Leap of Faith

This musical stars Raul Esparanza and Brook Shields.  Who knew that Brooke could sing?  I was doubtful, but I was pleasantly surprised.  We’ve all seen this type of plot before.  A handsome scoundrel con man comes into town, sweeps a single mother off her feet, struggles with his life’s direction, finds love and settles down. 

Raul plays Jonas Nightingale who leads a troupe of entertainers across the Midwest to hold the tent revivals where they whip the audience into religious frenzy when he proclaims their private weaknesses and prays to redeem them.  The con is that members of the troupe discretely overhears audience conversations or investigates people, especially the wealthier population.  They then relay the information to Jonas who proclaims that he obtained this information through divine intervention. 

Another attraction is the miraculous healing.  For example, as she walks into the revival tent, a poor old lady is pushed into a wheelchair.  She sits in bewilderment as Jonas lays his hands on her forehead crying out, begging her to walk.  Of course she can walk…but no one else in the town knows because she is a visitor from another town.  In the meantime, the gospel singers are banging tambourines, waving their uplifted hands, singing “Allelelujah”!  The singing throughout the show is so absolutely uplifting,  the audience wants to jump up and wave their hands too.

The problem the town faces is that they have little money because most of what they earn goes into drilling for water because of the drought conditions they are facing.  So the struggle Jonas faces is the fact that he is fleecing money from a town with little money, struggling to survive. 

Brooke plays Marva, a single mother of a young boy named Boyd.  She is a street smart waitress in the only café in the small town.  Marva falls in love reluctantly with a man who arouses her suspicions.

Years before, Marva’s husband died in a car crash.  Boyd was also in the crash causing paralysis from the waist down.  Jonas sings, “Death is a breeze.  Death is a breeze because no one has come back to complain.  But Life is the really hard part.”  Boyd believes Jonas is going to provide a miracle and you guessed it….Boyd walks and everyone lives happily ever after.  The plot maybe old, but the excitement and top notch entertainment is worth seeing again. 

 As the cast took their bows to the standing ovation, Brooke asked to make an announcement.  I thought, oh she is going to make a request for contributions for AIDS or some Performing Arts association.  But it turns out that it was the last performance in L.A. and it was also Raul’s birthday.  So 2000 members of the audience, cast and stage hands sang Happy Birthday to Raul as he stood stunned and teary eyed.  It was fun. 

Il Postino

Ah, the first opera of the 2010/2011 season starring Placido Domingo.  He plays the role of Pablo Neruda, a poet from Chile, exiled because of his politics.  Pablo won a Nobel Prize for literature in 1971.   He is known for reading his poems to large communist gatherings and was actually a senator for the Communist party.  He returned from exile after 3 years, living in his country continuing to write his poetry until his death in 1973 at the age of 69 years old.  

We normally do not like modern operas because of an experience years ago attending a modern opera called Regina, performed at the Orange County Performing Arts.  We went with another couple, dear friends of ours who are always a lot of fun to be with.  The opera was awful, but we were having so much fun anyway.  Regina just could not compare to the classic operas.  For heavens sake, the characters talked with a southern drawl and then would break out into an aria.  Operas should be sung in Italian, French, Spanish or German.  People around us were leaving throughout the performance, but we kept hanging in there, thinking it had to get better.  It didn’t.  A week later, I had t-shirts made for our friends that read, “I survived Regina” to remember the experience.

I digress. Back to Il Postino (The Postman).  Pablo, exiled from Chile seeks refuge for a short while in a small Italian island of Cala di Sotto.  The other main character is Mario, performed by Charles Castronovo.  Mario is the young postman who delivers the mail to Pablo from many of his admirers worldwide.  Mario is rather aimless because he can’t move to America like his brothers and hates fishing, so he rejects being a fisherman like his father.  Over time, Mario interacts with the gracious Pablo, learning more about poetry from the master.  He uses his newfound knowledge to write poetry to win his love, Beatrice.  He eventually wins the hand of Beatrice and marries her.  But he meets his death when he attends a Communist gathering to read his poetry and is accidentally shot when a riot breaks out. 

It was a beautiful opera both visually and through its music.  Scenes from around the island were superimposed in the background to provide inspiration for Mario’s poetry.  The sound of the water as the surf meets the beach, the fishermen in their boats, hills and mountains overlooking the sea.  Music is mixed with the love and creation of poetry.  Placido is yes, past his prime, but he was excellent.  He was excellent, keeping in mind that he underwent cancer surgery a few months earlier.  He is an artist to be admired and we will take every opportunity to attend every opera that is performed by Placido because he is such a legend. 

