popblank

[popblank]

This new piece was created in collaboration with The Marine Mammal Center! We have made signed prints available and a portion of all proceeds will go to them :)

[popblank]

occasionally I am struck dumb by the sublime beauty of the world in the small moments, you know?

egg

[popblank]

thinking of summer

[popblank]

Cynthia Erivo, Phillipa Soo and Adam Lambert perform Everything's Alright in Hollywood Bowl's Jesus Christ Superstar concert.

[popblank]

Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl, assorted comments:

Went to the Sunday evening show, took a park & ride shuttle bus which is much less stressful than trying to drive in and park.

The marquee at the entrance noted that the show was sold out.

Awesome to hear the overture played by an orchestra in an open space that big, especially when the French horn part kicks in.

During the overture, the cast stood in various places on the stage with the in-bowl camera pausing on the actors in major roles. Felt like it was a theater crowd because the more recognizable theater names got bigger cheers.

My goodness, the screams from the crowd when Cynthia Erivo entered as Jesus, appearing from the back of the stage with heavenly white lights beaming as the "Superstar" theme finally lands during the overture.

Cynthia Erivo looked tiny next to pretty much everyone on stage, but especially next to Adam Lambert.

It felt like the whole audience was waiting for her to sing and at her first line ("Why should you want to know") everyone sat back and was like, "oh yeah, that's good."

Cynthia Erivo as Jesus was easily the biggest draw for me (an interesting and potentially divisive casting choice, but I haven't been following any of whatever controversy there has been). One thing I found a little distracting was when she would occasionally jump octaves, but otherwise it seemed perfectly reasonable that she'd be leading a new religious movement.

I was surprised at how much I liked Phillipa Soo as Mary Magdalene. I had previously only seen her in Amélie and thought of her as playing "sweet" soprano roles. Here she actually got to sound darker and even sultry, with a little bit of rock-ish growl. She and Cynthia Erivo had pretty good chemistry, maybe more than Adam Lambert and Cynthia Erivo had (despite how good they were individually).

Caiaphas and Annas were appropriately threatening and vocally just as I expected.

Setup for the Last Supper: Jesus and disciples at the table, Mary not at the table but on the steps behind them.

There was long (probably a minute or two) standing ovation after "Gethsemane." Up to this point it felt like Cynthia Erivo was either holding back a bit or playing Jesus on the less forceful side, but this was the song where all the restraint was released.

Josh Gad was fun as Herod and at one point threw in a joke about how "no good deed goes unpunished."

The next standing ovation was for "Superstar," which was possibly the most purely entertaining number of the night and definitely the high point for Adam Lambert.

There was a screen being used for projections throughout the show, but most of the time the images weren't all that interesting. However it was used pretty effectively for the crucifixion, as I recall with Jesus standing on an elevated platform and Mary Magdalene kneeling at the base of the cross on the stage floor.

There were a few flubs in lines that I noticed in the second act, but nothing so obvious that the audience reacted.

On the whole, really strong individual performances and casting, and a fun environment to be in (wish I could see it again, while sinking in a gentle pool of wine—which the Hollywood Bowl does allow).

The only issue I really have with the venue is that since the stage is so far away for most people, you can't really make out anyone's expressions if the camera is not focusing on them. There were several moments where I wished I could see how other characters were reacting to the events onstage.

I thought the most recent tour had a little more to say thematically but it's hard to beat this caliber of cast.

Overheard in the audience, mostly while shuffling down the pathway in the crowd exiting the bowl:

One person's favorite songs of the night included "Superstar" and "I Don't Know How to Love Him."

Someone planning their upcoming trip to NY was very excited to see Tom Felton as Draco in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. His name elicited a whole chorus of squeals from their group.

A random burst of harmonizing voices, followed by a deadpan "Theater nerds should be shot on sight."

[popblank]

A jelly poem

✨In twilight tides where moonlight swells, The black sea nettle softly dwells. A veil of ink, a ghostly thread, With trailing arms of starlight spread.

🌊And here on shore, our hands can mend The seas these jellies call a friend. We clean, protect, and learn to see That every wave holds you and me.

🪼So let them drift, and let us care— A sea alive, a world we share.

