Donaturgy

I know it's today

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:42:04 GMT

Because January is the worst month for theatre, a ton of shows close
the Sunday after New Year's, so I caught Shrek (don't judge!) with my
friend Anthony and attempted to see Ragtime via lottery rush but
failed. The former was highly derivative (but I do love them musical
allusions...) and a spectacular assault of my senses, though it was also
highly entertaining. I absolutely love Sutton Foster. She of course played
Princess Fiona, and her songs were the best.

On Monday, I had a few kitchen disasters...but lunch still turned out well,
and I tried to entertain Jessie. Later, I went to Brooklyn for an
absolutely amazing dinner with Sera and Avi. Then Sera repeatedly kicked my
butt at Bomberman.

Today, I met up with Elly and then I ended up seeing David
Mamet's newest play, Race, which was quite compelling and complex. He
wasn't so one-sided like he usually is... James Spader and David Alan Grier
were excellent, but the play was so short, clocking in at under 90 minutes
with an intermission.

Christmastime is here

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:58:19 GMT

Christmas recap!

I brought over the cookies to my parents' place, where we held Christmas Eve
with my Chinese family, though traditionally we go to a family friend's
house in New Jersey. Dad made a delicious, seafoody meal, as is appropriate
for the holiday. We opened a bunch of presents, and I got two watches (my
old ones are broken, bah) and Monet waterlillies-themed souvenirs, but I
wanted to save the rest for actual Christmas Day.

So, we went to my aunt Phyllis' house, as we always do, where we had a big
feast and caught up with each other. My first cousin, Ron Jr., suddenly took
a liking to me, grabbed my hand, and made me run everywhere to exhaustion.
Most of the time, we ran into a room, and he insisted we had to shut the
door because there was a lion out there that was going to eat him. He has an
active imagination, and I played along until I was too tired. How do parents
do this?

Yesterday, mom and I had lunch with some Chinese family friends, whom I
haven't seen in years. Then we rushed uptown, and I got ready for
Zoe's arrival since she is staying with me for a couple of days.
I also got a Sandy, a Dan, and another Zoey for
watching Firefly, having dinner, and playing an epic game of Munchkin.

Not sure what's up for today.

On that great, great come-and-get-it day

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:44:26 GMT

After Ross finished his last final on Monday, we cozied up and watched
Pan's Labyrinth. He left the next day, while I lunched with my
girlfriends from high school and then dinnered with Kevin, Elly's guy. We
played a frustratingly long game of Munchkin, but I ultimately emerged
victorious. Oh, and I annihilated Santa (removed his card from the deck).
Yesterday, I met up with Sissi, a friend from my graduate program, and we
saw South Pacific at Lincoln Center. The central conceit of the show
is about overcoming racism, which is extremely admirable, but there are
serious problems with some of the other things the characters do... Anyway,
the Rogers and Hammerstein score was absolutely lovely (I think "Some
Enchanted Evening" is one of the most beautiful ballads ever) as were the
performances and set design. Sissi came over later, and we talked for a long
time and watched the Almost DVD, which got me nostalgic, a little
embarrassed, and highly analytical.

Today, I made cookies, according to Grandma Galella's recipe, to
bring over to my parents for Christmas Eve. They turned out all right.

Changing the subject

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:39:16 GMT

Our ceiling is getting fixed! We think... (We hope...)

And, I'm now all done with finals, meaning that I can return to the theatre. I intend to catch three shows at the Public this weekend since they close on Sunday, and I'm planning to see South Pacific with a classmate before Kelli O'Hara leaves the cast and Laura Osnes (of the Grease reality show) takes her place.

After my exam on Thursday, I went to a celebratory event at the Graduate Center in honor of Marvin Carlson's fifty years in academia. The man has published more than 10 books and 100 articles on a staggering variety of subjects. The fact that he likes my work blows my mind. Anyway, it was nice to hear about Marvin's life from his colleagues and students and to hear his responses. Paula Vogel was supposed to be there, but she unfortunately got sick. Then we had a fine reception upstairs, and I got to chat/gossip with classmates. Good times.

In other news, I watched a ton of Dollhouse today. Pity it has been canceled.

A superstitious, cowardly lot!

