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[bk]

Well, you've read the notes, the cock crowed whilst you were reading the notes, and now it is time for you to post until the crowing cocks, sorry, cows come home.

[bk]

And the word of the day is: EPIDEICTIC!

Smoke on your pipe and put that in.

[George]

Yesterday was my dad's birthday.  We went to a Chinese buffet restaurant and it took about 35 minutes to go 10 miles on the freeway!!  There were a couple of stalled cars (I don't think that they were accidents) just before the exit I needed to take, so we had to go about 25 mph the whole time.

[George]

Otherwise, even though we got there about 25 minutes late (we were supposed to get there at 5:00), we got there before the rush!  My parents were there already and had a table and had gotten a few things, but there weren't many people at all waiting for tables.  By the time we left, it looked like that there were more than a dozen people waiting!  The food was pretty good.

[George]

Afterwards, we went back to my sister's house and my dad opened his presents.  He got a gift certificate for Barnes & Noble (every time, his absolute favorite gift...always ), "Smiley's People" DVD and the John Ford 5-DVD set.  He loved all the DVDs!

[George]

Then, we played Phase 10 (our standard family card game), and had some raspberry cheescake from Costco.  It's what my dad wanted and it was quite delish!

[S. Woody White]

Uh, gee, esteemed BK, you don't like Lion King much?

'Cause we're taking the grandlads to see it this upcoming Saturday.

(The stage version.)

[S. Woody White]

And the word of the day is: EPIDEICTIC!

Smoke on your pipe and put that in.

EDICT ICE PI
CITE PIC DIE
ICED EPIC IT
DICE PIC TIE

Oh, d#ng, I'd like to see anyone else try to get a sentence that makes sense with an anagram for EPIDEICTIC.  Me, I'm unpersuaded.

[Ben]

Last night DR Ginny (via DH Richard) said:

"Earlier this evening, DH Richard and I got in my car to go to the grocery.  Unbeknownst to Richard, the CD in my player is The Drowsy Chaperone and when he started the car the first thing we heard was the voice of the Man in Chair.  Richard said almost immediately, "Is that Ben?"

From his lips to God's ears, as they say. Sometimes I feel like Man in Chair. I know lots of other Show Tune Afficianados (to use a milder term) who feel the same way but if the chance to play Man in Chair came up I would probably jump at the chance to do it.

[Ben]

We had a wonderful time last night at Skip and Fred's . They are great hosts and Mr. Kennon is quite the cook. We had excellent vegetables (potatoes, hard boiled eggs, I know they aren't vegetables, yellow and red tomatoes, I know again technically a tomato is a fruit, and green beans) and we had flank steak. Yummilicious to quote a certain Mr. BK. Previous to that we had an array of appetizers including cheeses, shrimp and various dips. After all that sumptuous food we had an amazing apple dessert. Just enough. We didn't feel stuffed but we were sated.

Lots of good talk and lots of chances to play with Dylan and Toby the real rulers of the roost at Manhattan Plaza. Deb (VixMom) took some pictures and I'm sure she will post one or two in the next few days.

I'm very glad Larry liked the new Fantasticks. I thought it was excellent (I saw it August 6th). Now we are looking forward to the Singing Nun spectacle which Mr. Moore is orchestrating.

I need to wash my oatmeal bowl and resume work on the MacArthur Foundation.

Later, folks.

[Ben]

Mornin' Larry and Woody.

[Michael]

Good morning Ben and Larry

[elmore3003]

Good morning, all!  Yes indeedy, the soiree chez Skip and Fred was quite wonderful, and it's always a treat tp see friends I've not seen for some time.
Don't forget NIGHT OF THE HUNTER at NYMTF as well, DR Ben!

I may have breakfast with my San Diego friend, David Maxine, if he calls this morning.  I've misplaced his cell phone number.  He's staying on 86th Street so it's a short jaunt up Broadway to meet, perhaps, at The French Roast.

