Holiday Cheer, HC-Style

If you look outside, it doesn't look like December.  It doesn't even really feel like December inside from my apartment.  We have one pine tree candle, and we've purchased stockings to decorate, and we've even made a decent dent in the large canon of Christmas movies out there, but I'm just not in the Christmas spirit yet.  Today, though, I think that may change, as I'm returning to Holy Cross for the afternoon.

Ricky and even my coworkers sometimes tease me about my love for HC.  There's just something about that little academic paradise on a hill that sets my heart pitter patter, and it comes out even stronger in the wintertime.  Much like how Hogwarts always looked prettier at Christmas, Holy Cross feels and looks even prettier under a blanket of snow with greenery and advent wreaths.  Last night, HC hosted its annual tradition of Lessons and Carols.  I didn't steam it, but I'm sure it was merry with the choir singing and candles and greens everywhere.  I went a few times when I was in college, and it's a really nice experience.

This is a stressful time in the life of a Crusader, since classes are wrapping up and finals are going to be underway next week.  It was a lot of not sleeping for me and a lot of cramming to write all my papers and study literary themes or important plays.  We even had all of the student performances during the reading days, so those three days that I could have used as a jump start on papers were spent in the Pit, rehearsing one thing or another.  But it was still very nice, since it signified the end of a semester and visual proof of learning outcomes. 

There was definitely a social aspect to the end of the semester and finals.  Because no one had classes, big lunches used for discussing books and studying happened regularly.  Jess, Karin, Tim, sometimes Erin, and I would also spend hours in Hogan, buying cup after cup of coffee and writing papers on the couches.  At night, we'd all trek to Midnight Breakfast and stay for hours, soaking up all the free coffee they provided while eating egg sandwiches and hash browns.  This was the break we'd need, though often someone would have a book or a paper in hand to edit and hopefully not get coffee or maple syrup on.  It didn't matter what we were doing, we'd make sure we were there every night.  There was also a memorable time when our classmate Ed (now a monk!) was panicking about something and gave himself a bloody nose.

I know I discussed all of this last year, but the feelings of nostalgia came flooding back again.  Why?  My friend Tim has been teaching at HC all semester, and today is the last day of his fall semester.  He's celebrating with pizza (as only one can when you're finishing Milton) and then I am joining him for a later lunch somewhere in the city.  It's been exciting hearing him talk about being back in Worcester and starting on his career path, so spending time with Tim on the last day of classes seems appropriate.  It makes me remember all the winters in Worcester (or while I was in Worcester and he was studying in England) we've spent together.  The midnight breakfast, the coffees in Hogan, the Christmas party where he dressed up like Santa.  All of it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think this trip to Worcester will be the beginning of holiday cheer that I need.  A walk around to look at the greens, see the manger, drink too much coffee with Tim... that'll all bring me to that frame of mind that's ready for Christmas and the holidays in general.  I'm glad that I'm doing it a little older, a lot wiser, a few more grays and a ring on my left hand, and that I don't have to stretch my margins out to get a paragraph onto the 10th page all while trying not to spill in my books so I can try to sell them back to the bookstore.

Day 25 of the 30 Day Song Challenge

Love today's post!

Day 25: A song that makes you laugh

I heard Trey Parker and Matt Stone interviewed on Fresh Air about this musical, and it sounded awesome/hilarious. I also like how it's a wink and nod to both religion and musicals. Definitely check out their Book of Mormon interview, along with their prior one about South Park.

I love how the joke set up is, where it's "meaningful statement about faith, meaningful statement about faith, weird ass fact about the Mormon religion". AND the musical nerd in me loves how the opening is a nod to Sound of Music. When I first heard this song, I was reduced to a giggle fest.

Well done, Parker and Stone. Well. Done.

Day 7 of the 30 Day Song Challenge

Dance, postcards, dance!