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:09:35 GMT

Because the Middle America Theatre Conference turned down my conference
proposal (academia doesn't actually care about what happens in
theatres--only a slight exaggeration), I won't be going to Cleveland;
instead, I'm planning a trip to San Francisco, and I'm
excited about getting a Zoe for Christmas.

I'm almost done with my final paper! I've been avoiding studying for my exam on
Thursday, and I keep finding more fascinating and hilarious information for
my superhero musical research. Did you know that in Batman Beyond, Bruce
Wayne goes to a Batman musical for his birthday? He hates it, but it seems
to be very popular, and it's based on an actual musical that was in the
works in the late 90s.

On Sunday, we went to my first cousin Ella's Christening dinner, which was
fun but tiring. I think there were more than twenty kids there.

Ceilings and walls remain damaged, but at least the superintendent finally
addressed the plumbing upstairs, so the dripping has mostly stopped.

We Need Him

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 05:24:42 GMT

Ross and I joined my family for dinner on Tuesday to celebrate my
sister's 21st birthday. On our way to my parents' place for coffee and
dessert, Ross got a call about his family, and now he is back in Virginia to
be there for them. It's been a difficult week. I've been working on my final
paper but also trying to make plans to see people because I don't like being alone.

After class on Thursday (in which one of my classmates completely blew my
mind with her paper on women, whiteness, and minstrelsy), I went to a
session about the Institutional Review Board, which freaked me out, and then
I headed downtown to borrow Charles Strouse's memoir from a particular
library branch. The NY Public Library has not been entirely helpful lately
since I've given up on looking at Strouse's person papers--for now. I also
got some delicious though expensive rice pudding
(cheesecake and French toast) before heading over to Dixon Place to see a
dress rehearsal of Split Britches' newest work with the rest of my current
season class. Split Britches is the foremost experimental lesbian theatre
group.

On Friday, I ran a bunch of errands and then had Amanda over for dinner and
the original Superman movie, which was pretty terrible. But I had to
see it for my paper because Strouse claimed--with much resentment--that the
guys who wrote the book for the Superman musical used the same script for
the movie (the musical flopped, while the movie made hundreds of millions of
the dollars--the most for Warner Brothers up until that point in 1978). The
two are not at all alike, I learned. Ross has been teaching me to be a good
scholar and actually check up on what people say.

And today, I met up with two classmates in Queens (a trek through the rain
and back through the snow!) to watch Bamboozled for our popular
culture class. I'm still overwhelmed and cannot say much about it right now.
I'm glad I had the company. Earlier in the week, I watched the dvd of
Passing Strange, which I kind of liked?

I think I may have to cut the Pimpernel from my paper because I have too much
to write about. This will be painful.

Soon it's gonna rain

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:45:54 GMT

Now on the way back to New York. It's awfully dark, and I disapprove.

Thanksgiving was quite nice! Ross' mom made a scrumptious turkey, which I've
been helping to eat everyday since the holiday, and other Thanksgivingy
dishes for me, Ross, his sister, and his grandfather. She kept trying to
make this more like the type of Thanksgiving I usually have back home, but I
had to explain that the holiday is more like an Italian feast, and I don't
like most Thanksgiving food anyway.

The rest of the weekend was fairly relaxing. Unlike what PHD comics and my
theatre research teacher advised, I actually took a vacation.

On Friday, we went to Ross' father's house to celebrate Thanksgiving Part II
and caught up with him. Afterward, Ross and I went to the opening night of
The Fantasticks at Arena Stage.
I saw a bunch of people I knew and even the artistic director
Molly Smith recognized me! There were lots of people lined up outside of the
theatre and carnivalesque things like a woman on stilts directing people and
a juggler. I should mention that the setting for this production was Rocky
Point, an old and now abandoned amusement park. Eugene Lee designed a
beautiful set that included actual remnants of the park (You may know him
for designing the sets for the original Sweeney Todd and
Wicked.) The other major component to this production was its use of
magic. During intermission and after the show, I saw more Arena folk including my former
boss, the literary manager, and the new play development fellows, and most
of us headed over to the after-party at a nearby lounge. Free food and open
bar? Heck yes. I had a blast, despite the crowdedness, and got to reconnect
(and re-network) with a lot of friends.

