this 'n that...

A few things that caught my eye this morning, while I scanned the headlines and sipped hot tea...

First of all this story about a POTO sequel is so incredibly bizarre, it doesn't even merit thinking about. Do we really really need another chapter in the Phantom saga? Especially one that happens at Coney Island (is there some sort of time travel involved?) with some kind of robo-Christine? Does this not sound like the Worst. Idea. Ever?? All that said though, let me just tell ya, if Gerry Butler is cast as the Phantom, I will be there with bells on. I'm not proud of this fact, at all, but it's true. I'd go and see him do anything. Even 300. He can't sing, really, though, but who the hell cares?
(A word to the wise - Run away, Hugh Jackman! Run away now, while you still can...)

Also, unrelated but nevertheless interesting - Something called the Lake Superior State University has published their (apparently) annual list of words/phrases that should be banned due to overuse. Go check it out here. I too, totally hate the constant use of "going green." Going green, seeing green, it ain't easy being green, but it's no use yakking on about it if we don't actually DO anything about it. A little less conversation with idiotic catchphrases and a lot more action is needed. And how icky is the word "staycation"? I can't think of any I'd ad to the list just yet, but I will probably think of a couple...

dance one year in, kiss one goodbye...

Haven't had a Patti video in some time... Happy New Year, everyone!

dublin carol...

Last night, Heidi and I trekked out to Steppenwolf to see William Petersen (of CSI fame) put on an Irish accent in Dublin Carol. We were in the very last row of the "Upstairs" theater, but it was smaller than the downstairs theater, so the last row is not as bad as it sounds. Only tickets I could get, too.

The show was, well, yeah. Short, 80 minutes, no intermission. Cast was small - Petersen's character John (I think - I didn't get a playbill until we left so I didn't read it till later), an almost recovering alcoholic estranged from his family and now working at a funeral home, Mark, the 20 year old nephew of Noel, the owner of the funeral home (in the hospital, so much discussed but never seen), and Mary, John's daughter, who came to visit to tell him that Helen, her mother, his wife, was dying in the hospital. The play basically told his story -- drank to escape from himself, ruined his life, his children's lives, his wife's life, had an affair, hit rock bottom, was rescued by Noel, in an act of kindness. He was offered the job in the funeral home and a second chance at life. It was a show about making connections with people - John with Noel, and then with Mark, and then with his daughter. There was never any big huge revelation, it was a quiet, introspective drama, with quite a few laughs. It ended rather abruptly and left me with a kind of "oh" feeling. I wanted to know what happened next, and it offered more questions than answers, a hopeful and optimistic but ratehr vague ending to the story.

One of my favorite lines was about an advent calendar - John thought that perhaps they should make a year 'round one, you open the little window and you get words of wisdom, advice, some jokes, maybe... as in "November - you're being a spazz, cop onto yourself" which let's face it, could be words of advice for me, personally every day of the year...

...that's what it's all about

Last night, in the strangely unseasonal weather (very warm! much rain!), we braved it over to the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts (and we didn't even need an ark!) to see Mandy Patinkin's show, Dress Casual. I can't say I was the youngest person in the audience, because I saw two little girls there with their families. I can probably safely say that both mom and I were the only shiksas present though. We had happily unobstructed seats in the balcony (I live in constant fear every time I go to the North Shore Center, even though the Northlight thing happened in a totally separate theater. Same building) and we were sitting right in front of a Patinkin relative (I thought it was a little weird that the poor old girl had to sit all the way the hell up in the balcony, but whatev.)

The show was lots of fun - Mandy greeted the Skokie crowd warmly, reminisced about his childhood on the south side of Chicago, attending some Jewish Community Center type dances in his youth, some favorite makeout spots... He had a few major technical glitches with a new microphone type thing he said he was trying out - a contraption that fit over his ears and were like eyeglasses in the back of his head - at one point he ripped the thing off and just held the mic part, causing him to quip, midsong "I had an easier time with prostate cancer!"

