Frozen: Let's Take a Deep Breath Already

So if you've been on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest lately, you've likely caught sight of this picture, which is racing through my social networks like wildfire.  It shows the newly crowned Queen Elsa letting Princess Anna know that there is no way she will give her blessing for a marriage to Prince Hans, whom Anna has met that afternoon.  Disney has long come under fire for its numerous princesses, the age of said princesses, quick marriages, questionable story lines, appearance, and the treatment of the women in those roles.

Frozen is being hailed as Disney's first truly girl power princess movie, surpassing Tangled, which previously held the throne.  Having a 4 year old daughter, I have seen nearly all the princess movies, and the ones we haven't watched together, we have certainly read. 

I grew up on Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and loved them both.  Cinderella was the girl I looked up to the most, and what I took away from it was that if you were kind, even in the face of cruelty, and you worked hard, eventually good things would come of it.  I have learned that isn't necessarily true, but I did have a wise friend once tell me, "It's better to regret doing something nice than something nasty." And I agree with that.

I have taken great joy in watching Tangled with my daughter numerous times, and we saw Frozen three times in the theater.  She and her friends in preschool love playing at being Anna and Elsa and singing Let it Go loudly and in endearing pre-school voices.

My impression of Frozen when I saw it the first time was that I was watching Tangled On Ice, as I dubbed it.  A beautiful princess has been basically locked in a castle her entire life, she runs away (not to see floating lights, but to chase after her sister who has also run away after being locked in a room for most of her life), meets a hunky dude with some street smarts, he helps her on her journey, they fall in love, return to the palace and uncover their secrets, and everyone lives happily ever after.

Are there other princesses who run away?  Sure.  Jasmine takes off to the marketplace to avoid marriage and meets Aladdin, a street smart urchin with the heart of a prince.  Mulan runs off and joins the army in her father's place and wins the heart of a warrior.  Ariel makes a deal with the Sea Witch and foresakes her family to win Prince Eric's heart.  Rapunzel runs away from the tower with the help of Flynn Rider, who has snuck in and gets smacked around with a frying pan a bit.  This isn't much in the way of a new formula.  Anna, in my estimation, takes her place in a long line of women who run away, find men, and win their happily ever after.

I have read many essays which condemn The Beast for his refusal to allow Belle out of the castle.  His own selfish need for love to re-transform him into a prince are at the heart of his decision to keep her prisoner, and he is in fact ghastly towards her, softening over time due to a combination of advice from his servants and from Belle's TLC.  Elsa's parents likewise confine her to her bedroom and perhaps a parlor elsewhere in the castle.  This is presumably 'for her own good', she is dangerous, she is not in control of her powers, she has injured her innocent sister.  Yet somehow, we see this acceptable because Elsa won't let Anna marry Hans and because Anna eventually sacrifices herself to save her sister, not hook up with a man.  And given Anna's glee when the castle windows and doors are thrown open, the gates opened wide, and she steps into the sun, I have to wonder if she wasn't kept inside the entire time as well, for no particular reason I can fathom.  Forgive me, but as far as I can see, a prisoner is a prisoner.

Disney didn't write these stories.  In some cases, they've re-written the endings of these stories.  The most egregious is in the case of The Little Mermaid.  I grew up watching Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theater, and she sticks to the original plot of the fairy tales.  The Little Mermaid most definitely does not get a happy ending.  Rapunzel eventually gets a happy ending, but only after giving birth on her own in a desert, and after her prince, who has been blinded after being pushed from the tower by the witch, manages to stumble upon her as she's hanging around in the desert, which didn't seem like much of a plan.  But in Disney's ending of Rapunzel, he winds up dead for a while.  I'm not sure which is the better ending on that one.  But read these stories in their original forms.  The Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Anderson, and other story tellers wrote of children being abandoned in the woods to be eaten by a witch, children freezing to death, women being abused, men being turned into frogs and beasts, parents disappearing or being killed.  Disney didn't write these tales; at worst they are guilty of perpetuating them and perhaps doctoring the endings to make them a lot less harsh than the originals.  (And frankly, I'm probably just fine with my daughter not having an image of Ariel standing over the prince's sleeping body, knife in hand, ready to plunge it into his heart.)  But they are hardly alone in the game. Where would Shrek be without Princess Fiona, and vice versa?  Emmett and Wyld Style? To name just a couple from rival studios...

Yet somehow, one sentence uttered in the first 1/3 of a movie has redeemed Disney of past sins, despite the fact that later, said princess does indeed wind up with a man who, at best, she has been with for 2 or 3 days.  Despite the fact that Elsa has spent at least a decade ignoring Anna, who desperately misses her big sister.  Elsa, who won't even open the door when their parents are tragically lost at sea, who cannot even bring herself to console her sister.  Why?  "It's for her own good.  It's not safe."  Bullsh**.  And when Anna shows up at the ice palace to beg Elsa to come back, just to talk with her, Elsa responds by summoning a hideous snowish hellbeast that very nearly kills Anna.  Elsa's treatment of Anna is, in my estimation, what make her a monster far more than her powers of freezing whatever she touches. 

I do believe the princesses teach us important life lessons, not just about how to look good in a ball gown if you have an impossibly tiny waistline.  A little trip over to Pinterest shows how many of us love a pithy saying, as if these little gems can lead us down the primrose path of happiness.  Every day I log into Pinterest and someone has pinned one or two of them.  Heck, the image at the top of my sidebar here, which inspired my blog title, is one such image.  So I've taken these sayings from Pinterest, all of which have been pinned by women, and matched them with a Disney Princess just for fun.  You can fly your princess flag with pride, friend.  Enjoy.  (Picture of the princesses, then each quote I've selected for them with their name underneath)

