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Lovely day...
Mar. 10th, 2006 09:19 pmA very happy birthday to my dear friend,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angeyja who I hope has as relaxing a day as I've had.
Thank you for everything. You've helped more than you know.
Well, I keep trying to post on this thing, just keep losing the posts. Just wrote a rather lengthy one and it got lost. So much for lj's "auto-save" device. Actually the auto-save device is why I lost my last post. LOL!
Okey-dokey.
Had a lovely two days.
Saw Avenue Q on Thursday night. Adored it. So much so that I bought the soundtrack - which I rarely do for broadway shows any more. That is not to say, however, that I think this musical would appeal to everyone. I love puppets and puppet shows. I find the whole artistry behind puppetry and the creation of puppets and use of them as a story-telling device fascinating. I've created my own puppets in the past and have owned them. I also have a very dry, irreverent sense of humor - which this show appealed to. Subtle. And...the situations the characters had to deal with - I strongly identified with.
The puppeteers are on stage with their puppets throughout the performance - which enthralled me but may prove distracting to someone else. It was like watching a five dimensional performance. The actor's facial expressions and vocalizations matched his puppets - so the puppet was the exterior or mask and the actor was the soul behind it. The actor's were dressed in gray, muted colors, while their puppets were bright and colorful. Also the performances blew me away - these people switched vocal inflections between puppets. One actress did a sultry songtress and a high-pitched kindgergarten teacher talking to each other, working her puppet at the same time as throwing her voice to another puppet worked by another person.
The show was to me, very funny. I laughed harder at this show than Spamalot, whose humor seemed a tad obvious to me in places and not very subtle. I saw it coming a mile away and just found myself rolling my eyes. While Avenue Q often suprised me by it's irreverent and at times cleverly sardonic witticisms. Less physical, more word play.
Avenue Q is Sesame Street for Adults, but it also makes fun of Sesame Street and other feel-good kid shows, but in a good way. You laugh along with it. It is not however for kids. For example: The musical contained the most graphic sex scene I've ever seen on the stage - which was amusingly enough between two puppets. Some of the songs are also a little on the dirty side. And to be honest, I think some of the jokes would be lost on anyone under the age of 22. Example: "I wish I could go back to college..." is one song in the show, can't see a college student appreciating it. The show is really aimed at the 22-50 something crowd.
The songs...ah the songs, are wonderfully irreverent and oddly reassuring. As I told Wales afterwards - just need to play this soundtrack for therapy, repeat as needed.
Here's the lines from some of them to give you an idea:
1. "Everybody is a racist..."
2. "My life sucks more than yours"
3. "What do I do with a BA in English?"
4. "You'll only feel this way now, because everything in life is only temporary..." (including George Bush)
5. "There is a fine line between love and a waste of time."
6. "The more you love someone the more you want to kill them..."
7. "I wish I could go back to college, but I'd be such a loser if I did, since everyone on the quad would be so much younger than me..." (not exact...my memory guys is not that good.)
Ah. This has to be the most innovative thing I've seen since maybe the Lion King - which also did some amazing things with puppets. Wonderful show. Do recommend but with the caveat that may not be for everyone.
Today... I saw the At Arms Length : The Art of African Puppetry at World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery - 200 Vesey St. at West St. Take A/C/E subway to Chambers. Walk across the Ground Zero walkway to the world financial district. Go in what amounts to huge indoor business shopping mall/food court, go upstairs by escalator and swing towards the east or right and there it is. Nearly a 100 animated puppets, marionettes and sculptures created by The Handspring Puppet Theater of South Africa and the Sogolong Troupe from Mali - juxtaposed with videos and photos. All intricately carved from wood or created from metal, wires and cloth. They are created to either tell stories or partake in ritual dances and customes. The stories are : The Tale of The Giraffe that Went to France - about the effects of colonization and diplomatic exchange - a humorous take. The Chimp Experiment - a story about a sexually aware adolescent chimp who learns sign language and becomes more human and loses her identity as a chimp as a result. And a retelling of both the Odysessey and Faust - the Faust retelling includes a carved version of Helen of Troy that reminds me of Evita Peron and deals heavily with the ill effects of colonization on Africa.
The show contains the actual puppets, clips from performances containing the puppets, and explanations of how they were used or the stories told.
It runs through April 15. Times are 12 noon to 6pm on weekdays, and 11 am to 4pm on Sat. Worth a visit.
Afterwards - you can do what I did which is take a stroll along Battery City Park and the river front - which overlooks on the New Jersey skyline.
Afterwards I went to Tower Records - picked up Avenue Q CD and The Decemberists "Her Majesty" album. Then the Angel Season 4 DVD from Best Buy - which was marked down to $35 bucks with tax. Finally, thanks to a link fromann1962 I found a gluten-free bakery called Babycakes located on Broome Street between Ludlow and Orchard. Take F to Delancy, walk down to Broome and your there. It specializes in gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy free and sugar free cakes and cookies. The difference between wheat-free and gluten-free is well, spelt is in wheat-free. Gluten intolerants/sensitives can't have spelt. People allergic to wheat? Can. (they can also have barley and oats...which gluten-sensitives/intolerants can't.) Do not understand why the bakery can't do foods with sugar and dairy, if they are doing spelt. But apparently spelt has nutritional value and the others don't? (Shrugs). Bought two cupcakes, a slice of chocolate crumble cake and a slice of coffee cake. The cupcake was good and I'm picky. Tasted like a carrot cake or muffin - moist and dense like that, and the icing was creamier and not as sweet. Had a slight bitter after-taste, but very slight, nothing like Splenda or Nutra-Sweet.
Do recommend for everyone.