It's Sunday morning. Ricky's watching The Killing On Demand and Lewis is running around everywhere, trying to get into things. Little does he know he's going to the groomer in a few hours to get his nails clipped and to visit the shelter where we adopted him from. They haven't seen him since he was a wee bit of a thing, and now he's almost 6 months. Little guy's getting so big!

Day 7: A Song That Reminds You Of A Certain Event

I think maybe because of my upcoming college reunion, and even a little bit of yesterday's post, but I've been thinking a bit more about college this weekend. I think for my Event, I will choose a song from my first full-length directing piece, The Wedding On The Eiffel Tower. To this day, it's my proudest accomplishment when it comes to theatre.

I made a really unique piece, while a lot of it was my work and ideas, another big part of it was a huge collaboration. Pete had inspired a lot of the music choices, and Erin and Danielle (both castmembers) had suggested pieces that made the cut. This great girl named Jen choreographed the whole thing. And while a lot of it was structured, I gave a lot of room for my actors to improv and create on their own. It was a lot of building up for me, but also a lot of letting go to make the performances what they could be. A huge lesson for myself.

I've been thinking about Eiffel Tower a lot more recently, too, when Erin got engaged in Paris. Originally it was supposed to be by the Eiffel Tower, but apparently it's too many people there to safely propose.

Of all the songs, I think I'll do the big dance number, which was Frank Zappa's Peaches En Regalia. All the postcards danced during this, and it was very funky and cool. I think Erin even still remembers parts of the dance.

Say it soft and it's almost like praying

Last night, after my big trip, Ricky and I watched West Side Story for the first time. I've always loved the music from it, and he was curious to see how they pulled it off and how it compared to Romeo and Juliet.

It was really good! (this isn't news, since the movie is 50 years old) I love the choreography and the look of it (reality vs. fantasy of the set) and use of colors. Ricky liked the music a lot. Our favorite song was Maria:

Rough week for TV parents

Tom Bosley, aka Mr Cunningham. Ritchie's dad and Fonzie's... foster dad? Surrogate dad? Guy who feeds him? (unrelated... so glad Fonz was on every episode instead of Potsy... because really, who liked any of Ritchie's friends?)


I also fondly remember Mr C as David the Gnome growing up, that show that was on Nickelodeon back when I was a kid, where he kept the woods safe and rode on the back of a fox. And then more recently, roughly, was seeing him as the Sea Captain when my grandparents took me to see Show Boat in Boston when I was about 12. I think I still have somewhere the ad I cut out of the Globe when I knew I was going with my grandparents so I could remember the trip. (no, he didn't really sing. The big song from that is Old Man River)



Here's Mr C enjoying that new hip band Weezer (having a hard time finding straight up clips from Happy Days!):








And then Barbara Billingsley, aka June Cleaver. I admit, I don't have many memories watching Leave it to Beaver, but even so... we all know that the most wholesome family on tv is the Cleaver family. And if you ever want to learn a lesson neatly tied up into a 22-minute tv package, you go to the Ward and June. I do know that when I was dressed for Reunion and finishing making muffins while wearing pearls, heels, a dress, and an apron, I commented that I felt very June Cleaver.



Despite this, I better remember her as the greatest movie interpreter of all:

Et tu, Brute?

Then fall, Caesar.

From the phone of Michnya

I worked with Al Pacino once.


I got this text yesterday from Michnya. It mad my day:

So, just discovered that Baron Kelly interviewed for a job here last year, and was regarded as a blowhard ass by the grads on the selection committee.


Sooooo true.

JFL

Today is a very mixed emotion day for me. Four years ago, I lost my friend Jack to a freak accident. It was very unexpected and sad. I think about Jack often and miss him every day. Definitely something that shaped me and my friends and we still grapple with.


We'll be doing the shot heart round the world tonight at 9pm. A shot of Jack for Jack. I think I'll be doing it with Jennie, which will be nice to spend it with a really good friend who also has many fond memories of Jack.




Miss you and love you, Jack. <3


UPDATE: It warms my heart every year to see my friends post Facebook status updates about Jack. There'll be a lot of whiskey consumed tonight in honor of the Master Electrizzle.

