Friday, May 11, 2007

A Weekend Devoted To Theater

Joshua and I have our plans set for the rest of this month.

This weekend will be devoted to theater--Josh and I are going to go see three different plays!--and to my mother's kitchen floor.

Next weekend we are going to take my parents up to the lake.

The following weekend Josh and I will be in Denver, and my parents will be in New York.

As for our theater weekend, it will begin tonight, with a performance of "The Madwoman Of Chaillot" at the Theater In The Round, a small company here in Minneapolis with a very fine 260-seat theater. Josh and I have neither seen nor read this Jean Giraudoux play, and we are not quite sure what to expect. When he gets off work this afternoon, Josh will drive downtown and pick me up at work, and we will proceed to the theater. We will only have time for a quick sandwich before the play begins.

Tomorrow night, Josh and I will take my parents and our landlady to Bloomington to see a performance of "Funny Girl", performed by the Bloomington Civic Theater. Although Josh and I have seen the movie, we have never seen a stage production of this musical. The production is a civic theater production, but it is supposed to be quite lavish and quite good--and it even uses a 24-piece orchestra!

On Sunday night, my parents will take Josh and me to see "Major Barbara" at the Guthrie Theater. "Major Barbara" officially opens tonight, while Josh and I will be at the Theater In The Round and while my parents will be at Orchestra Hall, suffering through the colorless Edo De Waart trying to make a go of that most colorful of all composers, Hector Berlioz.

Tomorrow, during the day, I am going to do my mother's kitchen floor. It will take me all day. I am going to strip the old wax, and apply three coats of new wax. Josh and my parents can read and listen to music--and keep the dog out of my hair!--while I work.

On Sunday afternoon, I think that Josh and I will just hang out at my parents' house after church, until we all head downtown Sunday night to see the Shaw play.

It should be a fun weekend!
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3 comments:

  1. JRDMay 11, 2007 4:58 PM

    It seems like a fun weekend, Andrew, especially the "Funny Girl" play. Be sure to report back if the girl playing Fanny Brice is as brilliant and heartbreaking as Streisand. Have fun.

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  2. Drew80May 13, 2007 3:04 PM

    Opera Chanteuse, we all enjoyed "Funny Girl" last night very, very much, but I cannot say that the girl who played Fanny Brice was as brilliant and heartbreaking as Streisand.

    The production was not a professional one, but it was performed at a very, very high level. The actresses appearing as Fanny Brice and as her mother were the greatest assets of the production, and their performances were of professional quality, or so I thought.

    The physical production was quite impressive, and so was the orchestra. My landlady said that, in community theater, the orchestra members are paid, while everyone else involved in the production--the designers, the director, the choreographer, the cast members, the backstage crew--work solely because of their love of theater.

    Under those circumstances, it almost seems unfair to pay the orchestra musicians, and only the orchestra musicians (not that I begrudge them their fees).

    We had a very good time, and I am glad we went.

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  3. JRDMay 13, 2007 3:39 PM

    Thanks for the recap.

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