After that, I shall work here on charts for Ms Klea Blackhurst, and wait for whatever new fresh hell shows up.

TOD:
  THE NEWS: oh, God, it was awful and I don't recall if it opened or played previews only.
  MICE IN THE THEATRE:  sometimes seeing a friend's work is not a fun experience, although my friend was the only good thing in it
  THE SOUND OF A DIFFERENT DRUMMER:  my first off-off-Broadway play, 1972, with nudity.  50-year old women (or male) playwrights should not play 18 year-old models and strip in public!  It's so damaging to the audience's morale.
  CARRIE:  I know friends who like this score, but I think it was as poorly conceived as the dreadful production it was a major part of.  The director's "classic Greek" concept and the music and lyrics' removal from backwater Maine to the Inner City were equally horrifying.  Debbie Allen's musical staging, featuring a gym teacher in flowing chiffon dresses, was down to the level of her Academy Awards work.
 
 

[Michael]

TOD:
Broadway/Off-Broadway: Hurlbury, Good, Streetheat. The first two were so boring I ket on falling asleep. I would have left but I was with friends who enjoyed it. Streeheat as mentioned in the past was the only show I ever left during intermission it was that bad.

Local: The Vistor done by a high school. Big mistake. Something that they should never attempted.

The Cocktail Party with wrong inflections on names and words and really English accents. Henry Higgins where were you?

[elmore3003]

After our discussion of the Johnny Depp SWEENEY TODD film, I did a bit of research on life expectancy in mid-19th Century England.  I found an article on public health that gave this information on the year 1842:

Industrial centers, like Manchester, had a life expectancy of 38 years for the gentry and upper middle class, 17 for a worker.  Outside manufacturing centers, 52 for the gentry and 38 for a craftsman or farm laborer.  

An article on Victorian Manchester went into all the factory deaths and maimings, along with other forms of decreasing the population.

[Ginny]

Monday morning greetings!  Here I am, about to go downstairs to the training room for 7 hours of training on Microsoft Publisher.

Will think about the TOD and try to post during my lunch break.

[Kerry]

I wish i could remember the name of the production that has to rank up there as most awful.  I had gotten tickets as part of a silent auction package for a fundraiser.  I have a feeling everyone attending the piece must have gotten tickets in the same manner-- there is no way they actually could have sold tickets to anyone but friends and family of the cast and crew.  It was supposed to star Olympia Dukakis , but on the night of the performance it was announced that a prerecorded narration by Olympia Dukakis would be used instead.  Wise woman not to appear in this.  It was  a "play" about aging with modern dance and some nudity (not pretty) and lots of symbolism.  The director/writer/somebody wisley chose to have no intermission, because there is no way anyone - including me, would have returned for the second half.  I don't think my sister has ever forgiven me for taking her to see this.  I don't blame her really.

Morning all, I'm going to be late for work.

Toodles

[Cillaliz]

Morning all.  DR Elmore, I found Devil in the White City fascinating.  Disturbing, but fascinating.

[DearReaderLaura]

TOD: "Moving Out" is the first thing that comes to mind. "Aida"  and "Art"were pretty bad, too.

Whenever I see a show I think is bad, my feet get hot and twitchy. I have to slip off my shoes and let my feet cool off, and that helps the wiggles. So if I report that I had to take off my shoes, you know I thought it was a bad show!

[Cillaliz]

Well, I have a very busy week and really need to get at it.  

JRand - I always clean my dryer filter and don't run the dryer unless I'm home.

[DearReaderLaura]

Kerry -- I had to take off my shoes at the Phoenix Theater new project a couple years ago -- the one where the boy kept stripping down to his underpants.

[Matt H.]

Good morning!

We're back to the summer doldrums of heat, humidity, and threats of afternoon thundershowers. All expected for this time of year but I'm nothappy about it regardless.

[Matt H.]

I've had three really lousy, unentertaining experiences in the theater in NYC:

I HAD A BALL - I didn't.

