(I Like to Use Parentheses)

Last night we saw "As You Like It," one of my favorite Shakespeare comedies (except for that whole god of marriage part; I don't really know what that's all about).  The first half was performed in an indoor theater (due to rain) and the second half was performed on the Adams stage (due to that being the better place to watch a play whenever there's no threat of actors falling on a slippery stage or audience members being electrocuted by lightning.  A few people deserved a little electrocution, though.  Like the woman sitting next to me, hacking up a lung.  I hope she didn't have the swine flu).  

Quinn Mattfeld (who made it onto this list of praise earlier this week) played Orlando.  He's new to the Festival and he's a treat.  I'm currently very busy harboring a smallish crush on him (in my spare time when I'm not being forced by the little marmot children to wear a blue plastic colander on my head and dance to Christmas carols--today's activity).  

David Ivers was an excellent Jacques (of the famous "All the world's a stage" speech).  Walking back to the hotel, Mom was complimenting his performance and trying to decide what else she'd seen him in (nothing).  She finally told me that she remembered him from his performance with the dog in "Two Gentleman of Verona" last year.  That was Brian Vaughn. Apparently it's easy to confuse the performances of the Festival's rock stars.  

Melinda Parrett was delightful as Kate in "The Taming of the Shrew" last year and she was delightful as Rosalind this year.

Go see "As You Like It."  I'm going to see it again in Stratford-upon-Avon in a few weeks.

I'm leaving for the airport at 7:00 am tomorrow, so from here on out, read Slanted (the abroad edition), if you want to find me.

Just a Little More Praise for the Festival

Last night we attended "Henry V" at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Brian Vaughn played Henry and J.R. Sullivan directed, which is one of those ideal combinations of talent that can only result in really delightful theater. Both men do what they do so well.

This morning J.R. Sullivan participated in the literary seminar about last night's play, and I thought he had some interesting comments about theater generally that also apply to literature and my particular soapbox for young adult literature, which is that (one reason) literature is powerful is because it's a safe place for teens to experience life situations before they actually encounter them (or in many cases instead of experiencing them) in their own lives. J.R. Sullivan noted that seeing theater is a good rehearsal for large events in our lives--love, marriage, death of loved ones--things we face without knowing what to do with them unless we experience them vicariously. I believe he described it as "shaking hands" with those situations before experiencing them. Nicely put, right? And true. I've always loved the arts, but the older I get, the more I realize how much work it takes to develop a human being, and the humanities--the arts that examine what it means to be human--are such good guides to look at the entire gamut of that struggle as it's played out personally and collectively in society. The humanities are not at all the only influence in developing self, but they provide such good perspectives on the different incarnations of universal human experiences.

We're going to see "As You Like It" tonight, so you may have to endure another post on this theme, unless I get too busy planning my gelato route through Italy, because, woo hoo!, I'll be on a plane to Rome in THREE days.

My Cedar City List of Commendation

In no particular order:

1. Sweet potato fries at Cafe Orleans
Since the Pastry Pub is closed (burned up but reopening in a couple of weeks), we've been forced to branch out when looking for places to eat. I don't really think it's possible to make a bad sweet potato fry, but the ones at Cafe Orleans are particularly fine.

2. The Garden House
Again, new restaurants are required this year. Several people from my London tour group recommended this restaurant to me, but the dinner menu is a bit pricey. We went for lunch today, and my meal was excellent. (The building's lovely too.)

3. Quinn Mattfeld
We saw "The Comedy of Errors" at the Utah Shakespearean Festival last night. "The Comedy of Errors was the first Shakespeare play I saw AND understood. I was 9 or 10-years-old and when I returned to school in the fall, I made a diorama based on the play constructed with Ken dolls wearing turbans. I have no photos of it but I'm sure it was a thing of great beauty. Quinn Mattfeld plays Antipholus of Syracuse in the play this summer and he was completely charming in the role last night.

4. Tarts
I mention the tarts at the Festival often, but they're bigger this year so I figure they deserve another mention. I believe that tonight's dinner is going to consist entirely of tarts.

