What Barbie Means to Me

 

Hello, friends, it's been a while.  Wait, that's a song, isn't it?  Anyway.  I have to admit that not blogging has been a bit of a relief, at least not blogging about shows or food or work.  But I have to admit I've been thinking about restarting the blog with a new focus: my life dealing with aging parents.  I feel as if this is a frontier that no one can prepare you for and no one really talks about.  Though part of me feels as if I want to guard their privacy, part of me feels as if maybe I could help someone else by sharing the many MANY trials that go with having parents with dementia. The seat-of-your-pants planning, the guilt, the exhaustion, the research, the fear.  So...I don't know.  I'm still deciding if I want to blog about these sad adventures.  But I DO want to share something that happened recently and what it made me think about.  I thought about Tweeting (I refuse to call the platform X) this little story, but I became afraid of the comments.  I thought about putting it on Facebook, but I became afraid of someone sharing with my parents (one of whom is on Facebook under an alias).  But for some reason I really want to have this in print, who knows why?  So here we go.  

I've always had a bit of a meh relationship with Barbie, not because of any feminist or political leanings.  But because my first memory of Barbie is my aunt not letting me play with hers, lol.  She was always really protective of her stuff and wouldn't let me touch them.  Eventually, my mom bought a couple for me and my sister, plus the camper and other Barbieworld things, and we had a good time.  Playing with Barbies may have been my first attempt at theater, we would make up stories and drag them out for hours.  Maybe I should've become a playwright after all!  But honestly, I guess my feelings were so kind of hurt, that's my main takeaway.  The photo at the right shows a time I snuck one of her dolls away.  It didn't last long, lol.

That brings me to the recent movie.  I had kind of avoided it, though I found all of the commentary on it fascinating.  I read all of the think pieces and enjoyed hearing about its success.  My sister and I talked about taking our mom over the summer, but it never happened.  When it premiered on cable, one night I was scrolling through the cable guide and found it.  Mom said, let's watch!  So we did.

Mom can't really concentrate on movies anymore that she hasn't already seen (though a lot of movies she's already seen are new to her, sadly) and irony and subtext and satire just go over her head.  So she was pretty restless and unengaged throughout much of the movie, though she stayed and watched relatively respectfully because she heard me laughing and enjoying myself.  She got up and wandered around the house a little in the middle of the movie, but she happened to be standing near the tv when America Ferrera performed 'the monologue.'  If you've seen the movie, you know the one I mean.  Mom sat back down and listened and when it was over, Mom yelled "YES.  THAT'S EXACTLY HOW IT IS."

I was stunned.  I cried.  I'm crying now.  I never really thought about my mom as a woman before, I guess.  I know the story of how my dad saw Mom through a window one day and decided she was the one for him.  They dated for two years, got married, had me and my sister, and Mom was a stay-at-home mom.  It's only lately that I've discovered that Mom never really liked to cook, that she wanted to go to college after high school, that she sometimes feels she hasn't accomplished anything other than raising two good people.  I frequently rail against the patriarchy but never thought about how it affected my mom.  It breaks my heart that such a good person feels as if she hasn't accomplished anything.  That she has felt like she's not enough.  Now I understand her teaching me to read at four.  Now I understand her urging me to be my own person and go to college.  There was more than just wanting her kids to do more than she did.  It was an acknowledgement that she was likely KEPT from doing what she wanted to do and she fought for that not to happen to me.

Some days, Mom isn't quite sure who we are to each other - are we sisters?  Am I the mom?  What does being the mom mean?  It's all jumbled in her brain.  Dementia is the absolute worst.  And it's ironic that the woman who urged me to have my own life now needs me to subsume mine into hers.  It isn't done maliciously or knowingly, but she expects me to take care of her.  I'm working through that; hearing Mom be so vehemently understanding about how women can be held down while sort of watching a movie about Barbie is making me rethink a few things.  How far can I do to be what my mom expected me to be before dementia took over?  So I guess having Barbie ambivalence made the movie a different experience for me, and is making me examine lives in ways I didn't expect.  

What I Saw/What I'm Seeing

 Hello there!  As I continue to feel my way through my blogging hiatus, I thought I'd share with you the list of shows I saw last year (if they're still open, go see them!) and the shows I have tickets for this year (go see them!), along with other exciting titles announced so far that I hope to be able to see (you should go, too!).  I've added links to some of the titles, if you're interested in more information. Happy 2023!

2022

Addressless - Jonathan Payne

Becky Nurse of Salem - Sarah Ruhl

Birthday Candles - Noah Haidle

Bruise and Thorn - C. Julian Jimenez

A Case for the Existence of God - Samuel D Hunter

The Chinese Lady - Lloyd Suh

The Collaboration - Anthony McCarten

Confederates - Dominique Morisseau

Corsicana - Will Arbery

Cost of Living - Martyna Majok

Criminal Queerness Festival

Eva Luna - Caridad Svich

The Far Country - Lloyd Suh

Fat Ham - James Ijames

House of Chavis - Robert Macke

Into the Woods - Stephen Sondheim, James Lapine

K-POP - Jason Kim, Helen Park, Max Vernon

Kimberly Akimbo - David Lindsay-Abaire, Jeanine Tesori

Leopoldstadt - Tom Stoppard

Little Shop of Horrors - Howard Ashman, Alan Menken

The Lucky Star - Karen Hartman

The Magnificent Seven - Gordon Leary, Julia Meinwald

A Man of No Importance - Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Terrence McNally

