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Thursday, 31 December 2009 03:46 pm
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I spent most of Monday thru Wednesday either in NYC or traveling from it. Left in time to see people pouring in for the Times Square countdown. Today is the only day this week I work. And yes, I did get an assignment today.
The prime basis for the NYC trip was Dad's Christmas gift to Mom (and the rest of us, really): tickets to South Pacific on Broadway. It's the best of the three SP productions I've seen, particularly because of its casting: a great voice for Emile De Becque, a comical Luther Billis, and a rather credible Bloody Mary who didn't strike me as an ethnic caricature. Unfortunately, while SP has perhaps the best overall songs of any musical I know, the story leaves something to be desired. A nicer message than many musicals, but anvilicious by today's standards. The rest of the family liked it better than I did.
At one point, Lt. Cable says that Nellie can't be in love with Emile because the latter is 44. Most of the audience laughed at the elder officers' indignation, but my family was especially amused because my 25-year-old sister's boyfriend, who came with us, is 44.
After the show, I noticed similarities between SP's "Happy Talk" and Cinderella's "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes." They happened to be sung in what I perceived as the same key in the same octave, with the same chord progression in parts, both on the subject of dreams coming true. The Disney movie did come out a year after SP debuted as a musical.
Also in NYC, my parents and I watched The Blind Side. Yeah, the first film we see in a theater after Invictus, so it's from rugby to American football. It has more laughs than the trailer suggested, which is a double-edged sword, because they clearly stray from accuracy sometimes for Hollywood humor's sake. Allayed my tearjerker fears, tho. To those who think Sandra Bullock gets too much of the spotlight, might I point out that Michael Oher is supposed to be a laconic enigma to us; Bullock's Ms. Touhy complements him rather well. I'm glad I saw it, tho I hope there's enough competition for it to be left out of the Academy Best Picture nominations.
Most of our past NYC visits had us staying at the apartment of our friend Paul Samuels. Now, in order to accommodate five visitors, we went to the apartment of his fiancee, Nurit, who IIRC was born in Israel and raised in Spain. Lots of fancy art, including some paintings by Nurit herself. Lots of books in one room, including a number of children's books that were worth seeing to pass the time. (Nurit gets many young visitors thanks to a large family.) Man, when's the last time a pop-up book impressed me? And when's the last time I read illustrated Spanish poetry with an old but excellent dictionary on hand? Next time I see Nurit, I think I'll practice my spoken Spanish.
Nurit had a funny story about their engagement. Her father thought from the name "Paul" that she was marrying a gentile, and he dismissed "Samuels" as a first name. He dug out a haggadah to test Paul's Hebrew skills, flipping to random points in case Paul had memorized part of it. Only later did Nurit tell Paul that her father didn't know Hebrew. Maybe we'll get to meet this guy at the wedding.
The prime basis for the NYC trip was Dad's Christmas gift to Mom (and the rest of us, really): tickets to South Pacific on Broadway. It's the best of the three SP productions I've seen, particularly because of its casting: a great voice for Emile De Becque, a comical Luther Billis, and a rather credible Bloody Mary who didn't strike me as an ethnic caricature. Unfortunately, while SP has perhaps the best overall songs of any musical I know, the story leaves something to be desired. A nicer message than many musicals, but anvilicious by today's standards. The rest of the family liked it better than I did.
At one point, Lt. Cable says that Nellie can't be in love with Emile because the latter is 44. Most of the audience laughed at the elder officers' indignation, but my family was especially amused because my 25-year-old sister's boyfriend, who came with us, is 44.
After the show, I noticed similarities between SP's "Happy Talk" and Cinderella's "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes." They happened to be sung in what I perceived as the same key in the same octave, with the same chord progression in parts, both on the subject of dreams coming true. The Disney movie did come out a year after SP debuted as a musical.
Also in NYC, my parents and I watched The Blind Side. Yeah, the first film we see in a theater after Invictus, so it's from rugby to American football. It has more laughs than the trailer suggested, which is a double-edged sword, because they clearly stray from accuracy sometimes for Hollywood humor's sake. Allayed my tearjerker fears, tho. To those who think Sandra Bullock gets too much of the spotlight, might I point out that Michael Oher is supposed to be a laconic enigma to us; Bullock's Ms. Touhy complements him rather well. I'm glad I saw it, tho I hope there's enough competition for it to be left out of the Academy Best Picture nominations.
Most of our past NYC visits had us staying at the apartment of our friend Paul Samuels. Now, in order to accommodate five visitors, we went to the apartment of his fiancee, Nurit, who IIRC was born in Israel and raised in Spain. Lots of fancy art, including some paintings by Nurit herself. Lots of books in one room, including a number of children's books that were worth seeing to pass the time. (Nurit gets many young visitors thanks to a large family.) Man, when's the last time a pop-up book impressed me? And when's the last time I read illustrated Spanish poetry with an old but excellent dictionary on hand? Next time I see Nurit, I think I'll practice my spoken Spanish.
Nurit had a funny story about their engagement. Her father thought from the name "Paul" that she was marrying a gentile, and he dismissed "Samuels" as a first name. He dug out a haggadah to test Paul's Hebrew skills, flipping to random points in case Paul had memorized part of it. Only later did Nurit tell Paul that her father didn't know Hebrew. Maybe we'll get to meet this guy at the wedding.