5. Cedar Breaks
I hadn't been to Cedar Breaks in years and years, but we drove up this morning and it's stunning. Also, the name for the free-standing formations? Hoodoos.

I Recommend DIANE REHM

A friend took me to an event hosted by KUER and featuring Diane Rehm last night. It was a lovely evening (not least because of the chocolate covered raspberries at the post-show reception). I so enjoy Diane Rehm. Doug Fabrizio interviewed her and it was interesting to hear her speak as the interviewee rather than the interviewer, particularly when she discussed her childhood. Throughout the interview (and afterwards when we spoke to her briefly), Diane struck me as such a gracious and idealistic woman ,while remaining very much aware of circumstances in life and the world that are not ideal. I find that extremely admirable. The interview was recorded and will air on KUED next Friday night. Watch it if you get the opportunity. And if you can find yourself some chocolate-covered fruits to eat afterwards, so much the better.

The Wicked One

I saw Wicked on Saturday and, as promised, the performances were excellent, the costumes were beautiful, the sets were fantastic, and I was extremely impressed with the lighting. I still can't get over the special effect rain. I like Wicked. I do NOT like the fans of Wicked. I watched our usher tell about 15 THOUSAND people to stop taking photographs. I hope that part of the usher's compensation is that she gets to take home one of those flying monkeys as a pet, because she has the worst job in the world. I bet she's been missing the old ladies with the orthopedic shoes who so often frequent the theater this last month. They're less prone to shrieking and texting and wearing shorts and flip flops at the theater.

I think I have a bad attitude about Wicked uberfans for the same reason I have a bad attitude about Twilight (the book) uberfans (and I absolutely recognize that it's an obnoxious, snobby attitude and, particularly as a librarian, I can capably argue the other side). It chafes me a little bit that shows like Wicked gain such huge, obsessive followings, because it seems narrow to me. Wicked is a great theater experience. Go see it if you get the opportunity. But it's not the only great theater experience. Other shows feature talented actors and incredible sets. It's a fun show, but is it really the best. show. ever? The show that's so good that you have to see it every single night it's in your town? Yes, Twilight and The Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter all entertain extremely well, but they aren't the only books. I think, especially for teens, it's exciting to be part of a phenomenon, and I would never want to discourage readers from finding the books that make them love to read or theater-goers from finding the productions that make them love the theater, but other books and other shows deserve attention and praise just as much as the bestsellers and box office hits. Maybe more.

Happy May Day!

I'm going to see Wicked tomorrow, even though sometimes musicals trouble me. I find all that bursting into song disconcerting. It shouldn't. I have a mother who bursts into song. Sometimes the music just wells up inside her in the grocery store and can't be contained. Even when we ask her to contain it. And sometimes Madame M(4) sidles up to me with her head titled and her eyes unnaturally doe-y and sings an earnest song about the trials of being a princess. So my own life is not at all song-free, and I anticipate that Wicked will be great. Several people whose judgment I trust have praised it, and all those people trying to sell their kids on the black market for tickets can't be wrong.

I Know It's Still Too Early, But . . .

This is my favorite Christmas album. I especially like "The Apple Tree" and "The Cherry Tree Carol."


This is "The Apple Tree" performed by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge. Little choir boys kill me.


And this is "In Dulci Jubilo," which is not on Carols from the Old and New Worlds but is one of my favorite Christmas songs. It always reminds me of Christmas morning.

A Theater Kind of Weekend

I've just returned from my 4th trip to the Utah Shakespearean Festival in 4 months. I attended with members of my London tour group to see the Festival's fall season (meaning I saw the three plays AND, because of my traveling companions, I learned a lot about colonoscopies, not to be confused with my prostate education). Let me tell you, you ain't seen funny until you've seen Brian Vaughn give birth. And Gaslight was wonderful. The set was beautiful, the actors were excellent, and I was completely taken in by the story. It was my favorite of the three plays. J.R. Sullivan directed it, and I think he's a little bit brilliant. He may be magic.

