Sometimes there's nothing better than dinner with family.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
217 - Leading Lady
What fun!!! I was anxiously awaiting Friday night ... to see some of my friends on stage again, introduce my cousin to our local theatre community, and yes, enjoy a good show. All of these certainly happened.
The play, Our Leading Lady, was wonderful. Act I was theatrically funny - backstage antics from the actors in the play within the play. I just love Stacy and couldn't wait for her to be on stage. One of her first lines certainly tickled my funny bone - "Could you possibly speak a trifle softer? On this early morn there are leprechauns just FEASTing behind my eyeballs!" (Stacy was awesome! I do love seeing her on stage.) Act II was a less humorous, but watching the characters come together was great. Especially loved how the end of the show was staged. (Don't want to give away spoilers.) It did leave me thinking about how the assassination of President Lincoln affected the theatrical community; something I'm sure no one thinks about.
The actors in this show - Fantastic!!! There wasn't a weak link anywhere. 2 made their Jacksonville debuts, and I know we'll see them again. Marybeth Antionette gave a truely remarkable performance, as did Tony Phillips.
If you are involved in theatre in any way - GO SEE THIS SHOW!!!!! I wish I had time to see it again; it was that good.
Drinks and conversation afterwards with friends. I'm so grateful to be a part of this theatre community, and am thankful to everyone we saw that night - they were so welcoming to my cousin. If she gets a job here in Jax, she'll have a grand time.
Exit, stage right.
Friday, March 5, 2010
216 - Numbbutt
Oh, it was cold Thursday morning, the day I took off work to spend time with my dad on his birthday. My uncle and cousin were down for Bike Week, so it was family day. Unfortunately, the battery was dead on my Goldwing; when I called Mother, she said, "Just ride the 1200" (her other motorcycle). Awesome!
Unfortunately, Cat, my cousin, wasn't feeling well and stayed home, but Mother, Dad, Keith and I went down to Rossmeyer's to look around and have lunch, then down to the track. Keith travels with them in the summer, and they wanted new helmet to helmet communicators for their trip west this summer. It was kind of funny to see them standing there at the vendor with their helmets on talking to one another via the communicators.
Oh, and my blog title? I'm used to riding a Goldwing, aka Lazy Boy on 2 wheels. This day, I was on my mother's Sportster 1200, which rides a bit differently. As my butt was tingling, I got laughing to myself when I started thinking about The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged. When they're doing Romeo and Juliet, one of the guys has the line, "I take thee at thy word, call me but love," and the other one starts laughing and saying, "Butt love!" So, I start thinking "numb butt." That was going down to Daytona. On the way home, I started singing "Rhythm of Life" from Sweet Charity. "To feel the rhythm of life; to feel the powerful beat. To feel the tingle in your fingers; to feel the tingle in your feet." Well, maybe you had to be in my head to get the humor!
TTFN!
215 - Winning Wednesday
Limelight Theatre has been using Facebook to promote their shows, and in my opinion, doing an awesome job of it. They have what they call "Winning Wednesdays" where they'll post a trivia question about the current show. First one to answer correctly gets 2 comp tickets. Their current show is James and the Giant Peach by their KidzfACTory. I didn't want to go, but I thought it would be awesome if I could get tickets for our young lead from Aussie Song. Sure enough, I was quick draw on Wednesday, and SL and her mom or dad will be enjoying the show on Friday night. That makes me smile.
TTFN!
214 - Two Wheeled Power Hour
Two blogs for the same day? Well, my "review" of Lady Day really didn't mix well with the other great positive from Tuesday, so yeah, two blogs.
Bike week is in full swing in Daytona, and Two Wheeled Power Hour did a live, 2 hour broadcast Tuesday night. In their 2nd hour, they talked to women riders, and my mother was first to be interviewed. Even though she doesn't like public speaking and was nervous because she didn't know what they were going to ask, she did a SUPERB job in representing the Motor Maids.
Thank heavens for the ability to listen online!! WKBN is based in Columbus, Ohio.
To listen to her 7 minutes of air time, click on this link and then on the MP3 file.
http://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B4pwGVFDq-fpM2FkMDJiYjEtYzRjMC00NDA0LWI4NTEtNzhiZjg3ODc4YzIx&hl=en
TTFN!
214 - Lady Day
Tuesday night; an unusual night to attend a community theatre show, but that's exactly where I was. Limelight in St. Augustine added one more show at the end of their run of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, and I'm so glad they did! They sold out ALL of the other shows; with the additional one, I was able to get down and see it.
Lady Day is a cabaret style, one woman show about Billie Holiday. From the script publisher's website: "The time is 1959. The place is a seedy bar in Philadelphia. The audience is about to witness one of Billie Holiday's last performances, given four months before her death. More than a dozen musical numbers are interlaced with salty, often humorous, reminiscences to project a riveting portrait of the lady and her music." The show itself, would I call it "riveting"? Not Act I. Act I was, in my opinion, a little bland. Yes, we hear a good bit of Billie's history, but maybe because she's trying to do this gig straight (not drunk or high), it doesn't have the emotional range of Act II. Not having seen the script or the show itself, I don't know if it is written for 2 acts or if it is sometimes done as a single act show. In looking at some reviews done elsewhere, I saw one where the intermission was in a different place than where it was on Tuesday night. I mention this for one reason - if my memory serves me correctly, I love how Anne Craft structured the intermission - the same song that was being done at the end of Act I started Act II. They didn't bring the lights down and wait for everyone to get quiet; the singer and pianist just walked on stage and picked up where they left off.
Act II - wow. Act II was powerful. Billie finally couldn't take it anymore and ran off stage for a fix. When she comes back, she definately a different person, and now has the lack of inhibitions to allow the depth of her stories to show. The most emotional of songs are in this part of the show.
Finally, and again I don't know if the script calls for this or if Anne brought it to life, the show's ending. Can't remember the name of the last song, but Billie's singing, it gets softer until there's no sound coming out, yet her mouth is still moving, there's still expression and small gestures. Then the song ends and the lights go down.
Miranda Lawson (pictured above) was superb in the role. Her singing was clear; emotions were true. She had the humor down; her sarcasm was biting and her pain evident. When I talked with her after the show, I told her I didn't know how she got through Act II - she basically said she wondered the same thing every night. I've seen Miranda in a number of shows locally, and she's definately a very, very talented young lady.
There is a song in Act II that bothered me horribly. It's a song called Strange Fruit, and I'll paste the lyrics below. Miranda's delivery of this song was so perfect that I could clearly picture it in my mind, and I couldn't watch her at the end. I felt ashamed at how some in the generations prior to us treated black people. Bigotry is something I cannot wrap my mind around, that someone could treat another human being in that manner no matter what their reason. As much as it horrifies me, I'm glad that I cannot fathom it.
Well, I really didn't set out to write a review of the show, but it was one of the positives in my day. Congratulations to Limelight for having two shows, back to back, that sold out so many nights. That is wonderful!!!
Strange Fruit
Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leavesBlood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
for the rain to gather
for the wind to suck
for the sun to rot
for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop
Monday, March 1, 2010
213 - Words of Wisdom
One of the positives in my day today was that I was able to send two friends some heartfelt advise and received replies of appreciation in return. It's good to be able to use life experiences to help someone else, and I'm glad I was able to help, if even in a small way.
TTFN!
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