Every Little Step

Thursday night, Danielle, Becca, and I caught a documentary at the Cabot Street Cinema in Beverly. It was a good excuse to see each other again and to be a bunch of theatre nerds. Because what was this documentary about?

Oh yes, yes it was about A Chorus Line.

The three of us saw Every Little Step, which chronicles both the creative minds that wrote and produced the original 1975 production of A Chorus Line as well as the production staff who tries to cast the 2007 revival. Danielle was in A Chorus Line in 2003, I saw it several times, and Becca is a super dancer, so we are a good audience for this show.

One part of the movie focuses on Michael Bennett, the choreographer who thought up the idea behind A Chorus Line, as well as interviewed 22 dancers in the business over 12 hours, and took those interviews and stories and created the characters we see on stage. He also got together some of the greatest talents in the business to write the songs and produce the show. The movie features interviews with dancer Donna McKechnie (original Cassie and dancing genius), dancer Baayork Lee (original Connie and choreographer of the revival), composer Marvin Hamlisch (who composed the music of ACL), and choreographer Bob Avian (who co-choreographed the original production and directed the revival).

The other part of the movie focuses on the efforts of casting the revival. The movie focuses on a few dancers, including the green newcomer who showed up for the open auditions, the seasoned dancers who want a big break, and the hard working dancers who charm but don't make the cut and have to start all over again for another role. Many parts follow several actors going for the same role, which recreates that heartache of the musical itself of good people just not making the cut.

I'm always impressed by people who can sing and dance and have all that talent, and it's incredible seeing a room filled with people who can. I am not blessed with those talents of dancing, so I have lots of respect who can make it happen. And having spent years doing theatre, I know the heartbreak of not getting cast, and making it so far into the process only not to get a role. So I really felt for these people. You put so much of yourself on the line, and the final decision isn't in your hands. It's also hard spending your whole life and career trying to please and impress others.

It was fascinating seeing the production crew discussing the actors and debating the merits of each and why they made the choices they make. I found myself torn, since I was getting emotionally invested in the people behind the performance. But that's not what they're paid to do, so I have a lot of respect for them trying to create a great cast, knowing that they have to upset many people along the way.

The story of ACL stands up years later as well. I strongly recommend catching this movie if you've ever done theatre or dance, or if you tend to be drawn towards dance and the arts. The film tends to assume that you're in the know when it comes to the arts, but they also know that's the target audience. So try to check it out.

And for some dancing and enjoyment, her are some videos. The first is the original cast performing the opening of the show for the 1976 Tony's. (the song is I Hope I Get It), and the second is the revival performing One at the 2007 Tony's.

One more mention of MJ

I want to eventually blog about other things other than celebrities dying, but here's one last one about MJ...

When driving to the doctor's office this morning I thought about Michael Jackson and his work within the poppy musicals. Granted, on the list of his achievements, this is WAY WAY WAY at the bottom of the list, but as I'm a theatre-y girl, it popped in my head.

Of course, we have his role as The Scarecrow in the movie version of The Wiz:



And then a little bit earlier is his cover of Pippin's Corner of the Sky:

Thank you for being a friend

I think I'd be remiss if I didn't write something about Bea Arthur, who passed away yesterday at age 86. I was very surprised to hear this, and thought immediately of my college friend Eric Butler. He is a huge Golden Girls fan, so I can only imagine how he took this news.

I've definitely seen my fair share of Golden Girls and Maude, and loved her dry sense of humor. A witty remark and a withering glance. But I'm also a huge fan of her theatre work. Arthur originated the role of Yente in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. If you get a record or CD of this version, even if you didn't know that before listening to it, the minute she speaks you say "of course that's Bea Arthur".

Bea Arthur also played the role of Lucy Brown in an English language adaptation of Threepenny Opera as well as winning a Tony for her performance of Vera Charles in Mame.