Tiana

Ariel

Jasmine

Snow White

Frozen: Anna and Elsa

Sleeping Beauty

Belle

Mulan

Pocahantas

Rapunzel

Cinderella

Merida

An Evening and a Love Affair with Barenaked Ladies

I am friends with music people.  Serious music people.  People who know all kinds of obscure tunes, who post YouTube videos of old music shows and videos I've never heard of.  I have several friends who are DJ's, many who think the best thing to do with their weekends is to go to a show or a festival or a record store.  I admire them all.  I admire their passion for music.  I have discovered a lot of new music through them.  But by and large, to me, music is just more noise in my environment.  I really don't listen to ANYTHING, given much of a chance.  It is the introvert's curse.  I last really paid attention to music in the late 90's, when Savage Garden was still together, Rob Thomas was not yet taking it solo but just chillin' with Matchbox 20, when Train had 1 little hit and called it a day.  About 4 years ago, when we had teenagers in the house, I had no choice but to brush up on more current music, and rediscovered Train, in addition to some other music that I have to say is not half bad, even if it's the most commercial pop available.  I have fond memories of listening to Kelly Clarkson and Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift and Cee Lo Green with Penny.  But by and large, when I left my teens behind, I more or less said Adios! to music beyond what I already liked.  I've kept up with my favorites however, and none more so than my all time favorite band, Barenaked Ladies.

I discovered them in the late 90's when I was working at summer camp after college and, like everyone else, we are all singing If I Had a Million Dollars.  The CD didn't belong to me, it was the camp director's, so I didn't really listen to it all that much as she had other things she wanted to hear.  If I had to fault myself for something musically, it's that when I hear a song I like, I never really go on and listen to anything else the artist does beyond their big hits.  I know exactly one Gotye song.  I know maybe 3 or 4 Lady Gaga songs, yadda yadda.  So I just didn't much bother listening to anything by BNL until a few years later when my sister brought home their "All Their Greatest Hits1991-2001" CD.  And I was totally hooked.  There wasn't a single song on there I didn't love.  If I'm being honest, I think I even stole the CD.

Still, it took a while until I got to see them in concert for the first time.  With the release of Barenaked Ladies Are Me in 2006, they went on tour and came to the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia.  My friend Heather got tickets and 4 of us went, including my sister, and it was my first time seeing BNL in concert.  Steven Page was still with the band and it was magical.  Hearing the songs live, singing them with friends, it all had so much more meaning and just took things to a new level.  We sang for days after that concert.  It was awesome.

In 2011, they came to Celebrate Virginia Live here in Fredericksburg, and I got tickets to that show for me, my sister, Heather, and our new exchange student, Kristin.  Kristin was not terribly impressed, a modern teenager through and through, but for the other three of us it was incredible.  We got "gold level" seating, which at CVL means you can pay to enter into preferred seating and sit anywhere (it cost all of $25!  What a bargain!).  We got second or third row seats, dead center, and it was amazing.  Steven Page had left the band by then and we were all wondering what it would be like without him.  But my friend Emily summed it up succinctly, "Didn't need him."  Although that's probably a bit blunt, and there are times that I do miss his voice on their albums, I have to say, BNL has managed to forge ahead without him as a very strong musical force.

So fast forward to 2013, my life has changed dramatically, and I am really trying to figure some shit out while mainly acting like Brian Wilson (without the drugs and alcohol), and up pops Grinning Streak.  And there seemed to be a lot of songs on the album that spoke to me in the midst of my predicament.  I really took the time to listen to it on my own, and ignored what my friends were saying for the first little bit, formed my own preferences for my favorite songs.  Grinning Streak just came along at the right moment for me.  It was the right album at the right time.

With it came the announcement of the Last Summer on Earth tour.  Initially I didn't see much about DC on there--BNL was going to Columbia, MD (I didn't want to go up there) and then they were going to Virginia Beach, but it was as part of a music festival and I didn't very much feel like doing that either.  So I invited myself to Chicago to see them and in July that's precisely what I did.  It was a significant event in that it was just before the anniversary or Mike's death and the album was really helping me cope with that, but it was also part of re-connecting with Kyle, and he is a music guy, so it was fun to go to the concert with him.  The fans there were awesome--I sat next to a guy for whom this was his 10th BNL concert in a very short amount of time, and every time BNL strummed an opening chord, this guy would throw his arms in the air and scream, no matter what song was playing.  He was really, really nice.  Despite the fact that my feet hurt and it was hot and I didn't especially want to sing and make an idiot of myself in front of Kyle, I just had a blast at that concert.  It was such a great atmosphere (seriously, the midwest is awesome), such a great show, such great music, such great company.  It had been long enough that I hadn't seen BNL in concert that I kind of rediscovered how awesome they were.  They had a British comedian, Boothby Graffoe, open for them, as well as Ben Folds, and that was great.  There was just nothing bad about it.

I got home and I lived off that high for a month or two.  Then I looked at the tour again and discovered Washington DC was added in November.  I called my sister up and asked her if she wanted to go, which of course she did, so I got us tickets and within 3 or 4 days, we were going to see them in DC.  It was one of those serendipitous moments when I happened to catch the tour on time and whatnot, and I started to kind of get into the cult of BNL.  We had dinner at a restaurant across the street from the theater and it was packed to the rafters with BNL fans.  There was one man, maybe 10-15 years older than me, who was really freaking out because the service was slow and he didn't want to miss the show, and we got talking and just really a nice guy despite being a little high strung.  But you kind of find these fellow fans and it all kind of clicks.  I am finding it pretty rare now when I talk to someone for whom it's their first time at a BNL show.  And you listen to people's stories and what the music means to them, and the shows, and it's just incredible.

So that show was great, we called my friend Melissa  in the middle of it because she is a diehard "Odds Are" fan and when they played that song, we recorded it into her voice mail, which made her happy.  And I really thought that would be the end of it.  Somewhere in this time, I started following BNL on Twitter, and although I really, really, REALLY wanted to go over to the UK for their tour there, I didn't.  And then they announced their Canadian tour 2014.  I looked over the list of where they were going to be and spied Kingston.  And it occurred to me that Kingston is not too, too far away from my dad's house.  So I called my dad and said, "Dad!!!  Are you busy the last week in January?  And can we go to Kingston?" and his answer was no and yes respectively, so I told him I wanted to go to the BNL show and he was kind of iffy about it but said he'd go.  They had VIP packages available, so I snapped them up for him, me, Leah, and his girlfriend.  Last week was The Day.  I was so, so so excited.  I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to bring to have autographed, I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to wear, what I wanted to say, how it was going to go...  And I started to pray that no one would wear black.