But he managed to sort it out and sang to us, wonderful songs from Sondheim ("Children and Art" "Sunday" "end in the Clowns," I know there were others but now I am blanking)..., Rodgers & Hammerstein, some American Songbook classics, some what I assume was Yiddish. He made us all stand up and do the hokey pokey whilst he sang along (in Yiddish!) which was actually very much fun. He talked about politics, sex, and religion, adding that the world is awfully screwed up because of these three things but, "Now we have Obama, and it's gonna be okay." He's a performer, a big ham, and the voice was strong and solid and unique as ever.

At the end of the show, he said he'd sing "one more" and the crowd started tossing out requests. "Fuck it," he announced to his long time accompanist, "It's been microphone hell night, let's give them what they want!" and he launched into a pretty long encore set that included "Oh What a Circus" from Evita (a request... I think... that prompted him to comment "That gentleman shouted out something about that show... about that bitch from Argentina..."), "Bring Him Home" from Les Miz, and oh, a few others. It was a lovely fun evening, and I am glad I decided last Monday to buy these tickets!! After the show, we sloshed home again, only to find that our basement had flooded. But that's another story...

busy per the bee...

This is a crazy fun weekend coming up! If you don't hear from me, I'll be flung in an exhausted heap somewhere... here's what's cooking...

Nutcracker tonight...*
Nutcracker matinee tomorrow...**
Mandy Patinkin (AKA "The Patink") tomorrow night at Center East
William Petersen in Dublin Carol at Steppenwolf on Sunday...

WHEW!

* No, I am not obsessed with Nutcracker, I'm WORKING, see?
** IS this the year the Mouse King wins?? Come and see for yourselves!

a christmas meme

Joy to the world, my darlings, I hope you all got what you wanted for Christmas...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper all the way. So much more fun & satisfying to rip open a package on Christmas morning.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real tree, I've had one every year that I can remember, although family lore says that way back before I was born, we had an artificial tree, but the cat knocked it over, so it's been a real one since then...

3. When do you put up the tree? around 12/15, my mom's birthday

4. When do you take the tree down? January 6, the Epiphany

5. Do you like eggnog? No!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't remember a specific gift. Although last year rocked because my parents gave me a new bag for work and a pair of sneakers to do my commuter walk in... best presents ever!!

7. Hardest person to buy for? My dad.

8. Easiest person to buy for? My mom.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes - several actually.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. Another question I guess would be store bought or handmade, and this year it was store bought... they were cool though, so I guess it's all right.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A brooch in the shape of an elephant from a neighbor of my grandmother's. Sweet of her to get me a gift but what 10 year old wants an elephant brooch?

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Charlie Brown's Christmas

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Whenever the mood strikes.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can recall.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? cookies!

16. Lights on the tree? Is this a yes or no question? Do people not put lights on their trees? Yes, we have lights on our tree. They are colored lights, not white ones.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Happy Xmas (War is Over) ONLY by John & Yoko, Merry Christmas from the Family (Dixie Chicks), Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (ONLY Brenda Lee), the Bells of St. Paul (Linda Eder), Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - U2... I will probably think of a zillion others...

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I've been at home for Christmas every year (not only in my dreams...)

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher & Dancer & Prancer & Vixen &Comet & Cupid & Donner & Blitzen & Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer!

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? An angel

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning - Santa does not come on Christmas Eve!

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The crowds, the weather, the playing of christmas music from halloween...

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We have lots of cat ornaments, angels, ones that I made when I was a kid, antiques from my grandmother...

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? I don't really have a favorite for dinner. We change it around each year.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? World peace and maybe another new bag for work

'twas the night before christmas...

And all through the Tower, all the workers were stirring, thank god we've got power!
Ha. So yes, I am at work today. Merry Christmas, Sugar Plums!

elton john made me cry (or is that the pain in my feet?)

