Showaholic

I just got back from a 3 1/2 day trip to New York. While there, Sis and I went to four Broadway shows. At one point, I would have thought that excessive in the extreme. Now, I am determined that if I ever do go back to New York, I will see as many shows as possible. Museums are cool, as are skyscrapers and monuments—but I did not realize what an experience it is to attend a quality stage production.

This post really should have pictures. I might try to add some later, if Sis doesn't mind my stealing them. She's the photographer.

We went to The Fantasticks the night we arrived. Indeed. Good, clean, Shakespearean-derived, family-friendly fun. There is a reason it is the longest running show ever. But it was a good thing that was the first one, because it would have seemed tame and lame compared to the others. It was on a tiny stage, had a total of 10 people performing (8 actors and 2 musicians), and was a cute, clever little show. As long as you're willing to embrace the cheesiness, which I always am when it comes to musicals.

Because of Sis's fear of over-scheduling ourselves, we didn't plan on Phantom of the Opera. That was my idea, and she was not so excited about it, actually. We went to the ticket booth the day of and purchased half-priced tickets, but the seats were amazing. What I learned:

* Even if you pay four times as much for the good seats, you will enjoy the show ten times more than if you do nosebleeds. I will never do nosebleeds again.

* Sometimes the original cast isn't as good as later players. I can't imagine seeing and hearing a better group of singers/actors/performers than ours. I would not have believed such good singing was even possible had I not heard it myself—and not just from the leads. Let's be honest. Raoul has always gotten on my nerves a little, in spite of my traditional fascination for the clean-cut, honest-to-goodness nice guy. He's such a pretty boy. I didn't know that someone could actually give him a presence and make him real. This was masterfully done by Sean McLaughlin. He was rather wonderful. And the character of Madame Giry doesn't come through in the recording at all, so I was pleasantly surprised by Cristin J. Hubbard, who didn't sing too much but whose intensity complemented that of the leads. Carlotta was good; Sis pointed out that in this version she was actually a good singer. Additionally, André and Firmin were splendid. I loved the scenes with all the note-reading. They're kind of stupid if you just listen to them, but watching them performed is fun. And, finally, Hugh Panaro as the Phantom and Sara Jean Ford as Christine. Wow! Just ... wow. Looking at the press photos you would never expect that kind of talent. Again, I didn't even know that kind of talent existed.

* Musical theater is just as much about acting as it is singing. Duh, but true. This goes back to my previous statement about getting a good seat. When you can actually see the expressions on the faces of the players, and when the players are good, it becomes an experience beyond just a good show.

* Nothing really good in life can be packaged up and sold. The experience of a good show is one you have to have first-hand, in person. If you haven't, you can't say you like or dislike them.

* I think that Broadway shows are different from Hollywood productions in that they actually do find the serious talent, as opposed to the people with the most notoriety.

So even though Sis has seen the movie too many times, and we've regularly listened to the original cast recording since our early teens and have all the songs memorized, that show was above and beyond expectation.

Our third show was Spiderman. It hasn't officially opened yet; we got tickets to the pre-show, so there was a possibility of some of the LED display screens overheating and turning off, as well as other lighting and technical glitches. There is also all the hype about the injured crew members and the death of one of the people in charge. But our viewing went without a perceptible hiccup.

The reason you see Spiderman is for everything but plot. The music, particularly the Arachne songs, was great. Actually, the Arachne songs were heavenly. She was first introduced with beautiful acrobats swinging from the tops of the rafters, weaving gold banners as they swung lower and lower towards the floor. I was surprised at that, considering that they were composed by Bono and The Edge. Not that I don't think they're good, but I didn't anticipate their coming up with that sort of a sound.

The money that went into the show was obvious—display screens and set changes and stunt characters flying all over the theater. My expectation for Spiderman was high, and it didn't disappoint. Some of the show didn't quite come together as well as it might have, but I still liked it. Oh, and I just found out, from Sis telling me what was on Wikipedia, that they're still working on the ending. That makes sense, then, why it was a little lame.

And even though it won't be the same, I'm excited for when the recording is released.