Because, you see, last summer, we also went backstage to meet Train, my second favorite band, and Leah FREAKED OUT because they were wearing black and she is apparently terrified of people wearing black.  So that was money down the drain!  She climbed up and wrapped herself around my neck so I couldn't breathe or speak, and nothing the band said and nothing I said made any difference.

So, Thursday, we left Dad's around 2:30.  His girlfriend couldn't go due to her chemotherapy schedule and I had been unsuccessful at selling her ticket for the show or even giving it to any number of my friends.  So I just had the thought, "Tonight you can use the extra to make someone's life a little bit better" and I figured the right person would present themselves in some way that I would know to give them a pass.

We got to Kingston and I was on a mission for a while to find some Canadian stuff that I never did manage to find.  We had dinner and headed over to the K Rock Center, and no problem whatsoever--we were in the system, they gave us the passes and we were in.  (This is stark contrast to my experience with LiveNation at the Train concert--I never received my initial email and only with the sheerest of luck did I go over to the concert venue early and discover the meet n greet group, because no one at the venue itself had any idea of what was going on for the VIPs!).  And going to a concert in Canada is a totally different experience, let me also say that.  When I took Leah to see the Fresh Beat Band in November, my bags were searched and I was sent packing with my iPad, and told I couldn't have it with me.  In contrast, the guy manning the door at the KRock center didn't even seem all that concerned that I had a huge tote bag with me full of "stuff", I wasn't searched at all, and they barely glanced at our tickets.  Everyone was unfailingly polite, friendly, and completely unconcerned that I might set off a dirty bomb.  It was eye opening and refreshing.  A reminder of a saner time, it reinforced my growing love affair with Canada.

Me and Leah with Emma from England

So we went over to the VIP area and waited, Dad walked Leah around the center to burn off some energy and at 7 on the dot, we were met by the tour manager and he was prepared to take us 'backstage.'  As we were heading out, I saw a group of 3 ladies next to us and two of them were going backstage and one was not--she said goodbye to her friends and told them to have fun.  I asked her if she didn't have a pass and she did not, so I asked her if she would like one.  She said, "Are you serious?!" and in a perfect little English accent no less.  So I said yes, and I gave her Linda's pass and we walked backstage together.  It turned out she was visiting Orlando, FL from England and had come up to Kingston to visit her friends who were going to the BNL concert.  I asked her if she had seen them before and she said she went to every single show they did in the UK.  I was sure to tell her how totally jealous I was of her.  :)  So it just worked out perfectly that I was able to give her the pass--I got a little English culture and she was a lovely person and it really made me so happy.  She said she would buy me a drink later if I found her, but given that I don't drink, I told her I'd be happy with a photograph for my scrapbook and she happily obliged.  It was just right.  It really was the icing on the cake of my evening.

We were taken to a little area that was cordoned off from the main corridor of the arena.  We were still in the hallway, just behind a beverage cart, sectioned off only by a black curtain.  It was explained to us that the band would come out and stand in front of one section of the curtain, and each "group" would go up and have a group picture taken by the official photographer and then we could break into small groups and the band would come around do autographs and take individual pictures with each of us.  The band came out and everyone applauded, and then my first thought was, "Oh shit."  Because Ed Robertson was wearing a black t-shirt exactly like the one Pat Monahan had been wearing in Charlotte.  Well, there was nothing to do about it, except to wait and see what was going to happen.  On the plus side, I had let Leah bring her stuffed llama with her, which she got as a Christmas present from my dad, so I hoped that might be enough to keep her calm.

So we all formed a queue and each group sure enough got up there and got there picture taken.  When it was our turn, my dad said, "C'mon, Kate, let's get in there."  He was carrying Leah's coat under one arm, and as he stepped forward, Ed said, "You know, sir, if you would just put that little pink coat on, you wouldn't have to carry it."  HAHAHAHA  Then they made the appropriate comments over Leah's llama, which set her at ease, so she wasn't screaming and freaking out and she actually stood for a picture! Hooray!

Now little did I know, my dad had it in his head that BNL was somehow going to offend or insult me or Leah, and he was totally loaded for bear.  You can see he has one arm protectively on my shoulder, totally ready to push Kevin the hell away. But as we walked off, he made the comment, "Hmmm, a nice group of young men." 

So off we went to a different side of the room and after all the groups had their picture taken, sure enough, they split up and came around.  We first met Kevin, and he is easily the quietest so it was a brief encounter.  I had brought a box of Kraft dinner and some boomerangs to have autographed--Boomerang is probably my favorite song on Grinning Streak, and I thought the Kraft dinner and the llama went nicely together.  I was feeling way shy and I didn't have much to say to him and, "My sister's madly in love with you and would probably sell her three children into slavery if you just say yes" didn't seem appropriate.  But Leah, as you can see, picked up the slack nicely :)  And he was very, very nice.  Probably scared of my dad!

Next up was Tyler, and he was awesome too.  I still felt nervous to say much, so I didn't, but he talked to Leah about the llama and signed all our stuff and was really nice and kind.  My dad manned the camera and took actually pretty good shots--we all kept our heads and no one got cut off, so I was very proud of him.  I imagined Tyler would be the easiest to talk to, given that he's so outgoing and a bit crazy on stage, but I was just literally in awe of being around these people, so I just let Leah do the talking.  And she was utterly nonplussed.  See the llama sticking up in the bottom of this picture?  Yeah, she was all about "Look at my llama, mister!"

