Well, dear readers, we know there are a lot of mothers out there (you know who you are), but today you mothers are taking a back seat to us fathers. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, today is for us fathers and that is because today is Father’s Day. I, for example, am a father. I know this because I have a darling daughter. I know she’s a darling daughter for that is how she signed my Father’s Day card, which came enclosed in a huge box of fresh cherries. I hope all our dear reader fathers have a beautiful day today, for rearing children is not easy, even in the best of circumstances. If you rear children, can you also front children? Just asking. In any case, I’m feeling very fatherly today, what with it being Father’s Day and all. I think I shall relax in my lounging pyjamas, my smoking jacket, and my leopard-spotted dickie, along with my bunny slippers. Yesterday, prior to Father’s Day, I had a perfectly perfect day not doing much of anything. Oh, I jogged, I had two count them two slices of pizza, I did some work, and I watched a DVD before toddling off to see “A World Premiere Musical.”
Yesterday, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Equinox Flower, another wonderfully gentle, beautiful, humorous and touching film of Yasujiro Ozu, his first film in color. I’m just loving these movies, where very little happens and yet, by the end, you’re completely drawn into the world of the characters and you really feel for and care for them. The acting is lovely, as always in his films. This is yet another Ozu film about parents and their marriageable daughters. The transfer is a little on the green side, but very nice and sharp. I always feel very calm after spending two hours with Mr. Ozu and his characters. After that, I saw “A World Premiere Musical.” That bit of bombast is plastered across the front of the program and is on all of the advertising. I knew the minute I saw that sentence that the show had the same publicist as Deceit – because he plastered “A World Premiere Thriller” over everything. In any case, this musical was entitled Little Egypt, which apparently started life as a play. Well, it’s still a play. Yes, Virginia, it has musical numbers, but it is not a musical – it’s a play with songs. The authors have done nothing to musicalize the show – it’s just scenes and songs, and instead of the songs coming out of the scenes, they’re just sort of laid on top, frequently saying the same thing that we’ve just heard in the scene. Musical theater is a very specific beast, and this show could use someone who understands what that beast is. Scenes go on way too long, the music has a sameness to it (it’s not bad, and some of it’s appealing – but it all just has the same feel), and the director never buttons any of the songs, so there’s that uncomfortable “do we applaud now” feeling after every number. But, the one thing that shines forth is the cast. Sara Rue, who is cousin to my cousin (with whom I saw the show – cousin Alan and his ever-lovin’ Dee Dee, along with our pal Vern), is the real deal. This girl has it and has it in spades. I gather she’s been working since she was nine, and has been on several TV series, most recently the soon-to-be-off-the-air Less Than Perfect, which has had a four-year run. She has a pleasant voice, but it’s her acting that is magical. She’s also lost a lot of weight and she’s really quite beautiful. Playing opposite her is the excellent French Stewart, who I used to enjoy on Third Rock From The Sun, the only sitcom I’ve watched in the last twenty years. The two of them have lovely chemistry and they both really deliver. Jenny O’Hara is good, as is replacement Lisa Akey. Gregg Henry has a lot of energy and he does his thing very well, as he usually does. Mr. Henry also wrote the music and lyrics (I wouldn’t call it a score). His wife, Lisa James, directed. Some of the production feels very awkward, and some of it works just fine. The show got middling reviews, but I was somewhat taken aback by the size of the audience, which numbered about thirty-eight. Perhaps if the publicist got some of these folks some interviews and TV morning shows, then people would actually know about the show. I mean, Sara and French (and Gregg) are hardly unknowns, are they?
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because, as a father, I get to have my way today.
Have I mentioned that it’s Father’s Day? I think I shall have to have a lovelier than lovely meal o’ the day to celebrate. I may see a little play this evening – I’m waiting to hear. Said play features our very own Mr. Nick Redman’s very own actual daughter, Rebecca.
One thing I know I’ll be nibbling on today is cherries. Cherries I’ve got – a big ol’ box of them, thanks to the darling daughter. I find cherries very refreshing – in fact, I find them cheery. Do you find cherries cheery? Or, conversely, do you find cheery cherries? Just asking.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a cheery cherry Father’s Day, I must watch a DVD or three, I must have a Father’s Day jog, I must drive about in my motor car, and I must have a lovelier than lovely Father’s Day meal. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we get to make with the responses. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whist we celebrate fathers of every race, creed, and color, not necessarily in that order.