Well, dear readers, here I am, back where I belong after having a nice meal and seeing a new musical entitles A Transparent Musical, although maybe it’s just Transparent surrounded by the “The” and “Musical” – hard to tell. And now I’m listening to Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, conducted by Previn, a wonderful performance of a wonderful work. But let’s not keep you in suspense because that would be unseemly. First, the meal. Robert Yacko and I went to Kendall’s, the restaurant at the Music Center. It’s a nice jernt with a menu that’s really not for me, but they had enough that I could eat and Robert had the salmon, which he said was excellent. I had French onion soup – a bit flavorless but good, and then a Caesar salad with chicken, also good but not great. It was a pretty low-calorie meal, so I had a dessert – some kind of lemony thing, kind of mousse-like and very light. And then it was time to see the new musical Transparent, based on the Amazon Prime TV show that ran four seasons. I’ll be brief: It’s too busy, completely lacks focus (whose story are we telling – there are many stories to follow – too many – and so none of them are ever explored except perfunctorily. The songs are filled with sloppy, lazy rhymes or downright terrible rhymes, most are people singing AT each other rather than the songs emanating from character – anthems, open fourths as is the style in every musical these days – call it open fourth syndrome and it cannot go away fast enough. Most of the songs sound the same and you can have a fun game by calling out the next chord before it arrives and I’m here to tell you, you’d never be wrong. There’s a lot of joke lines in the style they write them today, which I personally don’t care for. Lots of good talent on the stage, so that was nice. Before I get to the two best things about the show, performer-wise, let me tell you how bored I am of sound designers boosting choral vocal levels so loud your ears might bleed, followed by a light change and bump on the final beat, all guaranteed to get the ubiquitous whooping and hollering. Cannot stand it. It also seemed to me that the audience had a lot of returnees in it, as they knew certain audience things before they happened. The direction is as busy as the show itself and the second act particularly goes off the rails with one of its many subplots. Which brings us to my friend Liz Larsen, who basically walks away with the show. She has two show-stopping numbers – the songs themselves aren’t stellar but she is, socking them home like nobody’s business. She can wring a huge laugh out of just about anything and she does, over and over again. She gets the biggest hand of the evening. Also terrific is Sarah Stiles, who I first saw in the musical of Vanities some years ago. She’s funny and subtle and terrific. But everyone does good work with what they have. And certainly the stage is filled with diversity, so that’s nice. But it’s like they were so hungry to put this up that it seems like they rushed through a first draft. It needs to be shorter and it certainly needs to be focused. The audience were whooping and hollering throughout, though.
After the show, we visited with Liz and I met Sarah, who was lovely, and that was fun. Then I came home and here I am to tell the various and sundried tales.
Yesterday was okay, I suppose. I got nine hours of good sleep, got up, answered e-mails, made my final post about Sami and Emmy, had a couple of telephonic conversations, and then shaved and showered and moseyed on over to Robert Yacko’s abode and he drove us to the Music Center. One other thing I should mention about the Mark Taper Forum – it was about forty degrees in there – thankfully I had a sweater on AND my coat. Why they would keep the theater at that temperature is anyone’s guess. It’s not like it was hot outside – in fact, it was quite chilly.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up and I will damn well have me a ME day, I’ll eat, I’ll check in with the mail place to see if anything is there, and then I can watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will be more of the same and I’m seeing a show either Saturday night or Sunday matinee. Then next week I have a lot of meetings and meals about various and sundried things.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, have me a ME day, eat, check with the mail place to see if anything’s there, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – nothing. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I hope my dreams will have focus.