Greetings from Miss Worcester

We had rain all day Tuesday, but this was the least inconvenient of the days when Cheryl was here for rain. We went to the Miss Worcester diner for brunch because of the stuffed French toast, then we went to the farm at Green Hill Park, where we met a cat we hadn't seen before and saw most of the barnyard animals though the goats and peacocks were trying to hide from the weather. It really started coming down while we were there, so we swung by the Bancroft Tower, then came home. 

We watched the filmed production of Hadestown, which is excellent -- I knew the show's music but have never seen it staged, and the cast is terrific, as is the music. Afterward, we drove Cheryl to the airport, where apparently she had a weather delay but is now on her way home. My Trek group watched DS9's "Facets" -- Sisko! Curzon! Rom! -- and we've spent the rest of the evening watching both the disappointing Red Sox and Orioles games, though they both had great nights last night.

Greetings from the Woosox

I don't remember what I did on Monday early besides laundry and some weekend photo sorting, but we ate dinner very early and in the late afternoon we drove to Millbury to see Six: The Musical Live! which stars the original West End cast and starts with a feature interviewing them and the show's creators filmed mostly around the open-air concert in the courtyard of Hampton Court Palace. 

I've seen the North American tour cast at the National Theatre and a high school production at a drama school, and obviously the energy is different at a movie, but it was a pretty full theater, the woman sitting next to me was wearing glitter shoes and a tiara, and the whole show was a blast. I still wish Anne Boleyn was smarter and Katherine Parr was more direct about her ambitions, but it's all so much fun. 

We got home for the end of the Orioles and Red Sox games (the Os lost by one but the Red Sox clobbered the Diamondbacks, and Adley finally got a couple of hits and a run), after which we watched some more Kevin Can F Himself, which we're finishing because we only have three episodes left. But speaking of baseball, here's Polar Park with its own mini Green Monster, Citgo sign, and other Boston Red Sox tributes: 

Greetings from Hartford

On Sunday morning we drove to Hartford to meet Kristen, Laurie, and the latter's husband and youngest child for lunch at the Parkville Market (I had walnut maple cream French toast, hubby had a chicken bacon sub, and everyone else had different things from the big international food court there). Then we went to the Wadsworth Atheneum, which I haven't visited since my in-laws lived in Hartford in the late 1990s before I had digital camera. The museum still has William Holman Hunt's The Lady of Shalott on display and an excellent collection of Hudson River School painters, plus lots of American Impressionists, European Baroque art, and furniture and home design.

 

We also saw both Framing American Democracy: Radical Roots (which has lots of New England connections including pieces of Hartford's legendary Charter Oak) and Framing American Democracy: Contemporary Artists Reflect before we headed home, where we fed the cats, ate a small dinner after the big lunch, and watched the Tony Awards. There were a couple of very self-involved speeches but it was worth watching for Titanique and Cats: The Jellicle Ball, plus the Tonys are always a giant Pride celebration and tonight was no exception.

Lyrics for Tuesday and Nutcracker House

Waltz of the Flowers 

By Marvin Kahn and Mel Mandel 

See how the flowers dance,

Waltzing in time 'round the ballroom.

Each gardenia dancing with a rose,

Gently swaying while the music flows.

Every gold chrysanthemum

And geranium in full bloom.

See how the flowers dance,

Wonderf'ly gliding together.

Every tulip leads a violet,

While the pink petunias pirouette.

Daisies do a gentle jig

With each little sprig of heather.

Now they're whirling, and they're twirling.

Oh! What magic they're unfurling.

Stardust settles on their petals.

It's a marvelous sight.

May they dance all night.

And when the flowers dance,

Doesn't the world seem appealing?

Don't you hear the music of your heart?

Don't you think it's time for you to start

Treating everyone you know

To that special glow you're feeling?

Like the pretty flowers

In their sweet gentle peaceful bowers

Why don't we all devote our hours

To making other people happy, too?