My Broken Language - Quiara Alegria Hudes

A Nagging Feeling Best Not Ignored - Roland Tec

New Golden Age - Karen Hartman

Ohio State Murders - Adrienne Kennedy

Once Upon a (Korean) Time - Daniel K Isaac

Parade - Jason Robert Brown, Alfred Uhry

Peerless - Jiehae Park

Prayer for the French Republic - Joshua Harmon

Queen - Madhuri Shekar

Skeleton Crew - Dominique Morisseau

Sandblasted - Charly Evon Simpson

soft - Donja R Love

A Strange Loop - Michael R Jackson

The Tattooed Lady - Max Vernon

Topdog/Underdog - Suzan-Lori Parks

The (Un)Admiring - Matthew Paul Olmos

The Vagrant Trilogy - Mona Mansour

Where the Mountain Meets the Sea - Jeff Augustin

Where We Belong - Madeline Sayet

Which Way to the Stage - Ana Noguerira

Wolf Play - Hansol Jung

2023 (already scheduled)

Colorado New Play Summit

Days of Wine and Roses - Adam Guettel, Craig Lucas

Elyria - Deepa Purohit

Forever After - Doric Wilson

King James - Rajiv Joseph

Parade - Jason Robert Brown, Alfred Uhry

Rock the Line - Kathleen Warnock

The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window - Lorraine Hasberry

Summer, 1976 - David Auburn

White Girl in Danger - Michael R Jackson

Wolf Play - Hansol Jung

Fingers Crossed for 2023 (I could sure use a lottery win right about now)

The Best We Could - Emily Friedman

black odyssey - Marcus Gardley

A Bright New Boise - Samuel D Hunter

The Coast Starlight - Keith Bunin

Dark Disabled Stories - Ryan J Haddad

A Doll's House - Amy Herzog

Endgame - Samuel Beckett

The Good John Proctor - Talene Monahon

The Harder They Come - Suzan-Lori Parks

Here Lies Love - David Byrne, Fatboy Slim

Lucy - Erica Schmidt

Plays for the Plague Year - Suzan-Lori Parks

Primary Trust - Eboni Booth

Public Obscenities - Sayok Misha Chowdhury

Sweeney Todd - Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler

The Thanksgiving Play - Larissa FastHorse

The Wanderers - Anna Ziegler

The Wife of Willesden - Zadie Smith

Happy Thanksgiving 2022!

 Hello, dear cyber-friends, have you missed me?!  I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year since I posted on this blog.  Once, this was the most important place for me to be.  If I wasn’t posting something silly, I was thinking about posting something silly.  Now, I’m still working through whether or not to continue what I started.  Eleven years IS a long time.  Maybe stopping is just the natural course of things.  But maybe something new will evolve - who knows?  So I'm still keeping my options open.  In the interest of feeling some forward motion, I decided to do a quick Thanksgiving post and share what I’m thankful for this year.  And maybe I’ll mention some shows I hope you go see over the holidays… 😍

However, this year, I’m starting with a negative.  I’m NOT thankful for my apartment building’s management team.  In September, we sadly had another loss in my family, which sent me home for just short of a month, and when I came back, a mouse had moved into my apartment.  I cannot get anyone - my super/assistant super/landlord/management company - to take me seriously to take care of this mouse.  I want it gone.  I want the hole where it entered gone.  In a past post about some of my irrational fears, I mentioned mice.  I meant it.  But I feel as if, yet again, I’m screaming, and no one is listening.  I’m not appreciating the condescending ‘oh, that’s just NY for you’ or ‘ha, girls are so silly!’ attitudes I’m getting.  I’m considering legal action at this point.  You’re supposed to feel warm and cozy in your own home; I just sit there in dread and fear, grinding my teeth and ready to cry.  I don’t sleep.  There’s no enjoyment there.  And I am also PISSED.  So it’s been a struggle to think of things I AM thankful for, but of course I could find some.  Of course I could.  How sad it would be to not be thankful for anything.

I’m monumentally thankful for:

• my wonderful parents;
• my fabulous sister; 
• my glorious nephew, I love him so much;
• my beautiful GNO gal pals AND our wonderful guy pals;
• my terrific extended family;
• all of my dear, darling friends who lift me up when I really need them to;
• my fun co-workers who consistently support me AND make me laugh;
• my beautiful goddaughters;
• my darling Fellows (AND their amazing work);
• Murray’s Cheese;
• Randy Rainbow;
• online shopping;
• the Calm app (it has REALLY come in handy during the unwanted-intruder-nonsense);
• Starbucks pink drink;
• Acorn TV;
• expanded access to free theater tickets;
• Shangela;
• Applegate charcuterie plates;
• Ted Lasso;
• the Nasty Suff cocktail at The Library in the Public Theater;
• Leah and Talk NYC;
• 54 Below;
• the Q101 bus;
• Parade original Broadway cast album;
• Plum Deluxe tea;
• the NY Times crossword puzzle app (I have finally succumbed to the siren song of Wordle);
• Milk Street;
• The Amazing Race;
• Jeopardy Amy;
• Copper Cow peppermint lattes;
• TDF;
• Apple music;
• Basil Brick Oven Pizza;
• subway OMNY payment;
• my ever-expanding liquor cabinet;
• Murder, She Wrote re-runs;
• theater companies who are continuing with mask mandates.

