Comedy of Errors

Posted on April 7, 2012 by RegenAxe

Dandelion

Friday night, Anne and I went to see the Rep’s final production of the season. “The Comedy of Errors” started off as usual Shakespeare fare. There is a setting shift from the 16th century Aegean to the environs of New Orleans, or rather “Nawlins”, but this is not unusual. Modern Shakespeare productions update The Bard this way, all of the time. The time is Mardi Gras, in 1936. In the first act, a few local flourishes sneak-in to provide Cajun acculturation, but his written words are otherwise unadulterated. Intermission, the second act begins and then all hell breaks loose.

“Errors” is supposed to be a farce. It comes equipped with two sets of identical twins. The opportunity for mistaken identity comedy is doubled, doubling our pleasure. The audience is treated to Nawlins music, from a jazz funeral march, to a Gospel revival of “The Saints Come Marching In”. Dr. John’s “Going Back to New Orleans”, and “House of the Rising Sun” are also featured. Who knew that “House” was so funny? In one comic medley, both Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski are channeled, along with Janis Joplin, “Busted flat in New Orleans, …”, Elvis, “You’ll never know, What heaven means, Until you’ve been down to New Orleans”, and many other Nawlins tropes. By the time the play is done we’ve seen just about every Southern theatrical cliché and laughed at them. The show is filled with “Amazing Grace”.

The Rep will go dark now, until next season. As is customary, Steven Woolf, Artistic Director for The Rep, comes out before the last show and announces the next season’s productions. He always closes this speech with an invocation to season subscribers, “If you did not bring your subscription form, you know that we have the duplicate.” We know. We had already re-upped by then.

Happy Birthday Bubs!

Posted on March 21, 2012 by RegenAxe

Gene and Betty

First off, happy birthday, Gene! Technically, Thursday is your birthday, but I am posting this late enough that I don’t feel like I’ve jumped the gun. The photos are from our wedding. Our wedding photographer, was my Bro, Chris, but these pictures were taken by Peter, one of my groom’s men. Peter or Evelyn put them in a book, where they have been sitting lo these many years. Among the family members pictured, Betty, Katie and Jackie, have passed. It may seem strange, to invite so many dead people to a birthday, but I had to capture the duality of these two sisters, and these were the people who were there. I love seeing Gene and Betty, with the same laugh. Memories of happier times, and this day was certainly a happy one. Bubs, you are entitled to say, “Oh, Gawd!”, at the sight of these photos. Afterall, it is your birthday. Happy Birthday!

Betty, Katie, John and Jackie

Wednesday night, a work night, was also another night at the theater. We attended The Rep’s third offering in their, new this year, Ignite! theater festival. This evening’s offering was a reading of the play, “Bicycle Girl”. Below is The Rep’s synopsis:

In 1939 two girls from very different backgrounds travel across America by bicycle. Their destination is New York and the World’s Fair with its promise of revealing the World of Tomorrow. A lovingly told play about one world giving way to a new one, and two girls changing along with it.

Like the previous evening’s offering, this was essentially a two actress play. Although, there was a third character, “Man”, who played multiple parts. Unlike the previous evening, this was not an exercise in cringe theater. Speaking with playwright, Rogelio Martinez, the inspiration for his play came from the life of photographer, Ruth Orkin. He mentioned her iconic photo, “American Girl“. He originally thought about chronicling her post-war tour of Europe. Then he learned of her 17-year-old bicycle ride from LA to NYC.

Steven Woolf (The Rep Artistic Director) explained, it takes a written play seven years to make it to Broadway. These readings represent only one step in this process. I asked him if any of the three would likely show up at The Rep. He said that the one we missed, “Stagger Lee”, was the best candidate. It is a musical, and as part of this series, they only performed its first act. Again, here is the synopsis:

On Christmas Eve 1895, shots rang out in a St. Louis bar. A hundred years and a thousand songs later, this ordinary murder has become a legend. This is the true story of what happened after Stagger Lee shot Billy Lyons.

I was very impressed by Ignite! I thought that the two plays read (that I saw) were both worthy of further consideration. The $8 a seat cost made this a no miss opportunity for a Rep patron. According to Associate Artistic Director, Seth Gordon, The Rep plans on repeating this festival.