Our rating of "Would we see it again", is a poetic "Yes"!

The Glass Menagerie

This is a play by Tennessee Williams that finally changed his life from a struggling writer to a world renowned success.  It is such a classic, so Max and I were trying to remember the plot and if we saw a movie version of it played by Marlon Brando or Paul Newman years ago.

The play has four characters and a haunting fifth.  Amanda is the mother who lives with her son Tom and her daughter Laura in a simple, dark apartment in New Jersey.  Amanda is a fading beauty who constantly lives in her past glory as a southern belle who was so sought after, she had “…entertained 17 beaus at one time”.  She loves her children dearly, but she is also very disappointed in them. 

Tom, a warehouse worker also writes in the evening.  Her disappointment in him is that he shows signs of taking after his father who had drank a lot and finally left them 15 years before.  “He worked as a telephone man who fell in love with long distance”.  The father’s picture hangs on the wall bringing them pain and arguments every time they refer to him. 

Amanda, Tom, Laura

Her disappointment in her daughter Laura is that she is painfully shy, the antithesis of Amanda when she was a young girl.  Laura was enrolled in business school, but during a typing test she was so agitated, she threw up and would never go back again.  She has a slight limp that contributed to her shyness and low self-esteem.  Her only joy is her love for her brother and her collection of glass creatures that Amanda called the Glass Menagerie.

After Amanda’s constant harping, Tom invites a fellow warehouse worker Jim O’Connor, to dinner in the hopes that they would find a suitable husband for Laura.  Jim turns out to be the boy that Laura had a crush on in high school.  Laura was absent for a while from school and when Jim asked where she had been, Laura replied that she had pleurisies.  He thought she said Blue Roses and gave her the nickname since then.  Tom is a nice person who charms Amanda and encourages Laura to be more confident.  We thought great…this guy is going to save them from a hopeless existence, but sadly he already had a girlfriend. 

Tom, who was terribly unhappy with his life, flees to travel the world to seek the adventure he was craving.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t find happiness as he is haunted by his mother and mostly his sister who have to fend for themselves.

The play is dreary, sad, haunting yet funny at times.  Judith Ivey who played the role of Amanda was excellent, excellent, excellent.  We understand why this is such a classic that has continued to entertain audiences many years later.  It deserved our standing ovation and it passed the test of whether we would see it again.  Yes, we would!

Pageant of the Masters 2010

For several years we have attended this festival that is held every summer in Laguna Beach.  We’ve invited several different family members to introduce them to this art form.  It started back in the early 1900’s and has increased in attraction world-wide and the sophistication on how it is presented.  We normally attend on the weekends and it is a sold-out event.

Each year is a different theme and this year it was Eat, Drink and be Merry.  Different art forms relating to the theme range from figurines to sculptures to paintings.  Artwork is recreated using human volunteers who would hold a brief pose for the audience to study.  Introducing the artwork, there is an entertaining narrator explaining the artist and the motivation for the art piece.  Then while the human volunteers pose, the live orchestra plays a short musical piece.

We think the more interesting part of the presentation is when they show how a painting is created.  First there is a frame and the people with makeup and costumes are moving about and put into place.  Then the stage goes pitch black and when the appropriate stage lighting comes back on, there is a stunning re-creation of the painting. 

We have been entertained by this annual event for many years, but it is getting to the point that we are getting bored.  So we are not renewing our membership for next year.  Instead we will take a hiatus for a year or so and attend in the future when the interest arises.        

The Lieutenant of Inishmore

Based on the title, I thought this was a play about some branch of the service and it was appropriate for Independence Day.  Then a week before the play, we received a huge brochure in the mail describing the play.  What raised a red flag with me was a section about violence portrayed on stage.  They provided examples in the past such as Shakespeare’s Macbeth or Greek tragedies such as Agamemnon or Oedipus.  So after the episode of sitting through Sophie, a love story about a goat, I told Max that if the play gets out of hand, I’m walking out and will wait for him in the lobby. 

