Edinburgh - the food

Because I'm me, I did a little research before heading to Edinburgh, especially about places to eat.  I knew there wouldn't really be time for anything too fancy, but it's always good to have a few ideas and names of places in mind.  I had looked at a travel website and saw a list of restaurants posted by an ex-pat mom of a University of Edinburgh student, so I printed that list out.  My beautiful office chum also had a list of places from a friend of hers who had lived in Edinburgh.  So I felt prepared to embark on my trip having tasty food possibilities in the back of my mind.

When we booked the Airbnb, the description mentioned that our place was down the street from the oldest pub in Scotland, the Sheep Heid Inn.  Dating from 1360, with building additions from the 19th century, the Sheep Heid Inn is really a beautiful spot just to look at, let alone dine in.  After looking at their website, we decided we needed to eat there on our first night in Edinburgh - I made a reservation, because from my research, it seemed as if the place is always busy; although we were exhausted from all the travel delays, after a little nap, we headed down the street to our reserved table.

We were in a corner table with really comfy padded seats, where I probably could've stayed all night.  The servers were friendly and the menu was pretty big.  I'm glad we had made reservations, since there was a sign on the door that said 'sorry, we can't take walk-ins tonight.'  They had some special cocktails that looked delightful, but I was afraid I'd fall asleep right at the table if I had alcohol, so I ordered ginger beer instead.  Ginger beer in Scotland is even more delicious than ginger beer here.  I had a lot of it.  For our meal, we got a starter of a garlic pizzette, which was a tasty, crispy flatbread with lots of garlic and some arugula and shaved cheese.  It was a very nice start to the meal.  I then ordered the fish and chips, which was a beer-battered cod alongside twice-baked chunky fries and a dish of minted smashed peas.  The portions were enormous and the food was delicious.  The batter on the fish was crunchy and nicely seasoned with a little flaked sea salt on top.  The chips were also crispy and the peas were...interesting.  I'd never had minted smashed peas before - I don't know that they will be something I'd order again, but they were a nice accompaniment to the fish.  Interestingly, when I asked if I could take the leftovers, they told me they didn't have a license for that.  But they found a tupperware in the kitchen and wrapped up my fish.

I only ate about half of my main course because I wanted dessert.  Ever since I noticed they served Eton mess, I knew I had to have it.  I've seen people make Eton mess on various cooking shows and it has several of my favorite things as ingredients - fruit, whipped cream, and meringue.  This one was so good, with strawberries and pink meringues in a delicious soft and slightly sweet whipped cream.  Even though I was SO full and SO tired, I ate most of that dessert.  We loved our meal so much that we decided to make a reservation for later in the week, just to be able to try more of that lovely menu.  Sheep Heid Inn was a terrific start to our trip.

Before doing a little sightseeing the next morning (before our first work event), I stopped at a cute cafe across the street from St. Giles Cathedral, with the easy-to-remember name of Saint Giles Cafe and Bar.  I wanted to have some tea and a little something something before starting my day.  I got a croissant with butter and jam (oh my, butter and jam in Scotland is AMAZING!) and a drink called an Edinburgh Mist.  It was Earl Gray tea, with steamed milk, vanilla syrup and cinnamon.  YUMMMMMM.  I almost ordered another, it was that delicious.  It was just the perfect start to my day.  I would definitely recommend this cafe - the servers were easygoing and pleasant, the room was light and airy, and the noise level was well-controlled.  It was pretty crowded in there, mostly with Fringe Festival performers and audience members, taking a break before starting their day, but it didn't feel too loud or too cramped at all.  I would go back.