Here's Bea Arthur singing with Angela Lansbury Bossom Buddies from Mame. So thanks for years of great performances, Bea. You'll be missed.

Mimpi finally goes on the road

Here's one of my many stories from my most recent trip to HC:

Mimpi is finally going on the road to Bali

What is Mimpi, you may ask? My junior year of college, Fall 2004, I was in a Balinese dance drama called Mimpi. It was a combination of two Balinese folk tales. I played a Crane in the Greek Chorus, and Putu's grandmother. It was a challenging experience, but also rewarding in the end. What made it a little difficult is that we wrote it ourselves and created the piece as we went along. A very organic experience, but when you're used to getting a script and having more structure, it was something I don't know if the whole cast was fully prepared for.

This is also the play I was in when I fell in a gutter completely sober the night the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, and I badly sprained my ankle and was on crutches up to the show and spent the whole show with tons of ace bandages making sure I could still do it. But that's a story for another day.

So after Mimpi went up and it got rave reviews in the States (apparently people from PBS wish they knew of this show so they could tape it and air it on PBS) the seed was planted that we could bring Mimpi on the road. And not just any road, like perhaps to Boston or NYC or DC, but a further and longer road that would require passports. Yes, Lynn the director decided to take Mimpi straight to the source... Bali.

Fall of 2004 we were all very excited at the idea of moving to Bali for a few weeks, living with Balinese artists, and putting up our show. This is something we never thought could and would happen, and it was very exciting. Daunting, yes, but exciting.

Then came some road blocks. First off, it is incredibly expensive to fly a troupe of actors and all their costumes and set pieces to Bali. Each flight would have been thousands of dollars alone. It would take some serious fundraising or grants.

Another significantly bigger issue came up when we found out that we would not be insured by the college because Bali was on a list of countries academic institutions were not allowed to visit because it was considered a terrorist threat. So in 2004, it was considered risky for us to go there. These two things made our Balinese Mimpi dreams get put on a shelf.


Fast forward five years, and I heard from my friend Jen that Mimpi is FINALLY going on the road. The ban has been lifted, the funds are there, and Lynn is working with a combination of HC artists and Balinese artists. Only a few people from my production will be going (Jen and Tom) and they'll rehearse for a week and put the show on for two or three. This will be happening in June. Lynn's been traveling to Bali a lot, I hear, to work out the kinks.

This news was bittersweet for me. First off, I am so incredibly happy for Lynn to be able to fulfill this and put her show up in Bali. And I'm really happy for the HC actors who are able to go to Bali and have this amazing experience. This will be incredible on their resumes and an experience they will never forget.

It does, however, make me sad that my Bali dreams will not come to fruition. I am not at a place in my life where I can up and leave for Bali for a month, because I have bills and a job and can't up and leave. And I fear my skills and talents are not up to muster for a trip of this kind. While I support the arts, my talents are not "perform in Bali"-able. I also don't think I share the passion and excitement for Mimpi and this lifestyle that my friends who are going do. While I loved Mimpi, I could not up and move. So it was about 80% excitement that Mimpi is going on the road, 20% sadness that I am not.

If I hear more about Mimpi on the road, I will pass this information along. And again, congrats to everyone that Mimpi is finally on the road. Five yeras in the making!

Rage-chel Against the Machine at Holy Cross for the 2009 Fenwick Scholar Presentation

For one show only, Emily loves herself some Hot Topic.

I could write many posts about my most recent trip to Worcester, but for now I'll stick to the main reason why I headed out to Central Mass this past Saturday night. Maybe if I am in need of a reason to blog, I'll discuss my other Worcester things.

My very dear friend Emily Rast, a very talented young actor who is clearly going places in this world, presented her Fenwick Friday and Saturday night at HC. She wrote a one-woman show that explored the ideas of the female ingenue in musical theatre and some characters who break out of that mold, as well as why it's important to have this archetype.

