kitchen
• bacon, egg and cheese sandwich at Eggslut (Los Angeles)
• artisinal bacon tasting platter at Bar Bacon
• ceviche at Thalia
• duck wontons at Tree
• pan con tomate at Jaleo (Washington DC)
• lamb sausage dumplings at MP Taverna
• margherita pizza at Sottocasa
• mini lobster rolls at Joe's Pub
• pickled rockfish with green papaya at Convivial (Washington DC)
• roasted chicken at Jams
• sacher torte at Cafe Sabarsky
• short rib agnolotti at Charlie Palmer Steak
• steak tacos at Public School 310 (Culver City)
• sweet corn arancini at Irvington
• tagliatelle with summer squash and burrata at Lupa
• tocinello de cielo at Amada
• ribeye steak, with carmelized balsamic onions and havarti, sandwich at Capital Grille
• honey wagon at Bar Bacon
• killer bee at The Stinger
• marshmallow latte at Caroline's (Austin)
• matador at Amada
• Mexican mule at Iron Cactus (Austin)
• the cobbler at Blue Dog Kitchen

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday!  To quote one of my favorite holiday stories, god bless us, every one.  See you again soon...

Holiday Auto-Post: Plays I Wish I Could See Again

Hi, everyone!  I've hopefully made it home for the holidays, safe and sound.  I hope you are all safe and sound as well.  I know I haven't been posting as much lately; I hope to fix that in 2018.  I quite literally ran out of funds - plans are afoot to stop that from happening again.  I was fortunate to attend a couple of free events recently, but I think my brain is also cash-poor, so I didn't post anything.  Though one of the events was one of my favorite outings of last year.  Maybe I should focus on that.  Moving on.

For now, I've got a couple of auto-posts coming up.  I've been thinking about Horton Foote and his plays lately, who knows why?  But I don't think I've ever posted my reviews of his three-part Orphans' Home Cycle, which played in 2010.  I'm sorry the transfer gossip I refer to never came to pass.  Randomly, I had a dream the other night about one of the scenes, so I decided to share this review.  I hope you enjoy and think back fondly on his work, too...

2/26/10:  I finally saw Parts One and Two of Horton Foote’s The Orphans’ Home Cycle.  I was fortunate enough to randomly get a free ticket to Part Three last month, so I already knew how it ‘ended’, but that didn’t affect my enjoyment of the first parts in the least.  In fact, I’m kinda thinking of going back to see Part Three again.

This cycle of plays is being given a lovely, centered production that emphasizes the strengths and rather overlooks the flaws of each piece.  I think the cycle has been beautifully directed by Michael Wilson and the cast is truly remarkable.  They all play more than one character, and each character is sharply detailed and lovingly drawn.  Even the less-than-desirable characters are warmly and sympathetically played.

Each part begins with sliding panels and a backdrop of a beautiful expansive vista.  Then our characters move in and around the panels, especially our main character Horace Robedaux.  We see him as a twelve-year-old, then as a fourteen-year-old, then as an adult.  The sliding panels reveal and conceal all three Horaces quite beautifully.  Projections tell us which play we’re seeing and in what year it’s taking place.  I think they’ve done an excellent job of keeping a lot of unwieldy details under control.  

Part One is called The Story of a Childhood and includes the three short plays “Roots in a Parched Ground,” “Convicts” and “Lily Dale.”  We first meet young Horace, running back and forth between his maternal and paternal grandparents’ houses, trying to keep the piece with both families.  When his father dies, his world changes forever, and the rest of the cycle deals with how Horace navigates his life and tries to finally find a home.  

There’s a very rich, everyday feel to the proceedings, but everything is also tinged with sadness and regret.  I can’t really describe how moved I was by the whole thing.  I was just so taken by this boy who is forgotten and neglected by everyone, yet still finds it within himself to achieve happiness.  It was so real and conversational, yet very profound.

Part Two is called The Story of a Marriage and includes the three short plays “The Widow Claire,” “Courtship” and “Valentine’s Day.”  Here, we see Horace trying to make something of himself and beginning to try to find the partner and helpmate that will complete him.  His continuing struggle to find himself and his declarations of love and commitment are incredibly moving.  Part Three is called The Story of a Family and consists of “1918,” “Cousins” and “The Death of Papa,” and here we see how Horace finally realizes that he’s a part of something bigger than himself.  

