ZimWex Family Blog

Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness.

The musical theater bug has hit.

Ella has just finished her two week intensive musical theater camp (at Little Red), and she. was. in. heaven.  Everyday she came home to teach us a new improv game, show us a dance move, or belt out "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile".  (Yes, the play was Annie. Yes, I was reliving my childhood).*

The play was good and went off without a hitch.  She felt proud of herself and has proclaimed that she is definitely doing the camp again next summer.  

 

For me, the entire thing was an exercise in, well, nostalgia, but more importantly the beginning of acting like I cared much less than I did.    I mean, come on, she was in a musical theater production, the defining musical theater production of our generation, and she was playing a totally memorable part, the "oh my goodness" referred to by my title,  and she was loving it.  Somehow, I grasped that it was important to play cool**, not belt out Annie tunes all day, or ask her to run lines just one more time!  Kind of a powerful thing when your kid starts to love something that you also love.  And hard to resist!  But, I promise, I was no Mama Rose.  

I did, however, have a blast watching her!

Brava, Ella.

AZ

*Including the fact that the above-featured costume was worn by me throughout my long affair with Annie, in which I did "orphan" songs in approximately 63 talent shows.  Made with Love (and preserved for 30 years in the attic) by Mom.

**Okay, not cool, just a teeny-tiny bit cooler than I felt.

Must-see theater.

Fences, by August Wilson.

I'll be honest.  It was a Wednesday night.  I was tired and grumpy and not especially in the mood to go to the theater.  And then the lights came up on Fences, and an unbelievably energetic Denzel Washington appeared on the stage.  Believe me, we were not tired anymore.  

I had never seen this Pulitzer-Prize WInning Drama before, so I was particularly struck by the genius of the play itself, which takes place in the 1950s in Pittsburgh.  The main character is a man (Denzel Washington), who is a sanitation worker.  His wife (Viola Davis) is a housewife with a son who wants desperately to play football.  From there unfolds an amazing drama, which is often very funny as well.

I walked away feeling that August Wilson is an even greater playwright than I thought, and also that Denzel Washington is one of the most talented and charismatic actors of his generation.

Go.

AZ

A few things to be grateful for this weekend.

1.  A visit from good friends.  

2.  Bacon, Sausage, and Tomato Pizza from Sam's .

3.  A bike ride to the beach.*

4.  Tree Swings.

 

5. Daffodils

 

6. Black Cherry Icecream from Bay Burger.

7. Sudden interest in Into The Woods on part of Ella.  Subsequent request for "Mommy to sing as many of the songs as possible" while driving in the car.  Hah.

8.  Two days. Two Yoga Classes .

9.  A discovery of a new Kate DiCamillo book, The Magician's Elephant , to read out loud at bedtime.

10.  Ruby singing along every word to "Sweet Baby James" at bedtime.  Particularly adorable on "thinkin' about women and glasses of beer".

Hope you found things to be grateful for in your weekends!
AZ

*Albeit one in which we were woefully underdressed and poor Violet was shivering with cold, having eschewed the suggested sweatshirt.

Oh. My. God.

I am kvelling.  I have died and gone to Musical Theater Heaven.

Why? I will tell you why.  Tonight was the NY Philharmonic Concert celebrating Steven Sondheim's 80th Birthday. Wow. Wow. Wow.  

What follows is for the die-hard musical theater fan only.

And here goes....the setlist*:

Something's Coming (West Side Story):  sung in one of the best interpretations I have ever heard by the glorious Alexander Gemignani.

We're Gonna Be Alright (Do I Hear a Waltz?): Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley (who are married in real life).  Cute song...I had never heard before.

Laugh(Hot Spot): Victoria Clark was divinely funny in a song I wish I had had when I was auditioning. Very funny.

Johanna (Sweeney Todd):  For this one they brought in an opera singer..Nathan Gunn.  Means nothing to me, but apparently he is a big one.  And sang beautifully.

You're Gonna Love Tomorrow/Love Will See us Through (Follies):  Perky quartet from the youngsters...Bobby Steggart, Laura Osnes (surprisingly good given her reality TV start), Matt Cavenaugh, and Jenn Colella.

Too Many Mornings (Follies):  Audra McDonald and Nathan Gunn.  Gorgeous.

The Road you Didn't Take (Follies):  John McMartin reprised his original role.  

