Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Opening Night

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I’m getting started very slowly today as we didn’t get home until 1 am from the Opening Night of Anastasia. It was a long day – driving there took almost twice as long as usual because of the Memorial Day weekend, I suspect. I almost gave up, thinking we should just head back home. But oh! I am so glad we kept going.

I cannot tell you enough how glorious this musical is. Opening Night was one of the most magical nights I’ve even been a part of, and I’ve been in theater for, ahem, many years. I am sitting here, this morning, in my blogging chair, remembering bits and pieces of the night, snatches of songs, magical moments onstage, the roar of the crowd at the end of certain musical numbers, the cheers and foot stomping and bravos that filled the theater. Don was completely enthralled. He couldn’t stop talking about it and said it’s the best show he’s seen in years.

I love the cast, a group of super talented actor/singer/dancers with big hearts and a wonderful, positive attitude. I love Darko, of course – his brilliance is a given. The music and lyrics, the libretto, the choreography, the music direction, the costumes, the set design, the lighting, the projections – are superb. I grew up acting in musicals. They are my first love. And what I love about the musical theater are the lush, gorgeous songs of the greats: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rodgers & Hart, Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Kander & Ebb, Jule Styne, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin….what I don’t like is the Pop sound in a lot of recent musicals. I avoid them like the plague. Musical Theater should be larger-than-life, it should take you to a different place, a place where the feelings and emotions in a moment are so big, so momentous, that the character just has to sing.

Anastasia  does that. Oh, how wonderful it is to witness something like this.

We spent some time at the party afterwards and then, about 11 pm, headed home. Not much sleep, but so worth it. It’s headed to Broadway sometime in 2017.

5-28 clematis

Before we left for Hartford, I noticed the clematis was blooming!

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As is the Lamium.

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With these 90 degree temperatures, I suspect a lot of blooms are going to pop open. Staying inside with the A/C on today. Don has a gig tonight, poor guy, so he’s trying to sleep in.

Happy Saturday.

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Current Obsessions

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I’m forced to resort to an iPhone picture of the view to my right as I sit here on this early Saturday morning. It promises to be a sunny day, which will be welcome after the rain we’ve had this week.

Current Music Obsession(s): Gene Pitney and José Feliciano. Why, you ask? Well, I was driving home the other day and my local oldies station played songs by both of them. First up was Pitney singing Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa. Then, Feliciano singing his version of Light My Fire.

I was in heaven, immediately transported to my youth. I was a big fan of Gene Pitney, who had one of those voices that I love, the kind of voice that has a texture, a quiver, of deep emotion, like the voices of Roy Orbison or K. D. Lang or Patsy Cline. You hear them sing one word and you’re immediately in tune with the heartbreaking and often gut-wrenching emotion behind the words. Somewhere – most likely in the dreaded shed – I have an LP of Gene Pitney singing his greatest hits.

And then Feliciano’s Light My Fire. I loved The Doors’ original version, but in my mind, this one is much, much better. Beautifully arranged, with Feliciano on guitar and lush strings in the background, what was a rock anthem becomes a sexy Latin infused love song. I can’t get enough of it.

I came home and downloaded four of my favorite Pitney songs, as well as Light My Fire, on iTunes. And I’ve been happily listening to them.

Current Book/Author Obsession: Anything by M. J. Arlige, a British police procedural crime writer. Arlige’s DI Helen Grace series is simply first-rate. She’s complicated, driven, excellent at her job, and haunted by her past. These books are so well crafted and so compelling that I am on the edge of my seat as the story gets closer and closer to the end. I’m tense, I have no idea how it’s going to end, I can’t put the book down. I’ve reviewed the first two books in the series on Just Let Me Finish This Page – you can find them under Book Reviews. I’m going to review the latest two books in the series, The Doll’s House  and Liar Liar  next week.

Current Husband Obsession: The latest video of Don and Dan singing I’ll Know You. If you’re interested in hearing it, click here and scroll down to the third video. Best listened to with headphones/earbuds.

Current Laptop Obsession: eBay. See yesterday’s post. By the way, I seem fated to be outbid on every Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs egg cup that comes up for auction. I’ve bid at least 4 or 5 different times and every time someone tops me. It happened again last night. I had set a limit and refused to go over it, so I lost out. Ah, well.

I did win a pretty piece of Roseville Pottery, which I’ll share with you when it arrives.

On the docket for today: Rest. Ankle elevated. Reading more of Liar Liar. Crocheting a scarf. Coffee Drinking. Music Listening.

Happy Saturday.

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Flocks, Murmurations, and the Radio

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10-23 canadageese

It’s that time of year when I can hear the honking of the Canada Geese overhead. If I happen to have a camera nearby, all the better. They gather by the river that’s just down the road; hundreds and hundreds of them.

The other day, we experienced another fall event: a murmuration of starlings. As I was sitting in my chair, I caught a glimpse of several starlings flying and landing, taking off and soaring. Then I heard them. I quickly got up and went to the kitchen window and there they were: hundreds and hundreds of them, landing on the grass, then rising into the trees, then flying in a circular, soaring swirl.

It’s amazing. And it doesn’t last long, so you have to drop everything and watch.

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I listened to my husband being interviewed on the radio last night. He was on Radio Woodstock. The show was hosted by Lisa Wexler, a musician and the daughter of the incredible Jerry Wexler, one of the most famous producers in the history of the recording industry. Google him and you’ll see what I mean.

Don was on between 10 pm and midnight. I grabbed a portable radio, ran a bubble bath and listened to a chunk of the show while immersed in bubbles. And then I listened to the rest while reading in bed. It reminded me of those days in my youth when an ever-present transistor radio was at my side, always tuned in to our local radio station. There’s something really wonderful about listening to the radio without earbuds or a computer. Just low-tech. The way it used to be.

Don was great, as was Lisa. He talked about his life, Lisa played tracks from the new CD, and he sang live. He also shared five songs/recordings that had had an impact on his life. In Don’s case, most of them were recordings that he heard when he was 12 or so. It was fascinating. As he said, it wasn’t so much that the records were incredibly good or huge sellers, but that they came into his awareness at a point in his life where they resonated with him on a very powerful level.

I love hearing his new CD being played on the radio. It’s as it should be, especially since the title is Ready for the Radio. I love hearing his voice coming out of my portable radio, knowing that everyone listening is getting the chance to get to hear him speak and share his warmth, compassion, wisdom, and great sense of humor.

Good job, Don!

Happy Friday.

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Lambs Like to Party

Lambs Like to Party

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