I may be magic, too, because miraculously I brought my coat and hat on the trip and then it snowed. I'm never prepared for cold weather. I have a number of very unattractive sweaters and sweatshirts purchased from around the world to keep me warm when I've failed to pack warm clothing. And there are a great many pictures of me in Iceland wearing half the contents of my suitcase to layer me up to a suitable level of warmth. And we've discussed the bears. So I'm excited for this new age of magic packing skills.

Celebrating the Season

I attended the Legend of Sleepy Hollow in Concert tonight. It's a fun event. It's held outside in a stone amphitheater, and I'm a big believer in most events held in amphitheaters. I approve of being outside for my entertainment needs, especially when the moon's as gorgeous as it was tonight. The story's told with a narrator (he was very fine), a sound effects man (also entirely satisfactory), and a chorus (with members of the chorus playing specific roles, such as Ichabod Crane, who I always imagined being much more dour and far less flamboyant than he was portrayed this evening. The headless horseman, though, was spot on).

There was one great tragedy during the evening (greater than our hay ride that looped the parking lot and the "harvest festival"). My Soup. I bought some chicken noodle soup, because nothing is finer than sitting outside under the moon with warming, nourishing, comforting soup. But my soup was almost entirely onions. And I don't like onions. I scooped out spoonfuls and spoonfuls of onions (with my eyes watering), until I reached my four bites of noodle and chicken and then I was left with oniony broth. While I (unsuccessfully) attempted to enjoy oniony broth, my onions, shoved onto my plate, were busy soaking my caramel pecan bread so that it too tasted of onions. Good thing there was apple pie to console me.

Plate full o' onions. Can you feel my sadness?

These are My Shoes

I went to Cedar City on Saturday and saw two plays, "School for Wives" and "The Taming of the Shrew" (if you'd like to locate me, just follow my giant carbon footprints to and from the Utah Shakespearean Festival). "Taming of the Shrew" was such a FUN performance. It's really a shame that we saw it first, because "School for Wives" paled in comparison. The performance of "School for Wives" was not terribly well attended, though, so the ushers let us move into very nice seats on the main floor. Being offered better seats was a treat, especially since the ushers we encountered at the earlier show gave one of my friends stern warnings about not touching the gold leaf on the balcony (she had no intention of touching the gold leaf) and scolded another friend for coming in the wrong door, even though we were sitting exactly in the middle of a row and the only extra person my friend had to climb over to reach her seat was me. The ushers owed us a little sweetness and kindness and goodwill after all that chiding.

I wore these shoes on Saturday, because they are cute and they make me happy. I had never worn these shoes all day before. I will never wear these shoes all day again.

Today I wore these shoes to church, because they're cute and they make my feet look grown up. When I bought them, my mom commented that they're pointy enough to use to kick out a bug's eye. They are, indeed, pointy. And after several hours they feel a lot like the shoes I wore yesterday.

Which is why I put on these shoes as soon as I got home from church today. My feet need a little sweetness and kindness and goodwill, too.

Dancing

I'm feeling all in love with watching dance lately.

Last week I spied Step Up (Two Dancers. Two Worlds. One Dream.) on a cart in Circulation and decided it had to come home with me, because sometimes you just need to be reassured that dancing bridges the socio-economic divide and that juvenile delinquents will find love, direction, and fulfillment through one really successful hip hop-ballet combination dance.

Then today I discovered that there are full episodes of the TV show Fame on Hulu, so Debbie Allen and I spent some quality time together over my lunch break.

And right now I'm watching a recording of an Othello performance by the San Francisco Ballet. It's excellent, and I'm having a hard time blogging and watching simultaneously, so I'm going to quit blogging now, eat some peanut butter on a spoon, and yell at the dancer playing Desdemona to keep track of that handkerchief.

Different but Delicious

Last night I attended the Utah Festival Opera's production of Manon Lescaut. It seems I have the same interests as 70-year-old women. You've never seen so much white hair, so many floral skirts, or so many orthopedic shoes in your life.