And then, Ed came over.  Glorious.  I finally had the good sense to ask for a posed photograph with him, and asked him a few things, I don't really remember what.  He asked Leah what her name was, how old she was, and about her llama (and yes, they really do pronounce it lam-uh, not law-muh) and then I asked him for the picture and he was happy to do so, and put his arm right around me, so I put mine around him.  I probably said some crazy shit, I really don't even remember, but I did notice that he sounded kind of sick.  And I was thinking "Well that sucks!" And then it was over.  I thought of a million things I should have said afterwards, but in the heat of the moment, I just froze.  So there you have it.

Finally, Jim came over and him I could actually talk to!!!  Hooray!!!  I always enjoy watching him on stage and told him so, and told him about the other concerts I'd been to in the past few months.  We got talking a bit about Chicago and I said, "remember how it was about 9,000 degrees out there?" and he remembered it very well, but said it was a really fun show to do.  So I asked him for a picture as well and sure enough, he was happy to do it.  And I wished him well on the show and off he went.

It was a really nice backstage experience--15 or 20 minutes, got time with each member of the band, Leah didn't flip out, my dad didn't kill anyone, it was a lot of fun.  So after they all left, we went out and got our seats and listened to Clara Venice and Ladies of the Canyon, the two opening acts, then in fairly short order, the familiar strains of Limits came on and the show started.  The crowd started out pretty tame--a few other people and I jumped out of our seats to dance to Brian Wilson, but they were playing a few slow numbers and Ed did in fact say he had something going on with his throat and he had to take a quick shot of something between each song.  Eventually quite a crowd formed in front of the stage, and unlike Fredericksburg, where we were booted back to our seats, the security there was unimpressed and let us dance to our hearts content, which is what Leah asked me if she could do, so I took her up there.  She was quite a hit!  She was dancing her patoot off, and Jim noticed and played a bit closer to her (she has since declared that he is her favorite.)  Well, she was such a hit in fact that a lady next to us picked her up and tried to put her on stage. This was where security finally drew the line, but they just came over and yelled "no, no, no!" and as soon as Leah's feet were back on the ground, they disappeared again.  And really, Leah wanted NO part of it--she said it scared her.  Still, I don't know too many 4 year olds who can say they were onstage with Train (she was one of the mermaids selected to go onstage during that concert) AND Barenaked Ladies.  :-)

Eventually she wanted to go lay down near my dad, and I had brought ear protectors for her because she cried a lot at the Train concert and I thought she would feel better if she could have peace and quiet.  Sure enough she popped them on and fell asleep.  By the end, everyone was on their feet, even Dad, and cheering and screaming and having a great time.  They did one encore, which Tyler did to preserve Ed's voice, but he has such awesome presence that everyone just went nuts.  It was so much fun!

So what did Dad think?  From his Facebook:

It was a great night for all of us.  We got home around 1AM, even though Dad was so excited he did 80MPH part of the way home.  It was hard to fall asleep, so I checked out the rest of their 2014 tour dates around Canada, but nothing was where it would be terribly easy to get to.  (Not that this is stopping me, mind you!)  The current BNL Twitter statuses are full of scans of Ed's vocal chords, so it's looking like they're taking whatever it is pretty seriously.  Still, I'll keep monitoring the tour listings and I'll just keep on going.  I've been 5 times now, and every single show has been so fun and so different, I can't imagine I won't want to continue.  Meeting fellow fans is as much fun as meeting the band, and I just really, really have enjoyed it, and converting my dad to a fan is an added bonus.  Seeing them in Canada was also really fun!  It was so laid back and cool.  BNL Forever!

Pippin: A Magical To-Do

First, I will commence by saying that clearly, I am not a professional reviewer of anything.  My review is my own opinion, uneducated though it may be.

Second, I will not reveal the "secrets" about the show, by which I mean all the wonderful surprises that happen throughout the show.  If you want to know about all the amazing tricks, athleticism, jokes, humor, etc., you'll just have to go see it for yourself.

Third, I will spoil the plot.  If you don't know what the show is about and want to go in with a clean slate, quit reading now.  I will mention it a few more times before I give my synopsis of the show, but you are forewarned:  I will give away the basic plot.  I won't tell you how it ends, but you can probably guess.

Ok, so here goes...  Some background.

Growing up, this record album was a common sight in my parents' record stack.  I suspect it was because of the bright purple cover and the clowns that my sister and I gravitated towards it.  My parents went and saw it on Broadway back in the 70's when it first came out, and I'm not sure but I think my mom told me she was pregnant with me at the time, so I feel like it was ingrained in me even in the womb.  My sister and I played this record a lot.  A really, really lot.  We just loved it.  When I was in middle school, someone from school wound up with a VHS copy of the production, which starred William Katt, whom I adored and still secretly do adore--my sole dip of the toe into the world of blonds, and Lesley Denniston who was on Guiding Light, my preferred soap opera, as well as featuring Ben Vereen reprising his role as the leading player.  My sister and I wore that sucker out.  (You can see the whole thing on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbIjn66sTr0 if you ever have 2 hours you don't know what to do with--it's genuinely worth watching.).  Fast forward to my twenties, and I'm getting married, and I desperately want the song With You to be our wedding song.  Mike vetoed it.  I believe it did make in on the CD we gave out, although I'm not sure.  But singing it to him and hearing it over and over again, I decided I wanted to see Pippin again.  Yet it was very difficult to get one's hands on a copy.  I finally was able to find one on Ebay, but it was the censored version (there's a fairly racy sex scene in the middle of the show).  Finally I tracked down an unedited version and purchased it.  It arrived in a dinged up clamshell, I watched it all the way through, the tape broke, and that was that.  But I didn't have the heart to throw it in the trash.  (It is now readily available on DVD on Amazon--OF COURSE!)