-------- 

My Tuesday morning was about reading, washing my hair, and some bank-related chores online, then yogurt, granola, fruit and nuts for lunch. Then we went to Bella Vision so I could order new glasses; I had a prescription from a couple of months ago but my benefits hadn't kicked in yet, and now they have. We went for a short walk on a gorgeous chilly day and saw a couple of eagles, many mergansers, and a few geese and coots in the lake. 

My DS9 group watched "Profit and Loss" which I'd remembered as a pretty good Quark episode but had forgotten is also an important Garak episode. After that and dinner, was in the mood to watch Interstellar, and since it's been ages we did; I really enjoyed it, it remains quite unique among speculative science fiction movies and has some great performances. Some more photos of amazing Ballard Nutcracker House:

Greetings from Magical Places

Sunday was a chilly but gorgeous day, so we spent most of it out -- at least, after the Seahawks beat the Panthers, meaning they're on top of the NFC West assuming they can beat the 49ers next weekend. We went first to Gas Works Park, which we've only seen from a distance across Lake Union; now we've climbed the kite hill with the sundial, walked through the abandoned compressor building that's now a play area for children, and followed the trail along the lake with Canada geese, mergansers, mallards, and seagulls. Then we drove through Fremont, past the troll and Lenin (who currently has a big snowman head), and stopped in Ballard at Scandinavian Specialties for cheese. 

From there we headed to Loyal Heights, where the principal harpist for the Pacific Northwest Ballet and his partner set up their home and yard every winter with sculptures designed by Maurice Sendak for the production of The Nutcracker that the company used to do before they adopted the Balanchine ballet. The partner, an antiques restorer, was doing yard work when we arrived and took photos of us. Since we were near Golden Gardens Park, we wound up there near sunset, watching the boats, waterfowl, a couple of snorkelers, and either a seal or sea lion diving just offshore. The mountain views were lovely all day. After dinner we decided to watch The Player, which holds up surprisingly well.

Greetings from Gaithersburg

We woke up early to have breakfast with Daniel and Cahaya before they left for the airport and Paul went to work -- and his office holiday party. I spent a couple of hours reading and checking some things on the computer while waiting for Cheryl. When she got here, I jumped into her car and we headed to the movie theater in Montgomery Mall, where we grabbed pizza and Impossible Nuggets to eat while watching Merrily We Roll Along, which is no longer playing where she lives and I was delighted to get to see with her! I think I enjoyed it more this time, too, because I knew what I wanted to be looking at in certain scenes. 

After the movie, we came back to the hotel, exchanged holiday gifts, and waited for Paul to finish work. Once he arrived, we all went to Gulele Market & Restaurant for Ethiopian food, which we haven't been able to find in the Seattle suburbs so haven't had it in far too long -- I needed my shiro wat! After Cheryl headed home, I got online with my Trek group and we watched DS9's "Playing God" (not great but I always enjoy Dax). Now Daniel and Cahaya are back in Seattle, Adam and Haley have lit the dinosaur menorah Cheryl got them as a wedding present, and you can see some of what she got me below as well as the rest of my Tuesday:

Greetings from The Hills of Tomorrow

...which I did not hear tonight because no one ever includes it in Merrily We Roll Along any more. I just got home late from seeing the film of the 2023 Broadway theatrical production with Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez. (Earlier I did some computer work, I had a follow-up doctor's appointment, I went to the post office to get stamps for holiday cards, and I stopped at CVS, plus we managed to take a walk in only moderate rainfall though we're in the midst of an atmospheric river so a lot more is coming.) 

Merrily has always been my second-favorite Sondheim musical (Sunday in the Park With George is the first, oddly for similar reasons). I have a nostalgia kink; I find emotions -- particularly watching other people's in theater or movies -- more intense not in the moment but reflected upon when it's too late to do anything about them, and because the events of this show transpire backward, so we know how everything ends up before we see the events that triggered those finalities, the wistful sense just builds and builds. The fact that it's a musical, so the music reprises the biggest moments, makes those moments even more intense. 