I know I've been MIA lately, but I've been lost in the Land of Snow - both physically (this is a Chicago winter like we have not seen in some time. Why? Why? And again Why?) as well as metaphorically, with the opening of our beautiful Nutcracker on Thursday.

Anyway, I'm not done reliving last weekend yet - what a difference a week makes, huh? At this time last week, I was standing outside the St. James Theater (yes, again. Shut up.) waiting to see Gypsy (#12). This week, I am hiding out inside my house and wearing a million layers. Anyway, last Saturday was a double feature - Billy Elliot matinee and Road Show in the evening. I started my day with another fortifying waffle from Nice Matin and then needed to make an emergency trek to the Skechers store on 42nd Street because the new boots I'd just bought on my birthday? Were not made for walking and my feet were KILLING me. The things are little black ankle boots with no heel - I thought they'd be perfect, but alas, no. KILLING me. So it was off to skechers to buy some cute shoes, flat, but with an athletic sole, so I could walk and be comfy and still match all my outfits. So much better! It was like walking on pillows (but I tell you, it's about a week later, and my feet STILL kind of hurt. Stupid black boots of death.)

I got to the BE theater really early, so I wandered around a little, saw John Lithgow walking along on his way to the All My Sons matinee, did a little browsing in the Broadway book shop, and through Shubert Alley, caught a little of a protest outside a Scientology Center, then ended up back at the theater STILL really early. I ended up just hanging out until doors opened. The BE theater is the same one I saw August: Osage County in before its move to the Music Box, and I had almost exactly the same crappy seat. I was a few rows from the back of the house (enigmatically called "Rear Mezz" by telecharge. Rear Mezz to me means in the back of the mezzanine, not 2 rows from the back of the house! But maybe that's just me?) I was also smack in the middle of the row, which made any intermission escape pretty much impossible. Arrgh.

But anyway - the show was WONDERFUL! The Billy I saw was Kyril Kulish - he was an ok singer, but oh, could that boy dance! I'd seen the movie when it came out and loved it, and I loved the show, too. It made me cry - a lot. I was up there laughing and cheering and applauding and bawling my eyes out. Everyone kind of goes in thinking it's a show about a little boy wanting to do ballet, but it's definitely got an edge to it, with the miners' strike always in the background. There's a really powerful sequence "Solidarity" with the little girls in their tutus dancing among the striking miners and the police. And I also loved the opening to Act 2 with "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher" Billy's dad singing "He Could Go and He Could Shine" and Billy's song "Electricity." Very powerful stuff, but a lot of fun, too. Well played, Sir Elton! Well played!

After that, it was out for a quick dinner and two trains to the Public Theater for Road Show. I got a little bit lost, since I'd very helpfully written down the wrong address for the theater. Finally, I saw a sign that said "Public" and I kind of followed that. Voila. Yeah, I totally meant to do that!!! I was in the front row for Road Show, and can I tell you that I don't remember doing that on purpose? I remember buying my tickets for Gypsy as close as possible, and even remembered the whole Rear Mezz nonsense when I was ordering my ticket for BE, but I don't remember buying the Road Show ticket and selecting the front row. Weird. I wasn't sure what to expect from Road Show. I know it started its life as "Bounce" and was in Chicago at the Goodman. It got some rewrites, I think, and re-emerged as "Wise Guys" more re-writes and now exists in its current 1 hour 40 minute no intermission incarnation. So yeah, not sure what to expect, but as someone sitting behind me pointed out, "Even second rate Sondheim is still Sondheim..." and therefore, better than pretty much anything else running. Aside from that, I really wanted to see Michael Cerveris (with hair!) and Alex Gemignani on stage together again.

So it was, yeah. I enjoyed it. There was no uncontrollable sobbing, or anything, but it was enjoyable. I laughed. I got covered in the fake money that both brothers and several other of the show's characters were flinging around the stage. The music was filled with the slight echoes of earlier works, but there were some really beautiful songs in there, a few that I wish I could hear again. The final line of the show maybe says it all - it is something to the effect of "sooner or later we're bound to get it right!"