Before the opera, we ate at Le Nonne and I had a dish I have never seen anywhere before. I haven't even encountered this recipe in my cookbook reading. It's pennette alla pera, which is penne with a gorgonzola cheese sauce and PEARS. So good! It makes sense--pears and gorgonzola are a great combination. I would never have considered combining them with pasta, though. Must learn how to re-create at home.

Cedar City Day 2

Some things are always the same when I come to the Utah Shakespearean Festival.


I always eat a tart ($2.00 this year. Shocking!).


I always visit Ye Olde Catholic Thrift Shoppe.


I always get a veggie sandwich with delightful French feta at The Pastry Pub.


I always force whoever I'm with to go to the audience orientations to the plays and to the Greenshow.


But I never go to the seminars. The Festival offers free seminars the morning after each play, and the audience is encouraged to ask questions and discuss the previous night's (or day's) performance with directors and actors. My family never attended the seminars when I was a child, because I was a child. And when I grew up and began attending the Festival without my family, I never attended the seminars because, apparently, I'm an idiot. My parents and I participated in two seminars this morning--a discussion of "Othello" and the actors' seminar with James Newcomb and Jonathan Peck (the actors who play Othello and Iago). Wonderful! There were a few tedious people asking questions in the audience, but overall it was really interesting. The seminars are going on the list of things I always do when I come to the Festival.

Tomorrow: Cyrano de Bergerac, Cedar City's only organic restaurant, and more hating of people who tan topless at my hotel swimming pool.

D.C., Part 1, The Perfect Day

I was hoping to be mugged so I wouldn't have picture ID to board the plane this morning and I could stay with Rebekah, but, sadly, no one stole my wallet, so I'm back from DC.

This would be me falling off a wall near the Tidal Basin.

Saturday Rebekah and I had the loveliest day. It felt quintessentially MBC from start to finish.

The Eastern Market may be my favorite place in DC. Farmers' markets represent everything that's good and right in the world. I love the sense of community they promote, I love the varied demographics they bring together, and I love the fantastic food they provide. After we ate "blue bucks" (blueberry buckwheat pancakes) and grits at the market for brunch, Rebekah and I wandered through produce stalls and I ate a tomato sample that was so delicious I almost cried and considered burning down my grocery store at home for selling me tomatoes that taste like plastic.

This is me with the homemade pasta case in the South Hall Market. The stripes on the black and white ravioli come from squid ink. (I can't remember how I made myself sunglasses with my photo program last time.)

We ate dinner at Bistro Bis, a French restaurant near Union Square. I ordered a citrus, beet salad and lamb shank Bretonne and Rebekah and I shared haricot verts, macaroni and gruyere, and a strawberry and rhubarb tart. It may have been the most comforting meal I have ever eaten. I felt so nurtured after absolutely luxuriating in a slow dinner that was so carefully prepared. Gracious Living.

This is our strawberry and rhubarb tart. I don't know what the cheese in the tart was, but I would like to eat it every day.

We took a cab to Sidney Harman Hall to see the Shakespeare Theatre Company's first night of "Antony and Cleopatra." I ran into Michael (Sharon) in the lobby. [On a side note, for those of you who are Utah Shakespearean Festival fans, Michael's not performing with the Festival at all this year. He's not part of the fall season cast, which I find so disappointing, and I feel like the absence of one of my favorite Festival actors should be protested somehow. Maybe consider writing to your congressmen about this.] My play-going experience was only slightly marred by the fact that I had about 5 glasses of water with dinner, and at intermission I had to go sprinting across the lobby, knocking elderly women out of my way to reach the restrooms first. After the play, Rebekah and I met up with Michael and then ran to the metro in the pouring rain. I love the metro. And rain. And the theater. And good food. And farmers' markets. And being with friends.

This is me standing (near the lamp post--my black outfit blends a little) outside Sidney Harman Hall.

It was the loveliest day.

