Friday, September 09, 2005
TWO GENTLEMEN....
...OF VERONA last night in the Park...the 2nd offering of the Shakespeare in the Park 2005 Season...Peter, his mom Pat and i managed to snag 3 tix (thanks to Michael Raine fo rthe 3rd) and we had an extremely NYC evening in the Park...so nice.
And the production was friendly, lively and rather perfect for the Park, with Galt McDermott's music (oh yes, it is the musical we saw not the play) provig to me once more that he comes to us from a different galaxy, somewhere far away! And i love that galazy, wherever it is! There is an energetic innocence in his music, an expectation of some sort of shred silliness, that so works for me...it comes to genius fruition in HAIR, of course, and I have profound respect for him since directing that CAP 21 production several years ago...but TWO GENTLEMEN...is so clever and blithe, and witty in an American verbal way...hip for the '60's and catchy ...ear-catching..i found myself on the edge of my seat following the language of the songs...and how Galt set that language into the songs....made me smile a lot with appreciation. Kim Grigsby conducted, with a sexy little wiggle from atop the upstage center orchestral platform, high above us all...she is such a showgirl that lovely Kim...so along with her consumate musicianship, she is a rarity among Broadway conductors: pretty and witty and girly. Audiences adore that. This in no way undercuts her musical authoritativeness....she is damned good at what she does...just such a pretty loon!
I was sooo proud to see several former CAP 21 students up there in the chorus, looking fabulous and behaving like they knew what they were doing...Noah Weisberg and Dequina ("KiKi") Moore...two of my faves from years...and obviously having such a good time being up there...and Kathleen Marshall's directing sort of made the whole delightfully silly show rather come right out at us, and so it filled the Delacourt with glee...several actors also filled it with their voices and that i loved: Norm Lewis, to name one...wow, I loved his "Valentine", especially in the "Night Letter" number and all that leading up to it...sheer out and out loud and good singing...also, a gorgeous man to look at. It was a romp...missing some of the sharper bite of the original, which unmercifully commented on everything of the ear...this production soft-pedalled a few moments I remember so clearly, like "Julia's" fianl scene, Priscilla Lopez was out and out hugely pregnant, so when she dragged "Proteus" off with a stream of Spanish investive pouring from her mouth, the audience was treated to a highly satirical comment on Puerto Rican women of that era...this momnet was pretty and sort of funny, but Rosario Dawson clearly a beauty, was a very safe and gentle "Julia"...Priscilla, delightfully, was not. Therefore, I suspect that other sharper satire was probably lost in the modern translation to the Delacourt Stage , 2005...but all of that is okay, because we all had fun anyway. And there were moments when the place really did rock and roll...audience loved it .
Had the most congenial and warm run-in with Walter Bobby and his guy David Frye....Peter did SOUTH PACIFIC for Walter,and Walter and I have always been fond of each other, so we stood and talked for a good half hour before the show began...what a sweet guy.
I had the chance to tell him how moved I was by his work on SOUTH PACIFIC. He seemed pleased that it had reached me in such a way.So good to see him, and for Peter to have a chance to re-connect.
Perfectly gorgeous early Fall weather here in the City of New York.....I remember how perfect the day was that the Twin Towers were destroyed...that September 11th was one of these kinds of days.
I am determined to use the rest of this month as a time to get rid of things we do not want or need...and if I can, I will find a way to send it all down to the Hurricane victims, who well may need what we have far too much of: everything!
I so look forward to my little classes starting next week....they are filled with aome of the most interesting people I have ever worked with in classews before, and so I kniow the quality will be high and the learning fast and necessary. Intersting at the very least.
More later....xxev
And the production was friendly, lively and rather perfect for the Park, with Galt McDermott's music (oh yes, it is the musical we saw not the play) provig to me once more that he comes to us from a different galaxy, somewhere far away! And i love that galazy, wherever it is! There is an energetic innocence in his music, an expectation of some sort of shred silliness, that so works for me...it comes to genius fruition in HAIR, of course, and I have profound respect for him since directing that CAP 21 production several years ago...but TWO GENTLEMEN...is so clever and blithe, and witty in an American verbal way...hip for the '60's and catchy ...ear-catching..i found myself on the edge of my seat following the language of the songs...and how Galt set that language into the songs....made me smile a lot with appreciation. Kim Grigsby conducted, with a sexy little wiggle from atop the upstage center orchestral platform, high above us all...she is such a showgirl that lovely Kim...so along with her consumate musicianship, she is a rarity among Broadway conductors: pretty and witty and girly. Audiences adore that. This in no way undercuts her musical authoritativeness....she is damned good at what she does...just such a pretty loon!
I was sooo proud to see several former CAP 21 students up there in the chorus, looking fabulous and behaving like they knew what they were doing...Noah Weisberg and Dequina ("KiKi") Moore...two of my faves from years...and obviously having such a good time being up there...and Kathleen Marshall's directing sort of made the whole delightfully silly show rather come right out at us, and so it filled the Delacourt with glee...several actors also filled it with their voices and that i loved: Norm Lewis, to name one...wow, I loved his "Valentine", especially in the "Night Letter" number and all that leading up to it...sheer out and out loud and good singing...also, a gorgeous man to look at. It was a romp...missing some of the sharper bite of the original, which unmercifully commented on everything of the ear...this production soft-pedalled a few moments I remember so clearly, like "Julia's" fianl scene, Priscilla Lopez was out and out hugely pregnant, so when she dragged "Proteus" off with a stream of Spanish investive pouring from her mouth, the audience was treated to a highly satirical comment on Puerto Rican women of that era...this momnet was pretty and sort of funny, but Rosario Dawson clearly a beauty, was a very safe and gentle "Julia"...Priscilla, delightfully, was not. Therefore, I suspect that other sharper satire was probably lost in the modern translation to the Delacourt Stage , 2005...but all of that is okay, because we all had fun anyway. And there were moments when the place really did rock and roll...audience loved it .
Had the most congenial and warm run-in with Walter Bobby and his guy David Frye....Peter did SOUTH PACIFIC for Walter,and Walter and I have always been fond of each other, so we stood and talked for a good half hour before the show began...what a sweet guy.
I had the chance to tell him how moved I was by his work on SOUTH PACIFIC. He seemed pleased that it had reached me in such a way.So good to see him, and for Peter to have a chance to re-connect.
Perfectly gorgeous early Fall weather here in the City of New York.....I remember how perfect the day was that the Twin Towers were destroyed...that September 11th was one of these kinds of days.
I am determined to use the rest of this month as a time to get rid of things we do not want or need...and if I can, I will find a way to send it all down to the Hurricane victims, who well may need what we have far too much of: everything!
I so look forward to my little classes starting next week....they are filled with aome of the most interesting people I have ever worked with in classews before, and so I kniow the quality will be high and the learning fast and necessary. Intersting at the very least.
More later....xxev
Post a Comment