On my way back to the UWS, I stopped by a local Crumbs and procured a bedtime snack. It was much easier getting back than it had been getting down there... but now I know how to get to the Public!

hijinks on the high seas

Ugh, I hate snow. I very very much hate snow. But as you might have noticed, I'm sitting here typing this, and so obviously made it home unscathed. Praise the lord.

But back to my lovely long weekend, so much more pleasant to think about than crappy cold Chicago weather. Friday's agenda was this:

-Waffles at Nice Matin
-Pick up Gypsy/Billy Elliott tickets
-Walk down 42nd St. in search of the aircraft carrier Intrepid
-General chilling in the Village
-Lunch
-General chilling elsewhere about town
-Nap
-Dinner
-Gypsy (ROW A!!!)

I had my beloved Nice Matin waffle. I am always worried that I have made them out to be so wonderful in my head, but will be a disappointment when I actually go and eat them. Let me tell you, they are wonderful. Sweet, crispy and delicious. Mmmmm. Amusingly, while I was sitting there with my waffle, recording the previous day's events in my little journal, I was earwigging on the table next to me. A recently laid off woman was talking about job options with a friend of hers. Apparently looking for a position in communications, she said she'd had an interview where the person she met with had to remind her to include her contact information on her resume. She was whinging on about how she hadn't had to prepare a resume in ages, etc. but I mean come on, Ms. COMMUNICATIONS professional! How are you going to get hired if you don't at least list a phone number?? So, yeah, good luck with that one. Don't call us, we'll call you. Well, if we even had your phone number... Ha.

Anyway, went to then pick up several evenings' worth of tickets and then trekked down to pier 86 to the aircraft carrier Intrepid (history geek, much?) She was built in 1943 during WWII, and sustained a number of kamikaze hits. She also saw action in Vietnam and was a launch or landing pad or something for the space program. Famous Intrepid crew include George HW Bush, Paul Newman, and John McCain. I love this sort of thing and it was great fun. I got there early, so was in and out before the crowds (and their children) showed up. I climbed the little staircases to see inside the Ready Room, the Code Room, the Anchor Chain Room, the mess hall and the sailors' quarters, the forecastle, the captain's bridge, all that good stuff. THEN, the most fun part was going out on top of the Flight Deck and seeing all the planes. It was windy as all heck, but at least it wasn't raining and freezing cold. I took pictures - I will post some up here later. It was cool as hell though, and I had a really great time. I was feeling all Ziva David on NCIS, doing a ship investigation - although I bet Ziva wouldn't go falling on her ass like I did in the middle of one of the hallways. I'm surprised that I didn't fall off one of those little stairways, they are tiny and steep. I can't imagine the sailors having to do that all the time and do it quickly. So yeah. COOL is all I have to say about Intrepid. I get all weepy watching the WWII videos and seeing the vets - my family has a long association with the Navy and I think this is where I get it from. That and the history major thing. So yes, fun AND educational.

What else? Oh, I wandered around town for a while, like "Oh, let's go HERE" and then hopping off the subway, going "Huh" and then getting back on the subway. I was using some pages from TONY and looking for cool fun areas where I could browse or shop or explore. Trouble is, it will give you subway directions as in which train to take but not so much what to do once you get off. And by this time I was getting hungry and thinking "Cheeseburger" and I had one of those things where there were restaurants everywhere but not one of them that looked appealing to me. So back on the danged subway to Burger Heaven at 5th and 49th. And oh, was I ever in Burger Heaven. So nice...

Gypsy (#11) up next, but it needs a post all its own...

one more, in the name of love...