Ross' grandmother is recovering from knee surgery so we visited her on
Saturday, which was the compelling reason for coming down to Arlington for
the weekend. She seems to be doing well, aside from having to be stationed
with other old people who are getting on her nerves.

After the visit, Ross, his mother, and I went out for Ethiopian food for
dinner, and they went to see a movie, while I went to Woolly Mammoth to see
Chuck Mee's Full Circle. (Mee wrote Big Love, which you may
remember was done at Amherst in the fall of 2005.) A very, very odd play
based on the idea (and plays about) the chalk circle that had the audience
sitting down, standing up, and moving around the entire theatre, following
this narrative of the fall of the Berlin wall, the artistic director of the
Berliner Ensemble (played by the artistic director of Woolly Mammoth--my
favorite part), and the baby of the former Secretary General and the three
women who argue over which of them is the real mother. I spotted Mee during
intermission because he seemed like a man who understood what was going on
in the production, but I was too nervous to approach him. He'll be coming to
my program's graduate theatre conference since we're giving him our annual
award.

So, a family and theatre-filled holiday weekend. Back to my readings and
papers.

It's just another day

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:31:07 GMT

On the Bolt bus headed toward D.C.

I finally listened to what Ross was telling me about Spider-Man: Rock
Reflections of a Superhero, a 1970s concept album about Spidey, and it
sounds awesome. In addition, the back cover features other superheroes
playing music. I hear that Captain America is in charge of the tambourine. I
need to get it. You know, for research purposes. The Dr. Horrible comic, on
the other hand, was not so impressive.

Last night, Ross and I saw the new musical at Roundabout called Ordinary
Days about four New Yorkers trying to see the big picture, which was
pretty good, but kind of pretentious, predictable, and derivative (not to
say that these qualities were necessarily bad--second-rate Sondheim/William
Finn/Jason Robert Brown is remarkable). That last song though really hit
hard in a surprising way...and I don't want to spoil it. Anyway, Hunter
Foster stars, and two people in the creative team cited Almost in
their bios, which made me happy.

My sweet embraceable you

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:38:55 GMT

This weekend was pretty awesome thanks to friends and Bob Holiday's amazing
book Superman on Broadway. On Friday, I went to the Performing Arts
Library because I had to read and listen to Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in
'da Funk for class, and I figured why not watch it? So I watched a film
of the production when it opened at the Public and then moved back to
Superman musical research. After grabbing dinner and coffee, I met up with
Sissi, a friend from my theatre "cohort" as we say at CUNY, and we saw the
Gershwins' 1930 musical Girl Crazy at City Center. This is the show
that made Ethel Merman a star with the brassy number "I Got Rhythm."

On Saturday, I had sushi with incredible Amherst
peoples before we headed downtown to the High Line with
Inessa and Shaw's sister.

Since then, I've been procrastinating on my Toxie musical paper. I forced
myself to watch The Toxic Avenger movie the other day and hated it.
Oh graphic b-horror flick, why can't you be a campy musical?

Something sort of grand-ish

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:42:38 GMT

Musical theatre rewind:

After work on Wednesday, a couple of my classmates and I went out for Thai
food and the Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow because we had to
read it for our upcoming class on the post-war musical. I'm liking the
musical more and more, but some of the overt social criticism made me
uncomfortable and some numbers/elements were just plain silly. Still, the
up-tempo romantic show tunes, Finian, and Og the Leprechaun were fantastic.
(I should mention, briefly, that the show is about Finian and his daughter
Sharon who travel from Ireland to Missitucky, USA where Finian hopes to grow
gold from a crock he stole from Og who is progressively becoming mortal and
Sharon falls in love with Woody, the head honcho whom everyone adores. Also,
there's a racist white senator who magically gets turned black and then back
to white in a mixed community of tobacco sharecroppers.)

My class on Thursday went pretty well, and I enjoyed making people talk
about Dr. Horrible, though some of the discussion veered off into
issues that didn't particularly interest me.

And on Friday, I returned to the Performing Arts Library to watch The
Scarlet Pimpernel v. 2.0, which had a much improved, streamlined,
superhero narrative...and yet it just didn't feel as good as the original
with its hilarity and original three leads. I've been having fun surfing
youtube for video footage of the productions to compare stagings and
marketing. Yes, this is my life.