After our work event, we first went to a dinner spot near the venue, but it was so crowded with Fringe people, we left and went to a recommended pub, the Auld Hoose.  It was a cool neighborhood pub, playing punk music and hosting local students.  It was great.  Their menu was huge and the nachos looked interesting (plus they were billed as the 'largest in Edinburgh'), but I opted for the grilled chicken and bacon sandwich.  It was really good, as were the fries that came with it.  And the ginormous ginger beer (alcoholic this time) I got to wash it all down.  Our time here was really relaxing and enjoyable - it was nice to be in a low-key neighborhood spot that was a little outside the Fringe nonsense.  After dinner, we Uber-ed back to the Airbnb.

Next morning, my beautiful office chum's husband (who accompanied us on the adventure) made us a delicious breakfast in the Airbnb's lovely kitchen.  Since we had a busy day ahead of us, it was nice to relax for a few minutes and fill our bellies before heading out.  After our work event and field trip to a cute bookshop (more on that shop in a future post), we were walking around looking for a pharmacy.  My podiatrist had told me about an anti-inflammatory cream that I could buy over the counter in Scotland (they don't sell it here) and it might help my bum foot.  We found a pharmacy, but had to go back after lunch and talk to the pharmacist (even though it was OTC, I guess the pharmacist had to approve the sale).  Since the weather was suddenly threatening to pour  rain, we looked for a lunch spot.  Thankfully, we were near another recommended restaurant, Pomegranate, a cute Middle Eastern restaurant.  The decor was very bright and appealing and the staff was also pleasant.  I did have an order snafu, however.  I wanted to get the jajic, which is like tsatziki (garlicky dip of thick yoghurt and diced cucumber) and the hummus shawarma, described as a chickpea dip topped with thin, marinated slices of lamb.  That sounded good to me!  However, for some reason, our pleasant, though perhaps dim, server brought me a falafel wrap.  Hm.  It was tasty, but not what I ordered. They don't even sound alike, do they?  I was too tired to send it back, though.  The dip was good, as was the side order of naan bread we ordered.  Oh, and I also had a non-alcoholic cider, which was also refreshing and delicious.  I was just kinda bummed I didn't get to taste the lamb.  After lunch, thankfully the downpour had ended and we went back to the pharmacy.  I made my case to the pharmacist and after a short Q & A, I could buy the cream.  OK.

That night, we went back to the Sheep Heid for dinner.  This time, we tried the artisan rustic bread plate (very tasty) and I had the scallop dish of the day - pan-seared scallops with bacon and a tomato tapenade.  It was delicious, though I will admit that I found the scallops a little underdone.  When I hear 'pan-seared', I assume one side to be a little more well done.  That's just me, I guess.  The dish was quite yummy, even without my preferred preparation.  I was too full from my big falafel lunch and scallop dinner to get dessert.  My beautiful office chum's husband got a fun dessert, though.  I'll put a video of it below.

Next day was a eat-on-the-go day, with lots of sightseeing and a couple of Fringe shows.  I picked up cups of tea here and there, and had a lovely latte at The Milkman, but didn't actually eat until after the last show of the evening.  (I'll describe the shows in a later post.)  I was happy to tag along with my playwright friend and the cast of the show to eat at Mariachi, a pleasant Mexican restaurant near the theater.  We had originally wanted to go to a fish and chips place, but they couldn't accommodate our group.  Mariachi was a cute place and the food was tasty.  We got some nachos for the table and I got a quesadilla as a meal.  Since I hadn't eaten all day, my stomach was a little jumpy, but I had some ginger beer to get me through.  The conversation at the table was so wonderful, though, it hardly mattered what I ate.  I had a grand time.