It Takes Two(Into The Woods):  Chip Zien and Joanna Gleason!!! Wowzer.  Okay, this is where I cried.  Not because it is such a tear jerker song...but for some reason these two were so accessible, and adorable and funny.  And because it was one of the first shows I saw on Broadway in 1988.  And that seems like a very long time (and a lifetime) ago.

?From Merrily We Roll Along: Okay, so I don't know the name of this song.  But Jim Walton, who I also don't know, and who was in the original Broadway cast, sang very well at the piano.

Finishing the Hat(Sunday in the Park with George): Now they started bringing out the big guns. Mandy Patinkin on Finishing the Hat. Sounded just as good as he did 26 years ago.

Move On(Sunday in the Park with George):  Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin.  Nuff said.

Pretty Women(Sweeney Todd): Here things got cute and Michael Cerveris (the most recent Sweeney) did this as a duet with George Hearn (the previous one). 

Have a Little Priest (Sweeney Todd):  As a trio with Patti Lupone, Michael Cerveris, and George Hearn.  Very funny.

INTERMISSION!  In which I scrambled to the bathroom and then thought to myself...oh no, this is going to be over soon...Let it last a little longer!

Ballet?(Reds):  Yes, they did a ballet.  I could have done without this, but it was pretty.

So Many People (Saturday Night):  My old audition song! I love, love, love this song and loved hearing it sung by the great Laura Benanti.

Beautiful Girls (Follies): David Hyde Pierce used this song to introduce the following women to the stage- they appeared dressed in red Diane von Furstenberg dresses and sat down on stage to stay a while:  Bernadette Peters, Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, Marin Mazzie, Donna Murphy, Elaine Stritch. In the next part of the song, they sang one great song after another while watching each other, which was fascinating all around.**

The Ladies Who Lunch (Company):  by Patti! Oh for crying out loud, this was great. She sang this song with her usual crazy enunciation and timing.  She was fabulously brilliant.  The audience went crazy at the end, and Elaine Stritch went right to her feet to applaud.  

Losing My Mind(Follies): Marin Mazzie sang a very emotional version of this great song.

The Glamorous Life (A Little Night Music):  Okay, only when Audra McDonald sings it could this relatively boring song become a tour-de-force.  I practically wanted to cry.  She is unreal.

Leave You?(Follies): Donna Murphy was so dry and so withering in this song.  Perfect.

Not a Day Goes By (Merrily We Roll Along):  Bernadette Peters had tears in her eyes from the moment she stood up to sing this.  It was restrained, moving, great.  And, wow, she still has amazing arms!

I'm Still Here (Follies):  Who else but Elaine Stritch? At age 85, she can deliver a song like no one else.  The whole theater jumped to their feet at the end of the song.

Sunday (Sunday in the Park with George):  About 300 members of various Broadway companies*** came up on stage and also surrounded the audience.  Amazing harmonies.  

At long last, they brought Sondheim up on stage, sang Happy Birthday to him, and he gave a little speech.

And then. 

It was over.  And we all had to go back to our real lives.  

If you have made it to the end of this insane post, god bless you.

AZ

*yes, because I got a pen out and wrote it down on my program.  Cool, right?

**By the way, backstage had to be some kind of crazy diva-off, right?

***Even Mixed Company's Amy Justman, who walked right by me!

Book #3: Wolf Hall.

Okay, so it did take two weeks and I was a little overly confident in my ability to get through the 500+ pages in one week.

Alas, this week was not so.  But I did, in fact, finish it.

And was probably not smart enough for it.  As a retelling of the story of the traditionally villainous Thomas Cromwell as a more sympathetic character, this story is, I think , best enjoyed by those who really know and love this period of English History.  As my knowledge is limited to a little Shakespeare, the other Boleyn Girl, and occasional episodes of the Tudors, I felt that I missed a lot of what was interesting about this novel.

That said, it was well written and interesting.  The story of Henry, Anne, Cromwell, Mary, and the Pope, is pretty darn compelling.  Brad and Angelina on steroids.  And if you are really into this story, I think you will love this book.

At the end of the day (and the book), I did a lot of Wikipedia on the period, because I wanted to learn a little bit more.  And my low-brow solution?  To download The Tudors to watch while I work out. 

