When appearing on "Wheel of Fortune"...

...contestants, during the introductions at the beginning of the program, apparently need to use an adjective to describe their family members.  I, for example, couldn't simply say, "I have a wife and two daughters;" it would have to be, "I have a lovely wife and two wonderful daughters."

For future reference here are some suggested adjectives for various family members:

Spouses/Significant Others:
swell
pretty or handsome
demanding
flirty
cheating
estranged
imprisoned

Children:
spiffy
well-behaved
spirited
rambunctious
annoying
silent

Parents
loving
aging
venerable
ailing
tight-fisted
ice-flow-bound

Timing is of the essence -- at Playhouse on Park

Life, like comedy, is all in the timing, and no one knows that like Phileas Fogg, the uber-reserved English gentlemen traveler who accepts a trans-global wager in Around the World in 80 Days (at Playhouse on Park through October 2) with the same nonchalance most of us decide which tie to wear.  Punctuality, he would say, is not about avoiding delays; it's the acceptance of -- and preparation for -- the delays that will inevitably happen.  (That lesson alone is something contemporary Americans can learn from the Victorian Mr. Fogg!)

The adaptation of the Jules Verne novel of the 1870s, adapted by Mark Brown, and brought to vivid life by an ensemble of five very talented actors under the direction of Russell Treyz (who directed the equally exquisite Trapezium last season at POP), squeezes every last ounce of invention from the novel with such theatrical efficiency that Fogg's creator must be looking down quite fondly on how his creations have made so successful a transition to the stage.  (If all you know of Around the World is the extravagant Michael Todd film with a cast of a 1000 cameos, then are you in for a pleasant surprise.  And, if all you know of the novel is, well, the novel, you will not be disappointed.)

As brought to life by Russell Garrett (Fogg), Aiden O'Shea (Passepartout), Chris Mixon (Fix, et al.), Jef Canter (LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of characters), and Veronique Hurley (Aouda, et al.), the story lacks none of the thrills, laughs, and heart that Verne envisioned.  And the director shows us how immense an intimate theatre can be when the stage is peopled by talented performers.  (If Trapezium unfolded within a closed geometry, World accepts no boundaries.)  

The remarkable virtuosity of Canter pleases at every turn, as do the many incarnations of Mixon and Hurley.  No one works harder than O'Shea's back-flipping valet Passepartout, a performance of such physicality (not to mention tenderness) that I'm not sure I'll ever want to see the role played by anyone else.     Garrett's Fogg is the anchor by which all the craziness is held in check.  A character that, in lesser hands, could be but a stick in the mud, he wins the audience by degrees as he learns to love Aouda and Passepartout.

Bob Phillips' set, dominated by a large late 19th-Century world map, helps to keep the audience's head in the journey, all the while giving the actors appropriate spaces for all the stops along the way.  The costumes (Jennifer Raskopf), lights (Will Lowry) and technical direction (Steve Mountzoures) continue the excellence I've come to expect from POP.

There's no reason you can't find the time to go see Around the World in 80 Days at Playhouse on Park.  The trip, you will find, is its own, very entertaining, reward.  

What's all this hullabaloo...

...about the Mets not being allowed by Major League Baseball to wear DKNY hats?

Who knew they were such big fans of Donna Karan?!

My not-a-9/11 tale

Re-posted from 5 March 2009

A Little Piece of Me is Missing

So, yesterday, former First Lady Barbara Bush had her aortic valve replaced. She is reportedly feeling fine.

Good for her, and a swift recovery to you, Mrs. Bush.

I've been there, done that.

On Friday, September 7, 2001, I had my aortic valve operation at Hartford Hospital. From what I understand (I was asleep at the time, remember!), it wasn't as easy as Mrs Bush's operation because my valve and the pieces on either end weren't in such good shape, so trying to attach the new human valve (I was too young, I was told, to use a porcine or an artificial one) was problematic, but I came out alright and am doing fine still.

That's not the story, however.

Flash forward to the following Tuesday, September 11, 2001. It's morning, and I am resting comfortably in the Cardiac Step-down Unit of the hospital. On my little t.v. I'm watching, quite by chance, High Society (Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelley, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong), when a nurse comes in and says,

"Why you watching this? Don't you know what's happening?"

She then switches the channel to NBC, and Today with Katie Couric and Matt Lauer.

A plane had just hit one of the Twin Towers, but no one had a clue what was going on.

In hindsight, one can legitimately criticize a nurse in a cardiac unit for making a patient watch tragic events unfold live before his very eyes, but that's not what I was thinking.

In the moment, I was just really peeved that this nurse turned off High Society (!?!) and was forcing me -- even for a short time -- to suffer Katie-and-Matt's conjectures on what might have happened/be happening. Could there be a greater waste of time than that? I think not. (And I LIKE Katie Couric!)

As soon as she left the room, back to High Society I went.

During the weeks of recovery time at home, I avoided 9/11 coverage as much as possible (i.e., I didn't watch television, listen to the radio, or read the newspapers hardly at all. Even Tony Kornheiser on ESPN radio was 9/11 far more often than not).