I guess now I should explain what the Fenwick is. So at HC, they select 1-3 students every year to write a 200-page thesis their senior year. They don't take classes, but instead focus their entire academic year writing this paper. Then in the spring, they present their paper in Smith Library. Their paper is also published and kept in the library, and their names are engraved on a plaque in the library. My friend Tim was one of the three my senior year. It's rare they select one that focuses on the arts, so I'm thrilled they picked Emily.

The show was free, and lasted a little under an hour. I was joking with Joan, my college boss and "college mom" that it was nice to just show up on campus and not have to worry about reservations. A nice little mini-reunion, since several people who were theatre majors during my tenure there also came on campus to see the show.

The show focuses on Rachel, an 18-year-old aspiring performance artist back for her first Thanksgiving break from college. Her mother is a famous musical theatre actor, and she tries very hard to rebel against her job and everything her art stands for: the female ingenue. They are unrelatable, out of touch with reality, boring, and just not something she wants. Rachel, with the help of some of musical theatre's most iconic characters and songs, explore this concept as well as some characters who break out of this mold.

Emily wrote this piece, and I was very impressed by it. Smart, witty, and something many can relate to, even if not in the theatre world. Wanting to make a place for oneself in the world, heartbreak, family, rebellion, and lonliness were all addressed. I know near the end Emily was feeling some significant stress regarding this piece, but I think a year of stress and hard work paid off tenfold.

Rage-chel Against the Machine was directed by another classmate of mine, Eric Butler '06. He's directed Emily in Pal Joey, Sweet Charity, and The Women, if not more pieces. This duo works very well together, and I think this was a nice swan song for them, as Emily is moving to Maine and then Upstate New York after graduating.


So a big congrats to Emily for a great project. You always amaze me.

A trip down memory lane... to Spring 2003

Today at work, I was doing research on how other sites get user feedback in real time, when I decided to get information from amazon.com. After getting the necessary screenshots, I took a moment to visit my favorite page on that site... for my old professor Steve Vineberg's book No Surprises, Please!: Movies in the Regan Decade. Now, I've never read this book, so that's not why I love this page. No, it's for the user comments.

Back in 2003, my friends Dave Wanczyk, Michnya, and I found this page and the following review, which gave Steve's book one star:

The dorkiest title of all time
Imagine writing a book and titling it NO Surprises, Please! That gives you an idea of how hip this author is. The book is dull, the insights are slight and the prose style is irritating. I stumbled upon this book in a library jumble sale... The concept for the book is so lame that it really should have been contained within an article in a university publication or some staid periodical for an audience of dullards. It's out of print now, mercifully, and is already so dated feeling that it's doubtful it will ever see the light of day again, but just in case you find another copy lying around in a pile or see this author's name on another book (please, no) you have been warned!


Our first line of attack against this was to say it was not helpful a bunch of times. Then, Dave decided to fire back with his own review of the book. (keep in mind, he's also never read it)


Don't judge a book by its title
This book is perhaps the best thing to happen to the cinema since Godard, and the best thing to happen to American cinema since God saw fit to mix amino acid with soul. When Emerson wrote about a new American poet carrying on his legend, he was not prophesying Whitman, he was shouting loud to the reverberate hills the name of Vineberg. The structure of this book is flawless, its insights sublime, its witticisms sharp, and its footnotes helpful. I've heard in various circles challenges to the authors hipness. Hemingway was not hip my friends. Hemingway may have been hardcore, but he did not know the words to this Mitch Miller hit, or that bee bop and skat tune. Steven Vineberg is both hardcore and hip, having memorized the lyrics to Eminem's smooth rap anthem, "Lose Yourself." In fact, Steve Vineberg is Marshall Mathers. His hatred of such 80s classics as The Breakfast Club and Ghostbusters II brought him to a level of rage unseen in white rap since Ed Isser screamed to Jon Tobin, "No one can be as intense as me." You can see the influence of filth like Mannequin in his lyric, "You don't wanna mess with Vineberg, cuz Vineberg will tear you paper up." Seriously, though, Vineberg is a meticulous writer and the most discerning critic of our day. A coincidental acronym for this professorial entity is "never, beg invest," and I implore my Amazon brothers and Sisters to never beg, but invest your hard earned 2.94$ in this book and help unseat J.K. Rowling. By the way, Vineberg likes Cuaron, the director of HP3, and he is my choice to direct HP7, "Harry Potter and the search for Macdougal's last paper."


