Robin's content... :): Entertainment

"Young Frankenstein" Paramount Theater

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 01:19:06 GMT

When the musical “Young Frankenstein” opened at the Paramount, it was a foregone conclusion that we go because the movie “Young Frankenstein" is my all time favorite film. We went this past Friday night and by intermission I was feeling disappointed. Musical numbers went on too long; locker-room jokes were belabored and far from clever. It just wasn’t the rollicking fun ride I expected. However I might be the only “Young Frankenstein” fan who thought so. The audience was so enamored with the original characters and material that they went crazy with whoops and laughter – even at times for the mere act of a performer walking onto the stage.

I think these audience members were able to do something that I couldn’t. They transposed Gene Wilder and Teri Garr’s original performances on top of the less talented comedic actors in front of us. The actors who played Igor and Frau Blucher embodied the original characters very well but the doctor and Inga made me wish that I was at home watching my DVD. I wouldn’t have minded if the characters had deviated a great deal from the ones in the film but these close but no cigar performances were simply frustrating.

The show really picked up and redeemed itself in the second act. The much anticipated “Putting on the Ritz” number was the absolute highlight of the show. It was an extended version of the original with over the top, funny choreography that was absolutely delightful. The quintessential Brooks’ make ‘em groan puns were reined in during the second half of the show and even the sexual innuendos seemed more subtle and consequently funnier. In the end I enjoyed the show and was glad to have gone. I hope that there are plans to tighten up the first act to do justice to a very entertaining classic film.

“If you're blue
and you don't know
where to go to
why don't you go
where fashion sits...
PUUUDM OM DA REETZ…!”

“First Class” at Act Theater

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 05:54:45 GMT

I’m too young to have taken a poetry course with Pulitzer-prize winner Theodore Roethke at the University of Washington. He died a few years before I was born. I did not hear his inspirational talks about making music with words or what it takes to make a good poem great (and why great poetry is important.) I most certainly didn’t see the effects of his bi-polar disorder which propelled him into mad ravings and crazed phone calls to people such as the president of the University, the mayor of Seattle and governor of Washington State.

Last night however I traveled to a 1950s classroom and got glimpse into what it might have been like. We went to see “First Class” on opening night at Act Theater, a one man play that invites the audience into Roethke’s classroom and at times into his mind. John Aylward is absolutely riveting as the clever and intense poet. The show was written by David Wagoner a former student who wanted to share experiences that clearly made an indelible mark on his life – and now this play on mine. I will not forget the professor’s angst and torment – and I will remember some of his lessons, too. He taught that Shakespeare knew that “eee” sounds belong to witches. I can still see professor screeching “When shall weee threeee meeet again…?”

Well-acted, well-cast, unusual and interesting play.

Stuff Happens

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:54:28 GMT

We went to opening night of "Stuff Happens" at ACT last night. Whew! This is an impressive political play that dramatizes the events leading up to the Iraq war. Characters include George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz -- much of the dialog is taken directly from press conferences, interviews and speeches stitched together with fictional (yet believable/highly probable) scenes.

This is obviously heavy stuff. It's worth seeing for the realistic portrayal of the political figures (pretty funny at times) and for the accurate retelling of this story - many POV are conveyed (it helped me finally wrap my mind around why Blair was behind the push to go to war, for example.) This is a tight, well done, well cast production. It runs until July 22nd.

https://www.acttheatre.org/TicketsPlays/Play.aspx?prod=45

West Side Story

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 07:34:23 GMT

Jim and I went to see West Side Story at the Fifth last night. It was as swanky and cool as dancing hoodlums from the 50's are apt to be -- and unfortunately thematically still relevant (gangs, race relations and violence) fifty years after its premiere.

The set was appropriately urban and industrial: a fenced in play yard, dusty concrete, metal fire escapes ('oh, wherefore art thou.... Tony?') Scenes were flooded with deep red, purple and green lights -- and oh, how I loved the fluorescent lights in the magazine shop! The singing and dancing was fantastic -- the tenor who played Tony had such a wonderfully warm voice. Needless to say, I enjoyed the show very much... but tell me, when am I going to learn that I must bring tissues when I go to the theater?!? I walked away with a tear splashed shirt and a mottled, red nose. If I had to guess I would say this was a four tissue show. I just couldn't play it cool, boy. :)

Laugh at least one night in June

Tue, 29 May 2007 04:40:25 GMT

There’s a wonderful show coming in June to SecondStory Repertory in Redmond. It has a very talented cast who will undoubtedly put on an extremely entertaining show. This *is* downtown-quality theatre on the Eastside.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

“Tragedy tomorrow,” begins this crazy farce…“Comedy Tonight!”

It’s an evening of beautiful women, lecherous men, young love, mistaken identities and slapstick comedy – not to mention a delightful musical score by Stephen Sondheim.

June 1-30 Fridays and Saturdays at 8:15 pm, Sundays (June 17 & 24) at 2:15 pm
Tickets $20-$26

SPECIAL PERFORMANCE to benefit SecondStory Repertory
Delicious desserts and fine wines served during intermission -- plus a chance to mingle with the cast.

Sunday, June 10th at 5:30 pm Tickets are $45 if purchased through May 31st – or $55 after June 1st.

To RSVP call (425) 881-6777 or e-mail caitlin@secondstoryrep.org

www.SecondStoryRep.org

La Boheme

Sat, 19 May 2007 05:07:48 GMT

Jim and I soaked in Puccini's La Boheme at the Seattle Opera last weekend. It was visually stunning and the music and singing was so very pretty. I was completely moved by the story. My face was covered in tears by the end.