As a result of my self-imposed sequestration, I missed a defining moment of American history and contemporary culture. Even on my return to campus, having missed the communal experience of 9/11, I was a little out-of-step, and, to this day, remain fairly distant from its impact.

I probably should be more uncomfortable with that distance than I am, but, if I had to do it all over again, I'm not sure that I'd do it any differently.

"Chicago" at Playhouse on Park: And you think it's hot OUTSIDE?!

There may have been record-setting heat throughout Connecticut yesterday, but it was even hotter inside Playhouse on Park as a talented cast sang and schemed and slinked and snapped and stomped across the stage in another sold-out performance of Darlene Zoller's new production of the classic musical Chicago.

The great news is that another performance has been added Sunday night at 7:00 PM, so it's not too late to bask in the heat of the remarkable Kander and Ebb score, performed by a hopping orchestra under the direction of Colin Britt, and Zoller's Fosse-inspired choreography.  (Quick question: Has there been a better Broadway score since Chicago?  If so, it's not coming to me...especially since the only one I can think of, A Chorus Line, debuted the same year -- 1975 -- but a couple months earlier.)

The proximity of the actors and action to the audience makes this Chicago an even more visceral experience that other productions I have seen, and, as is usual with POP, the costuming (Erin Kacmarik), set (Ryan Bell), lighting (Tim Hache) and sound (Mike Firnhaber) are simple yet evocative. 

My favorite highlights (among many) of this production:

"Class" by Velma (Elise Murphy) and Mama (Keisha Gilles)

"Mr. Cellophane" by Amos (Rick Fountain in his best POP performance yet)

"Funny Honey" by Roxie (Bethany Fitzgerald)

and everytime the ensemble was on stage doing their thing.

My only quibbles:

Doug LeBelle's Billy Flynn was appropriately and persuasively slimy, but I wish his vocals were as up to the task as the rest of his performance.

Thao Nguyen's "Mary Sunshine" admittedly fooled me, but "A Little Bit of Good" is too funny a song to not have its lyrics better understood by the audience.

So, in short, take advantage of the additional show added this coming Sunday evening.  Your daycation to the Windy City will be a joyous one -- filled with razzle dazzle. (Just avoid women with weapons.)

The theatre's cool, but the performances are decidedly HOT.

It's a Really Good Production, Playhouse on Park!

I should start off this review of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at Playhouse on Park with an admission of my tricky relationship with the characters from Peanuts.  On the one hand, I think A Charlie Brown Christmas is the second best Christmas show ever (sorry, nothing can top Greer Garson's narration of The Little Drummer Boy), and I remember, when I was about twelve-years-old, buying The Gospel According to Peanuts from the Walden Books in Beechmont Mall.  (I'm bummed that I don't have that copy anymore.)  On the other hand, I despise (and find rather creepy) the Hartford Courant's decision to run old Peanuts strips daily in the comics section; Schulz is dead, after all, and so his comics should not continue to run as if he's not.  Calvin and Hobbes are alive in plenty of anthologies; Charlie et alia should only be there too.

I say all of this to make clear I'm neither a Charlie Brown lover nor hater.

And so it is with YAGMCB; while I'm not terribly fond of the show as written (see below), I liked this production A LOT: Lindsay Adkins' Lucy is remarkable; her self-revelatory moment of crabbiness is the laugh-out-loud funniest thing I've seen on stage in a long time!  Hillary Ekwall, as Sally, has never been better.  And, boy, can Joseph Fierberg's Snoopy dance!  In fact, the entire cast (including Steven Mooney as Charlie Brown, Kevin Barlowski as Linus, and Dante Jeanfelix as Schroeder) is never less than engaging and is more than worth the time and energy to go and watch them bring these characters to life.  (The show closes this Sunday; so hurry up.)

Sean Harris's direction is crisp, effecting, and effective in conjuring up the iconic characters, and the orchestra, under the direction of Emmett Drake, is equally good, but, in my opinion, just too loud, at times, for the space.

Any real criticisms I have is of the show itself.  I know it is a perennial favorite among theatre groups (although this is my first time seeing a production of it), but, like the comic strip upon which is is based, the little vignettes that essentially comprise the script, while very nicely done by this talented ensemble, are never really that funny or witty or moving.  (Although, given the recent hullabaloo over the marriage of Kate and Wills, I had to laugh when Lucy complained that her not being able to be queen even though she really wanted to be one was unfair and "undemocratic"!)  And the songs, once again very well sung by this cast, are not really that memorable....although my two theatrically-inclined daughters (15- and 12-years-old, respectively) heartily disagree. 

In short, I really like this cast and everything about the production, even if I'm unsure why the play itself continues to be so popular.  But please keep in mind that I'm often told I'm out-of-touch in my taste in musicals.

The talents of the cast and crew are undeniable, so don't find yourself saying on Sunday evening "Good Grief, I missed that show!"

The power of the purse

Let me just say this: If the proposed concession agreement doesn't pass because of those corrections officers, I'm NEVER sending any of my children to their prisons!