Michnya and I then gave it a bunch of high marks and also emailed it to all of our friends, who also got a kick out of it. Then Michnya and Dave graduated, Dave fell off the face of the earth, but Michnya and I kept the buffoonery alive.

When I reread this page, I discovered that two years after Dave's review, someone else decided to take it into their own hands and also review this book. I'm also guessing that they've never read it, either.


How does one sum up a man and his work? (by Marshall Mathers III)
The Iroquois believe that before man walked the earth there was a great tribe of sky people who lived without worry or pain on a floating island. One day Sky Woman became pregnant with twins and was pushed by her murderous husband from their happy island home. Instead of plummeting to her death she was caught by birds and carried to safety. There was no land for her so they sprinkled earth on the back of a turtle and placed Sky Woman there.
Sky Woman gave birth to two healthy boys. She named her first son Sapling and he made all that is good and right in the world. He made the trees green and heavy with fruit. He made the waters cool and potable and he filled them up with a bounty of fish. Sky Woman's other son represented all that was dark in the world. He made the rivers flow away and turned the fruit to rot. He salted the earth where he walked and burned the forests to ash. He was the unmaker, the despoiler, the scourge and bane. He was VINEBERG and VINEBERG he remains. He'd like two of the Lucky Millions scratch-offs, please.

VINEBERG is going to climb Everest just to steal George Mallory's corpse. VINEBERG watches NASCAR for the crashes. VINEBERG forgot to leave off the pickles and he has hidden the complaint box. VINEBERG is a first responder. He's going to press his ear to your face and listen to your eyes glaze over. VINEBERG is going to taste your tears.
When the tempest crashes against the lighthouse and the beacon leads the ships aground, VINEBERG will be there riding on his trusty octopus Mephisto. VINEBERG is preoccupied with knitting. VINEBERG can fly but he prefers to travel as an airborne pathogen from host to host. VINEBERG is mutating the avian flu because he likes chickens better than you. VINEBERG loves kudzu, enough to marry it.

There are only two certain things in life: death and VINEBERG, taxes can take a hike. VINEBERG invented hide and seek to lure unattended children into abandoned refrigerators. VINEBERG wore a yarmulke when he traveled through time and beat up teenage Hitler. VINEBERG is digging up a pet cemetery and calling UPS with your address. The Chinese keep crickets as pets and VINEBERG keeps the Chinese as pets. VINEBERG has forbidden dancing on the weekend. VINEBERG is anaerobic.

VINEBERG is running a fraudulent cancer wig program to make sweaters for rich German eccentrics. VINEBERG is using Comic Sans. VINEBERG is opening the attachment. VINEBERG is entrusting a Nigerian with your banking information. VINEBERG just said "LOL" out loud just because he knows you hate it. VINEBERG is framing an expired gift certificate from Burger King. VINEBERG just blamed it on the dog.
VINBERG is sewing dolphin fins to amputees at Walter Reed. Don't blame VINEBERG, he voted for LaRouche. VINEBERG'S car is made entirely out of magnetic ribbons. VINEBERG supports the troops but not the war. VINEBERG is issuing a fatwah.

We would all die alone if it weren't for VINEBERG. VINEBERG is rowing you across the River of Death on your journey to the Kingdom of the West. VINEBERG is weighing your heart in the Hall of Osiris. VINEBERG knows a shortcut across the Lake of Fire. VINEBERG isn't telling. VINEBERG will be confronting his baby mama on Jerry Springer. VINEBERG just threw a baseball game because a terminally ill kid's final wish was that he win. VINEBERG is turning state's evidence.