Okay must go...BSG is on and I want to see it. No VCR or DVR to tape.
angeyja who I hope has as relaxing a day as I've had.Thank you for everything. You've helped more than you know.
Well, I keep trying to post on this thing, just keep losing the posts. Just wrote a rather lengthy one and it got lost. So much for lj's "auto-save" device. Actually the auto-save device is why I lost my last post. LOL!
Okey-dokey.
Had a lovely two days.
Saw Avenue Q on Thursday night. Adored it. So much so that I bought the soundtrack - which I rarely do for broadway shows any more. That is not to say, however, that I think this musical would appeal to everyone. I love puppets and puppet shows. I find the whole artistry behind puppetry and the creation of puppets and use of them as a story-telling device fascinating. I've created my own puppets in the past and have owned them. I also have a very dry, irreverent sense of humor - which this show appealed to. Subtle. And...the situations the characters had to deal with - I strongly identified with.
The puppeteers are on stage with their puppets throughout the performance - which enthralled me but may prove distracting to someone else. It was like watching a five dimensional performance. The actor's facial expressions and vocalizations matched his puppets - so the puppet was the exterior or mask and the actor was the soul behind it. The actor's were dressed in gray, muted colors, while their puppets were bright and colorful. Also the performances blew me away - these people switched vocal inflections between puppets. One actress did a sultry songtress and a high-pitched kindgergarten teacher talking to each other, working her puppet at the same time as throwing her voice to another puppet worked by another person.
The show was to me, very funny. I laughed harder at this show than Spamalot, whose humor seemed a tad obvious to me in places and not very subtle. I saw it coming a mile away and just found myself rolling my eyes. While Avenue Q often suprised me by it's irreverent and at times cleverly sardonic witticisms. Less physical, more word play.
Avenue Q is Sesame Street for Adults, but it also makes fun of Sesame Street and other feel-good kid shows, but in a good way. You laugh along with it. It is not however for kids. For example: The musical contained the most graphic sex scene I've ever seen on the stage - which was amusingly enough between two puppets. Some of the songs are also a little on the dirty side. And to be honest, I think some of the jokes would be lost on anyone under the age of 22. Example: "I wish I could go back to college..." is one song in the show, can't see a college student appreciating it. The show is really aimed at the 22-50 something crowd.
The songs...ah the songs, are wonderfully irreverent and oddly reassuring. As I told Wales afterwards - just need to play this soundtrack for therapy, repeat as needed.
Here's the lines from some of them to give you an idea:
1. "Everybody is a racist..."
2. "My life sucks more than yours"
3. "What do I do with a BA in English?"
4. "You'll only feel this way now, because everything in life is only temporary..." (including George Bush)
5. "There is a fine line between love and a waste of time."
6. "The more you love someone the more you want to kill them..."
7. "I wish I could go back to college, but I'd be such a loser if I did, since everyone on the quad would be so much younger than me..." (not exact...my memory guys is not that good.)
Ah. This has to be the most innovative thing I've seen since maybe the Lion King - which also did some amazing things with puppets. Wonderful show. Do recommend but with the caveat that may not be for everyone.
Today... I saw the At Arms Length : The Art of African Puppetry at World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery - 200 Vesey St. at West St. Take A/C/E subway to Chambers. Walk across the Ground Zero walkway to the world financial district. Go in what amounts to huge indoor business shopping mall/food court, go upstairs by escalator and swing towards the east or right and there it is. Nearly a 100 animated puppets, marionettes and sculptures created by The Handspring Puppet Theater of South Africa and the Sogolong Troupe from Mali - juxtaposed with videos and photos. All intricately carved from wood or created from metal, wires and cloth. They are created to either tell stories or partake in ritual dances and customes. The stories are : The Tale of The Giraffe that Went to France - about the effects of colonization and diplomatic exchange - a humorous take. The Chimp Experiment - a story about a sexually aware adolescent chimp who learns sign language and becomes more human and loses her identity as a chimp as a result. And a retelling of both the Odysessey and Faust - the Faust retelling includes a carved version of Helen of Troy that reminds me of Evita Peron and deals heavily with the ill effects of colonization on Africa.
The show contains the actual puppets, clips from performances containing the puppets, and explanations of how they were used or the stories told.
It runs through April 15. Times are 12 noon to 6pm on weekdays, and 11 am to 4pm on Sat. Worth a visit.
Afterwards - you can do what I did which is take a stroll along Battery City Park and the river front - which overlooks on the New Jersey skyline.
Afterwards I went to Tower Records - picked up Avenue Q CD and The Decemberists "Her Majesty" album. Then the Angel Season 4 DVD from Best Buy - which was marked down to $35 bucks with tax. Finally, thanks to a link from
ann1962 I found a gluten-free bakery called Babycakes located on Broome Street between Ludlow and Orchard. Take F to Delancy, walk down to Broome and your there. It specializes in gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy free and sugar free cakes and cookies. The difference between wheat-free and gluten-free is well, spelt is in wheat-free. Gluten intolerants/sensitives can't have spelt. People allergic to wheat? Can. (they can also have barley and oats...which gluten-sensitives/intolerants can't.) Do not understand why the bakery can't do foods with sugar and dairy, if they are doing spelt. But apparently spelt has nutritional value and the others don't? (Shrugs). Bought two cupcakes, a slice of chocolate crumble cake and a slice of coffee cake. The cupcake was good and I'm picky. Tasted like a carrot cake or muffin - moist and dense like that, and the icing was creamier and not as sweet. Had a slight bitter after-taste, but very slight, nothing like Splenda or Nutra-Sweet.Do recommend for everyone.
Okay must go...BSG is on and I want to see it. No VCR or DVR to tape.