And as promised, a theater public service announcement:  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go see A Strange Loop (by Michael R Jackson), Kimberly Akimbo (by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire), Ohio State Murders (by Adrienne Kennedy), Topdog/Underdog (by Suzan-Lori Parks), Eva Luna (by Caridad Svich), Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (Jeff Augustin), and K-POP (by Helen Park, Jason Kim, Max Vernon).  These are amazing works; some brutal, some joyful; some magical and literate, some down-to-earth and real; all well worth your time and money.  Please buy tickets, show the powers-that-be that we want original, no-holds-barred, diverse, complex, and exciting work.  And wear your masks, please.  Stay safe and warm, my friends, and have a wonderful holiday season.

 

2021 By the Numbers

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone! I hope you're wearing a mask and staying safe, wherever you are.  I know I said I wouldn’t be posting for a long while (I’m working on some personal stuff right now), but I did want to share my stats for the year.  You know me and the stats.  I guess sharing the numbers will make me feel better about 2021 and also give me a push to do even better.  I’m grateful to live in a place that requires vaccination and masks inside theater venues (I wish they had that mandate in Ohio) and hopefully the world will right itself in 2022.  Of course, with nearly half the country becoming selfish jerks who care nothing for their neighbors, I often don’t have much hope.  But one can dream…

• Theatrical events: 29
• Shows written by women:  17
• Shows written by writers of color:  19
• Shows/concerts/events by my darling Fellows:  11
• Shows/concerts/ballets/events that were streaming:  22
• Ballet (in-person) visits: 1
• Ballet (streaming) visits: 2
• New e-books:  18 
• New book books:  8 
• Readings/workshops: 3
• Concerts/cabarets: 1
• Award presentations: 2
• Fundraisers:  3
• Memorial services:  3 (sadly)
• New charities:  8
• Tweets:  226 (that's down a bit, I need to work on that)

Food and cocktail-wise, I haven’t been out all that much, but I do want to shout out the Orchard Margarita at Boqueria, which is divine.  I also adored the cocktail I had at L'Express during a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, but I can't remember the name of it.  Shame on me.  More cocktails in 2022, please!  Take good care and hopefully we’ll all right our ships in 2022!  Happy New Year!

 

Happy Thanksgiving 2021

Hello, cyber-friends!  I can’t believe another year has gone by – time seriously has no meaning anymore.  But I offer my wishes to you all for a happy happy Thanksgiving.  This may be my last post for a long while; more on that later…  

I hope everyone is safe and warm and healthy and ready to enjoy a long weekend.  I know I am ready; my weekend is actually going to be extra-long, due to comp days after so much work for work.  Frankly, I’m exhausted.  I'm glad to be celebrating this year by staying with a lovely goddaughter, then sharing a fabulous meal with my dear friends. I hope that your day is filled with as much laughter and love and fun as I know mine will be.

As always, I have plenty of things to be thankful for this year, such as:

• my amazing parents;
• my wonderful sister; 
• my glorious pip of a nephew, I love him so much;
• my sweet Scooter, best doggie nephew ever;
• my beautiful GNO gal pals AND our wonderful guy pals/plus-two;
• my wonderful extended family, with the coolest aunts, uncles, and cousins around (more on them later);
• all of my dear, darling friends who lift me up daily;
• co-workers who make me laugh and lift me up daily;
• my beautiful goddaughters;
• Justin's dark chocolate mini peanut butter cups;
• Caroline, or Change original Broadway cast album;
• Great British Baking Show (hello, Chigs);
• Whole Foods same-day delivery;
• Leah and Talk NYC;
• Young Sheldon;
• my Twitter feed;
• Bob Evans' individual macaroni and cheese;
• the Q101 bus;
• Copper Cow coffee;
• Snoopy holiday pajamas;
• Stet! Dryer's English board game;
• Boqueria’s orchard margarita;
• the NY Times crossword puzzle app;
• In the Heights film;
• the Excelsior Pass Plus;
• Gin Gins;
• Scentbird;
• Off the Hook Raw Bar;
• the Bryant Park holiday market;
• the Milk Street community;
• my wonderful liquor cabinet;
• reveling in my dear Fellows' successes;
• the Seamless app;
• Apple TV (and Ted Lasso);
• Murder, She Wrote re-runs;
• theater companies who are continuing with virtual theater;
• fierce women playwrights;
• theater is BACK!

cousins in the old days

I'm sure there's more, but let's stop there.  I'm feeling much thankfulness today, that's a good thing.  Though I’m also feeling so many other things – depression, sadness, fatigue.  I think I mentioned in a recent blog post that I’ve recently lost someone very dear to me.  Back story:  I grew up in an extremely close family; my mom had four sisters and each sister had two kids.  My cousins and I hung out together all the time when we were growing up.  After I went off to college and they started growing up, getting married, and having families of their own, we got together less often.  Christmas Eve became pretty much the only time we would all see each other.  I’ve missed them.  In September, I got a call from my sister that my aunt, who had struggled with several health issues over the years, had been diagnosed with COPD and probably only had a few days to live.  I got a fight home the next morning and went straight to the hospital.  Thankfully, my aunt was a bit better and recognized me when I got there.  We talked a few times over the next couple of days, and said “I love you” many times, which I’m so grateful for.  At any given time, there were at least dozen people in the waiting room, all wanting to visit my aunt.  I was again spending time with my beloved cousins, sort of catching up on lost time, while we sat in waiting rooms.  It was nice to be all together again, even for such a terrible reason.  After a few days, the doctors told us that keeping my aunt on machines wouldn’t cure her, just prolong the inevitable.  Her sons made the difficult decision to take her off the machines, transfer her to hospice care, and she passed away two days later.  Everyone in the family was devastated.  We still are.

my beautiful aunt

I’ve been unable to sleep since I got back, which has triggered some depression, I think.  Vague dizziness has returned, which doesn't help.  I’m having a hard time concentrating at work and feel…empty.  My mother is having a hard time with the loss of her sister and I’m sad I can’t help her more.  I need to get my pep back.  I need to get my life back.  The reason I’m sharing all this is because even though I’m happy when I’m inside a theater, afterwards I feel anxiety and dread about trying to blog about it.  Which is stupid, but true.  Writing is now a chore and it used to be a pleasure.  So I think I’m going to step back, work on a few things for myself, and see if I can find the excitement in sharing my thoughts about great work with you.  