CAR UPDATE: Methinks I will need a new bumper... Joy, unbounded. I will keep y'all posted.
(Funnily, now I've got Mazeppa "Revolution in Dance" in my head with her line "Maybe there's something wrong with your bumpah")

But back to happier days... last Thursday. I'll spare you all the travel details. Original 8:00 AM flight got canceled - LaGuardia + rain = disaster. But American Airlines seemlessly seated me on the 9:00 flight which left without incident. I landed, arrived at the hotel and had lunch. Imagine, if you will, a weary and hungry traveler, just off her flight. It is raining and she just wants some hot soup and a sandwich. Or better, a sandwich and a cup of tea as she's not had any caffeine yet today. Off she wanders down Amsterdam, looking for a cozy diner to park in. Wanders. And wanders. Her jeans are getting wet. She passes many places that are either too expensive or too fried (her stomach just cannot handle something called "The Chirping Chicken") or too bizarre (sushi, and what appeared to be a Japanese Italian restaurant. Quoi??) when all she wants is a damn bowl of soup, people! Suddenly, a light shines out in the darkness. It is a divine establishment known as "Crumbs" they sell not soup, but perhaps the next best thing - CUPCAKES. Ah, she's gotta come back here. But wait! She's getting wetter and wetter and thinks that's it, goddamn it, it's my VACATION. If I want a cupcake for my lunch, I'm gonna have one!!! So the weary traveler rested her wet self and had a not so nourishing but nonetheless delicious lunch of a massive red velvet cupcake and a steaming cup of earl grey tea. After that, our heroine goes back to the hotel and commences to... take a nap.

Yeah, I know. Livin' it up in Manhattan! I am very very exciting!!! But I needed my strength for the opera. LONG shower and sinus steam, then off to dinner (spinach ravioli at La Grolla, also on Amsterdam, yum!) and The Met.

I arrived really really really early, and it was pouring down bucketfuls of rain. I wandered some more around the Renee Shop, oh, wait, I mean the Met Shop - which had a gigantic shrine erected to the Diva, complete with her (gorgeous!) opening night gowns, her cds, her (gorgeous!) face plastered on season posters, the season book, and kniccknacks like mint boxes and something else... but I don't remember. Also bottles of her perfume La Voce. I was afraid I'd drop the bottle, so I didn't venture near it. The new shop is nice, but not as cluttered with stuff as the old one was, so it didn't take too long for me to browse around in there. So I hung around for, oh, I think it was close to an hour, looking at the neat looking Dr. Atomic sculpture (I WISH I had made it to the Met to see Dr. A again!! It was UNBELIEVEABLE! And this from someone who seriously dislikes modern opera. It rocked. If I had not been otherwise engaged at a work function, I would have gone to see it in HD.)Anyway, the Met is pretty spectacular, all shiny chandeliers and red velvet walls... My seat was not great - orchestra, left side all the way in the back, a few rows before the Standing Room area.

Thais is actually one of the only operas I have seen multiple times. I saw it three times when Renee and Thomas Hampson performed it in Chicago in 2003 (and one of those was the infamous dress rehearsal that I got to attend because I also purchased a ticket to a planned giving lecture. Now they seem to think I've got money and send me stuff all the time. HAHAHA! Yeah, right.) Thais has some incredibly gorgeous music, including the moving "Meditation" which I think is one of my favorite classical pieces of all time. The plot is... odd. Fun loving actress courtesan Thais is living it up in Alexandria, when this monk sees her in a dream and decides he needs to - what else - save her soul. The chief monk tells him to keep his nose out of it, but does he listen?? No. So off he goes to the ugly set of Alexandria to find Thais. She laughs in his face, but later, when she's alone (in her weird bedroom set that features many additional chairs all facing the bed - WTF? Guest chairs? Is she expecting an audience??) she ponders his words. She worries that when she's old and ugly, nobody will love her and CERTAINLY Christian LaCroix won't be designing her glam designer wardrobe any more. The monk appears and convinces her, in the span of maybe 20 minutes? That she should follow him. He sells it well - eternal life! Happiness! A convent! Wheee! Sign me up! And then - after a little "Meditation" she decides to go with it. Great, he tells her. Burn all your stuff and then we'll take a little walk through the desert. Awesome, she says, I'll be right with you, padre. So he brings her to the convent. His "teachings" she tells him, have shown her the way, and she has traded all of her great clothes for sackcloth (which looks pretty glam, too!). He goes home, tormented because - wait for it - he has really loved her all along. He realizes he'll never see her again, then gets another dream that she's dying. But no! He heads back across the desert to find her - 3 months later - a saint and waiting to be welcomed into heaven. Then she dies.

