9.8.01

so i realize this site’s been a bit of a downer lately. but man, combine the stomach flu with a touch of PMS and throw a tech week in there for good measure – it’s enough to piss anyone off. at any rate, i won the battle (for now) between me and my stomach, so things are looking much rosier this morning.

tonight the musical review Forever Plaid opens the fall season at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival. the basic premise of the show is that in 1964, a small-town harmony group was tragically killed in an auto wreck, just before their first big gig. for reasons only loosely explained as “astro-technical stuff”, the group has been suspended between worlds for thirty-seven years. for more reasons that are largely unexplained, they are suddenly given the opportunity to come back to earth and do one last show, and only then will they be allowed to ascend to heaven. this is where the show begins. so the for Forever Plaid boys stumble onto stage, suitcases and plaid tuxedos in hand, and perform about 12 1950’s style crooners such as “Cry”, “Chain Gang”, “Moments to Remember”, “Heart & Soul” and lots of other things that i think my parents and grandparents listened to. the fantasy gets a bit out of control in the second act and the boys perform the entire Ed Sullivan show in three minutes and eleven seconds – the whole bit – accordion, cymbals, the singing nun, fire-eating, topo gigio, senor wences, sock puppets, you name it.

corny musical reviews aren’t exactly my thing, but the show is a crowd pleaser, and there’s something to be said for making people happy with your art. of course, i think the role of theatre is to challenge, not simply entertain, and so in that sense this show seriously falls short. but the fall musical is the money-maker for the theatre, and we all need theatres to make money or else who will pay starving artists like me?

i discovered some really cool things about energy fields and auras and myself last night, but i don’t have time to write about it right now. more tomorrow.