Though (because I'm me) let me say something about the most recent theater I’ve seen:  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE go see Trouble in Mind (by Alice Childress, produced by Roundabout Theatre), Cullud Wattah (by Erika Dickerson-Despenza, produced by the Public Theater), Selling Kabul (by Sylvia Khoury, produced by Playwrights Horizons) and Clyde's (by Lynn Nottage, produced by Second Stage).  These are vital, important works, centering women of color in stories that need to be told right now.  They are beautifully written, acted, and produced shows.  Buy tickets, tell your friends, show the powers-that-be that these are the stories we want.  Uplift these writers.  I tried to write thorough reviews, but just couldn’t get the words on virtual paper; I didn’t want to let this last post go by without offering my strongest recommendation for these plays.

Sorry to bring down a thankful post – I AM enormous grateful for what I have and know that people love me and that peace is within reach again.  Enjoy your holiday, everyone, and thanks to YOU for joining me here!  It’s been a pleasure to report on things to you and to imagine people actually read my scribblings into the ether – may there be a new kind of Tour in the days to come.

Amazing Women Writing Amazing Women

I've been very fortunate to be able to see wonderful work lately.  I made a sort-of commitment to myself to center my ticket-buying on stories about, or written by, writers of color.  Especially women of color, because these new (to me) stories are the ones I'm hungering for.  Actually, most of the tickets I've purchased lately are by women I know, so...

Last week, I was really taken with Jocelyn Bioh's new play Nollywood Dreams, playing at MCC Theater.  This is one of the shows I had tickets for before the pandemic.  It was a long eighteen months to wait.  I loved Bioh's last play, School Girls, or the African Mean Girls Play, and I have been looking forward to this new piece ever since.  Like in that play, Bioh gives us gorgeous, specific, and riotously funny dialogue and beautifully crafted characters.  She has a way of showing us lightness and darkness, all at the same time.  I truly believe Bioh is one of the most talented writers working right now.

In Nollywood Dreams, it is the mid-1990s in Legos, Nigeria.  A young Nigerian director, after spending some time in America, has come back to Legos to direct his latest film and is holding an open casting call (or so everyone thinks) for the lead character.  We meet the delightful Ayamma, who thinks this audition is her chance to leave her parents' travel agency where she works with her sister Dede (who is a saucy, hilarious, acerbic wonder).  Other characters in the play include the director, Nigeria's hottest male sex symbol (who will be starring in the film), a female film star who also has her eye on that lead role, and a talk show host who pulls all of the stories together.

photo credit: Russ Rowland

This play is so funny and so true.  We feel for Ayamma and Dede, who yearn for bigger lives, dream of celebrity, and puzzle at the realities of show business.  Plus, their sisterly camaraderie is so authentic.  I laughed a lot, even while the characters reminded me of the disparity of what life in Legos actually is and how life in Legos is generally depicted in the American film industry.  Nollywood Dreams is smart and hilarious and an enormous treat.  The audience was just eating it up - there was a set malfunction early in the play and the actors played it up to the hilt.  We were all just putty in the actors' hands; the entire cast was truly amazing.  Please go see this fantastic play.

Last weekend, I went with a beautiful chum to see Caroline, or Change.  Have I ever told you the story of the first time I saw the show?  I went with a friend right before the Tony Awards; Tonya Pinkins (who was playing Caroline) was out.  The incredible Adriane Lenox played Caroline and while she was sublime, I just had to see Tonya Pinkins.  So I went back again before the show closed to see Tonya.  WELL.  Needless to say, the show itself blew.me.away and Tonya Pinkins' performance is one I will never forget.  What a force of nature!  I have been so looking forward to this revival and I'm so glad I got to experience it with my beautiful chum who hadn't seen the show before.

Caroline, or Change is a masterpiece.  Jeanine Tesori is a genius.  Tony Kushner is a genius.  Sharon D. Clarke is another force of nature.  I loved every minute of seeing this production, even from the less-than-ideal location of the mezzanine (though, if I'm honest, if you have to sit in the mezzanine at Studio 54, the last row of the front mezz isn't so bad).  I teared up many times throughout the afternoon, not only because of the story and situations, but because the show is so fricking amazing, the construction of it caused me to weep.  

photo credit: Joan Marcus

There's so much to say, I'm kind of tongue-tied.  The voices are incredible, the acting is fantastic.  Sharon D. Clarke has layer upon layer upon layer.  The devastation that comes after her confrontation with Noah is a gut-punch.  For some reason, I felt it even more than before.  Caissie Levy found a lovely, maybe softer way in to Rose; I really liked her.  How John Cariani finds so many shades and nuances, I don't know.  And his clarinet playing?  AMAZING.  The cast is so incredible, top to bottom, that Chip Zien, who I've seen dozens of times on Broadway, is playing the relatively small role of Rose's father and he is, as always, sublime.  But, really, everyone is.  Emmie?  The washing machine?  The radio trio?  The dryer?  The bus?  OMG, THE BUS.  Perfection.  The first time around, maybe this musical was too esoteric?  Too idiosyncratic?  I don't understand why it only ran for a few months, but it seems as if its genius is being recognized now.  The house was packed and the audience thrilled.  As they should've been.