I kind of want to see Richard Foreman's Idiot Savant at the Public
Theater because Foreman is a key part of the American avant-garde canon (not
of the grilled apparatus canon) but mostly because Willem Defore stars, and
I was reminded of his awesomeness when re-watching Spider-Man.

Go ahead, say it was horrible

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:54:14 GMT

Back to reading camp scholarship after a weekend with
Michelle who came down for a visit. We watched Dr.
Horrible (which was research), walked around Manhattan, got Korean food,
and saw Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room (or the vibrator play). I'm
convinced that Ruhl usually writes a Eurydice-like character in each of her
plays, and this production was probably her most "mainstream" because it was
her Broadway debut. But I very much enjoyed it, especially the beautiful
ending.

Before that, I went to the Performing Arts library to watch the first
version of The Scarlet Pimpernel, which was hilarious! How could it
have flopped? (Okay, it has issues, but the superhero is absolutely
charming, and the villain sounded like Professor Snape).

Doing Good

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:33:04 GMT

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is friggin'
amazing. I just scheduled three appointments to see two video recordings of
The Scarlet Pimpernel (fascinating production history; the only show
to close and re-open revised on Broadway...twice) and one of It's a
Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman at the Goodspeed Opera House.
Yesterday, I read the latter's script at the library because it was part of
Hal Prince's personal papers, which he donated, and it was absolutely
hilarious. If you're interested, I can go into more detail about the plot
that involves a scientist who was snubbed by the Nobel committee ten times
and decides to take his vengeance by destroying Superman through Freudian
psychoanalysis and with the help of the Flying Lings, a group of Chinese
acrobats who resent Superman because no one wants to pay for their shows
when they can see Superman fly for free.

After reading this prized final playing typescript (it was like reading Mary
Wroth's poetry right before me at the Folger), I went to the library's panel
on musical directors and dance arrangers, which amounted to a lot of old
people complaining about Broadway (and rightfully so) and a lot of learning
on my part.

Then I had a couple of friends from my graduate program over for dinner, and
I played hostess with Ross' help.

I want the fire back

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:56:02 GMT

Relaxing all day Friday was awesome. Ross and I went out to see a
staged reading of a new play called Agnes Under the Big Top at the
Lark Play Development Center (thank you, Free Night of Theater) mostly
because I'm interested in seeing the NEA-Arena-supported works. And I may
have to write about them if my conference proposal to the Middle America
Theatre Conference gets accepted. Work and (Lark) play.

On Saturday, we went to Janani's party and saw lots of
Amherst peoples. Ross shaved and brought his Ross puppet so
that he looked like a giant clone. I put on a red dress and my new red hat
with giant eyes in order to be Blinky the ghost from Pac-Man. I wanted to
walk in right angles all night, but it didn't work out.

And today was Italian family day. I visited my cousins who have a new baby
girl named Ella, and I saw my parents, lots of other cousins, second
cousins, and my aunt and uncle.

Making the grade

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:24:07 GMT

Done with a crazy week. As I mentioned before, I had three papers on
top of regular homework due between Sunday and Thursday, but because I'm a
planner, I had basically written two of the papers earlier. Thank goodness.
Even so, I had to stay up until the wee hours to finish (I've never pulled
an all-nighter before, which I realize must be hard to believe). Then in
both of my classes yesterday, my professors spent time lecturing us about
promptness in turning in papers and how you can't do revisions for a better
grade, etc. etc. etc. and one professor went into great detail about
distinctions between grades and what they mean. I should mention that, in my
program, the only grades are A, A-, B+, B, B-, and F. If you get a couple of
B grades, then you are doing unsatisfactory work and could be booted from
the program. Talk about pressure.

I did go out for a little fun on Tuesday night (which contributed to having
to stay up until 4:30am cutting and footnoting) when I went out for dinner
with my mom and took her to see Carrie Fisher's Broadway show Wishful
Drinking as her birthday present. In short, it was high-budget stand-up
comedy.

Small talk

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:58:29 GMT

Weekly recap! On Saturday, Ross and I went over to Kevin's for dinner,
which was especially exciting because Elly was also there. We talked, sipped
on wine, and played two games of spades. Kevin and I won one glorious time
and then lost, also gloriously, by accumulating more than (less than?) -300
points. Go Team Awesome.