The play is a dark comedy about Northern Ireland’s IRA and their splinter groups.  The opening scene shows two main characters, Donny and Davey standing over a cat lying on the kitchen table. After Davey asks if it is actually dead, Donny picks up the cat and little bloody brains fall on the table.  Strike one.  Both are petrified because the cat, Wee Thomas, is the love of Paddy an IRA rebel who is so crazy, the IRA doesn’t want to have anything to do with him.  So the only other “bloody” scene was when Paddy was torturing a guy who was selling drugs to Catholic kids.  The guy was hanging upside down with a couple of his toe nails torn out, delivering insults to Paddy as if they were drinking in a Pub.  It was a funny scene and Paddy let the guy go. Then it was intermission and I thought it wasn’t that bad. 

Towards the end of the second half, Paddy’s enemies (who admitted they killed Wee Thomas) were killed in a bloody shootout.  Strike two.  The part that tipped the whole thing over the edge was the next scene when Donny and Davey were sawing body parts and blood was dripping off the stage.  I couldn’t look and Max noticed a 3-4 people who got up and walked out. The final irony after so many killings was when the real Wee Thomas came through the hole in the wall and started eating his cat food.  Everyone just cracked up.

I must admit it was funny.  Max said he has not seen anything like it. It is as if Woody Allen and Quentin Tarentino got together to make this. It is a toss up.  I would not see it again.  Max would.

South Pacific

This is a reprise of an old Broadway classic.  Over the years, I’ve heard the old classic tunes that originally came from this musical such as Bali Ha’I, Happy Talk, I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair and our personal favorite, Some Enchanted Evening.  That particular song would be our favorite request because Max could dance to that slow, very romantic tune. 

I won’t recap the story since it is a classic, but surprisingly, I’ve never seen the original musical or movie.  I’ve seen short segments of certain songs being performed, but I’ve never seen the whole thing.  First, my only comment about the characters would be regarding Bloody Mary.  She is a special character who sells odd native artifacts as souvenirs such as shrunken heads, but she repelled me.  I would imagine her teeth being sharpened to complete the picture. 

What I thought was interesting was the culture or accepted norms back in the 60’s depicting the wartime era versus today.  Lt. Cable lamented over his newly discovered love, Liat, Bloody Mary’s daughter.  How could he possibly bring her home to meet his family and be accepted?  It was a doomed relationship.

Then there was the scene when Ensign Nellie rejected Emile when she discovers that his late wife was a native.  Hello…he is an older man living on the island for many years.  What did she expect??  She was horrified, but later accepted the situation and lovingly cared for his children.   Okay, I forgave her blind prejudice.

The story was an interesting study of that time of our history in a musical format that entertained. 

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

We knew that this play was going to stretch our imagination.  Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo.  Do you mean to tell me that in the midst of all the bombs, war and political upheaval, Baghdad has a zoo?  The opening scene showed a disheveled man within a cage and two American soldiers guarding it.  The man looked like he rolled out of a boxcar.  He begins to speak and we realize he is portraying the Bengal Tiger.  He laments about the lions that escaped during the bombings and as a result, they were shot.  But he was the smart one.  He stayed behind and within his cage.  Of course, since he is a tiger, the soldiers couldn’t understand him and made comments about the Tiger’s constant growling.  

The two soldiers complained about the duty as they guard the zoo.  One soldier, Tom, bragged that he has not only a golden gun in his backpack, but had hidden a golden toilet seat from raiding Saddam Hussein’s palace.  The other soldier Kev, a simple-minded kid from the South is dazzled by that accomplishment.  Suddenly, through stupid decisions, Tom puts his arm in the cage with the tiger and loses his hand.  Kev kills the Bengal Tiger.   Now dead, the Tiger observes the events around him and pontificates throughout the rest of the play about life, death and because he is an atheist, he is wondering why the hell is he still hanging around?  Is he seeking peace?  Is there still a purpose not yet accomplished?  

As the play progresses, we begin to understand that being dead apparently increases awareness, wisdom and knowledge.  Other key figures in the play include a translator and a prostitute. We constantly think about our soldiers in the combat zone, but do we think about the other people in the country, who wind up being collateral damage?  Musa, the translator has demons haunting him.  He was a gardener who created beautiful topiary in the gardens of Saddam’s brother, Uday.  He brings his little sister to see his work, but Uday spies her and winds up raping and beating her to death.  


Later, Kev dies and like the Tiger, begins his wanderings around Baghdad.  His observations of the living people begins to show increased wisdom and at times, profound thought.  He even loses his backcountry accent.  This play is unique, interesting and thought provoking.  Despite the strange concept in one of the modern world’s dilemma, I really enjoyed it and would see it again.