It was such a delight seeing productions with such fantastic female leading characters played by incredible women who should be superstars.  The way Jocelyn Bioh captures character so utterly perfectly is awesome.  The way Jeanine Tesori writes music that says so much in so many different musical forms that perfectly embody each character is awesome.  (Yeah, Tony Kushner is all that, too, but I'm focusing on the women, thank you.)  I was moved, thrilled, and delighted by both of the productions I was fortunate enough to experience last week.  If theater continues to be this ground-shaking, I'm the luckiest girl in the world...

Saying Goodbye

When you've been working somewhere for nearly 25 years, inevitably you're going to lose people whom you hold dear.  Over the course of the pandemic, two such people, two bright lights of humanity, have left us.  I was privileged to be in the rooms when their amazing lives were celebrated.

Most recently, dear sweet Micki Grant left us.  Hers was a career that was truly groundbreaking - I'm embarrassed to admit that when I first started at my job, I didn't really know the breadth of her accomplishments, I just knew her contributions to one of my favorite musicals, Working (the link is my post on the most recent Off-Broadway revival of the show).  But even though she was a trailblazer, she was also down-to-earth, kind, supportive, and loving.  And a real mentor to anyone who needed her.  I once produced an evening that was a conversation between Micki and another glorious writer and Micki was terrified that she wouldn't have anything interesting to say; she begged me to sit in the front row and throw her suggestions when she ran out of ideas.  I don't think I need to tell you that I was completely unnecessary and the two of them had a thrilling conversation about what it means to be a woman, specifically a woman of color, in the theater.  It was my privilege to be there.  It was my privilege to know her.

I was also fortunate enough to have a seat at her recent memorial/celebration service.  It was done safely, COVID-wise, by having a minimal number of people in each row of the stunning Riverside Church, so I felt comfortable sitting (at a social distance) with a couple of friends who also adored Micki and hearing remembrances from many who knew and loved her.  There were songs, dances, hymns, and readings.  All of them were performed with the generosity of sprit that Micki exemplified.  Plus, hearing from her family members was a true gift.  I knew Micki as a writer, mentor, friend, and colleague, but to hear about her as a cousin and aunt and childhood friend was a blessing.  I can only hope my life touches as many people as Micki's did.  Of course, I haven't written musicals that will be done now and until the end of time.  I guess I should get on that.  Let's put out into the ether that Micki's work needs to be revived SOON and OFTEN.  In a Broadway season that is finally finally giving Alice Childress and Adrienne Kennedy their Broadway debuts, having Micki's Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope back on Broadway would make the perfect trifecta.

At the beginning of the pandemic last year, only a couple of weeks after Broadway shut down, the horrible tragic news came that we had lost one of American theater's great writers, Terrence McNally.  Not only was he a gifted and remarkable dramatist, but he was also a kind and caring man.  I treasure the last email I received from him, about six months before he died.  It was such a beautiful note about how much MY work meant to HIM.  I'm crying just typing about it.  Of course, it was his work that meant so much to me.  I went back to look at old posts and found a review of The Visit and Mothers and Sons.  I don't know why I couldn't find others; I wish I could find what I wrote about the transcendent experience I had seeing Richard Thomas in The Stendhal Syndrome.  That is on the short list of favorite/most exciting performances I've ever seen.  Oh well.  OH, and everyone needs to see the beautiful documentary about his life, Every Act of Life!  It's incredible!  Even Terrence's writing about other writers was beautiful - he wrote a lovely forward in the Playbill for the recent revival of Lanford Wilson's Burn This.  Gorgeousness.

Terrence's memorial was open to the public; I think only the speakers were given reserved status, everyone else had to wait in line.  I felt pretty lucky I got there early when I saw a big time Broadway producer and a big time Broadway actress walk past me to get in line behind me.  The line was long and they were checking people's vaccination card and IDs before letting them in.  There was a big reserved section for the speakers and their guests, but my co-worker and I got a good seat on extreme house left of the Schoenfeld Theatre.  We were maybe ten rows back and had fine views of everyone, even though we were off to the side.  The memorial was jam-packed with amazing talent who were all genuinely heartbroken at the loss of Terrence.  I was surprised at how choked up Nathan Lane was throughout his tribute.  But, really, everyone was fighting tears the entire time.  Especially me.  All of the words were so lovely and so true; I could identify with all of them.  Seeing Terrence's brother walk out for a tribute was surreal, he looks so much like Terrence and their laugh is exactly the same.  We all laughed heartily at the image his brother painted of the childhood bedroom they shared - apparently, the photos on Terrence's part of the wall were Maria Callas, James Dean, and Shakespeare.  Perfect.

photo credit: Douglas Gorenstein

Hearing small sections of his plays only made me want to see all of them again (or for the first time - I've never seen Corpus Christi!) - someone somewhere must want to produce a festival of his work.  His work would be a balm right now, his characters are all so humane and his dialogue is so witty, funny, and true.  Let's put THAT idea into the universe, too!   We need his work, that way he will continue to live for us all.  And we will miss him, but remember him, and rejoice in his gifts.  He also touched, and changed, so many lives.  I found this beautiful photo of Terrence and Micki from one of the work events I produced.  I think you can see the goodness they radiated - we'll not see their equals anytime soon, we can just all try to be worthy.