Fast forward a few more years, I'm living in Washington DC, and Stephen Schwartz (who wrote Pippin) is coming to the Kennedy Center to do a talk and introduce some singer/songwriters for some sort of something.  My sister was a member of the Kennedy Center, so we easily got tickets and hilarity ensued.  Stephen spoke for a good while, and sang Corner of the Sky (yes, I was quite sure I'd died and gone to heaven, as it's my favorite song from the entire show).  He talked about writing Pippin in the 70's and how it seemed to resonate with people, as everyone was trying to 'find themselves' back then.  They saw Pippin's quest to find meaning in his life and it touched a chord.  After we got done with the songwriter portion of the situation, everyone was allowed to line up to pay their respects to one of the kings of Broadway.  Just as we got to the front of the line, they announced it was done.  My sister was not taking no for an answer, given that we'd waited in line well over an hour and stepped forward, burst into tears and bowed as if she was meeting the king.  Judy has a history of losing her shit when her favorite celebrities are nearby--I suspect she possibly did nothing but giggle at Alan Alda--but this was epic even by her standards.  Then she wisely intoned with the most bizarre accent, "May I present (dramatic pause) my sister?" sweeping her arm in my direction with great flourish and while I attempted not to die laughing, I stepped forward and met an idol.  "May I present...my sister?"  is now something of legend between us.  Well, I had brought my battered Pippin VHS, and asked Stephen to autograph it.  Because he had recently written Wicked and the room was full mainly of high school students, I think he was genuinely touched that there was someone in the room who remembered and loved Pippin so much.  Unfortunately he had a black sharpie and most of the VHS cover is black, so I had him sign it on the inside, where only I know it is, but it's there. :-)

I've never stopped playing the soundtrack.  I'm pushing 40 now, and it's been the soundtrack of my life in a way nothing else, no other artist or album has ever been.  So now you know how much I love, absolutely love this show.

While I was researching my trip to NYC for other reasons, a little sidebar ad came up advertising the Pippin revival.  It won several Tony awards last year, and my sister swears she told me all about it, but I honestly don't remember any of that.  So when I saw it had been revived, and with a woman as the Leading Player, I was surprised and extremely skeptical.  I talked to Judy about it and she said she wouldn't go because Pippin was wearing boots (more on this later), but that she had heard great things about it.  I'm not sure what possessed me, but I thought, "Well, we'll just see about this!" and I secured myself a ticket.  And then I went back to pretending it wasn't happening, until yesterday, which was the big day.

**SPOILER ALERT.  HERE'S WHERE TO STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS**

For anyone who doesn't know, a bit about the show. Pippin is a highly fictionalized account of the life of Pippin, oldest son of Charlemagne.  Yes.  That Charlemagne.  Holy Roman Empire Charlemagne.  The story is led by a character called Leading Player, a role which made Ben Vereen famous and earned him a Tony award, and is now played by Patina Miller, who also won a Tony for the role.  This made Tony history, as it was the first time two people of opposite genders won Tonys for the same role.

Pippin has recently graduated school and has come home, determined that his life have meaning.  He's not sure what exactly he should do, and he speaks to his father.  In the course of that conversation, he determines he will join the army and fight for his father alongside his half-brother Louis.  Louis is "an ideal solder: strong and stupid".  Louis's mother, Fastrada, is Charlemagne's second wife and a typical doting mother who wants her son to be king.  Charlemagne reluctantly allows Pippin to come to war with him.  War is not what Pippin expected and he is exhausted and sickened from the bloodshed.

He flees to the house of Berthe, his grandmother.  She tells Pippin to quit worrying and start living.  She is quite a saucy old lady--originally played by Irene Ryan of Beverly Hillbillies fame, and in the link I posted, by Martha Raye.  Pippin agrees with his grandmother's philosophy and turns to women, aided by Leading Player.  This is where the orgiastic sex scene comes in and there is some indication of drug use going on, although in the version I just saw, I felt the scene had been toned down to be somewhat more appropriate for younger audiences (if such a thing is possible).  Pippin finds that this string of 'relationships' has also left him feeling unfilfilled, and soon hears of his father's tyranny from Leading Player.

Encouraged by Fastrada, Pippin decides to overthrow his father and kills him.  He then assumes the throne, but quickly learns that being king is extremely difficult, there are no right answers, and he begs Leading Player to bring Charlemagne back to life, which is done.  Pippin then tries his hand at art and religion, neither of which is explored in any detail beyond a couple of snappy punchlines, and then he collapses in despair in a heap on the stage, lamenting that he will never find fulfillment.

Pippin is found by Catherine and brought to her home.  Catherine is a widow with a foot fetish (hence why the boots in the new version are a problem) and a young son, Theo.  She is thrilled to have Pippin on her estate.  He is put to work helping with gardening, farm chores, home repairs, but eventually he and Catherine confront the feelings in their blossoming relationship.  This makes Leading Player extremely unhappy, as s/he has plans for Pippin, and when Catherine suggests Pippin sit at the head of the table, Pippin flees from domestic life as refusing to give in to a common life and believing it can offer contentment and fulfillment.

The Leading Player offers him an alternative in a finale, and Pippin must make a choice between "the most perfect act ever" or accepting and choosing what made him truly happy and fulfilled: life with Catherine and Theo.


So I suppose I should first talk about the show.

All my skepticism was misplaced.  The show absolutely blew me out of the water.  It was so good that I forgot to sing along even in my head.  Several times I began to applaud even though I was the only one applauding. 

They have dressed the stage to look like a giant circus tent.  The players are still made up like clowns and acrobats.  I was a bit concerned when I heard someone utter "They made it into Cirque du Soleil" when I entered the theater, because although I would very much like to see Cirque du Soleil, I don't generally find it to be a high energy type thing, I think of it as more ethereal and swishy.  Bob Fosse originally choreographed Pippin, and so I want to see serious moving, not riding around on ribbons and sashaying across stage in a giant bubble.

I was not disappointed.  The choreography was top notch.  It was quick and fun and interesting.  There was a good bit of circus type stuff involved--tons of acrobatics, gymnastics, that kind of thing--but in ways that kept up with the music and made sense.  You can see a montage of the show at http://www.pippinthemusical.com/ on the homepage and get a sense of what it actually looks like.  At 2:04, you'll see how they created "PIPPIN" using their bodies and props to resemble the original record cover, which I thought was a great tribute to the original.