Our work event was cancelled on Thursday, so I got some more sightseeing in.  Then I went over to another theater for a highly anticipated show.  I was grateful they had a cafe so I could get some tea and a scone with that delicious butter and jam.  YUM.  I could've eaten five or six of them.  I guess it's a good thing I got there only a short time before curtain.  After the show, my beautiful work chum and I ran a few errands.  She wanted to stop at a yarn store (she's a knitter) and I noticed there was a cafe next door, so I told her I'd get some tea and meet her after she finished with the yarn.  The cafe was in front of an art gallery/design studio called Natami.  The owner, Natalia, was a lovely woman and we had a delightful conversation as she made me a hand-made blend of black tea and rose.  Her dog, Amber, also loved me.  I drank from a china tea cup while she told me about her career as a wedding dress designer, and the artists she likes to support.  I only wish I was independently wealthy, because some of the art was fantastic and I would've loved to buy something.  I did buy a small postcard, which I'm hoping to frame.  I had an unexpectedly pleasant hour chatting with Natalia and I would love to go back there again.

Our last work event was a cocktail party at the National Museum of Scotland, but we got there too early, so we went across the street to the Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote bits of the Harry Potter saga.  So there's lots of Harry Potter memorabilia around, with photos of Rowland working in the space.  I didn't want to eat too much, since we were headed to a cocktail party, so I just got an order of bread and butter, which is a dream.  That's what I almost always want, which I'm sure is why I'm perpetually zaftig - the bread was soft and delicious and of course the butter was fatty and perfect.  So...yay!  I actually didn't eat at the cocktail party (everything was very fried), so I waited until we went to dinner afterwards.  We went to a place called Oink, which came highly recommended.  It's a sandwich place, with pulled pork.  You tell the server the size of sandwich you want, the type of bread, the toppings and the sauce.  And that's it!  There are lots of delicious choices - I went with the smallest sandwich, with sage and onion stuffing and applesauce.  OH MY GOD, so good.  I highly recommend Oink if you're in Edinburgh.  I will definitely be going back.

With all the walking around I did, I probably missed out on many more food experiences, but I enjoyed the places I ate and the food I tried.  Well done, Edinburgh!

I forgot - the Sheep Heid Inn has a bowling alley in the back!

yeah, NO.

Edinburgh - the travel

Howdy - I'm baaaaaack!  The week was mainly delightful, with a few snags here and there.  But I would love to go back to Edinburgh someday.  Just for fun, I thought I'd divide my week into separate posts about the travel, the food, and the sights.  We'll see how it goes...

Early in the day of departure, I got a text telling me that my flight would be delayed a few hours.  Sigh.  Already, travel agita.  But since you're supposed to be at the airport early before an international flight, I decided to just head there at the time I would've if the flight had been on time.  I'd rather wait at the gate than try to predict what time the flight will actually leave.  As I was looking for the Aer Lingus ticketing desk, I saw my beautiful office chum with whom I was traveling.  So we went to the desk together.

For some reason, the desk agent was so confused.  Apparently, Aer Lingus had rebooked our connecting flights for us (the delay out of NYC meant that we would miss our connection in Dublin), but didn't complete the transaction.  So the ticket agent could see our reservations, but couldn't print boarding passes.  We were fine with our tickets to Dublin, but the Dublin to Edinburgh leg was causing problems.  The agent told us we could go ahead to our gate, but we thought that since we had a delay anyway, we might as well straighten everything out before even leaving.

Sigh.  It took TWO AND A HALF HOURS for them to straighten things out.  We had to stand at the ticket counter for TWO AND A HALF HOURS.  Almost the entire length of our delay.  It was unfun in the extreme.  My bum foot was killing me and we hadn't even left yet.  Sigh.  At least they gave us vouchers for food - I bought a lot of M&Ms and mints before getting on the plane.  And since we'd spent so much time waiting at the ticket counter, we didn't have long to wait sitting in the gate area.

The flight itself was fine; I watched an episode of The Great British Bake-Off; I tried to sleep (I maybe got an hour or so in the middle of watching Frozen), yet I still tried to walk around a bit every couple of hours because of my DVT terrors.  The meal they provided wasn't bad, and all of the flight attendants were very pleasant and apologetic for the delays.  Once we landed in Dublin, it was pretty smooth sailing through customs and getting to the gate for our connecting flight to Edinburgh.  Once we got to the gate, my beautiful office chum realized we should check and make sure all was well, after all the nonsense at the JFK ticket counter.  Good thing she did!  The very pleasant gate agent told us that we were actually double-booked!  I mean, I guess that's better than not booked at all, but it will come into play again in a few minutes.