Too much, too soon?

I don't know what I was thinking, maybe that I am ready for things to be back to normal NOW, but I booked entirely too many events over the last week.  I am exhausted, a bit dizzy, and not entirely sure I experienced everything as fully as I could have.  I guess I know better now...

I'll just briefly report on my comings and goings, since my brain is pretty much out-of-service at this point.  First, I want to mention that I went to a music recital last weekend that I greatly enjoyed, but the main reasons I'm mentioning it is that a) I got to spend quality time with friends I don't see nearly enough, and b) I had a delicious cocktail I'm still thinking of a week later.  It was called an A & W Old Fashioned - ok, I grew up going to the A & W root beer stands in my hometown and I love A & W root beer.  It's delicious and nostalgic, all at the same time.  So OF COURSE I had to order that drink and it was incredible!  If I do a 'best cocktails of 2021' post, it will surely be on top!  The fish tacos were also really good.  That evening was one of my favorites of my entire year.  I also had dinner with other old friends at Patsy's, a longstanding NYC Italian eatery, and it was another grand evening.  The wine we had, a vernaccia di San Gimignano, was tastier than my pumpkin tortelloni, but that's ok.  It's the fun company that counts and I had a blast catching up with my delightful chums.

Wednesday night, I made my first appearance in nearly two years at one of my favorite NY spots, the Signature Theatre.  I bought a membership there this year, since I always enjoy their presentations.  My show that night was Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't seen this piece before, it was on Broadway during my brief years away from NYC in the 90s and I haven't seen the filmed version, either.  This production, instead of Anna Deavere Smith performing, uses an ensemble of five incredible actors portraying dozens of characters.  The text is taken from Smith's interviews of over 350 people after the 1992 Los Angeles riots that came out of the Rodney King beating and verdicts.

I am also embarrassed - no, the right word would be MORTIFIED - to admit that I remember very little about the riots or about the events that led to them.  I was living in Ohio at the time and all I can say is being in Ohio means being out of touch.  But that's still no excuse.  I was shocked, saddened, and appalled by the happenings in Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, and it is heartbreaking to think that Smith had to do updates and that this piece is even more timely than ever in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder.  There is video that is horrifying, audio that is haunting, and just hearing the actual words of people who were there was most often chilling.  There were some comic pieces, sort of, to break up the heaviness of the topic, but mainly this was an evening that was a call to action and a railing against the continued prevalent racism of police around America.  And of Americans towards other Americans.  

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The cast was simply incredible; there aren't enough words to describe how fully and completely they inhabited each of their characters.  They each played characters of different genders, ethnicities, ages, abilities, everything and they were spellbinding.  I'm sure they listened to the interview tapes repeatedly, but the dialect coach should also be congratulated because the dialect work was fantastic.  It was specific and engaging, rather than stereotypical.  The direction was amazing and the set was terrific, though there were technical difficulties at the beginning that kept us from seeing all of the projections at the beginning of the play and I wasn't sure who was speaking, but that got fixed before the end of the first act.

Seeing Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 was a sobering and powerful theatrical experience and I'm ever so glad I saw it.  I cried, looked away, and frequently gasped with disbelief.  I've been Googling ever since to fill in my gaps; I can only hope that having someone like Anna Deavere Smith and her documentary-style of theater will be produced everywhere to continue to open people's eyes to the world around them.  Though I guess not enough people's eyes are opened since this piece is sadly more timely than ever...

Thursday, I accepted an invitation from a young writer I know to attend a reading of their latest work.  I'm sad to report that I'm not ready for readings.  It was so hot in the reading room, I felt dizzy and sick, and the seat was so uncomfortable, I began to fear blood clots.  I couldn't stay for the whole reading, which is awful.  I hate leaving things early, but I just couldn't do it.  I can only hope this talented young writer continues to work on the piece, which could be an important one.  Then, Thursday night, I was fortunate to receive a free ticket to Douglas Carter Beane's new play, Fairycakes.  I have to admit I was still feeling a little unwell after the hot reading room experience, but I made it there and had a pretty good time at the show.

photo credit: Matthew Murphy

Fairycakes is a silly piece that's a mishmash of A Midsummer Night's Dream and other well-known fairy tales.  The cast is amazing, the costumes are gorgeous, the songs are cute, and there are lots of laughs.  There are also some groans from jokes that don't land, but the production is done in such high spirits and good humor, it seems mean to quibble.  The audience was pretty on board from the start; in maybe the third scene, there was a set malfunction and two of the performers entertained us off-script until it was fixed, which endeared them into the hearts of the rest of the audience.  So I mainly had fun, though by the time I got home, I was DONE.  My commutes during the week were a little cumbersome, so all of that combined made for a long week.  I had to take a few hours off work Friday morning to get my bearings back.  I now know that I am NOT ready for two-show-days or even two-show-in-a-row weeks.  I need to look at my calendar a little more closely as I buy tickets for the rest of the year - admittedly, I probably baby myself a little too much when it comes to commuting, but if I don't, who will?