I think I spent all day Sunday and most of Monday writing my trajectories of
scholarship paper, which I have titled "'I Have a PhD in Horribleness': The
Rise in Scholarship on Superheroes, Musicals, and Dr. Horrible's
Sing-Along Blog." It still needs to go through editing, as does another
paper on The Provenance of Beauty. And I have a third paper on kunqu
drama (a once-popular form of Chinese opera) due next week for which I still
need to do tremendous amounts of reading.

But I decided to indulge myself a bit Monday night, and I went to one of the
New York Public Performing Arts Library's panels on Broadway orchestration.
Mostly, I just wanted to see Hal "Prince of Broadway" Prince and hear what
sort of crotchety things he had to say about orchestrations and the musical
theatre of today. I also got to hear from John Kander (composer for
Cabaret, Chicago), Sheldon Harnick (lyricist for Fiddler on
the Roof, The Apple Tree), Jonathan Tunick (orchestrator FOR
EVERYTHING), and other orchestrators. It was absolutely fascinating because
I didn't know exactly what the orchestrator did, and he seems so crucial to
the process of executing the score, especially when dealing with composers
who have little to no musical training (like Irving Berlin who couldn't
exactly read or write music and basically forced his orchestrators to string
together series of notes until they sounded "right" to him). If you're
interested, the video of the event is on the NYPL's website, and there will
be two more panels in November. Also, the event was packed, full of lots of
old and young musical fans as well as people in the business...and
privileged NYU musical theatre writing students who got reserved seats. I
grumble only because the rest of us had to wait in line, and some people
didn't even get in.

But moving along! Last night, I saw The Emperor Jones at the Irish
Rep, and the show was a lot better than I had anticipated (and far superior
to reading the text). It got me thinking about how, unfortunately, there are
so few good, juicy leading roles for minorities unless you go color and
gender-blind with casting.

Yesterday, I also helped to organize and then attended the
professionalization event on the graduate program's language requirement.
Well, I've got Italian, and now I'm deciding between learning French or
Chinese for my second language. The former would probably be more practical
(more scholarship in theatre and theory, close to Italian, and maybe I'm
interested in French drama?) and easier to learn, but Chinese would allow me
to conduct serious study into Chinese theatre (which is kind of a "hot"
subject right now) and it would be personally edifying and gratifying as a
Chinese person. Advice?

A Steady Rain

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:01:35 GMT

Amanda brought up the champagne list when we were outside the
theatre for A Steady Rain because both Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig
are on hers. Oh, Hugh. While I'm on the subject of the production, the men
gave--overall--mesmerizing performances so unlike how the public "we"
conceptualize them, but there was a key moment at the end that fell a little
flat for me. The play itself isn't great (a drama about two Chicago cops)
but isn't terrible either. The leading men kind of distract you from
realizing this point. On my way out, I passed by God of Carnage next door
and saw Jeff Daniels. I never realized that he had star quality until I got
close to him.

Today, I read about German cabaret, baked a cake, and had dinner
with my parents.

The origins of love

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:23:05 GMT

Robert Lepage's Lipsync was incredible. I'm glad that I
experienced this 8.5-hour visual extravaganza and exploration in speech
through nine interwoven characters in nine acts (And thank goodness this
avant-garde director decided to "experiment" with text for a change. I love
me a good narrative that I can follow).

I didn't see any other theatre since last Saturday, but on Friday, Ross and
I went out for Ethiopian food and the Toy Story double feature, which
was absolutely delightful. I definitely laughed more than anyone else in the
movie theatre because I had never caught some of the interstitial jokes in
Toy Story and never seen Toy Story 2 before. I could do
without Jessie though, and my favorite character is still Hamm. What a
fantastic, under-appreciated set of films.

On Saturday, I had Amanda and Steven over for brunch, which went quite well.
Ross and I still have half a Juniors cheesecake left thanks to Steven.

Whenever I'm not reading about musicals or superheroes, I'm playing
Carcassonne or Puerto Rico with Ross. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but
we celebrated our 2-year anniversary last week and happened to get each
other games as gifts. Meant to be! ...except when he completely monopolizes
the ships and builds the office, ending any chance I have for winning.
Consarn him!