Gidion’s Knot

Posted on March 20, 2012 by RegenAxe

Painted Toes

This Spring, The Rep has launched a new initiative, Ignite!, a festival, that features commissions of nationally recognized playwrights. It culminates in three public readings. We missed the first one, “Stagger Lee”, which was last week, but caught the second one. Tonight’s offering was “Gidion’s Knot”. Here is The Rep’s synopsis:

Over the course of what is not your ordinary parent/teacher conference, Gidion’s mother and his emotionally overwhelmed teacher have a fraught conversation about Gidion. As his story is slowly uncovered, these two caring women come to terms with their excruciating feelings of culpability. An emotionally charged play by this year’s Princess Grace Award winner, Johnna Adams.

This presentation was only a reading of the play. The world premiere of “Gidion’s Knot”, is scheduled for this summer, near DC. “Knot” is an adult themed play about children. Gideon’s mom and teacher wrestle with each other and with his suicide. A two actress play, it devolves into pin the blame on the donkey. Gidion is portrayed as a poet. Real world student suicide is more prosaic. Unsuccessful attempts allow for meaningful retrospection. Success leaves nothing but questions. This is what ”Knot” leaves us with.

In other news, Anne’s regular rotation as substitute teacher/utility player, or everybody’s favorite sub, has skidded to an abrupt stop. She was called in on Monday, the day after Spring Break, to cover for a teacher that had jury duty. Today, Anne learned that this teacher could be out of school, 4-6 weeks. Anne will cover her high school math classes for the time being. Tonight she is grading papers. No telling how long this could last, either side could settle, but until then, Anne has a new challenge.

In case you were wondering, those are her toes. When she was feeling low last week, she gave me a shopping list of things to buy at the grocery store, mostly just drugs. Also, on her list, was pink nail polish. When your down with a cold and feeling low, sometimes NyQuil and your husband’s “Poor Babies” don’t cut it. I painted the big toes. Maybe I should have put on “Sixty Minute Man” and finished them?

Sunday in the Park With George

Posted on January 27, 2012 by RegenAxe

Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte - Photo by UGArdener, Flickr Creative Commons

Date night! Dinner and a show with my Honey, dinner at CJ Muggs and a show at The Rep, Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park With George”. The point of departure for this Sondheim musical is Georges Seurat’s most famous painting, “A Sunday Afternoon the Island of La Grande Jatte”, pictured above.

A 19th century, French painter, Seurat, pioneered the painting technique called Pointillism. He created his paintings by dabbing just the tip of his paintbrush onto the canvas. You might call this a quiet, but absorbing painting technique. Up close Seurat’s painting looks abstract, atomized color into thousands of dots. Step back though and the painting resolves itself into a picture of the artist’s vision. The engineer in me likens this technique to an early analog version of digitization. Unfortunately, Seurat never sold a painting in his lifetime and died at the age of 31.

Seurat, a modernist artist, is the perfect inspiration for this contemplative modernist musical. George, like his play, which thinks as much about itself as the rest of the world is too self-absorbed to even see his female lead, the aptly named Dot. His art is more important and if she cannot realize this, well then. The first act ends with a tour-de-theater on-stage recreation of Seurat’s famous painting.

Flash forward a hundred years and through intermission to the second act. George is now Seurat’s great-grandson. His grandmother, Seurat’s and Dot’s daughter is still on hand. George is still wrestling with the complexities of art and love, but this time around his art is just all sound and fury, signifying nothing.

This play about an artist that failed in love, in life, struck close to home. Our son, Dan is an artist and we worry about him. Art is a tough profession, as Seurat’s life testifies.

Pointillism is art composed of a thousand dots, nay a million, anyway quiet and absorbing work. So is making a thousand squirrels. Is making a thousand squirrels as lucky as making a thousand origami cranes? Only time will tell. No one, save Seurat, realized the greatness of his work, at the time. Dot realized the greatness of Seurat, the man, but her love was unrequited. His love of art, love of self, overshadowed her love, but, at least in the play, they both endured. I wonder it there will be any black squirrels?