I enjoy Opera because I find it incredibly entertaining on many levels. I don't experience it in an intellectual way. I don't understand how it is built or why. I can't even quite put my finger on why I love it so much. All I know is that every time I go, I'm swept up in the experience. This Opera is my favorite one so far (knocking Carmen out of first place.)

I love Carmen for all the obvious reasons -- the catchy singable tunes, the humor, the pure entertainment value. La Boheme did something, though that I've haven't experienced with an Opera before. The characters were so real; I felt like I knew them. Even more surprising, I felt like they could be my friends, and I could be theirs. There was a young painter, a writer and a attention whore (but of course, gotta have a diva!) and there was the sickly, insipid young seamstress. I couldn't believe how much I cared about the characters (see Edward Scissorhands entry -- harrumph!) I cared for my on stage friends, and I cried with them as they grappled with their deeply painful loss.

Edward, what's his name? Eh, who cares...

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 06:58:52 GMT

We went to see Edward Scissorhands last night at the 5th. It's not something I would have gone out of my way to see but a Jim had gotten free tickets so why not? I thought it would be fun. Easy, over the top entertainment. I left at intermission. There was nothing wrong with the production per se. There were a few clever moments and certainly the sets were pleasing but it was completely flat. I didn't feel drawn in and I certainly didn't care about any of the characters.

One couple left midway through the first act and I watched them, longingly wishing they would take me with them. The show had no words: neither spoken nor sung. No words. Can you say, "Mime?" It's been a while since I saw the film but I remember that it was moving and subtle. The musical (mime) version was full of stereotypical clichés to convey who the characters were and exaggerated acting to tell the story. Subtle it was not.

I don't have a favorite type of performance. I'm as equally comfortable at the Opera as I am at a movie theater but damn it, I want my emotions manipulated -- and this didn't do it for me.

(sidenote: I've seen so much good theater lately that it is actually fun to have something to trash :)

Last Weekend

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 22:14:03 GMT

It's been a crazy week so this is a late update. Yet another fabulous weekend -- this one was a two play weekend for us: Steel Magnolias and Late Night Catechism. Both extremely entertaining. Steel Magnolias made me cry - I was completely depleted afterward but in a good way. I ran into the Director today and complimented her on ruining my night ;) Catechism was a hoot. I want to take my ex-Catholic mother to it. She'll be one of the people in the audience raising her hand and cracking everyone else up. If you haven't been, GO! It's very funny plus what have you been waiting for? It's been running for ten years.

Saturday morning I got together with a good friend on Capitol Hill for breakfast. He took some smashing photos of me and put them on his flickr site here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/speedforce/sets/72157600112248564/. If you go to the site, you'll see that he mentions that I dropped his camera in my cup of coffee. Seriously, I wanted to curl up and die -- but he was pretty cool about it and somehow that made the gaff tolerable. I even continued to drink my coffee. (Eh, whatever. I need my fix.) Then, today at lunch with this same friend, I dowsed myself and the table with a rather large glass of ice water. What is it with beverages and this guy?!? :)

"Heaven Knows They're as Miserable Now as Ever" - A. Soto

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 07:33:33 GMT

The Village Voice has a great opening line in a review of Modest Mouse's latest album "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank." It reads: "First things first: Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock has not turned into Morrissey." Too funny.

Damn, I'm enjoying this album -- for some unexpected reasons. I really dig hearing the newest member Johnny Marr (former Smiths guitarist) play. There are brief moments, a riff here or there, when my mind is sent directly back to when it was housed in a pink mohawked skull. And believe me, those were good days. Mercer is holding back (or maybe he's matured) but I like the nostalgic feelings he conjures up just the same.

Another highlight for me is James Mercer's (the Shins) melodious tones blended into three of its songs. Especially wonderful is "Missed the Boat." A few years back, were it possible to plug headphones directly into my life, I wanted it to sound just like the Shin's song "New Slang." (I guess that was the point of that scene in Garden State.)

But enough about Mercer and Marr -- this album belongs to Brock! He delivers angry, quirky, gentle or at times David Byrnes-y vocals in a completely unselfconscious, unpretentious way.

Yum.

Movies

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 05:05:13 GMT

Making a list of movies I want to see so when faced with the question, "What do you want to watch?" I will have a place to turn. It's ridiculous; I always draw a blank. No particular order here (some of these I've seen before):

Donnie Darko
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Big Fish
Ghost World
Mystic River
Groundhog Day
Ed Wood
The Big Lebowski
The Pianist
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3/30: "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my blue hair..." Honestly, not blown away but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Winslet's portrayal of a woman with intense anger issues and insecurities is believable -- and I liked that she never "grew beyond" techno-coloring her hair (could have been an easy device to make the character more likable with time - glad to see it wasn't used.)
Rear Window
12 Angry Men
The Usual Suspects
3/23: Kevin Spacey is brilliant. Completely, thoroughly satisfying film
The Godfather
Goodfellas
Raging Bull
Psycho
Citizen Kane
Vertigo
M
Modern Times
Metropolis
2001 - Space Odyessy
Cinema Paradiso
The Graduate
The Conversation
Children of Men: 04/08/07: I liked the beginning and the ending; I was a bit lost in the middle: lots of violence and not much to really grab me. 3 out of 5 stars.