Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Discoveries During Quarantine

I don't know about you, but this situation is maybe starting to get to me.  The feeling that the quarantine will never end and the feeling that we'll be trapped forever is making me exhausted.  I've only left my parents' house three times in the nearly-two months I've been here.  Tired rage or raging tired is pretty much all there is.  The days all run together and there's no end in sight.  Adding to the unsettledness is the fear that the horrible vertigo will come back.  I'm still having issues reading - my eyes get wobbly when I try to read too much and then I feel dizzy, which scares me.  I do laugh a lot with my family, and I love being here (how else would I ever spend this much time with my parents?!), but that doesn't take away the tired or the nerves.  I don't know.  I guess if I could feel like this would be over any time soon, I could reasonably reset.

Since all I do is pretty much work (ish) and watch tv, I've made a few discoveries since I've been home:

  • RuPaul's Drag Race is as awesome as everyone has been telling me, my mom even likes watching it with me;
  • I allow myself to be painted as the bad guy in certain situations much too quickly;
  • I miss Seamless;
  • I'm going to need to have my cholesterol checked after this, since we eat a lot of fast food and I generally don't in NY;
  • I always thought my mom was just tired of cooking after all these years, but no, she doesn't even like to cook;
  • It's hard to read recipes when my eyes are vibrating;
  • My dad is a really picky eater;
  • Menu planning for picky eaters gets old really fast;
  • I hope they make another season of Britain's Best Home Cook;
  • My mom just doesn't get how Roku works;
  • Hamilton is all that AND a bag of chips.

Speaking of Hamilton, let's see if I can still craft a review (my brain still isn't firing on all synapses).  I've been wanting to see Hamilton ever since it was at the Public; it's my own fault I didn't see it before it became a phenomenon.  I almost got to see it with co-workers in 2018, but that didn't work out.  I played the lottery almost every day for five years and never won.  When Disney+ announced they would be showing it, my heart was so glad.  I called Disney+ to make sure I could use my subscription on my parent's tv.  I counted down the days and drove my mom nuts reminding her that we wouldn't be doing anything on July 3 other than watching Hamilton.  I was afraid I would be let down after finally seeing it, but I truly was not.



a Venetian tribute. work.
There are so many layers to this show, I hardly know where to begin.  I'm not a devotee of rap or hip hop, but using these language-forward musical methodologies was simply brilliant.  The beat and the hooks make you listen and listen very closely to every word sung/rapped.  And nearly every word or rhyme tells you something important.  I laughed with delight several times at the triple and quadruple internal rhymes.  There is so much text that I know I didn't catch a lot of it on first viewing/hearing, but each time I watch a sequence again (I've probably watched the opening and closing numbers five or six times over the last week; I'm working up to watching the whole thing in sequence again this weekend), I catch more and more that I missed the first time.

The show is stupid entertaining, expertly acted, sung, danced, directed, and designed, plus it's ever so thought-provoking.  After watching it, I found so much to make me cry.  You know I'm a huge fan of huge-hearted Lin-Manuel Miranda and just watching/hearing the wonderful work he created for his talented friends made me weep.  It's smart, it's inclusive (yes, I acknowledge that he left out some details that are important but hey, it's a musical, not a documentary), it's instructive, it's entertaining.  The story made me weep, the backstory did, the idea of it did...everything.  It takes me back to the possibilities imagined by the Obama administration and god knows I need to remember those times right now.  I also think back to an event I did in Evanston where a person sought me out to complain that "George Washington was not Black."  I knew exactly what that man was saying, and he (and others like him) are why we need shows like Hamilton.

All of the performers are incredible, I can't even single anyone out.  Well, maybe Daveed Diggs.  He is singularly talented with charm to spare and you know how I love charm.  But truly, everyone was brilliant (and charming).  And I want to be Renee Elise Goldsberry when I grow up.  I'm ever so grateful I get to see the phenomenon that is Hamilton up close and personal (and more than once!) to send me back to my theater happy place.  Of course, I also cried when I heard the applause and saw the long shots of the stage - I long to be back in a theater again.   I've been going back and reading old reviews on my blog to try to relive those experiences.  If only everyone would wear a frigging mask...but that's another story/post.

(sorry for any weird formatting - my blogging platform has made some changes and I can't quite figure them out.  maybe next post.)