Cranksgiving 2011

Posted on November 6, 2011 by RegenAxe

Friday night, Anne and I joined Captain Don and DJ for dinner and a show. Dinner was at Cyrano’s and was served with extra whip cream. The show was the Rep’s “God of Carnage”. By Yasmina Reza, this was the Rep’s second production of one of her plays. “Art” was the first of her plays to be performed. When I saw “Art” for the first time, it seemed like déjà vu all over again. A three actor play, I’ll call the three characters, Chris, Bob and Mark, not that they remind me of anyone in particular. In the play, Chris shows Bob and Mark a new painting. The painting is an almost completely white canvas. Mark assails it, “That’s not art. It is just a white piece of shit.” Bob is more conciliatory and tries to reconcile the differences between the other two characters. It is funny how sometimes art reflects life.

“God of Carnage”, Ms. Reza most current work, won the Tony in 2009. Set in the present, in Brooklyn, two couples meet to discuss the fight that has occurred between their two sons. One child has broken two teeth of the other one. The evening begins civilized, but quickly devolves from there; quickly, as in one ninety minute act. The play reminded me of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Except that “Carnage” is a comedy and only the darkest of souls could see Mr. Albee’s play as funny. That being said, both plays star two newly met couples, all of the action is set in one living room, and both play’s evenings begin amicably, but soon turn unfriendly. Albee proceeds to have his characters bloodily eviscerate each other through the course of the evening. While, Reza play’s her strife for laughs, the signs of her scalpel are still evident. The objective of her razor wit is not the individual characters’ psyche or souls, but that of the entire middle class.

Saturday, I woke-up with a sore-throat and didn’t do much more than read the complete works of Calvin and Hobbes (unabridged). Thank you, Jane! And watch schlocky Netflix movies on my iPhone, on the couch, under two blankets, at least until the phone’s battery gave up the ghost. Last night’s fevered dreams, fueled by a combination of Calvin and schlock, made for a restless night. Meanwhile, über woman, my wife, biked 21 miles, to give her 2001 miles for the year. Cue the kettledrums. Saturday night, she went to go see the play, “A Raisin in the Sun”, at the high school.

By Sunday morning, I felt better. Well enough that Anne and I launched out the door for Cranksgiving, part bike ride, part food drive. We biked 25 miles, our route taking us by multiple grocery stores. We stocked up on can goods, Anne in her backpack and me in my messenger bag. We had done this charity ride in 2009, so we knew all of the ropes. Skip the expensive stores, like Straub’s, go light at the early stops and then stock up with canned meats near the end. Spam, Spam, Spam, tuna fish, Spam, Spam, Spam … Schlafly’s Bottleworks was start/ending point for the ride, so a wee bit of libation was involved after the ride. It was a great day to ride. The weather cooperated. It was one last chance to reconnect with friends, before winter sets in. Afterwards, we had lunch at Foundation Grounds, in Maplegood.

The Fall of Heaven

Posted on January 29, 2011 by RegenAxe

Friday night is date night and I took Anne out to dinner and a show. Dinner was at the Big Sky Café (our favorite restaurant in Webster) and the show was at The Rep, The Fall of Heaven. This play is at the end of its run. All our other Rep going friends have already seen it. Now we will finally be able to talk about it with them, but now they are going to want to discuss Macbeth, the next show. The following is The Reps’ descriptive blurb about The Fall of Heaven:

Celebrated crime novelist, best known for his Easy Rawlins mystery series (including Devil in a Blue Dress), Walter Mosley has adapted his novel The Tempest Tales into his first play. When street wise Tempest Landry is accidentally killed in a shooting, he finds himself at the Pearly Gates. Sentenced to hell for his misdeeds, Tempest has only one thing to say: No. Hell, no. So it’s back to earth for a second chance that leaves the fate of heaven and hell resting in his hands.

Eve and then Adam first took a bite of the apple and then gained self-awareness. This play begs the question, what does a second bite earn? The protagonist, Tempest, is a man caught between heaven and hell and life here on earth. The play manages to overcome its racial foundations and ascend to a theological argument. The cast is all black, except for Bob, aka Beelzebub. Fundamentally, the play questions the extent of Man’s free will, with the exploration of one man’s attempt to test his freedom’s bounds. Can the devil cast a contract for a man who has freed himself? Thankfully, the answer is no, but neither can heaven either. Free will frees man to choose his fate. We liked it.

Chris sent us the picture for this post, of the Fish Hopper on Cannery Row. This building was once just another sardine factory along Cannery Row, now it is a fancy restaurant. It sports a great view of the bay too. This looks to be another dawns early light, before going to work, photograph.

RegenAxe