I wasn't able to envision anyone but Ben Vereen as the Leading Player, and certainly not a woman.  30 years of watching Ben Vereen dance his heart out left an indelible impression on me, I suppose.  But Patina Miller was an absolute revelation.  She erased all my doubts about how anyone could fill Ben Vereen's shoes.  You literally cannot take your eyes off her, she commands the stage entirely. 

Michael James Thomas was an outstanding Pippin, probably the best one I've ever seen, and although he played it coy a bit when starting to dance, he really could dance very well and keep up with Patina Miller rather impressively.  I loved that he made the part his own--he sang the songs in his own way, and I thought he did it beautifully, particularly Corner of the Sky, which he made less of a ballad and more of a mission statement.  He sang it with a purpose and determination I'm not sure I'd ever heard before.

Charlemagne was played by Terence Mann, who my sister assures me is Broadway royalty, although I confess I've never heard of him.  His real-life wife, Charlotte d'Amboise, played Fastrada, and I suppose if I had to choose a weak link in the production, it might be her, but honestly it's only quibbling.  She did a great job dancing and singing her lines, but I didn't connect much with Fastrada.  Usually, I'd admire how cunning and devious she is, but this go-round, something didn't quite punch me in the gut about her.  Mann was a fine Charlemagne, if perhaps less 'rotund' than most I've seen.  His Charlemagne was quite serious, although jovial, and the cast did not mock him as I've seen before--he was treated with more deference.  Still, it felt appropriate to this particular production.

A very pleasant surprise was Berthe, Pippin's grandmother, played by Tovah Feldshuh.  I didn't think there was anyway they could make Granny any saucier, but in fact they did!  And what she managed to do was incredible.  It was a great honor to meet her in the autograph line afterwards.  She was absolutely amazing.  There was a moment when she sang to Pippin, "You are my time".  Maybe 2 seconds, but oh so poignant.  Made me think of my girl and I felt very emotional.  Feldshuh and Thomas managed to convey such lovely emotion in a song that is fairly upbeat and fun.  It was a 'blink and you'll miss it' moment, and I'm so glad I didn't miss it.

Although I knew in my head that Catherine was a widow and single mother struggling to support herself and her son, for obvious reasons, that character really struck a new chord with me this time.  Rachel Bay Jones played the role.  She has a lovely Carol Kane-esque voice that added a new dimension to Catherine's character--WITH JUST HER VOICE!  Imagine?!  Imagine being able to change a part with just your voice??  The Leading Player exposes and toys with her insecurities--she is getting older, she is scared, she is lonely--and Catherine manages to move beyond those doubts and fears to be who she is.  When she sang "I Guess I'll Miss the Man" and cried over how much she loved her husband, I fell into a brief despair.  Pippin isn't that man, Pippin can't be that man, Pippin may never choose to be that man, and Catherine is stuck in life with very few choices--we can only imagine far fewer choices than I have today in the same situation.  And yet, she allows Pippin to leave with a dignity that belies her feelings.  I have many lessons to learn from Catherine.

The show has been updated slightly to become more modern--Granny sings about 'tweeting', there is a crack about Louis's being gay, but nothing that felt forced or out of place.  For kicks, I played a couple of the songs from the old soundtrack back to back with songs from the new one, and apart from the update to War is a Science, which I thought was unnecessary, I thought they were all quite good and sounded fantastic.

I'll keep singing about finding my corner of the sky, taking the time to keep living, because ultimately, "All I Need to Know About Life, I Learned From Pippin".

1.  I want my life to be something more than long.
2.  It's smarter to be lucky than it's lucky to be smart.
3.  There's one thing to be sure of:  there's nothing to be sure of.
4.  If I just pitch in and do what's right, things will always work out.
5.  So many plans need making.  I think I will.
6.  Take it easy.
7.  There's no trick to staying sensible.
8.  Be conservative with a budget, liberal with a meal.
9.  Some men are heroes, some men outshine the sun, some men are simple good men, it's ok to love one who isn't one.
10.  It was here.

I hope everyone puts this wonderful production at the top of their list of shows to see and I look forward to seeing it again (and again!). :)

NYC: What Is It About You?

So yesterday was my big trip to New York.  I'd been planning it a while, and Friday sat down with a couple of BuzzFeed Lists to put the finishing touches on the culinary portion of my little tour.  Initially my plan was to go to the Strand Bookstore (http://www.strandbooks.com) and get lost for an entire day in the stacks.  Then I heard, and I don't know how I missed this but I did, that Pippin had been revived on Broadway.  Pippin is, without question, my all time favorite musical.  So I knew I had to go see that.  Then I got thinking about other NY things I hadn't done, and one of them was going to the top of the Empire State Building.  So I tossed that on the list, and my plans for the day were complete.

I spent Friday night at Melissa's, as she was watching Leah for the day so I could go on my trip.  It was her usual monthly time to get Leah anyway, so I just planned to go then anyway.  I had a hard time sleeping--I was REALLY excited, so I woke up at 1, sure I'd missed the alarm and and again at 3:30.  At 3:30 I stayed awake.  When the alarm went off at 4, I got up and quickly got dressed, then headed to Union Station.  I got there about 4:45 and the train left at 5:25, so I didn't have to wait too long.

When I took Penny to NY back in the day, we discovered The Quiet Car.  There is no talking, no cell phone use, nothing in The Quiet Car.  I got into a car that wasn't the quiet car at first, and there were a couple of people behind me talking and laughing, so when the train stopped at BWI, I got up and moved ahead one car, and lo and behold, I found the quiet car.  By Baltimore, I was sound asleep, and I didn't wake up again till the conductor came through to tell us that we were in Newark and only one stop to go.  I caught my first glimpse of the new Freedom Tower and the NY skyline.

I have to be honest and say that my first few minutes in NYC were minutes of disorientation.  I had to leave Penn Station to go find the N/R lines (aka the Never and the Rarely), and when I first came out into the sunlight, I couldn't quite make out north/south and east/west.  So I went half a block in the wrong direction before heading the correct way.  I had no trouble finding the train, and since I had a vague idea of where the Strand was, I ignored the directions I had once I got to the correct subway stop, and followed my instincts.  Sure enough, there was the Strand, dead ahead!