VINEBERG is not permitted to live within 500 meters of a uranium centrifugal isotope sluice. VINEBERG is selling loose nukes to Syria. VINEBERG just bought up the world's stockpile of tungsten. He's building something, but no one is sure what.

VINEBERG is the sole financier of the hemp lobby. VINEBERG knows his rope. VINEBERG is handing out the brown acid. VINEBERG is having an old-fashioned freak out.

Behind the black door he toils and works. Flashes of welding and mechanical jerks. Ozone stink fills the hall and pounding hammers shake the wall. The loops of cable spill out like hair but no one knows what he's building in there. One day the door is open, the serpents come and the seals are broken. He has fused himself to his creation. The rising tide of blood drowns the coast and the skies are filled with fire. VINEBERG rises up on three mechanical legs and howls at the coruscating light that burns down the stars. He is god and betrayer, the unmaker, the despoiler, the scourge and bane. He is the end and the beginning and he is looking for a great deal on rust proofing.



I had to stop reading this review halfway, since I was crying I was laughing so hard. I also feel I should explain all the references to Eminem. So Spring 2003, Steve had the cast of Cyrano de Bergerac over to his house for a party after a show, and someone put on Lose Yourself. Steve then went on to sing every lyric of this song to the CD, and the cast circled around him while he did it like it was a high school dance. One of the most memorable moments from college, to be sure.

This may only be funny to a small handful of people, but I find all this absolutely hilarious.

Stacy Got Mortified

You may remember a few months ago I promoted the website for Get Mortified, which is a national show for adults to read their diaries, poems, stories, and show artwork and other things they made when they were kids. It's hilarious.

Well, I found out recently that my pal Stacy would be getting mortified in the Boston chapter of this. Loving a good awkward time, I headed to see her at Mottley's in Boston.

The show runs two hours, and showcased nine people. Mostly diaries, but there was also a guy who read his poetry from high school that got published in the high school's literary journal. The girls mainly talked about having crushes on boys and wondering why no one would date them. It's funny hearing about how boy-crazy or desperate people were and looking at them now. This particularly rang true at the guy who said he was into death metal and had long hair... but transformed into a very cute, normal-looking guy with short hair and an Edward Gorey shirt.

Stacy went near the end, and read from her journal. She talked about how much she loved her friend Jesse, how mean girls were, had some "deep" conversations, and talked about how much she loves and related to Dawson's Creek. It was very funny.

At the end, I said hi and told her how much she loved it. She told me that they're now having shows on a monthly basis in Boston, so they may be having more in. This made me excited, since I'd see friends again here. Also... I have a book of notes I wrote to Jess when we were in middle school, and this pretty exists as my journal. We pretended we were spies and had secret names for our crushes. I may need to drag it out and see if it's mortified-appropriate.

I will say this: this show sold out well before the show, so if you're interested in seeing another one in the coming months, BUY YOUR TICKETS IN ADVANCE. The house was packed.

The Cherry Orchard at Fenwick Theatre

Saturday night I got culture of a whole different kind by going to see live college theatre. And not just any college theatre, but MY college theatre. I studied theatre at Holy Cross, and while I don't see every show now, I do try to check out the ones directed by Steve Vineberg, who was my college advisor and one of the few Canadians I like. Boston area readers, Steve sometimes writes film articles for the Boston Pheonix, so the name might be familiar.

My group of theatre college friends and I first went out to eat at a restaurant I had never been to on Shrewsbury St, as it opened after I had graduated, called Via. AMAZING Italian food. I got gnocchi with lobster meat, and I could have had five more bowls of it. I also had a damn tasty raspberry mojito. We're clearly warming up if I'm ordering mojitos again.

I also want to mention to my HC readers that construction seems to be at an all-time low on 290. Ever since I went to visit this college as a pre-freshman they have been revamping highway 290. So every time to drive on it it's either a mess of construction vehicles or lanes have been shifted or what have you. The last two times I was in Worcester (February and March) have been surprisingly pleasant driving-wise, because 290 seems mostly done with being worked on. It only took... what, 9 year? I'm heading back in April for Emily's Fenwick production, so I'm hoping to go for the driving hat trick.