Each of the actors playing Horace (Dylan Riley Snyder, Henry Hodges and Bill Heck) are amazing, especially Heck.  He plays Horace from 20 years old to nearly 40, and he is spot on with each age.  Considering I saw him play the oldest version of Horace first, I was really taken with how specific he was as the younger Horace.  But all three gents have obviously worked together a lot, because they share the same cadences, a lot of the same personal quirks and physical movements—they’re really a wonderfully integrated trio.

photo credit: T. Charles Erickson (from the Hartford production)

All of the actors are wonderful, but I was rather partial to James DeMarse as the eventual father-in-law to Horace, and Lucas Caleb Rooney, who plays several incarnations of dissolute cousins to Horace.  I think Bryce Pinkham as Horace’s wastrel brother-in-law is quite good, too.  I will say that poor Devon Abner is saddled with two of the worst wigs I’ve ever seen in my life, but he does play several characters wonderfully.  Oh, and Hallie Foote is sublime in all of her roles, as usual.  She is always as singularly wonderful an actor as her father was a writer.

Dramaturgically, there are maybe a few problems.  Each of the one-act plays has been pared down to about an hour, so sometimes things fly by and you feel like your head is spinning because so many events take place in a short amount of time.  It especially happens during Part Three, where a LOT of things have to happen before the end.  Though so much of Part Three is so moving, you kind of forgive the problems.  At least I did.


I think you all know that I’m partial to Horton Foote—I just love his view of the world and his telling of these personal stories that still resonate with a universality I find breathtaking.  So, you won’t be surprised to hear that I give these plays a HUGE thumbs up!  I hear rumors of a transfer, but I’m not sure they would work in a bigger space.  I think the intimacy of the Signature space is perfect.  Oh, I know these ‘slice of life’ kind of plays aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I definitely feel they’re worth a look.  I think this production is a fitting tribute to a wonderful writer—I hope they’re the first in a long line of revivals of Horton Foote’s work, so I can continue to enjoy these people for many years to come…

Return visit to Describe the Night and other thoughts

I know, I know, I'm a broken record.  I enjoy plays by particular authors.  Sue me.  Sometimes, I just find it hard to believe that I know such amazing writers.  That these incredible creations come out of brains of people I know.  It makes me want to cry sometimes.  Moving on.  Because the Atlantic Theater Company is doing plays by two of my favorite authors this season, I bought a mini-subscription.  I saw the third preview of Describe the Night by Rajiv Joseph via TDF because I just couldn't wait until my subscription ticket night.  Which was a few nights ago.  I think he's still working, so I'll only offer a few more thoughts than I did before.

I've often said I love big, bold, messy epic plays and Describe the Night rather fits that bill.  It's three acts just crammed full of history and fascinating people.  Rajiv takes huge big ideas and leaps of faith, and turns them into personal, yet still universal, stories.  He tells stories using real people from history as a starting off point, but then weaves and molds and moves them into such unexpected places.  There is so much beauty and pain and anguish in Describe the Night, along with gorgeous writing and moments of joy.  As I said before, there is one scene that I truly wish could've lasted forever - the magic of the writing, the story and the acting was perfectly complete to me.  Not all scenes achieved that for me, though, but I think that's on me.

from the Atlantic's website

I've also mentioned ad infinitum that there are particular stories or plot points that I just don't respond to, or stories that just hit too close to home.  In the interweaving of the co-mingling stories in Describe the Night, there was one piece that my brain and heart just kept at arms' length, so it wouldn't hurt too much.  And I think that's what kept me from having as emotional an experience as I generally would at one of Rajiv's plays.  I can intellectualize that from a distance, I frequently have to.  But the parts of the play I DID respond to - truth vs lies; the responsibilities of storytellers; how we're all connected to each other in this world throughout time - were incredibly fulfilling.  I know I haven't really shared all that much about story, but the way the play unfolds is part of its pleasures.  I think you should experience it for yourself. 

Yes, Describe the Night features terrifically expansive and heady stuff, but there is also a lot of heart and humor in the piece.  At this second viewing, I think I noticed some changes in the opening scene, which made it even better than the first time I saw the show, and there was another scene late in the play that seemed to me even sharper and more pointed than before.  I love seeing the evolution of work, and I've convinced myself I could see where some adjustments happened.  I'm probably not that clever, but I like to pretend to myself that I am.  The acting, for the most part, is quite good (there is one performer I just couldn't connect to) and the physical design is first-rate.  I'm so glad I went back to see the play again and I encourage all of you to see it.  And I'm already excited about what Rajiv might bring us next.

I also saw another new play recently, but I don't really have anything nice to say about it, so I guess I'll leave the negativity off this page.  I do wonder, however, that if I knew and liked the playwright, would I have liked the play more?  Can I be truly objective for plays written by people I know?  I've already admitted that thinking about the talent of writers whom I call friends can make me cry, so...I wonder.  I guess it's certainly something to ponder.  Maybe as long as I continue to present my prejudices up front, that's enough.