Still Trying to Find My Groove

 Hello again!  I'm slowly maybe inching my way back to normalcy - I saw two pieces of art last week!  An Off-Broadway play and a ballet.  I'm still trying to find my blogging inspiration, but maybe one of the things I saw this week has a thought about that...

I believe I've mentioned how much I enjoy Rajiv Joseph's writing.  A LOT.  I've waxed rhapsodic over his plays Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Guards at the Taj, and Describe the Night, to name a few.  I just really respond to his writing and his storytelling.  In his new work, Letters of Suresh, he again upended me, maybe even more than usual.  Partly because of the story and partly because of where I am in the world right now, I think.  Maybe.

I've seen quite a bit of Rajiv's work over the years - he came through a young writers' program that my workplace used to sponsor.  One of his early plays, Animals Out of Paper, was a lovely dramedy about people who couldn't connect, people who recognized the genius that they wanted to possess was actually in an unlikely place, people who tried to do the right thing but kept failing.  His characters, then and now, are deeply human and recognizable.  Anyway, one of the characters in that play inspired this new piece.  Letters of Suresh features one of those characters, Suresh, who was a teen origami prodigy who had just lost his mother.  A plot point of Animals Out of Paper dealt with Suresh going with his origami mentor to a conference in Nagasaki.  This new play takes that plot point and expands on it.  

At the top of Letters of Suresh, we meet Melody, who is writing a letter.  We learn that she is the great-niece of a priest who has just passed away in Japan.  She has been going through his letters and found a collection of letters from Suresh, whom her great-uncle met in Nagasaki.  So that encounter in Nagasaki not only affected Suresh and his origami mentor's life (from the earlier play), but now we see how Father Hashimoto's life was affected as well.  And how these letters affect Melody, too.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The play consists of four characters - Suresh, Melody, Father Hashimoto, and a fourth characters introduced late in the play - reading from their letters.  To some people, this may be static, but to me it was quite moving.  Characters make mention of how letter-writing is a lost art, and how you can find yourself in the art of writing, so there is character development, shocking and surprising plot twists, and great feeling in these letters and the performances.  I identified in some way with all four characters, though sort of felt punched in the stomach by one of them during one of their soul-searching letters.  I felt so seen, by someone who doesn't know me all that well and clearly wasn't writing about me, but it was still a bit of a shock.  And I thought maybe this character held a key to why I'm finding it hard to write right now myself.  I don't know.  But even if you aren't finding yourself in one of the characters (and ruminating on why that therapist you're trying to see isn't getting back to you), you'll still love this play, I think.  It digs into needing a connection, lacking a connection, finding the wrong connection, how we're all looking for our place in the universe and how we're all connected to something bigger than ourselves.  Letters of Suresh is a gorgeously moving play, full of gorgeous ideas and words (not to mention a gorgeous projection set and gorgeous acting).  I'm sorry I didn't see it earlier in the run so that I could see it more than once.  And convince more people to go.  I'll be thinking about this one for a long time.

In other news, I finally got back to the ballet after almost two years.  I can hardly believe it's been that long since I've seen live ballet.  I did watch a lot of the streaming ballet out of New York City Ballet and ABT, but it's just not the same.  It's good, don't get me wrong, and I'm so glad it was there.  But being in the room and sharing space with dancers can't be replicated (in my opinion).  Plus, it's even so much more fun to watch ballet with my darling IHBB (Impossibly Handsome Ballet Buddy, for anyone who's new here).  

ABT's fall season is extremely varied, but in my attempt to limit being in crowded spaces, I only got us tickets to Giselle.  It's one of my very favorites (you can remind yourself of past visits HERE and HERE; there are a lot more blog posts about Giselle, but I especially liked those two).  One of the reasons we picked our particular performance was because it featured two of our favorites in parts we hadn't seen them dance before: the sparkling Skylar Brandt as Giselle and the dashing Herman Cornejo as Albrecht.  It was a beautiful performance - Skylar has really stretched and grown since she was promoted to Principal dancer at ABT, her acting has improved exponentially.  She's always had glorious technique, but adding the dramatic skills to her toolkit has only made her that much better.  Interestingly, she opened my eyes to how technique and perfect execution of steps can make the story even more dramatic!  I always thought it was the acting skill alone, but truly, when you can perfectly execute the choreography, perfectly in time with the music, perfectly in sync with your partner, it is exhilarating to watch.  There were sequences and lifts that I have seen countless times before that had new meaning because Skylar and Herman were so thrilling together.  Herman is, of course, the perfect partner and more virile and charming than any person has the right to be.

photo credit: Joao Menegussi

There were a couple of new-to-me dancers that I was also very impressed with, most especially Adrii Ishchuk, who was a really terrific Hilarion - his dance-to-his-death solo was fantastic.  I also thought the corps de ballet/Wilis were amazing; in perfect unison and otherworldly.  I noticed some different character choices, which I enjoyed, and a more diverse ensemble, which I enjoyed even more.  I long for the world to return to normal so that I can get out and lose myself in beauty, especially ballet, again and again, without the fear that crowds still give me.  I have another few shows coming up, so hopefully I will learn to relax, enjoy, and find my creative brain working again.  The groove is out there, I hope.  The connection I need, I hope, is out there.  I just need to find my way there...