It was almost 10, so I stopped in at a Pret a Manger just to grab a quick croissant and bottle of water.  I sat there, right across from The Strand and stared at it.  I wasn't quite ready to go in yet.  But let's face it, a croissant only last so long, so I left and went across the street and stepped inside.  The angels sang, a rainbow shone in the window, and pixies danced in a circle at my feet.

Ok, maybe not.  The main floor of the Strand looks like any other bookstore, only larger.  There were a LOT of people on that floor, and it was almost difficult to navigate.  Everything is crammed very tightly together, the width between shelves is just enough for one person.  But I saw signs for the basement, the basement where bargains live, and I rolled on down.  It was like a wonderful labyrinth of bookshelves.  You could turn down one aisle and 5 more aisles stretched out in front of you, or you could turn into one and find a dead end.  It would be impossible to look at every title--the shelves seemed 10 feet high, and books were crammed on tables and racks and shelves and every available surface.  Before too long, I had an armload, and I went to the first floor for a cart.  I traipsed around there a while, as well as the second floor, and then went up to the third floor where they have rare books.  I had to leave my bag and cart with a minder and I sat and looked through a book about apartheid, as well as some movie books and other old, fascinating books.  They were just beautiful, let me tell you.

It was after noon and I was getting hungry.  I didn't really want to carry a huge pile of books around NYC all day, but the Strand will hold your books for you and you can come back for them.  You don't even have to pay for them till you come back.  So I elected to do that.  My lunch of choice was Peanut Butter and Company.  I have long loved their peanut butter and all the different flavors they have, and I decided I would walk down there for lunch.  "just a few blocks" my directions said, but sure enough, nearly 45 minutes later, I found the place.

This is the exterior and it looks pretty good sized from outside.  Unfortunately looks are deceiving.  A good half of that space is the kitchen and front counter area. Another good bit is a small display area.  There are maybe 6 tables crammed into a very small space indeed, and if someone is sitting at one table it is practically impossible for anyone to sit behind them at the next table, to say nothing of navigating between.  There was a guy and his girlfriend at one table, and behind him was a little girl sitting with her mom, and you couldn't have gotten a piece of paper between them.

So I chose to get my lunch to go.  I didn't know where exactly I would go, but after my sandwich was wrapped and packed, I took it and walked over to a nearby building.  I thought I'd sit on the stairs, but there were benches and it turned out it was the NYU law school.  So I opened up my "Cookie Dough Surprise" sandwich and took a bite.

The angels sang, a rainbow shone in the window, and pixies danced in a circle at my feet.  Just kidding.  It was a plain ole peanut butter sandwich.  Absolutely nothing special about it at all.  I ate half of it and gave the other half to a homeless person.  It did absolutely nothing for me, and I was HUNGRY at this point.  (If I ever go back, which seems extremely unlikely, I try the PB and bacon sandwich.)  So I decided I would try BuzzFeed's recommendation for S'mac, which is only 3 blocks from the Strand.  I walked back that way via Washington Square park, where I had never been before.  I thought from the directions that it would be MAYBE a 3 minute walk from the Strand to S'mac, but in fact, it was 3 of the longest city blocks I've ever seen and it was after 1:00 by the time I got there.  I had show tickets for 2:30 and the people at S'mac were in no hurry to serve me or the people who walked in behind me, and it seemed like (and it's a good thing) they were making everything to order, and I couldn't get even an estimate of how long it would take to get a dish, so I chose to leave and head back to the train station to go back to Times Square.  (For not the first time, I was way happy not to be hauling books!)

I got up to Times Square around 2:00 and found Nuchas Empanadas, also a BuzzFeed pick.  They had a 3/$8 special, so I ordered an Argentinian, a spicy cheese, and a spinach/portabello.  I sat on a chair in a seating area they had set up and watched the newest Times Square phenomenon, cartoon characters.  They are EVERYWHERE, and they accost tourist for pictures and tips.  It was insane.

So I bit into the spicy cheese one first, I GUESS as I'm not even really sure what the heck it was, and it was ok, but not mind-blowing.  The portabello one I did not like at all.  And the Argentinian was ok too.  But I was hungry and out of time so I ate!  Then I navigated my way through the pedestrian traffic to get to the Music Box Theater.  I have no idea whatsoever if it was because it's Saturday, if it's because there are more cars, if it's because every sidewalk and building in the area seems to be under construction, if it's because of the people, but Times Square is an effing zoo.  People were literally falling off the sidewalks into the street to walk.  I was totally and completely miserable.  I HATE crowds, absolutely hate them.  I get panicky if people are pushed up around me, and sure enough it was packed.  And I don't know if it's the Bloomberg legacy, I don't know if I'm older and more tuned in, I don't know if it was spending time in Chicago where people are pretty darned nice, I don't know what it is, but it has gotten NASTY in NY.  People are outright mean and rude.  I mean, I know that's NY's reputation, but when I lived there I felt like it got better.  The city is back to being crowded, rude, pushy, dirty, the peep shows are back.  I was really kind of devastated about it.  It's not the NY I knew and loved, that's for sure.

So I got into the theater and had extremely low expectations for how the new Pippin could possibly be any good.  No Ben Vereen, I heard the words "Cirque du Soleil" whispered around me, a skinny Charlemagne, Pippin in boots, a female leading player?  Well, I fully intend to write a separate blog post about Pippin, because it blew me away.  I have been to a number of Broadway shows, a pile of national touring company productions in Boston and DC and other places, and Pippin is unlike anything I have ever seen.  I know the dialogue.  I know the songs word for word, beat for beat, and I was so entranced, I absolutely forgot to sing.  I connected with Katherine on a whole new level.  They made Granny sassier than she has ever been.  Patina Miller was nothing short of extraordinary, as was Michael James Thomas as Pippin, who fairly had sex with Corner of the Sky and sang it with a depth and intrigued that not only showed he made it his own, but also brought new meaning to what has always been my favorite song from the show. 

