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Dryblog
Monday - In the car driving home

Dramamine overdose claims another road trip. I slept blissfully in the minivan most of Saturday, roused myself groggily for a meal at Swiss Chalet (notable for being the first meal I was able to choke down, post-Dave back in July 1996) and woke up enough to enjoy As You Like It, my first production of such. It was swell! The Rosalind was spunky, the Touchstone bawdily cynical, the Celia was perfection. I hear from Mom and TJ that the Celia is usually underplayed so as not to detract from the heroine or somesuch, but I'm glad they didn't waste such a comic talent. The music was maybe the best part; Steven Page wrote not only great between-and-under-scene background stuff, but arranged Shakespeare's songs (As You Like It is, they say, the song-heaviest of Willy's works) in delightful ways, with unmistakenly BNL-ish harmonies. It was wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful wonderful and yet again wonderful.

Next day: underwhelming brunch in the belly of a church, and Into the Woods matinee. My backstory with Into the Woods is well-established: my favourite musical of all time, my "starter musical" that introduced me to Sondheim and made me the showtunes-loving freak of nature that I am today, this show is important to me above all others. I know it backwards and forwards from repeated viewings of the original Broadway Cast (caught on tape for PBS) and have seen live both the Broadway 10th Anniversary concert performance, and the outrageously sanitized and apalling 2002 Broadway revival with hideous, Witch-desecrating Vanessa Williams.

The Stratford production was, thus, my 3rd experience with it. The verdict: I rank it VERY highly above the revival, although well below the original. Nevertheless, it was great. They did strange things with the scenery, makeup and costumes that didn't always work, but were compelling to look at and gave this well-worn-(to me) musical a fresh feeling. Everything was done in black, white and red; the style seemed to come from the 1920's and there was a prevailing Art Deco kind of a feeling. The Witch's costume was all vegetables, weeds and roots obscuring her face and peppers for claws, and a giant asparagus staff for a magic wand. Her transformation into a "beautiful" woman was hilarious; she became a white-faced dominatrix/Nazi with slicked back hair and severe lipstick. For this she was willing to lose her powers? Hrmph.

We sat in the second row (I love to be up close, the actors become real people and I don't have to squint.) The Witch's performance was disappointing (and all non-Bernadette Witches probably will be); she chewed the scenery and her voice was unimpressive. The Baker was unexpectedly fantastic, heartbreaking, roly-poly. Jack was shrill but interesting. Little Red was perfect. Cinderella was unconventional and very sympathetic. Ah, but you (either the imaginary 'you' that's made it this far into this review, or Kirsten, the only person who really knows of what this means to me) want to know how the Baker's Wife was: the Baker's Wife, my favourite role in all of musical theatre, immortalized by Joanna Gleason in 1987. How did Stratford's Mrs. Baker hold up? She was very fine indeed. Daffy, lost, somehow very Canadian (the accent?), she complemented Roly-Poly Baker perfectly, nagging-bordering-on-whining rather than domineering (but it worked); loved the choreography for It Takes Two, where they joined hands and did a little soft-shoe; I'd always thought they should have more of a little dance together for that song, and the way she his behind a tree for the lines, We're strangers/I'm meeting you in the woods, that was satisfying indeed. To sum, the Baker's Wife was no Joanna, but she was her own, and very, very fine indeed.

The staging of the finale was far superior to what the video could show me of the original; I thought it was the best part of the production overall. (Except for a ridiculously literal, two-dimensional prop of the giantess with a bleeding wound on her too-serene face dominating the stage. Ick. Styoopid.) There was a bit where Cinderella's mother comes out and stands beside her during Children Will Listen that broke my heart.

A new production of this show is a rare experience and this one made my weekend.

That said, there was far too much food (specifically, dry-roasted peanuts, shame on me); and I wonder if I was the only person in the audience for whom current events intruded a bit when the Baker and his Wife accompany Little Red in the second act on the pretext of "a great wind" returning to destroy the remainder of their house. I can't watch the news so I depend on Gina to tell me how I can help and what I can do... it's all so horrible and now my escape is over...

...all the wondering what even worse is still in store,,,

Wetblogging

I'm not too late--

Happy birthday, sweet Rynn! Happy birthday, Ade, wherever you are...

Why are you in Tavie's head? 10:21 PM | shower me with attention