At the Theatre

[evangelicalhumanist]

Glad you had a good time. Where to next? Avatar was the first time I have worn 3d glasses ... and it was pretty good, had a few surprises (given that I knew the basic plot).

Shalom

I'm planning to see Avatar (and actually I'm thinking of seeing the Frog Prince as well). I like the new 3D. My eyes are lopsided (very weak left eye) and the early days of 3D didn't make any sense to me. Now, with the 3D glasses that fit over my own specs, it's great -- and a lot of it is very, very good, I must say!

Joseph and I have already purchased (and received) our tickets for next year's Soulpepper season -- 10 plays this time. And as usual we will add a trio at Canada's Stratford Festival, and then pick up a couple of good shows in the regular theatre season (that's what Fiddler was this time). We generally like to do around 15 live performances a year.

But don't get me wrong! We're not snobs and we both like movies, too. In fact, we're planning to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie (with Robert Downey Jr.) on Christmas day! Please don't be shocked. We're both not family-oriented, and Christmas has always been an enormously difficult time for the both of us.

[Baruch]

Yes, the new Sherlock Holms movie. Might be interesting. The British/PBS TV series in the 80s ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Advent ... television) .. was definitive (41 well made episodes, I never got to see them all). Mr. Brett was a remarkably apt choice to play the part.

Shalom

[evangelicalhumanist]

On a whim, partner and I went to see a small theatre production of Stephen Sondheim's "Assassins" last night. Must say, it's an odd piece, bringing all those who assassinated or attempted to assassinate U.S. Presidents, all set to Sondheim's music. But do you know, it was really very good! The venue was strange. A century ago, it was Toronto's West-End YMCA, so the theatre itself is in the old gymnasium, and the elevated running track around it serves as a one-row balcony! Seats only about 120 people total, but it works!

The director's notes mention "how easily the American Dream becomes an expectation. The ideal evolves into a birth right. But what if that dream is left unfulfilled? Someone is bound to feel left out, lonely, unseen and unheard.

The drama exposes the archetypal connection between villains, heroes and morals. To watch Presidents (Gods?) falling and taking away all the misery of small individuals is a myth deply incorporated within Western Cultural narrative.

"Hey pal -- feelin' blue? Don't know what to do?
Hey, pal -- I mean you -- Yeah. C'mere and kill a President." (Sings the carny in front of a balloon shooting gallery).

And each of Giuseppe Zangara, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, John Wilkes Booth, Leon Czolgosz, Charles Guiteau, Sara Jane Moore, John Hinckley and Samuel Byck do so. The show examines them all closely, sometimes by imagining them interacting with one antoher. And they all, together, inspire Lee Harvey Oswald in a highly-imaginative incitement.

(Zangara assassinated the Mayor of Chicago, but was attempting to get Roosevelt. Squeaky Fromme and Sara Jane Moore attempted Ford. Czolgosz assassinated McKinley. Charles Guiteau assassinated Garfield. Hinckley had a go at Reagan. Samuel Byck tried to hijack a plane to crash into a Nixon-occupied White House.)

Anyway, strange show, didn’t do well in theatres (as so much of Sondheim doesn’t, though I think he’s a genius), but I highly recommend it if you ever have a chance to see it somewhere.

[Baruch]

Well there seems a much greater tolerance for imagination in theater, than in movies and TV. They left out Osama (the last plane may have been headed for the White House. Also the two guys who threatened Andrew Jackson. And the Duponts etal who wanted a coup against FDR.

Shalom

[Kurt]

Agreed, EH, that Sondheim is light years ahead of anyone who comes to mind in terms of musical theatre. He's been willing to take on projects as unusual and unlikely as the one you describe and make something wonderful out of them, which is perhaps why his projects are not always received so well popularly.

Anyway, glad you had a good time.

Kurt

[evangelicalhumanist]

Agreed, EH, that Sondheim is light years ahead of anyone who comes to mind in terms of musical theatre. He's been willing to take on projects as unusual and unlikely as the one you describe and make something wonderful out of them, which is perhaps why his projects are not always received so well popularly.

Anyway, glad you had a good time.

Kurt

Actually, Sondheim was a great mentor to the young composer/writer Jonathon Larson, and as it turns out, it's pretty good (I would not rate it as the very top of my list of favourites, but I like it a lot). Larson, I think you know, actually died of a brain aneurism the very night before it opened off-Broadway, which was pretty tragic.

One of the (many) things I like about Sondheim is his willingness to mentor even someone as young, unkown and (at the time) unlikely as Larson. And the result shows.