I am serious about organizing a trip back to NY to see Pippin for anyone who would like to go.  Drop me an email.  We can go up and back in a day, just let me know!  k a t e k o s i o r ( a t ) g m a i l ( d o t ) c o m.  A few Facebook people have indicated an interest, so I'm hopeful!

After the show, I just sat for a few minutes and then went outside and joined the autograph line.  My sister is apparently a massive Terrence Mann fan, although I had never heard of him, not being quite as much of a theater geek as she is.  Judging by the applause he received, I was in a vast minority on that one . Anyway, I wanted to get his autograph for her, but he chose not to come out.  In fact, only Pippin and Granny came out from the lead cast, and a fair number of the supporting cast came out.  So I got a few autographs and then decided to walk down to the Empire State Building for the last big deal of the day.

I've always been somewhat afraid of heights, I'll be honest.  I inherited this from my mother, who is petrified.  When I first met Mike, one of the things he told me was that there was an observatory at the top of the building where he worked, and we went up there to see Boston from 50 stories up.  It sparked something of an obsession with me.  When Penny was here, she was also terrified of heights, but I insisted she go up there.  She refused to go anywhere near the windows, screaming and laughing and I think half crying.  When I took her to NY, we went up to the top of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, but honestly she was scared there, and as the day went on and it got cloudy, we skipped the Empire State Building.  But as much as I don't like heights, I do love going up tall buildings.  This fall, I went to the top of the Hancock Tower in Chicago, which I think is 90 some stories up in the air, and for part of it you can walk outside.  So with Boston and Chicago under my belt, I figured it was time to conquer NY.  I knew from the movie Sleepless in Seattle that the observatory at the Empire State Building is outside, and I was feeling somewhat brave in that I liked being outdoors at the Hancock, so I battled my way through Times Square and managed to walk down to the ESB.  It was dark, and around 6pm, and it looked like it was pretty cloudy up there.  Sure enough when I got to the ticket desk, it said "Limited Visibility", but I didn't care, I just wanted to be up there.  

Let me tell you, going to that observatory requires just about a 5 mile hike around the building itself.  You have to go through so many cattle shoots, so many hallways and passages, it was ridiculous!  Then when you finally get to the elevator, if you're not a VIP, you have to wait for the VIP's.  And some Asian teenager gave me his camera and asked me to take a picture of him and his family, so I missed a second elevator doing a good deed, and then the ladies in front of me couldn't get their stroller folded, so I missed a third elevator to more VIP's on account of that!  AUGH!  So frustrating!!!  So I finally got up to the top around 7:00.  But oh it was worth it.  There was a pretty brisk wind up there, so the clouds had been blown away and the view was absolutely spectacular.  The noise and the dirt of the city that was so bothering me disappeared.  (The rude people remained, but I navigated them fairly easily.)  It was a gorgeous night and the sea of lights seemed to stretch forever.  I love natural beauty--oceans, trees, mountains--but I was totally in awe of that city.  It was just amazing.  I walked around quite a while, probably an hour, just gazing out, trying to orient myself.  Eventually I was able to spot the Statue of Liberty and other landmarks.  It was incredible.  All too soon, I figured I'd better get down, find some dinner, and get to the train station.

There used to be a bunch of pizza places around that area, and I did manage to find one tucked down a side street--nothing is where I seem to remember it being over there!  I tucked into some pizza.  It was lackluster by NY standards, but in comparison with all the other food I'd eaten and not enjoyed, it tasted pretty darned good.  I folded it like a pro, and ate it with grease dripping out the back, so it was pretty authentic.  But I did add that to my list of culinary disappointments on the day.  So I headed back to the train station, and on the way I found that they've added something called Broadway Bites to Greeley Square Park.  Basically it's a bunch of small little food stands crammed into this miniscule park, and you can go up and down and try trendy bites.  I paid a visit to Doughnuttery and got 6 mini Cacaoboy doughnuts, still piping hot, and a nice icy apple cider.  I sent my sister a text that read, "Fresh cider and donuts.  God bless NYC".  Not really what I associate with city food, but it was good.  I paid another visit to Red Hook Lobster Pound, and tried lobster mac n cheese (mainly because they were advertising a 1/4 pound lobster roll as a great bargain at $16--um what!?  you can get a whole lobster for that!), but it wasn't so great, and I ate the lobster and tossed the mac n cheese.  Le Sigh.

Made it back to Penn Station with about 30 minutes to spare, and had a bottle of water, discovered that my camera card was having issues (clearly not true given that you are looking at pictures and those of you on Facebook have seen all my pictures!), so I gave up.  I played Sudoku until they called the train, got on the Quiet car, and after a brief scuffle with a cell phone user in Trenton (well, actually the guy behind me told that guy to shut up so I didn't have to), I fell asleep and didn't wake up till BWI.  We got back to Union Station right on time at 12:29, which means I took 2 Amtrak trains without incident, something of a damned miracle!  

What about my books, you ask?

I made an executive decision to ditch the books.  First of all, I picked out nearly $150 in books, and I was paying for this trip out of money I made from selling my freezer this week, which was $160.  It seemed irresponsible.  But also, as I considered whether to go back to the Strand or go to the Empire State Building, I had a good hard think about what titles I had picked out, and I couldn't think of a single one.  Not one.  I could think of what a couple of them were about, but not what they were.  So it seemed that I probably didn't need them.  I felt badly that the Strand staff was holding them and would have to re-shelve them, but I have reasoned that this probably happens quite a bit.  So I didn't do it.  Instead, I bought my admission to the ESB and got a program from Pippin, plus I got a few souvenirs for Leah, who is presently obsessed with New York City, for reasons I can't quite understand, but whatever!

So I got back to the car and drove home, and was back by 1:30 this morning.  The cats could scarcely believe their eyes and curled up right next to me and we slept quite happily till 7:00 when they announced it was breakfast time.  So I got up, did some laundry, went to church, and now have my niece's birthday party and choir practice to attend.  In short, back to usual.  But what a lovely retreat it was, and how happy I am that I can tick that one off the list!!