Well, dear readers, it is late and I must write these here notes in a hurry because I must be up early for my early appointment with Teddy – and I’d like to do the jog prior to that, which means I have to be out the door by eight. So, basically yesterday was a nice day – the helper came, we got everything done that needed doing, I had some eggs and a bagel, I picked up one package and no mail, I had several long telephonic conversations, I booked the third out of four gals for our little ensemble for the Gardenia show, and then it was time to mosey on down to downtown for some dinner and then The Glass Menagerie. We decided to have a dining adventure at a new and extremely trendy restaurant called First and Hope, another of these trendily-named jernts, this one being located at – wait for it – First and Hope. I’d done my research on Yelp and was a little shocked at the number of bad reviews, for the jernt had apparently gotten a rave from the LA Times. Of course, that, I should have known, is the kiss of death, because they love pretension and odd cooking. The restaurant is very nicely designed (it’s located in an upscale strip mall). It is also very expensive. They have three sections on the menu – small, medium, large. Nothing really jumped out at me and I didn’t want to eat a huge meal – I almost ordered the barbecue chicken with bleu cheese cole slaw but in the end I ordered two from the small section – a crab pot pie (more about that in a moment), and their specialty dish, mac and cheese with a Ritz cracker top. My friend ordered the vegetable plate – that was from the Medium section. My first suggestion would be to rename these sections – the first should be called miniscule, the second should be called tiny, and the third should be called medium. The crab pot pie was around sixteen dollars and the mac and cheese was around fourteen. First came the crab pot pie. Now, it wasn’t really a pot pie – what it was was a extremely tiny bit of crab and a piece of round toast on top of it. I managed to make it last for two bites, but barely. That was hardly sixteen dollars worth of food. Then came the mac and cheese – that was a bit bigger, but not much. First of all, I’m really tired of restaurants calling things mac and cheese when they don’t use macaroni noodles. But I digress. The Ritz cracker topping was amusing for about ten seconds, but the actual mac and cheese was the blandest, most flavorless mac and cheese I’ve ever eaten. I had to ask them to bring me salt. I managed to make that last through about six bites by eating each noodle separately. I was still very hungry but not about to order anything else. My friend’s vegetable plate had three tiny sections of food on it – it was a joke. We got through it and got the HELL out of there. I did glance at their dessert menu and it was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen – a banana split with bacon and jalapeno hot fudge was one of the items. Chocolate vodka ice cream was another, and on it went, each one sounding worse than the last. We ended up next door at a frozen yogurt establishment, where I had a little vanilla and chocolate frozen yogurt – that was pretty good. We then took a walk, and then it was time to go into the theater to see The Glass Menagerie. I must say, The Glass Menagerie is one of my three favorite plays (the other two being Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf) – I played Tom when I was in high school and, for me, it is Tennessee Williams’ finest work – virtually perfect in every way. This production was mostly very good, with some wonderful and lovely moments. Some of it took getting used to, especially the way Tom was played and the director’s concept of his monologues – Tom, in this production, was literally Tennessee Williams and instead of delivering the monologues to the audience as is normally done and the way the play is written, the director’s conceit is that Tom is writing them and then reads them – for me, it robs them of their poetry a little, but I finally got used to it – certainly not my favorite way of doing this particular play, though. Judith Ivey makes a very interesting Amanda – a pretty tough cookie in her interpretation, and I really liked her a lot. The Tom, Patch Darragh did a wonderful job within the concept of what they were doing, and Ben McKenzie was a very good Gentleman Caller. For me, the shining light of this production was Keira Keeley is Laura – a very unconventional performance but an absolutely stunning one – filled with magical unexpected moments and line readings and reactions. She doesn’t make a false move in the entire show – it’s not quite your usual Laura but it’s sure one that works on every level. The set is simple and effective, as is the lighting, although I wish it weren’t quite so dark in the candlelit scene, but that’s a minor quibble. If you’re in Los Angeles, California, I recommend this production highly. “Blow out your candles, Laura – and so – goodbye.”
After the show, I hurried home to write these here notes, which, in case you haven’t noticed, is exactly what I’ve been doing and now it is time for you to get the fershluganah things posted.
Why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion.
I once saw a pretty wonderful production of The Glass Menagerie at the Huntington Hartford Theater – the stars were Ann Southern as Amanda, Ben Piazza as Tom, Piper Laurie as Laura, and James Olson as the Gentleman Caller – some cast!
Today, I shall try to do the jog in the morning but if I can’t then I won’t do it until early evening. Then I’ll go to Teddy and get newly beautified, after which I have to return some tapes to the MGM vault and pick up some new tapes. After that, the day is pretty much mine and I really need to relax – I’ll watch a couple of motion pictures on Blu and Ray, I sure.
Tomorrow, we’ll be shipping out a humungous number of CDs and then we have to go to storage to pull a chart for Miss Rebecca Luker. The weekend will be busy but fun.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, get newly beautified by Teddy, return tapes, pick up tapes, and eat something light but amusing. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your three favorite plays of all-time? And what are the best productions you’ve seen of them? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we – blow out your candles, Laura – and so, goodbye.”