I say this because in some ways I still don't think it's a great show. I have a bunch of issues with the female characters in particular, and the Sondheim talk-patter songs, never my favorite, have some clunker lyrics. That said, I really enjoyed this production. The staging is very effective, the humor is strong, and it's probably the best overall cast I've seen, though admittedly I haven't seen it staged in a couple of decades.

Groff is fantastic; I have high standards for this role and I really have no notes except on things like staging where obviously it isn't up to him if he's facing away from the audience at a moment I want to see his eyes. Radcliffe gives an intense, physical performance; he isn't as strong a singer, but Charley's the words to Frank's music so it would be weird if the character's voice was as lovely. Mendez is...well, she's fine. I'm always, always frustrated with how Mary is written and cast and played, so I really don't have anything negative to say about her specifically; she also shouldn't sing as beautifully as Frank given how envious she is of Frank's musical talent. 

But just once I want THAT to be the reason she's miserable when he ties himself to Beth and sells out to Gussie -- I would dearly love to see a production where Mary has no romantic interest in Frank whatsoever, certainly not with the "boo hoo I'm not pretty enough for him" baggage, just where she's furious that he isn't doing what his talent what she would do if she had even half of it. Gussie still isn't 100% a character, more of a catalyst, though at least in this production she isn't a villain (it helps that the actress playing her, Krystal Joy Brown, is an absolute goddess and you can't take your eyes off her when she's on stage even when the focus is supposed to be on someone else). I've never seen a production with a black actress playing the character, and while it makes Gussie's struggles more poignant, it's also a shortcut when the real difficulties for a black star in the '70s aren't directly addressed by the show. 

My friend Rachel, who saw the show in NYC and also saw the movie version, said she was a little frustrated that on film as opposed to in the theater, you look at who the director has the camera on even if you want to be looking at someone else's face at that moment, and I agree with that frustration. It's particularly egregious during the second performance of "Not a Day Goes By" which is a wedding scene involving three people. But with a few exceptions, and not having seen the show, I don't really have complaints with the filming (I was wishing for more wide shots, but I assume they're thinking that one day this will be watched on TV screens, not just huge theater screens). There were a couple of Tom Hooper-esque intense close-ups, and I admit I liked seeing Groff's and Radcliffe's eyes in focus when they were tearing up. 

We're watching this week's Watson as I type this, waiting for the weather to find out how much more rain we'll get in the next few days. Here are some random holiday shopping photos from Issaquah from over the weekend: 

Greetings from Puyallup

We spent all day Saturday at the Washington State Fair in Puyallup with our neighbors, who had free passes because she teaches in the King County school system and invited us after we took them to the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe. It was a beautiful day, low 70s and sunny, and we did all the fair things: ate unhealthy food (I got a hummus and feta gyro which would have been the healthiest thing anyone had for lunch except I ruined it by having soft serve later), saw a musical production of The Little Mermaid not based on Disney, visited many goats, sheep, horses, and chickens, watched dogs being judged, walked through the local craft displays and competitions in the exhibit hall, and I bought a very sexy grownup Pikachu hat whose ears can be inflated.

 

It would have been a perfect day had there not been a fight right outside the entrance as we were trying to leave, which resulted in a huge police presence and the fair doors being temporarily shut while they sorted out whatever happened outside (I'm not sure if there were weapons but it sure looked like law enforcement was worried about that). Eventually they let us leave and we drove back with nice views of the mountain, which had been behind haze earlier. We had yogurt for dinner because we'd snacked during the day, then finished watching the first season of The Studio, which I greatly enjoyed; it features a lot of celebrities playing everyone's expectations of their worst versions of themselves (Olivia Wilde, Ron Howard, and Dave Franco are magnificent).