Well, dear readers, what a difference a decade makes. Yes, Virginia, what a difference a decade makes. I first saw Parade in the Harold Prince production back in 1998. I didn’t really care for it all that much – I don’t really remember now whether it was the story or the staging or what, but something about it just didn’t work for me. I liked the cast very much, and certainly there were some compelling moments, both in the storytelling and the staging, and I thought Jason Robert Brown’s score was fine, but I wasn’t doing handstands about it the way some were. And I must admit that in the intervening years I haven’t listened to the CD once after I first heard it. In the meantime, I’ve read of other productions and read rabid praise from people and I just scratched my head. So, when I got invited to see Rob Ashford’s production at the Mark Taper Forum I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to go or not. But, I went. And I’m glad I did. For whatever reasons, Brown’s score now seems quite wonderful. Maybe it’s just the large amount of not-so-hot scores we’ve had since then, or maybe I just got it this time, and maybe the production helped that. One thing I thought that really helped it was the smaller orchestrations, which I really liked. And Ashford’s staging is at times really terrific – much scaled down and letting the story really come through. I didn’t mind the actors playing multiple roles and thought it worked quite nicely. The cast is really excellent, especially T.R. Knight as Leo Frank. I’d heard some complaints about his singing but I had no problem with it at all. Again, I don’t know if it’s just the years being kind, but Alfred Uhry’s book seemed much stronger to me this time around – again, it may just be the production’s strengths finally focusing what didn’t work for me the first time around. It’s not a show for everyone, but I found this production really strong and some of Brown’s score is really exquisite – especially the trio for the three young girls.
I must say, it the audience was filled with people I knew. First I saw my pal Heather Lee, then directors Todd Nielson and Nick de Gruccio, then Jason Graae and his ever-lovin’ Glen, then Eileen Barnett, and surprisingly, our former dear reader Jay.
The earlier part of the day was fine. Many telephonic conversations, a nice lunch with Lauren Rubin at the California Pizza Kitchen, errands and whatnot, picking up a couple of packages including a recent amazing and very inexpensive eBay luck out – a 1998 book on math and music and how they work together, inscribed to “Senator Ted” (Kennedy) from John Williams – the latter had done a concert at Tanglewood and presented the book to Kennedy there. I have all the documentation and it’s a very cool thing to have. It was listed in such a way that I don’t think anyone but me bothered to look at it. I got part two of the Holy Grail master, but couldn’t listen to it until I got home from Parade – in fact, I’m listening to it as I type these here notes.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’m still quite overtired and it’s quite late and I’m quite wanting my beauty sleep.
Today, I shall get up early and do the long jog, then lunch with Mr. Jason Graae, and then Cason Murphy and I will be addressing a lot of packages and putting postage on them. That will probably take most of the afternoon, after which I have no plans and I plan on keeping it that way.
The weekend should be mostly free and I plan on keeping it that way. I just want to eat lightly and well, I want to relax, and I want to watch motion pictures and just sit on my couch like so much fish. Of course, tomorrow is Halloween, so I’m quite certain I’ll be getting a lot of exercise running to the door to hand out candy to all the little and big trick or treaters.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do the long jog, sup with Jason Graae, address packages, and then sit on my couch like so much fish. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – CD, the Holy Grail soundtrack and its companion piece, which I have to do a little more editing work on due to some sections that still have minor wow problems – we just have to remove about twenty seconds overall and we’ll be fine. I’m going to remove one track (source music) and trim part of another and I think we’ll come in just perfectly to fit on one long CD. Blu-Ray, The Prisoner. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I parade right into the bedroom environment.