Steve knows his Russians well, having directed me in The Seagull in 2005 and various other Chekhovs in his time at Holy Cross, and this proved to be no different. A very good, but very sad, production, as all Chekhov plays are. They're called "comedies" and there are light parts to each production, but at the end of the show you feel like someone has ripped out your heart and stepped on it a few times. Then again, Russia wasn't the happiest of times during this period, either.

The Cherry Orchard chronicles an aging family, one of the last clinging to aristocracy, losing their family home/estate for generations, and their spreading through Europe as a result. These characters are being pushed out my modernity and the newly forming middle class. Rank means nothing in this new world, something they cannot grasp, as former paupers who have built themselves up now have the power and control.

Good set, good acting, and always good to see the faculty. One odd moment was when I walked into the theatre, and the usher asked if I needed help getting to my seat. Oh please, usher, I've spent more time in this room than you'll ever know. Pshaw. Also odd to see the changes happening on campus, like renaming buildings and new streets and buildings. I sometimes freeze HC in time to when I was there, so in my world, these changes are odd.

But all in all, a very pleasant evening, and great to get some culture and see old friends.

Things I like from Canada

I'll be honest, for awhile even Arcade Fire couldn't make me stop hating Canada for 20 minutes...


So the near and dear know that for the last week I've been struggling through a huge work project that came out of Canada. I've already worked many long hours to get it done, and today I worked 13 hours. Sufficed to say, I'm not a happy camper right now, especially since I know I'll have several more days of this nonsense ahead of me.

On one of my breaks, I was trying to think of things I like that are from Canada. I don't want to write off an entire country, though I'm very close. I came up with the following list:

--My friend Crystal, of the Knit Freak blog
--Bobby Orr (duh!)
--Arcade Fire
--Kids in the Hall
--My mom's side of the family that lives in Nova Scotia
--Andrew Ference
--Degrassi High School
--SCTV
--Hockey
--Tim Horton's coffee and doughnuts
--Seth Rogen
--Michael J. Fox

(Somewhat unrelated, Back to the Future is definitely a movie I could watch at any time and never get sick of it. While some of the cultural references fall flat, that movie does hold up surprisingly well over the years. And is there anyone cuter than a young Michael J. Fox? I think not.)


And that's literally everything I could think of. And some of those things in that list are a bit of a stretch. If this work project get any more stressful, things might get pulled from that list. I'm looking at you, SCTV.


So yeah... stay tuned for some probably even more disgruntled blog posts in the coming days.

UPDATE!
I just got off the phone with my friend Michnya, who informed me that many good things come out of Canada, including our former college professor/Boston Pheonix writer/one of the greatest mustaches ever, Steve Vineberg. So my bad in forgetting to include Vineberg in my initial post. Here's a photo of the man and his (now shaved off) 'stache.

Natasha... wow.

I got back from drinks at the Salem Beerworks to read the very sad news about actress Natasha Richardson's death from a skiing accident. This came to me as a surprise, so I of course called Erin, and she was just as surprised and saddened.

I'm a big fan of her work and of her as a person. White Countess I thought was underrated, and her turn as Sally Bowles in Cabaret was great and showed the raw emotions that Liza Minnelli just could not. She just seemed like such a class act. Her whole family appeared that way. Hard-working and incredibly talented people. And it seems so horrible and tragic that all of that was cut short at a (relatively) young age due to a freak accident.

My heart goes out to her sister, her mother, Liam Neeson, and their two sons. Wow, oh so sad.

To close this, which doesn't seem to have much substance but is me re-expressing sadness, I thought I'd end with some of her work. End on an appreciation of her talents, right?

Below is Natasha singing Maybe This Time from Cabaret. Your talents and grace will be missed indeed: