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[MBarnum]

Thank you DR MBARNUM.  I am looking forward to the oddities.

I have only completed the first disk of WEST POINT - but it is most entertaining.  I see that Lawrence & Lee are the script consultants....they have many Broadway/movie credits.....  And one of the episode writers is Gene Roddenberry......

Last night I saw Barbara Eden and Corey Allen in separate episodes - when she was backing a 1956 Dodge convertible out of a driveway, Barbara almost took out a few parked cars......

At first I thought host Cadet Charles C. Thompson (or Townsend) was a real cadet....until I started looking at the credits and realized it is Donald May - who was later in THE ROARING 20's and THE EDGE OF NIGHT.

And Leonard Nimoy when he was young - looks VERY MUCH like Zachary Quinto....it is uncanny.

and don't forget Gloria Talbott showing up! Just love her!

[MBarnum]

That video is kind of like a Mentos commercial DR MBARNUM.

That explains why I love it so much!

[MBarnum]

Oh, and Richard Harrison is in the first episode on disk two of West Point.

[Jrand74]

MAD MEN Season Seven coming in April

[Jrand74]

Oh, and Richard Harrison is in the first episode on disk two of West Point.

That's my next episode.  Gloria's ears were sticking out in that entire episode.....I don't remember noticing that so much before...

[Jrand74]

I ordered RICH MAN, POOR MAN and QB VII yesterday....

[Ginny]

Plumber will not be here until tomorrow, if then.  Her father is in the hospital, having had both knees replaced.  That went fine, but he's also developed heart problems that they're addressing.

Yes, we have a lady plumber...

[Ginny]

I am taking it easy today, because it dawned on me that I have commitments for the next 5 consecutive days.

[John G.]

It's not calamari for dinner:

http://shopping.yahoo.com/news/food-fraud-in-america--what-are-you-really-eating--202219209.html

[FJL]

I'll have to do my London report in segments over several days. FJL, I love QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS (I'm a big fan of Simon Gray, in general) ever since I saw a televised version of it back in the eighties with Edward Fox playing Quartermaine.  He also originated the role onstage.  This production directed by Richard Eyre, a director I much admire, was a lovely production with a terrific cast.  Sadly, the weakest link in it for me was Rowan Atkinson, who I have always adored as Blackadder.   He could not erase the memory of Edward Fox for me in this role and somehow missed the poignancy the character has always produced for me.

It's true both Atkinson and Everett sit a lot in their seperate roles...and, perhaps, it is a tribute to Everett that he can hold the stage just sitting.  His Oscar Wilde was mesmerizing and this play and his performance were one of the best things I saw.  Freddie Fox (Edward Fox's son) was also very good as Bosie.  We saw him a couple of years ago in a production of FLEA IN HER EAR at The Old Vic (he played Camille with the cleft palette, for those who know the play) and we knew then he was a young actor to keep an eye on.

John G.  THE AUDIENCE with Helen Mirren turned out to be high on my list of favourites as well.  It was surprisingly good.  I say "surprisingly", because I feared this play might be a tourist trade piece with both Mirren and Peter Morgan the writer capitalizing on their movie success with THE QUEEN.  With two such talents I should have known better.  It was a rich, insightful piece.  And she gave a smashing performance.  TRELAWNEY OF THE WELLS interested me because I am a theatrical archeologist who is always fascinated by the obscure, the forgotten, the rarely done.  And it was also playing at the Donmar Warehouse, a favourite venue of mine.  The play, I felt, showed its age with a bit of a rocky start in the first scene, but picked up steam, and I had quite an enjoyable experience by the end of the play.  It is a slight Victorian comedic piece by Pinero, but enjoyable for what it is.   I don't think it's as good a play as, say, his THE MAGISTRATE.  Also Patrick Marber did some " most respectful additions and ornamentation" to the piece, so I don't really know whether these helped or hurt it.

I'm not sure this is an extraordinary season...or at least the two weeks I was there...I've been there when the available plays I felt were much more exciting.  With the exception of a couple of things at the National, I saw every straight play that was pretty much available which says something about the season right there.  Shaftsbury Avenue is still over-run and booked with long-running but essentially clapped-out musicals, often of the jukebox variety.  Sorry, but I don't consider things like THRILLER and STOMP and ROCK OF AGES and LET IT BE real musicals, let alone real theatre.  Also, while it's nice to see terrific actors like Helen Mirren onstage,  I can remember a time when the West End was not so dominated by the need for movie star or tv names.  You could see people who might be terrific actors but were hardly household names in terrific plays.  It was certainly not the worst selection of plays I've seen over the years; nor was it the best.  But overall, it was eminently satisfactory.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. 

Do you sense London is as star-obsessed as New York has become for revivals? 

(I still have ringing in my ears the question of whether to see FOLLIES or ON A CLEAR DAY in NYC being posed by an out of towner as "Should we see Bernadette Peters or Harry Connick" - but at least it meant tickets were being sold to live theater.)

[Matthew]

Hey everyone.  Sorry I've been E&T the last few days.  It's been a crazy few days.  I'm going to share some info with you that I'm not sharing with my "other' online family.  Went to the Dr, my blood sugar and blood pressure is up.  All can be controlled by diet and exercise.  And since I don't plan on relying on medication for the rest of my life, I began exercising and really reading labels.  MAKING myself find time at least an hour to day to walk, ride my bike, go to the gym, etc.  Something that has to be done and I'm good with it.  I've also been experiencing tension headaches, which could be caused by many things, one being caffeine which I stopped pretty much on Sunday.  The Dr also suggested I see a behavioral therapist, which I'm more than happy to begin doing and the appointment has been made.

So, there you have it.   I'll try to be around more....   And these are the days of our lives

[John G.]

Hey everyone.  Sorry I've been E&T the last few days.  It's been a crazy few days.  I'm going to share some info with you that I'm not sharing with my "other' online family.  Went to the Dr, my blood sugar and blood pressure is up.  All can be controlled by diet and exercise.  And since I don't plan on relying on medication for the rest of my life, I began exercising and really reading labels.  MAKING myself find time at least an hour to day to walk, ride my bike, go to the gym, etc.  Something that has to be done and I'm good with it.  I've also been experiencing tension headaches, which could be caused by many things, one being caffeine which I stopped pretty much on Sunday.  The Dr also suggested I see a behavioral therapist, which I'm more than happy to begin doing and the appointment has been made.

So, there you have it.   I'll try to be around more....   And these are the days of our lives

Good for you for listening to your doctor. I feel I should that more than I do.

[ChasSmith]

Hey everyone.  Sorry I've been E&T the last few days.  It's been a crazy few days.  I'm going to share some info with you that I'm not sharing with my "other' online family.  Went to the Dr, my blood sugar and blood pressure is up.  All can be controlled by diet and exercise.  And since I don't plan on relying on medication for the rest of my life, I began exercising and really reading labels.  MAKING myself find time at least an hour to day to walk, ride my bike, go to the gym, etc.  Something that has to be done and I'm good with it.  I've also been experiencing tension headaches, which could be caused by many things, one being caffeine which I stopped pretty much on Sunday.  The Dr also suggested I see a behavioral therapist, which I'm more than happy to begin doing and the appointment has been made.

So, there you have it.   I'll try to be around more....   And these are the days of our lives

Good for you for listening to your doctor. I feel I should that more than I do.

Same here, as I have the blood pressure issue, and I've been terrible lately about getting exercise and eating as decently as I should.

Onward and upward, folks.

[Ginny]

Vibes for DR Matthew!

[George]

Hey everyone.  Sorry I've been E&T the last few days.  It's been a crazy few days.  I'm going to share some info with you that I'm not sharing with my "other' online family.  Went to the Dr, my blood sugar and blood pressure is up.  All can be controlled by diet and exercise.  And since I don't plan on relying on medication for the rest of my life, I began exercising and really reading labels.  MAKING myself find time at least an hour to day to walk, ride my bike, go to the gym, etc.  Something that has to be done and I'm good with it.  I've also been experiencing tension headaches, which could be caused by many things, one being caffeine which I stopped pretty much on Sunday.  The Dr also suggested I see a behavioral therapist, which I'm more than happy to begin doing and the appointment has been made.

So, there you have it.   I'll try to be around more....   And these are the days of our lives

~~~Vibes of All Kinds for Matthew!!~~~

[Charles Pogue]

FJL, I see London becoming more like Broadway slowly over the years with more tourist musicals and obsessing for names much more than it used to be.  It used to have more plays than musicals, then for a period it was about half-and-half, now I'd say musicals are starting to tilt the scales a bit more.  It seems to me, it still has much more serious theatre in its main theatres and its new plays and playwrights are better.  It also takes a risk on old stuff.  Are we really going to see a major revival of CAPTAIN OF KOPENICK or TRELAWNEY OF THE WELLS on Broadway anytime soon?  It's also good that both the National Theatre and the RSC produce serious straight work in the enirons of the West End and London.  One time on a trip I saw JUNO & THE PAYCOCK by O'Casey, SUMMERFOLK by Maxim Gorky, SONG AT TWILIGHT (with Vanessa and Corin Redgrave) by Noel Coward, A PENNY FOR A SONG by John Whiting, MONEY by Bulwer-Lytton, and TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE by John Ford (with Jude Law).  All playing to capacity or sell-out business.  It seemed to me that I could never see those six unique plays playing anywhere in NY or LA (or anywhere individually across the country) within a year's time let alone all during the same period in one week.

[MBarnum]

Oh, and Richard Harrison is in the first episode on disk two of West Point.

That's my next episode.  Gloria's ears were sticking out in that entire episode.....I don't remember noticing that so much before...

I didn't notice her ears so much....I was too fixated on the hunky actor playing her boyfriend.

[Doug R]

Yes, we have a lady plumber...

I've never come across such a thing 

[Jrand74]

Vibes for DR MATTHEW.

[George]

Of the really popular singers, there's some of Katy Perry's songs, and of course the person who seems to have made a new career of winning every award in sight whether she should or not - Adele.  One of the Times writers said he's sure there's a law in california that when Adele is nominated, it's against the law for Adele not to win. 

Adele catapulted to a phenomenon (despite being really good, IMHO, which normally shouldn't be a barrier) by being an ordinary-looking "be yourself' kind of gal.  Did I ever post this Youtube tribute to the Vogue spread, where Vogue airbrushed even normal-gal Adele into looking like a super-model, pretty much defeating the whole point of why people loved Adele so much?

"Rolling in the Deep" spoof about Adele's Vogue magazine spread
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN_oexA7W-g

That was pretty funny, Fred.

[George]

MAD MEN Season Seven coming in April

Can't wait...and love the picture!

[bk]

Don't the idiot Mad Men producers know that the 7th is the Kritzerland show?  Oh, well, TIVO set.

[bk]

Had a turkey sandwich and no fries or onion rings.

[bk]

Did some banking and am just waiting for Ontrac to deliver an amazon package, then I'll mosey on over to the mail place.

[Jrand74]

The last of our home movies have been converted to DVD - my brother is picking the disk up and will be here in awhile....

I have not seen these movies for more than thirty years.

I had purchased Super 8 versions of Earth VS The Spider and The Amazing Colossal Man.  I wrote a script around them that starred  my family.....and I intercut scenes from those movies into it.....not sure that they will copy the scenes from the real movies.....but we shall see....  We might be having the premiere of our SPIDER movie on DVD tonight.

[MBarnum]

That is awesome, JRand! What fun!

[George]

Well I will join the crowd and mention Adele as a singer that I enjoy right now.  I also like some of Katy Perry's songs....as DR FJL mentioned....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK3MLlTL5Ko

And followers of SMASH in its first season will likely recall that Adele's song RUMOUR HAS IT (which Jrand posted) was the song for one of the truly memorable SMASH dance sequences:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpP_0awEsEk

memorable for SMASH in I think a good way, for all the dancers involved.   

I really liked that number, too.  One of my favorite SMASH musical numbers was the "A Thousand and One Nights" Bollywood number that they did.

[George]

It's not calamari for dinner:

http://shopping.yahoo.com/news/food-fraud-in-america--what-are-you-really-eating--202219209.html

[KevinH]

DR KEVIN H is that a new avatar or have I been asleep?

No, it's not new!

[bk]

Heard two auditions today for Hofstetter.  Fascinating.  Both were good, neither quite captured the rhythm of the writing and dialogue and neither quite captured Adriana herself, which, for me, is the key to doing these.  I'll assume I'll know when it's right when I've heard the right one.  Then I began to think what if I just did it - I've certainly done readings that way and it worked, but with these books I just think young readers will respond more if it's a young-sounding Adriana-like voice.  When I get closer to finding what I like, then maybe what I'll do is send the final candidates me reading four pages and narration and dialogue with the right rhythms, and have them try to make that their own - I just think it will help them understand the way I write and how it sounds best.  This is tricky and really difficult work.