Trying to Get Back in the Groove

Hello, friends.  As theater tries to get back to normal, so do I.  But it's hard.  After spending eighteen months either alone or with tiny groups of family, the experience of being in crowds, masked or no, is hard to get re-used to.  I find myself uncomfortable in crowds, suspicious of everyone, and afraid of having some sort of spontaneous health crisis.  I had intended to ease into my return to theater-going, having purchased one ticket per month, starting in August.  My first indoor production was supposed to be Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu's Pass Over, but circumstances kept me from seeing it in September.  I guess I can talk about those circumstances later.  That is, if I can get my brain to work - I'm having so much trouble coming up with interesting things to say, so there's more of a groove than watching theater to re-enter, I guess...

My October show was Sanctuary City, written by the incredible Martyna Majok, Pulitzer Prize-winner for Cost of Living.  To be honest, this is actually the second time I've seen Sanctuary City.  The day after NY theater shut down, I was very fortunate to receive an invite to watch the show as it was being filmed for archival purposes.  That day, the Lucille Lortel was socially distancing audience members, so it felt safe to me (though we weren't masked, this was early in the pandemic).  I loved seeing the show that day (Martyna's plays are always BRILLIANT) and I loved the feeling of solidarity, that the entire theater community was in this together, and we would all be back in a few weeks, better than ever.

Eighteen months later, going back to the Lucille Lortel was a totally different experience.  Everyone was cheerful, sure, the lines moved quickly, but I didn't feel the same sense of community and excitement.  I guess it's me, but I haven't felt the joyful anticipation as the lights go down yet.  This is totally on me.  I was glad the house was full, yet it made me nervous, too.  I didn't like having someone seemingly sitting right on top of me.  I had purposefully chosen the back row, on the aisle, for my comfort.  I guess I assumed there wouldn't be anyone next to me.  That's on me, too.

Thankfully, once the fabulous show began, I could relax a little and concentrate on the story unfolding.  Though, of course, because I'm me, I did begin to worry about the many light changes in the show - I've developed a rather irrational fear that vertigo will be triggered by anything anytime.  The lights began to worry me, but I just began to either close my eyes or avert them and was fine.  I seriously worry for no reason.

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

Anyway, about the wonderful play:  Sanctuary City is a unsparing look at teens who are living inside the undocumented immigrant experience.  Martyna has such a unique gift of building character through fantastic dialogue.  With few words, we know her characters, intimately.  And then we want more of their words.  We meet B and G in various scenes throughout their teens, sometimes short bursts of little dialogue (or no dialogue) and sometimes in little scenes.  Sometimes the scenes replay with a word changed or a different body position.  We learn so much from hearing so little.  Once one character goes off to college, things shift and then the play ends with one long continuous postscript-type scene.

I thought this structure was brilliant - it was a memory play and not, all at the same time.  You know when you remember things, you remember bits and pieces, and each time, a little more gets filled in and maybe some of the bits and pieces change?  That's exactly what Sanctuary City is like.  It's real and unreal, at the same time.  Which I'm sure is like the immigrant experience in America.  That's the voice that Martyna writes about so beautifully.  She actually writes beautifully about many marginalized voices, which is one of many reasons you should see everything she writes. Sanctuary City is a thrillingly moving play about an important topic; it's beautifully directed and the acting is off-the-charts incredible.  Please, everyone, go see this play.

I have another show coming up in a couple of weeks, by one of my very favorite playwrights, but last Sunday, I had the overwhelming feeling that if I didn't go to see Pass Over's final performance, I would never forgive myself.  I have seen a couple of other iterations of the play, and I had already bought tickets (money shows support too, right?) but how could I miss Antoinette Nwandu's Broadway debut?  I've worked with her before and have known her for years.  I couldn't miss it.  After looking at the seating chart on the ticketing app, I saw I could buy a ticket in an otherwise-empty row.  That convinced me to go.  In my opening paragraph above, there's a link to my thoughts on the LCT3 2018 production of the play.  It speaks to the plot pretty well, I have to admit.  But Antoinette has made more changes to the play since then, which makes total sense to me.  The ending of the play before spoke to the futility of trying to reason with police on behalf of young Black men's lives.  This time, there's more...I don't want to say 'hope' exactly, but more nuance and opportunity for change and transcendence.  And not.  

photo credit: Joan Marcus

As strongly as I felt about the play before (which was REALLY strongly, I was tremendously moved and thrilled by the play before), I felt even more strongly this time.  I feel Antoinette, and the entire production team, has really leaned into the absurdist and expressionistic aspects of the play to provide audiences with a totally new and completely unique theatrical experience that's just as moving as anything that's more realistic.  The three performers, who have been with the play for years, have honed their performances to brilliant sheen, and they're even more touching, even more funny, even more insidious, even more terrifying than before.  I laughed a lot, I cried a lot, and I was terrified.  A lot.  All in the best theatrical way, of course.  I'm so glad I fought through my weekend laziness and got myself to the August Wilson Theatre for Pass Over.  I cannot wait to experience what Antoinette brings us next.

I think I'll save my family stuff for another post.  Maybe.  I do want to mention that I was fortunate enough to attend the great and wonderful Micki Grant's memorial service last night.  It was a beautiful send-off for a beautiful, amazing, talented, generous mentor and friend.  I'm so grateful that my work organization celebrated her with our Lifetime Achievement Award a few years ago, to show her how much writers everywhere honor her.  And I'm even more grateful that I had the chance to see her seminal musical Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope not once, but twice.  I now put it into the universe that Broadway needs to see this work again - I practically levitated with joy as I watched it, yet starkly felt the toughness and unrest underneath.  The time is now for Micki's genius, her empathy, and her activism.  I will miss her always, but thankfully, her gorgeous work will stand the test of time.