Weekend Update
I had a pleasant visit with my mom over the weekend. As she usually does, she had a cherry pie waiting for me Friday night, along with a hearty homemade chicken noodle soup.
On Saturday, we attended the production of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat I mentioned in an earlier post. The cast seemed to be entirely made up of college-age kids who were having a great time on a national tour, and their performance reflected that enthusiasm. I find the “musical” form kind of odd. There are some numbers that are obviously set-piece songs; but then, there are other stretches where they have to convey a chunk of narrative information and, even though it’s set to music, the effect is a helter-skelter torrent of words. The story itself is a parable from Genesis, but the production isn’t religious in the least. Still, I suppose the biblical provenance helps draw a “family values” demographic to the show, and the place, a fairly large auditorium west of Toledo, was packed. Even so, there were some dance numbers where the women’s costumes were, oh, alluring, I guess, and that fact didn’t escape the notice of one of my mother’s more conservative friends. Didn’t escape mine, either. I’m not sure if every musical does this, but the final two numbers were peppy, hand-clapping rousers with everybody onstage, and it almost guarantees a standing ovation. It would take a real curmudgeon to sit it out.
Later that afternoon, my mom’s sister arrived from her home in Myrtle Beach. She’s there to assist my mom after her spinal injection this week. She’s about 6 years younger than my mom, and has some interesting perspective on their family life. I may delve into some of that later.
We had snow both Friday and Saturday nights there, and I shoveled off the driveway and walks both days as a way to get a workout. I felt kind of old-school, because everyone else in the neighborhood was running snowblowers, something I’ve never had occasion to use. I also did some other “son” chores, like hanging a large painting, drilling molly anchors for some new curtains and unsuccessfully declining various foodstuffs.
Just to go all Currier-and-Ives on you, here’s photo evidence of my frozen precipitation engineering endeavors:
Click to enlarge
 |
 |
That looks like quite a bit of snow you’re shoveling there. I hear that you might want to keep that shovel handy for next week, here in Washington. Those loony weather forecasters are calling for snow and icy temps. I am so ready for spring to get here and stay!
Really nice that you get to see your mom so often. I talk to my mom everyday, but only see her once a year. Neither of us are very big on traveling, so long time between visits.
Dang! I’m sure that shoveling 1/3 of that would lay me out for a week. And to think you could be indoors with homemade soup & cherry pie. The mind boggles.
The practice of musicals being set to music entirely really dates back to opera where the set pieces are “arias” where nothing happens but the exploration of the character’s(’) emotions and the narrative, “helter-skelter torrent of words” where the plot gets advanced, however slightly, is called “recitative.”
Not that what ALW does is opera…just thought I’d take a pedagogical moment.
Nice job but until you’ve shoveled snow off the roof…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6348947.stm
Robin, yeah, the weekend drop-ins are a side benefit of the monthly slog to Milwaukee. I don’t know about snow, but it looks like it’ll be damp & soggy for the weekend and into next week. Disappointing after the meager hints of spring we had the last couple of days.
Kathy, I had to finally flee the pie.
Ken, thanks. I had thought a bit about the similarity to opera, but, to my shame, I’ve never seen one and had nothing informed to say. I remember now the “recitative” function from some music appreciation courses I took in college. Still not sure I can warm up to the musical form.
Marcia, I hope that’s not you up on the roof. Those photos are awesome, in the non-valley-girl (sorry, Kathy) sense of the word. The silver lining for you is all that standing water in the spring will mean a bumper crop of mosquitoes in the north woods!
And then you missed seeing the Alien and me at the airport and your heart was broken.
(You forgot to add that part.)
Opera is something that takes a bit of effort to find an appreciation for and isn’t for everyone. You have to pay attention and make the music the event, something My Baby is just not wired for.
For what it’s worth, good starter operas are Puccini’s La Boheme (less than two hours, you already know the story, (it’s a better Rent)) and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (one hour, four characters, featured in The Untouchables). Both are from the Romantic era and so are interest and accessible to modern ears with the only effort being paying attention. You can also buy “highlights” CDs that cut out the recitative.