Grand Hotel

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:31:54 GMT

I keep forgetting to mention that Law and Order: SVU is shooting at my building today! The production team has transformed the lobby, making it look like an old, cheap hotel. Coolness. But, I'm a little afraid to go downstairs and possibly see a fake dead corpse. Maybe Christopher Meloni will make up for this?

Playbills

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:59:15 GMT

My weekend was of the stay-at-home-being-productive variety. I'm so
lucky that I get to read about fun material like Andrew Lloyd Webber's
luncheons during which a guy from PBS casually mentions that the program
that earns the most at pledge time is not Webber's show but a Stephen
Sondheim concert--and an awkward silence ensues at the mention of Webber's
arch nemesis; meanwhile, Ross has to read about tort law. And no, it's not
cake law.

We did go out yesterday for dinner with my parents and the Broadway
Cares/Equity Fights AIDS flea market, which I've been wanting to attend for
years, but I had always been up at Amherst. Because of the rain, the market
was held indoors at the Roseland Ballroom, and it was overwhelming as we swam
through a sea of Broadway fans and merchandise. Almost every table featured
old playbills, and some were pretty interesting because of what was inside
them (mostly hilarious advertisements for whiskey and cigarettes, which you
would not see today). Some of the big shows such as Wicked and Billy Elliot
also had stands. The former was selling character shoes worn by the cast!
Very cool but very expensive. We missed the celebrity booth that featured
about 100 Broadway actors that came in and out earlier in the day to sign
autographs and allow photo ops in exchange for donations. I'll get you next
time, John Stamos. BUT I did not miss the featured writer from the Dramatist
Guild huddled in the back of the ballroom...

Ross: Dona, it's Edward Albee.
Me (whipping around): WHERE?!
Ross: Right in front of you.
Me (seeing little, old man sitting at the table): Oh!

I then stood by casually and looked at playbills, while hearing him express
his crotchetiness. Albee truly changed my world when I saw Who's Afraid
of Virginia Woolf?, but I was too nervous to speak with him. He's not a
big fan of dramaturgs from what I've heard.

Since a lot of the booths were wrapping up, they started to offer
bag-for-a-buck deals. So...Ross and I paid a dollar and filled up a large
plastic bag with lots of random stuff including issues of Theatre Arts from
the 1950s, old playbills, Broadway sample cds, books, and greeting cards. We
also got this sweet set of cocktail glasses featuring the playbills from the
1999-2000 season, precisely the season I'm studying right now, for another
dollar plus a free Playbill.com (my favorite website) tote bag. I have to go
back next year.

It's a brand new day

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:26:32 GMT

Going to classes, professionalization events, parties, and shows: the
life of a theatre grad student. 

Last weekend, Ross and I checked out David Mamet's new plays, School
and Keep Your Pantheon (get it? get it?! hilarious.) at the Atlantic
Theatre Company. The former was essentially a Monty Python skit in Mamet's
masculine, fast-talking style about recycling and, in a larger sense, what
do we know and how do we know it. The latter was a Roman farce that I
enjoyed very much. Worth exactly the $20 ticket as part of the recent
20-for-20 Off-Broadway promotion.

I woke up on Sunday with a ridiculously stiff neck, debilitating me for
about an hour at which point I was able to sit up but still in extreme pain.
Nevertheless, I decided to go to my aunt Phyllis' house to celebrate her
birthday and dad's with the Italian family. Hey, it was worth it for my
cousin Stephanie's cream puffs. I got a lot of unwanted attention and some
helpful treatments. I'm still recovering.

At the suggestion of one of my professors when I proposed studying superhero
musicals, I went to see The Toxic Avenger musical Off-Broadway with
my amica Amanda. I thought that it was highly successful, but my heart still
lies with Dr. Horrible. Did you guys see him when he interrupted the Emmy
broadcast? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgJxGKBad3M

San Antonio

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:37:42 GMT

What a weekend!

I was worried that Victoria and I would be stuck indoors because of the
massive amounts of rain that have been hitting San Antonio lately, but we
got quite lucky with the weather whenever we actually went out. I admit,
though, it was pretty adorable seeing her dog Hershey run out into the
pouring rain because a lady was getting her mail and he had to chase her
off...and he subsequently flowed down the river that was created in the
street for a few feet. Hehe.