When we got onto the smaller commuter plane to Edinburgh, I noticed that one of our flight attendants looked like Sacha Baron Cohen, which made me worried we were going to be punked mid-air or something.  I mean, I don't think it was him, but I guess you never know.  The whole double-booking thing came into play because we couldn't take off, due to the fact that they couldn't match up the people and bags.  They kept thinking there were people who weren't on the plane yet, but their bags were.  Nope, it was just poor, double-booked us.  Crazy.  Once they finally figured that out and we started taxiing, then a child behind me started screaming and getting up out of her seat belt.  The flight attendant (NOT Borat) came over and said we couldn't take off until the child sat down, but it was screaming like a banshee.  So we just sat there for probably another fifteen minutes, waiting for that to stop.  By this time, I felt as if we'd been traveling forever.  Thankfully, the child wore itself out and sat down.  The flight from Dublin to Edinburgh is a short one and we finally made it.

this is the main house; we were in the gatehouse on the right

Our Airbnb was about a half hour outside of the Edinburgh city center, so it was a pleasant drive to get there.  There was a gorgeous rainbow outside, but I could never get a good shot of it, unfortunately.  We made it easily to our lovely little gatehouse, though the van couldn't make it up the driveway, so we had to drag all our bags up a bit of a hill.  Oh well.  The gatehouse was adorable and it was a fantastic place to call home for a week.  (OK, I didn't love the mouse that entered my room on two separate occasions, but I was so tired throughout the week, I didn't have the energy to cry and I slept through the worry.  Oh, and the bathtubs were really high and it was a bit difficult for me to get in and out of them with my bum foot, but oh well, I made it through).

necessary snacks

I'll talk about sights and food later - let me just skip right to the trip back to NY.  It'll be like a time-turner for you.  I got a text from Aer Lingus telling us to arrive at the airport about three hours before our flight to get through US pre-clearance.  So we did that, but pre-clearance wasn't in Edinburgh, it was in Dublin.  Sigh.  I have to say that it's unlikely I'll fly Aer Lingus again.  Anyway, moving on.  We were at the gate in Edinburgh plenty early and had no trouble getting to Dublin.  When we arrived, we did have to go through customs and pre-clearance, then were sent up to our gate.  My beautiful office chum was on a different flight than me, though we were at adjacent gates.  After she got up to board her plane, I decided to walk around for a bit, because I had a couple of hours to kill before my flight.  When I was in the ladies room, I heard an announcement, asking me to come to the gate.  That's never good.

I got to the gate and discovered that my flight would be delayed by about three hours, and I would have to be escorted back out, past security, and would have to do customs again when I got into NY.  It was ridiculously stupid - the gate agent walked me and about five other passengers back to the pre-clearance area and an agent took our passports.  We got them back a few minutes later, then we were walked to our new gate area.  And then we waited.  Although the pleasant gate agent said there was a voucher attached to our boarding passes, the only snack cart in our gate area couldn't accept them.  Sigh.  I read a book, called my mom, charged my phone, tried to pass the time.  By the end of the trip, my bum foot was really sore, so it wasn't pleasant to walk around, but it wasn't pleasant to sit in those uncomfortable metal chairs, either.  I got really cranky by the time the plane was finally ready to board.  They asked us to get ready, so off we went, to stand in the very long line.  And there we stood.  For about 45 minutes, until someone finally told us we had to wait while a maintenance issue was attended to.  I tell you, they are really lucky there wasn't some sort of mass revolt in the gate area.  I guess, in the scheme of things, it wasn't such an awful wait (compared to the people I read about who were stuck on their plane for seven hours), but all of the travel agita just added up to mass annoyance.  Once they finally called my row, I became one of THOSE people and just marched up to the front.  I heard people complain, but tough.  They called my row and why should I stand around and wait for other people to either get out of the way OR get on the plane anyway, even if their row wasn't called?!  I hope I didn't ruin my travel karma by marching to the front.  I was just ready to sit in a vaguely more comfortable seat.

The ride home was smooth, I watched Casablanca and a new Nancy Drew movie, finished a book, enjoyed my ravioli, and walked around the aisles every couple of hours.  It could've been worse.  When we finally landed, our whole plane was escorted into a customs area, which thankfully didn't take too long.  My bag arrived in a timely fashion.  Then the taxi line didn't take very long, either.  It was certainly better than when we got back from Italy a few years ago.  I was grateful that I could get home more quickly than I had feared - once I finally got home, there was a lot of sleeping to do.  

The trip, as an experience, was terrific.  The travel was not.  That's why I got the annoying post out of the way.  You should look forward to more fun postings in the near future...

Apologies For The Upcoming Radio Silence

I've let the summer get away from me and I've let my blogging get away from me, too.  I'm seriously going to have to look at my work/life balance and see what changes need to be made.  I am, however, looking forward to another work obligation - I'm being sent to Edinburgh, Scotland, for the Fringe Festival!  I'm ever so excited; it's a bucket list item and I never thought I'd get a chance to go.  Originally, we were to go at the beginning of August, and then my annual Tennis Week would have still happened, but we had to rearrange our schedules and that means Tennis Week won't be possible this year.  My mom was disappointed, but not devastated, so that was a relief.  Tickets for the US Open were so expensive during the pre-sale that I passed on buying any.  This could be the first time in maybe 20 years that I will miss the Open; I'm hoping a last-minute discount or last-minute bank account bump will happen and I will get to go.  Fingers crossed.

Back to the trip:  below is a photo of the view from our Airbnb in Edinburgh.  I really really hope this is accurate - that's a dormant volcano back there!  When I get back, I anticipate sharing lots of stories with you all!  Oh, and I'm also including photos from the nearby pub, which is rumored to be the oldest in Edinburgh, and only a few steps from where we're staying.  You know I already have a reservation there!  In the meantime, lang may yer lum reek! (Which hopefully means 'May you live long and stay well', if my internet searches are to be believed...)

Thoughts on Encores! Off-Center

I know, I know, they've been closed for a while, but I just wanted to express my pleasure at the whole idea of City Center's Encores! Off-Center.  Founded in 2013, the Encores! Off-Center presents Off-Broadway musicals that pushed creative boundaries when they were first produced but technically never made it to Broadway.  They've been fudging with that description almost from the beginning, but I don't mind.  I've greatly enjoyed all of the productions I've seen in the series (and I've only seen about half) - their productions of I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road, Tick, Tick...Boom, Assassins, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin and Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope have been some of my favorite productions of the last few years.

When they announced the 2019 summer season, I thought that the only show I needed to see was Promenade, the rarely-produced musical by Al Carmines and the sublime Maria Irene Fornes - I was fortunate to get a discount offer after I saw the recent documentary about Irene, so after I bought a ticket for Promenade, I figured I was done.  I'd already seen the other two, multiple times, so I figured I could save a buck or two.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

Ha ha, silly me.  Of course, being me, I suddenly realized that I couldn't miss a production of Working - I love that show.  I've seen several productions and I'm moved every time.  You don't often see working class people depicted positively on stage, and since I grew up in a blue-collar home, I enjoy seeing people I know.  Plus, my father was a mason and Working has a beautiful song by Craig Carnelia called "The Mason."  It always makes me weep.  Of course I had to pick up a ticket and I'm very glad I did.  

Since I hadn't planned to see the production, I didn't realize it was being done to celebrate City Center's 75th anniversary, so they added some material highlighting some longtime members of the City Center staff.  I thought the monologues were very nice, but there were perhaps too many of them.  The show was done in the format introduced a few years ago, with a smaller cast of actors performing the piece.  It was done well, moved nicely, "The Mason" was a particular standout, as was "Joe," beautifully detailed by David Garrison, and "A Very Good Day," one of the new songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and movingly performed by Andrea Burns and Javier Munoz.  If I perhaps didn't enjoy one of the other performers all that much, I got past it.  I enjoyed myself quite a bit and I'm glad I went.   

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The second production of the season was Promenade.  I've been hearing about this experimental, absurd musical for years, but I have never listened to it and obviously have never seen it.  It's really unlike anything I've ever seen before - it was a rather episodic, odd, off-kilter, utterly fascinating musical about the haves and have nots.  Sort of.  The cast was beyond fabulous and it was so exciting to hear this unsung work beautifully...sung.  There were patter songs, and songs that were thrillingly operatic.  There were comic songs and songs of enormous pathos.  After the show ended, I immediately downloaded the original cast album and listened again.  The piece is so dense, like most of Fornes' text, that it commands many listens.  On occasion, I wake up in the morning with the opening theme running through my brain, and then the gorgeous image of the cast strutting across the stage to introduce themselves to the audience, all while that delightful theme played - so fun.  The costumes were to die for, as was the cast.  It's a shame such a quirky and edgy show was relegated to only two performances, but the audience the night I was there was enthralled and enthusiastic throughout.  I hope this production makes people think about producing the show for real; its humanity, fun, and pointed social commentary are well-worth exploring right now.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The final show of the Off-Center season was Road Show, by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman.  I love that pair more than anything, but I wasn't thrilled by the production I saw at the Public a while back.  But, after I thought about things, I remembered I don't enjoy the director of the Public production all that much, and hello, I can't miss a Sondheim/Weidman revival.  I'm physically incapable of it.  So of course I bought a ticket.  And I had a delightful time, mainly thanks to Brandon Uranowitz. 

I am a huge fan of Raul Esparza's, from way back, and he did not disappoint at all.  Charismatic and dissipated, he captured the appeal and the nastiness of the ne'er-do-well brother beautifully.  But Brandon Uranowitz brought a beautifully poignant center to the musical that I don't remember being there before.  He was the touchstone around which everything swirled and he was utterly compelling and so moving.  I just loved him and marveled yet again about how monstrously talented he is.  Speaking of monstrously talented, I also loved Jin Ha as Uranowitz's love interest - you just can't take your eyes off him when he's on stage.  I adored him in the revival of M Butterfly and I adored him here.  I hope to see all three of these gentlemen on stage, all the time, from now on.  They should just play every role, thank you very much.  But really, the whole cast was fantastic.

For me, I think the production of Road Show best exemplified the Off-Center mission: it showed me things I didn't realize were even in a musical I thought I knew.  Bravo for that, and for bringing Promenade to the stage.  I had three grand and glorious evenings and look forward to even more as this series continues.  

Preview Thoughts on Bat Out of Hell

I will say up front that I assumed Bat Out of Hell was not really going to be my kind of show.  But when I was offered tickets, I thought, hm, why not?  I could also take an office chum, for whom I was sure that it would be his kind of show (I was right).  I also picked up an extra ticket for my office chum's son, and so it was that we all went to City Center earlier this week.

I know many of the famous songs from the seminal album and I'm generally a fan of crazy 70s/80s rock music, and also of the performer Meat Loaf, but this was never one of my absolute favorites.  Not like, you know, Barry Manilow's albums.  I don't have all the songs memorized and the ideas of biker chic and hell-as-metaphor-for-cool has never been my thing.  I was clearly in the minority, however.  The City Center audience was filled with superfans, most of whom were wearing Bat Out of Hell t-shirts and who were singing, rocking along, and loving the show throughout the evening.  Too bad my experience didn't really equal theirs.