The last show we saw was Wicked. Sis was particularly desirous to experience this one, as touring musicals don't make it to where she lives. I saw the tour a while back. I wrote about it on this blog, too. That was fun, but again, it was not the same as seeing the real thing. I don't have too much to say about it, other than that I liked it. A lot. We agreed that we liked our Elphaba, but not as much as we like Idina Menzel. Ours let the fervor of her delivery get in the way of her singing, particularly during the first half. A minor detail. Glinda was just lovely. I think, also, that there is a big difference between the show at home and when it's on tour, not just because of the talent factor, but the company's familiarity with the sounds of their own stage. The singing comes across more clear, easy to understand, and vibrant.

Yay Broadway! Yay New York!

The Best is in the Beginning?

We watched the latest Wallace and Gromit short this evening. I thought it was pretty lame. And I'm even a fan of their uber-silly alien comic.

Maybe I get uncomfortable with stories where the chubby girl is the villain.

Mostly, though, it has caused me to think about artists, how some of them do their best work first, and some develop into their role as creators of classic works.

Which is better, I wonder?

A lot of people say Keats is only as famous as he is because his life was cut so tragically short and his work showed more the promise of genius than actual genius.

And then, there is James Joyce, whose Finnegan's Wake is an acknowledged work of genius that absolutely no-one understands.

Suffice it to say that my favorite claymation short remains A Close Shave.

"What's wrong with Wendsleydale?"

Zero

I finished reading Zero: the biography of a dangerous idea this morning. It was a great read. Among other things, I learned that:

* The Babylonians' number system was base 60, and their notation obviously made sense to them, but not to me, because 1 and 60 were apparently represented by the same character.

* It was the Hindus who originally used the base-10 system that we call the Arabic numerals generally used today.

* Aristotle is to blame for fear of the number zero. His philosophy discounted the existence of nothing, or void. The Greeks were extremely afraid of nonexistence, to the point that it seeped into Christianity--which is why, when Dionysius created the Gregorian calendar, later revised by the Venerable Bede, he started with the year 1 instead of the year 0. Now we are forever confused, and just about everyone celebrated the turn of the millennium a year too early. Consequently, he also calculated Christ's birth about four years off.

* The Mayans had a much more interesting calendar. 18 months of 20 days: 0-19. Could you imagine writing zero as the date on your paper as a student?

* Pythagoras and his cult had people put to death for supposing the existence of irrational numbers, and numbers and shapes were interchangeable to the Greeks.

* The Romans' biggest contribution to mathematics was the murder of Archimedes. And they were the ones who didn't admit the existence of negative numbers. Ouch.

* Even Descartes, who formed the Cartesian plane, didn't admit negative numbers existed.

* Pascal used probability to justify having faith in God.

* A whole bunch of stuff about black holes and event horizons and wormhole theory and string theory that I understood well enough to understand it but not well enough to explain it.

And finally, in Appendix A, it is proven that

* Winston Churchill was a carrot.

"Try this; your taste buds will dance and sing!"

This one is for Dad and Janeheiress, who can't see me eating anything without asking what it is.

There are many great side effects to being a serious runner, not the least of which is the necessity of eating more food. The more I run, the more I need to eat, but I'm trying to find things I like that are actually good for me. I love food. Here is a list of particularly yummy stuff:

1. Belgian waffles
2. Hummus
3. Chocolate Cream of Wheat
4. Fresh green beans
5. Fresh spinach
6. Red bell pepper
7. Pesto
8. Tortellini
9. Avocado
10. Pineapple
11. Strawberry chocolate protein smoothies

I had items 5 - 8 together for lunch today, with a side of item 4. This afternoon I'll go for another run, but today is a short day, so only 5 miles.

Life is very, very good.

James Horner

My sister and I have lots of favorite phrases, but one of them now is, "back when James Horner used to be good." Because he's pretty much become the king of recycling.

I used some of my Christmas money to buy the soundtrack to The New World. I just love that movie. Love it. It is one of the most beautiful pieces of cinema ever. Terence Malick was very daring to make a movie like that, knowing full well that most people would hate it because it's "slow." To the average viewer, I guess slow equals boring. I happen to disagree.

Even though most of the music is directly copied from Braveheart, some of it is "just, like, you know, really good" (another favorite phrase). There's a part in the movie with just a simple little piano melody going on in the background. I was sure it would be on the soundtrack, in spite of not hearing it in any of the clips I caught on iTunes.

Sure enough, the part I wanted wasn't there.

I don't want to complain too much, because I really do like the soundtrack. It's nice.

But why is it that I always fall in love with the music that isn't included in the OST? Is it me? Or is it the recording companies?