Anyway, after she picked me up at the airport on Friday, we hung out for a
bit at her house with her mom, Evita. Then we drove to downtown San Antonio
to see the local sites (I completely forgot that the Alamo was there in the
middle of it all until we saw and encircled it...dumb of me, I know),
including the riverwalk, which was quaint, like the Texan version of Venice.
Oh! And that day, we got delicious TexMex and ribs, both in large portions.
"Everything is bigger in Texas!" I exclaimed. Later that night, we
watched 27 Dresses. Don't judge.

On Saturday, we awoke to another gloomy day, but we decided to go to Six
Flags Fiesta Texas. Because of the on-and-off rain, very few people were
there so we got to ride on everything. Twice. And we rarely had to wait in
a line. It was completely awesome. Well, except for those moments before the
first roller-coaster when I get irrationally scared... Oh, and that time
when it was raining and we still went on The Rattler, a wooden
roller-coaster that goes fast and, well, rattles you. "The rain is hurting
my face! It's hurting my face!" -Victoria "I know! I can't open my eyes!"
-Me "::raising her hands to her face and accidentally hitting me:: Sorry
Dona!" -Victoria. Good times. After our day at the park, we met up with
Brendan and Tiff at Bigz, a burger joint. So good to be with
Amherst people. That evening, Victoria and I watched The Queen, which
was fascinating.

Finally, for my last full day, we went to SeaWorld, which was a safer option
than Schlitterbahn (because again of the weather). I had never gone there
before so I didn't know what to expect exactly. We saw lots of animals and a
couple of shows (one ridiculously corny, one was hilarious, and one made me
feel like a tool). I'll put up pictures later. You'll see how terrified I
was of feeding the dolphins. Also, I had no idea that SeaWorld also has
rides, and we rode those a couple of times too. At the end of the day, we
came back to a fine, home-cooked meal.

Oh, Texas. I had a blast, and I wish I could have stayed a day or two longer
to check out nearby cities like Austin. Another time, I guess.

And now I'm back to work.

New digs

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:26:45 GMT

I just printed out my boarding pass to San Antonio! I'm excited to be
down there, but I'm not so excited about waking up at 5:30 in the morning to
do so.

Ross and I have been entertaining guests for the past four days.
Sandy came over for dinner on Monday; we had some amusing
talks, good steaks, and scrumptious chocolate cake. Kevin has been staying
with us since Tuesday because he has no housing in New York City.

Also, I've just posted pictures of the apartment:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033819&id=4002666&l=e0dfd9494d

It's a bird...it's a plane...

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:23:14 GMT

I'm so happy about my Studies in the Current Season class. I love
talking about New York theater, most of which I've gleaned from religiously
reading playbill.com for years and interning at a theater ticketing agency,
and I don't often get the chance to gush with people who know what's going
on in the season. Tomorrow night, we're going to see Irish playwright Lennox
Robinson's Is Life Worth Living?, which is supposed to be a comedy
despite the heavy title. Then we'll see the Living Theater's Lizzie
Borden rock musical (yes, it's a rock musical about the infamous ax
murderess) and Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room (The Vibrator Play). We
still have to decide on the last two shows.

On my own, I saw two other shows in the past week. On Saturday, I met up
with Anthony to check out another Ethiopian restaurant (this one was down in
the village) and Our Town at the Barrow Street Theater. The
production received a lot of buzz, so I figured it was time I finally
experienced this American classic. The seating was intimate. The staging was
minimal. The story was strong. The stage manager was spectacular. I think I
liked it. I qualify my enthusiasm because there were a lot of odd,
distancing yet engaging directorial choices. And the third act seemingly
comes out of a whole other play. Still, I recommend the show.

On Monday, I went to see The Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx
Travelogue, which received the NEA Distinguished New Play award through
Arena this past year so I got a comp ticket from Ronee, one of the Arena new
play producing fellows who did an externship at the Foundry (the production
company). The experience, part tour, part theater, was incredibly innovative
and quite interesting. I got off the bus feeling pretty badly about the
treatment of the Bronx. Did I mention that this play takes place on a bus
that travels through the South Bronx while you listen to pre-recorded and
live material on a headset?