I didn't really find Bat Out of Hell too terribly enjoyable.  It was so loud, my ears were ringing, and I don't think an epileptic could see it, there were so many blinding and flashing lights.  I actually laughed out loud a couple of times at the sheer ludicrousness of what I was seeing.  Not with glee, but with a sense of disbelief.  But it wasn't so bad it was good, like Dance of the Vampires.  I mean, one of the seminal theater experiences of my life was seeing Michael Crawford, squeezed into a tuxedo that was at least one size too small, singing "Total Eclipse of the Heart."  LOVED that, it was AMAZING.  Didn't love this.  This show was just sort of stupid and sexist, not well-directed, with terrible choreography and performers who were incredibly amazing singers but not so amazing actors.  It was a long night for me.  I will probably sound like my grandmother as I try to describe things, but oh well.  I own it, along with the fact that I was the only person with quibbles.  It seemed to me that everyone else had the best time ever.  Normally, I don't post bad reviews, but this seems criticism-proof, and people have been asking me about it, so...

photo credit: Little Fang

Someone needs to explain to me why, whenever a show is 'post-apocalyptic', women end up wearing bustiers.  Does the new atmosphere require that women's busts be protected?  And lifted?  I don't get it.  And I saw entirely too much of the lead gal's undergarments.  All of the costumes, at least for the women, seemed to me leftovers from male fantasies from music videos of the 80s, which don't really play well now.  Vests are also apparently really important when your DNA has been stunted and you will now be eighteen forever.  And leather pants, of course.  The plot of the show is seriously ridiculous and even with its nonsense, I still had trouble understanding what was going on a couple of times.  The Losts (those DNA-stunted-teens-who-will-be-teens-forever-apparently) are running around and live in subway tunnels.  They're followed by rich people who can get the police to try to snuff them out.  The self-appointed leader of The Losts falls in love with the daughter of the richest man in town.  So, as my office chum said, it's sort of Romeo and Juliet combined with Road Warrior.  Oh, with some Peter Pan thrown in (there's a character named Tink).  Uh huh.

photo credit: Little Fang

There were some pretty cool lighting effects, I have to admit.  The whole sequence that ended the first act was exciting, though I didn't quite know what was going on.  I don't understand why there was a videographer, except that the set design kept about 3/4 of the audience blocked from seeing some action, so I guess the video helped people see the hidden set pieces.




I found the choreography to be especially egregious - there was one number, a power ballad (naturally) between the two leads, and they seemed to be leaping like frogs around the stage.  It was quite bizarre and not very romantic, I must say.  There seemed to be two members of the ensemble who only ran on stage to do the dances, then ran back offstage.  They couldn't be DNA mutants all the time?  It was very strange.  The direction just sort of laid there, as well.  At one point, the Losts are (again) hiding from the adults and someone yells "Get down!  Hide!"  And everyone just looks around and slowly lowers to the ground.  It was also very strange.

The singing, though, was fantastic.  All of the performers had incredible voices and did justice to those songs.  I'm happy to acknowledge everyone's amazing singing talent.  Listening to a cast album should be a fun experience (not that I'll buy it, though, I'd rather just listen to Meat Loaf, to be honest).  I had forgotten, though, just how long all of those songs are.  Yikes - each time one of the songs had yet another verse, I'd think "more isn't always better, Linus, it's just more," which is a bad paraphrase of a line from a favorite movie.  I think the composer/lyricist/bookwriter is maybe a little too in love with his own voice.  In doing a little online research, it seems he's been working on this material for about 50 years now.  He really has something he wants to say with it, I'm just not the audience to receive it, I guess.  My office chum LOVED IT.  Thankfully for everyone else, I was in the back of the house, politely smiling and applauding, and everyone else was loudly proclaiming their love.  More power to them.  Someday, hopefully, I'll be the one screaming up front for the next Barry Manilow musical...