So yeah, totally believeable. Great music though. Thomas Hampson is simply incredible. At one point, the man is singing off stage and yet he was as clear as though he was still standing front and center. I don't think he was mic'd either. And Renee? Well, she was just sublime. What a perfect role for her, it fit her like a glove, perfect for her voice, a joy from beginning to end. The production was imported from Lyric, so it was like being home except you know, 100 times cooler. It was, in fact - Metacular. Hahahaha.

More to come...

bitch stole my taxi! and more (upper) west side stories

I'm back from NYC! And you know what?? I shoulda STAYED THERE! Not only is it zero degrees here, icy and freaking SNOWING, I got into a fender bender this morning. Everything is okay. The only fenders that got bent, unfortunately, were mine. It is all kind of a blur - I was backing into a parking spot to prepare myself for a cleaner exit later tonight, I am not used to doing it, I was anxious about doing it, suddenly there was another car there, and I am not sure he knew I was going in reverse, and he kept coming forward, I kept going backwards, and CRUNCH. His car? Not damaged. My car. Damaged. Arrrrghhhh. I love my car and am upset that I'm a total moron because - here's the best part - if I'd pulled into the spot, I would have been FINE. Well, I guess it is true. Life's a bitch and then you die.

But you want to know about my trip, right?? And how it was in the 60s yesterday when I left??
More later...

TOMORROW NIGHT....

Barring all snow-related flight delays, I will be in New York City tomorrow, and seeing the Divine Ms. Renee Fleming in Thais... Oh, I am so very excited. I saw Renee sing this role in Chicago back in 2003, and it is gorgeous. Speaking of gorgeous, check out the Thais photo from the Met.

Wow & wow & wow. So glamorous. They are, it must be said, doing an outstanding job with... pretty much everything. The promotional photos (which started - last year?)are AMAZING, the HD broadcasts, I even got an email reminder for the performance tomorrow night (as if I could forget!). Bravo, Peter Gelb. Bravo.

start spreading the news...

Well, Thursday is when I leave for my next trip to NYC, my big 30th birthday gift to myself. I really really really (really!) need this vacation, as guilty as I may feel about spending this money when the economy is in the crapper and our governor is in prison, I think it will really be good for me to take some time for myself, see some friends and do what makes me happy. So I might have to live like Thais when she finds god for pretty much all of January, but this weekend, it's all about the relaxing. Because you're only 30 and young and irresponsible once, right?

Wow, Illinois, words fail me.

Blago is in big trouble. Reportedly the scope of the corruption is "staggering." Awesome. I am so proud to be from Illinois today.

Sidebar- the other big Yahoo headline story also comes from Illinois - Oprah is apparently embarrassed about her weight gain. And this is news because why? Am I the only person in this state that does not care AT ALL about what Oprah thinks, says, reads, wears, weighs?

Camelot at Ravinia!

This is in today's Sun Times:

Broadway veteran George Hearn, Grammy winner Sylvia McNair and baritone Rod Gilfry -- acclaimed for their 2007 performances in the Ravinia Festival's staged concert version of "The Most Happy Fella" -- will reunite with director Marc Robin June 5 for a single staged concert presentation of "Camelot," the Lerner and Loewe classic. Hearn will play King Arthur, with McNair as his Queen Guenevere and Gilfry as Sir Lancelot. Erich Kunzel will conduct the Ravinia Festival Orchestra.

The complete Ravinia season will be announced March 13, with tickets for all performances on sale April 16.