For the rest of the weekend, I worked mostly on my big assignment for
Theatre Research: creating a theatre history syllabus for a class of
undergrads and writing a justification of my approach and text selections. I
went with modern drama. Thank you, Michael Birtwistle. We'll see what my
professor thinks of my syllabus tomorrow.

Ross and I also attending my second cousin John's birthday party. There were
so many kids, and they were very entertaining to watch. Plus, the party
itself was a lot of fun because my cousin Stephanie made it carnival themed,
complete with kids' games, a hot dog cart, snow cones, a popcorn machine, a
cake shaped like a tent, and all other sorts of treats. And, it was good to
see my Italian relatives once again.

I got the go-ahead on my final paper that will serve two of my classes. I
plan on examining the history of superhero musicals and focus on how two
extremely popular American forms -- musical theatre and superhero comics --
combine sometimes in great success and sometimes in great failure. This is
all with Spiderman: Turn off the Dark on my mind. $40 million?
Really? Julie Taymor + Bono? A villain not from the comic books? How is this
going to work?

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:10:42 GMT

Last night, I started reading my theory-filled homework for Theatre and
Popular Culture, and it was extremely slow-going. How do you
sociologists do it?

Arena just announced an exciting addition to their season: Striking
12. The musical is part concert, part play about the holidays and Hans
Christians Andersen's "The Little Match Girl." I'm pretty excited for it,
and I wish I had had a chance to read/hear it before I left, especially
because Arena has secured the creators to perform the piece--GrooveLily, who
I know from Long Story Short. Audrey shared the cast recording
with me, and I adore this musical about the romance between an Asian
American and a Jew, which is getting a new production at South Coast Rep
this fall.

Lights up on Washington Heights

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:02:56 GMT

Lots to report on!

Kevin, a.k.a. Elly's boyfriend, stayed over with us last night because he's
seeing an apartment today. He brought over dessert wine (my first!) in an
adorable glass bottle shaped like a bunch of grapes. I'll be keeping that as
a pitcher or vase.

Yesterday, I also had my first class, Theatre and Popular Culture, which
turned out to be a lot less terrifying than I imagined. I'm excited about
all of the readings and viewings that cover a wide range but focus on
minstrelsy, and I think that this may be the most interesting class (to me)
that I've ever taken. The final paper is wide open, and there's so much I
want to address. This may be my chance to write about Dr. Horrible's
Sing-a-long-blog.

On Sunday, Ross and I went to the much-acclaimed Empanada Mama for a quick
dinner before In the Heights, to which Ross got discounted tickets
from Columbia. So, I'll be honest. I didn't think much of this show when it
first came out. I even had the opportunity to see it for free through Hit
Show Club when it was off-Broadway, but I didn't take up the offer. When I
watched the Tony performance, I was stunned. It looked incredibly well done.
But again, I wasn't personally interested. Still, I wanted to see the
musical because it won the Tony, because I've heard nothing but good things
about it, and because Forrest's half-sister wrote the book (which got a
Pulitzer nomination). And now, I'm a little obsessed with the show. I think
I can say that it's the best new musical since The Drowsy Chaperone.
(I know people may argue for Spring Awakening, Grey Gardens,
Passing Strange, Billy Elliot, or Next to Normal.)
In the Heights is wonderful storytelling through music and dance and
celebrates the predominantly Hispanic culture here. It's funny. It's
heart-warming. It's heart-breaking. It made me so happy that I live here. If
only people would burst into synchronized song and dance on the streets. The
show begins its national tour this fall. I strongly recommend it.

Aaaand scene.

The night before, Ross and I had dinner at my parents' place and then saw
Julie and Julia. So delightful! I haven't had any kitchen meltdowns
yet, but I can get rather cranky... Ahem. I adored Amy Adams and Meryl
Streep.

Oh! Another recent obsession of mine: Munchkin. Ever since I discovered that
Ross had it and never played before, I've been making him play against me.
And he keeps destroying me. And Jessie. And Kevin. Oh well. I first played
the game my second night at Amherst with the Sci-Fi club. I think that's
where I met Dylan...