AIDA - my thoughts equal bk's, and the bigger, more opulent production didn't make it any more entertaining for me. The audience around me screamed in ecstasy for Heather Headley, but I thought every number sounded the same, and all that melisma didn't impress me.

But the worst was HIGH SOCIETY. The show was like summer stock quality in terms of production (wonderful actors sunk by a terrible book and production). But I happened to be sitting in a somewhat broken seat at the St. James, and that is undoubtedly the LONGEST, most uncomfortable show I've ever sat through.

[Matt H.]

Locally, I've been to some wretched productions. The one that comes to mind the quickest was a detestable production of WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. The worst acting I've ever seen in community theater (with actors I had done shows with and who were good in the right roles), and pacing slower than slow

And I think I wrote here before about the wretched FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON high school production I was forced to review against my will and better judgment. In addition to a lousy show, the school couldn't get the heat turned on in the auditorium, so we all froze to death trying to endure this monstrosity.

[Matt H.]

A reminder that PRISON BREAK and VANISHED premiere their seasons tonight on Fox.

THE CLOSER has a new episode tonight.

[DakotaCelt]

Good day one and all! I hope you all have a pleasant day!

[DakotaCelt]

I have had a mixed bag experience with Phantom of the Opera. There was a traveling company that came through the area about 10 - 12 years ago that left an ugly taste in my mouth and soured me on the musical. IT was not until me and a freind were in the Twin Cities a year or so later and and she and her husband persuaded me to see it again and it was much better. It was closer to the original production that I had read about.

For some reason I am really attracted to Sondheim and Webber musicals.

I would someday love to see a Les Miserables.

[DakotaCelt]

My apologies first to the esteemed bk....

AS the Cock Crows.....

AS the Cock Crows in wonder As the World Turns on his way to General Hospital.....

As the Cock Crows for the Young and the Restless to find the Guiding Light....

AS the Cock Crows all the Days of his lives as he searches for the nirvana of One life to Live

As the Cock Crows bold and beautiful singing to a All My children...

[Ben]

Oh, I've seen some bad stuff in my time. I always have Perfect Crime to fall back on as one of the worst pieces of unadulterated sh*t I have ever seen and the reason I get so vehement about it is because it's promoted as a great, long-running mystery as if length of run had anything to do with quality.

Other nights of torture happened at Good Vibrations. How you could manage to suck out any kind of fun and enjoyment from a catalog of wonderful American pop music is beyond me but the producers and artistic team succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Dracula, the Frank Wildhorn musical, is up there in the truly awful category.

The recently closed Hot Feet is also a true disaster.

I'm having trouble remembering the names of some of my walk outs, perhaps submerging them in my memory.

The recent revival of Glass Menagerie, a beautious and fragile play, was massacred on Broadway with Christian Slater and Jessica Lange.

A truly wretched piece of crap was a thing called Uncle Bob, written by Austin Pendleton and starring George Morfogen from the HBO series OZ. I left at intermission and never looked back. I loathed it almost from the time the curtain when up. What stinking, awful garbage that was.

I also despised a piece done at Playwrights Horizons called Recent Tragic Events which purported to tell the stories of some people tangentially affected by 9/11. It took place in Mineapolis on the day of and day after (IIRC) the events. I thought it would be quite good because the set was an amazing recreation of an apartment in a specific kind of Minneapolis neighborhood. There was no curtain so I sat looking at the set before the show began. I thought it was a perfect re-creation of a South Minneapolis apartment, like someone had gone there and taken whole a piece of an apartment building and transformed it on stage. Unfortunately, that was the only good thing about the evening. It was filled with hateful, unsympathetic, nasty people for whom I cared not a whit. The show was awful in every sense except the set design and I hope the play never sees the light of day again.

Oh, my, I don't usually get so upset and vehement. BK, it's all your fault!

[DakotaCelt]

NOt a fan of the of movie musical they threw together called Grease 2. It was horrible and a real insult to the original musical and movie.