Next week: the decidedly simpler The Lightning Thief so that I can have seen it before the President's Day movie release.  If it is too quick, I will throw in another book for good measure.

AZ

A quote.

From Violet (who has been listening A LOT to West Side Story in the past few weeks):

"Mommy, when I'm a jet, will I stay a jet?"*

AZ

*oh, how happy this makes me.

A theatrical first.

Last night T and I were lucky enough to have tickets to Wishful Drinking, the new Carrie Fisher one-woman show playing on Broadway.*  We were very excited and even more excited to see as we sat down that the row in front of us was the house seat row...saved for Tony voters, and celebrities.  There was Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue!  And there was Wally Shawn!

And then, the folks in front of us sat down.

Now many of you have had the unfortunate luck of sitting behind someone much taller than yourself.  Who hasn't?  But how many of you have had to sit behind this????

No joke. This was my view of Carrie Fisher.  The hair (one foot tall, according to its owner) was a major part of my theatrical experience last night.

Tanya, who is unfailingly good with celebrity spottings, was the first to notice that this wasn't just any hair, this was celebrity hair.  Whose? Bello the Clown  , seen here with full makeup.  Yes, this famous daredevil clown was there to yuk it up at Carrie Fisher.

He couldn't have been nicer about it.  Checking in with me to see if I was okay ( I was not okay), slumping, and leaning to the right throughout the show while I leaned to the left.  Nonetheless, the temptation to take my contraband beverage and dump it right on top of the hair and help it deflate just a teensy tiny bit was strong.

Carrie Fisher, blessedly, was funny enough and compelling enough, that the hair was a mere anecdote in my evening.  Had she been anything less it would have been intolerable!

Shouldn't he have to sit in the back row?

AZ

*if you can still get tickets, you should absolutely do so.

What I'm thankful for today.

1.  The ocean.

2.  The free on-demand children's networks.

3. The fact that I am not at an amusement park today.

4. My beautiful, funny, talented, generous wife.*

5.  The soundtrack of [title of show]  which I listened to no less than four times on the plane ride from JFK-LAX.

6. The breathing time I have acquired this year while Violet is at school in the mornings.

7.  No visits to the emergency room all year.**

8.  The Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeno that my mother-in-law treated us to last night at NOBU.

9.  Wireless internet.

10.  The fact that none of my children's fingers have been amputated by any of the Maclarens  we have owned over the past ten years.

11.  The widespread introduction of Greek yogurt into American Grocery Stores/Starbuckses.

12.  Living just two blocks from Li-Lac Chocolates and being able to get those dark chocolate covered apricots at least once a day every once in a while.

13.  Time to read books like the beautiful Olive Kitteridge .

14. These folks.

So, what are you all thankful for?

AZ    

*Mushy, mushy, mushy,

**This is where T would say I am jinxing things. But the year is over, and I am thankful that we escaped this particular pitfall for at least 12 months.

A few things I am enjoying.

1.  The Bruschetta at Dell'anima  on 8th Avenue and Jane Street, particularly the ricotta one.

2. Violet's joy at finding letter "v"s on any printed material.

3.  Coffee from La Colombe   after sitting in the ballet studio all afternoon.

4.  Having Tanya in town with me for more than one week.

5.  Mad Men .

6.  Olive Kitteridge .  This book will stay with me for a long time.  A gorgeous book of short stories based around a not-so-always appealing math teacher in Maine.  I was definitely moved to tears a few times while reading this book.*

7.  The pork buns from Fatty Crab .  Now delivering to my house.

8. The soundtrack of Next to Normal , which has been in the CD player in the room with the elliptical and hence I hear frequently when I work out.**

9.  Reading Pippi Longstocking  to the kids.  Inspired by the trip to Sweden, I am rediscovering what a fun book this is.  Jerry and Ella are definitely both intrigued by Pippi...

10.  Dark chocolate covered apricots from  Li-Lac Chocolates .

Life is good.

AZ

*Though I was on an airplane, where I have also cried at "Cheaper by the Dozen 2".  Just sayin'.

**because changing the CD requires an energy i just don't have after working out.  

A perfect marriage.

Only rarely do mine and Tanya's interests come together in such perfect harmony.

Watch and enjoy.

If you have no interest in either musical theater or politics, this may not be for you, or it may kindle an interest in one or both!

Have a good weekend, everyone.

AZ