I Recommend GOOD RADIO

It keeps snowing and snowing. It won't stop snowing. I blame that groundhog, who I'm going to have to hunt down and barbecue. That's not today's topic, though.

In graduate school I worked in a jail library. I believe in jail libraries. Working at the jail felt like the fulfillment of public librarianship idealism--providing information and services without bias, serving the disenfranchised, putting something into the hands of a population that was underserved in society in so many ways. While I worked there, I was doing a project on libraries, literature, and arts programs in prisons, so I'm surprised that I never heard Act V, an episode of This American Life that originally aired in 2002. It's about a prison production of Hamlet that looks closely at what's brought to a play about a character considering murder, when it's performed by actors who have murdered. I listened to it this weekend and it's one of the most moving things I've ever heard. At one point, an inmate who plays Laertes is being interviewed about how he relates to his character, and he responds, "I am Laertes." It gave me chills. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Pants

I attended a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" tonight. It was set in 19th century South America with this whole imperialism/colonization background built into the performance. What I really enjoyed was the fairy choreography. The actors playing the fairies were trained in modern dance and Capoeira--two of my favorite arts. The Capoeira was especially effective in differentiating the fairy world from the Athenian world and fit perfectly with the South American setting.

Unfortunately, there were some bad pants. Two of the main male characters had TERRIBLE pants. I was so distracted. I may be a pants snob. One of my greatest triumphs in life thus far was convincing my sister to rid her closet of skinny-legged jeans, and I cry a little bit every time I think about the brown jeans Marmot Dad used to wear. In college, Amy and I knew this guy who had these lovely eyes and was perfectly nice, but every time we referred to him, we included the disclaimer (as if people needed to be warned about a shocking flaw--"now he's very nice but you should know--he sells crack to kindergarteners") that he wore pleated jeans.

I'm a pants snob, but I also own and wear unattractive pants myself. Several months ago, I looked in my full length mirror and realized that my black work pants didn't fit AT ALL. They were way too big (and, no, I didn't lose weight--I guess they just never fit right). I'd been wearing those pants a lot. Every week for years. And I even wore them to work that day, because I didn't have any other clean work pants, but I felt awkward all day. Our director stopped me to ask me about something, and the whole time I was singing in my head, "I look like a freeeeakshow." I've seen him wear tights and capes and all kind of wacky stuff, though, so he probably didn't even notice.

London, Part 4 (and another reason I hate winter)

I woke up this morning to the sound of snow sliding off the roof. It snowed about a foot in the night and it's been snowing all morning. My neighbor and I both got out our snow shovels to unearth my car and even after all our work, my neighbor, after making some detrimental remarks about my car (it was born in the South! it wasn't made for snow), had to push the car out to the street. I might have to walk home tonight. Right about now I'm wondering why I turned down that opportunity to take a trip to Bermuda this winter.

Now, back to London.
I saw five plays in London. Four were scheduled through the tour and the fifth I attended separately with several people from our group.

La Cage Aux Folles—When I got back to work this week, the BBC adaptation of The Way We Live Now was on my desk, so I watched it Monday. The actor who plays Roger Carbury in The Way We Live Now, Douglas Hodge, was the lead in La Cage Aux Folles. Kind of cool, yeah?

Boeing, Boeing--FUNNY

Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story—So, the writing and acting on this one were kind of weak, but a significant portion of the play was a musical performance/rock show. The actors were actually performing—playing the instruments and singing--and that part was good. I’ve had a perpetual loop of Buddy Holly songs in my head ever since I saw the show. That's not a good thing for someone who already suffers from Musical Tourette's.

Much Ado about Nothing—Wonderful, wonderful! We saw this at the National Theatre, and it was so well done! I was especially impressed by the revolving set that allowed the actors to perform without any breaks between acts. We toured the theater earlier in the day, and the set looked like a wooden cage, but it worked just beautifully.

Present Laughter--This was also at the National Theatre and also excellent. The set and lighting were amazing.

I'm going to go look up information on building a snow cave now. I'm most definitely NOT going to check weather.com and discover that it's still 45 degrees in London.