Feeling inspired? Share your poems about ocean life!👇

[popblank]

best m/f dynamic is a flamboyant bisexual show-off desperately in love with an extremely practical girl who’s difficult to impress 🤩

[popblank]

so I learned embroidery recently

[popblank]

Long before Madonna and Gaga, there was the genre-bending visual artist who broke all the rules in 1920s Paris. A documentary about her life, which opens in L.A. this week, reveals previously unknown details about a trailblazing provocateur.

There are several screenings this weekend in Southern California:

[popblank]

Under Lock and Skeleton Key by Gigi Pandian

The premise: Tempest Raj is a young woman trained as a stage magician from a family line of magicians; she is trying to find her way in life after a professional upheaval, while also trying to solve a seemingly unexplainable murder, while also trying to deal with a family curse. It is a light read and while I liked the setup and premise, I didn't fully get pulled into the book due to the execution.

Things I enjoyed:

Detailed descriptions of whimsical architecture and interior design.

Descriptions of food. Tempest eats many meals cooked by her grandfather, who lives with her grandmother in the backyard treehouse.

To an extent, the quirky, ragtag band of misfits that is Tempest's family, friends, and the employees and associates of the family construction business.

Things that I was less thrilled about:

The narration and characters have a tendency to name-drop authors and book titles in highly expository ways. Tempest and her friend Ivy are particularly bad about this as detective-fiction nerds.

The words of the family curse are repeated again and again in the narration and by Tempest (eleven times verbatim based on searching the ebook) to the point where it becomes irritating, and I think the curse is referenced more generally over a hundred times.

It occasionally feels like the writing is deliberately prolonging the mystery by either refusing to get to the point or by having characters act obtusely.

There were a couple of secondary plot threads that the book left open, but on the whole I am not inclined to keep reading the series to find out those answers.

[popblank]

A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical at the Pantages Theatre:

I am neither a Neil Diamond person nor a "Sweet Caroline" person, i.e. not part of the target audience for this show and would not have seen it if not for the subscription. But if I were in one of those two groups (as many people in the audience clearly were) then I think I would have been very satisfied with the show. As it was, I thought it was fine as a biographical musical, had good performances, and it gave me more to think about than I would have expected.

The story's frame is of an older Neil ("Neil - Now," played by Robert Westenberg) talking to his therapist. She brings out a book of his collected lyrics which is the hook that allows him to describe the major events of his life. They often remain onstage observing his younger self ("Neil - Then," Nick Fradiani) building his career. Nick Fradiani does a good job (especially vocally) as past Neil, and Robert Westenberg is effective and moving as current Neil. Some of the themes touched on during these sessions include his growth as an artist and performer; the conflicts between pursuit of his career and his personal life; and the persistent loneliness and melancholy that manifested in his songs.

Assorted notes:

It turns out that I actually recognize a lot of Neil Diamond's hits but didn't associate them with him, particularly the earlier ones.

During "Cherry, Cherry" my first thought was "oh, so this is a Neil Diamond song," and my second thought was "oh, so Marcia Murphey is the Robyn Hurder role." Even though I have never seen Robyn Hurder live and didn't consciously remember that she had been in the Broadway cast, her type is apparently distinctive enough to be recognizable to me. (Here Marcia was played by Hannah Jewel Kohn.)

The lights were deliberately brought up during a few occasions in the show where audience participation was encouraged, including during "Song Song Blue" and (obviously) "Sweet Caroline."

There were musical snippets of "America" throughout the show prior to and after the more full performance of the song, and as the cast was singing the lyrics "They're coming to America / Today / Today / Today / Today" —I had to wonder, does this audience hear these lyrics now and recognize the irony of watching this song performed in a place where ICE is currently running around and grabbing people off the streets? Do they take the lyrics of the song as a threat rather than as hopeful and inspirational? Do they place racial and ethnic boundaries on their sympathy for immigrants and refugees?

A pretty substantial number of people stayed to hear the band play the exit music, which was good to see.

Audience: Definitely seemed older on average than some of the recent shows I've seen. Probably straighter than average, but that is just my guess.

Sound: It was pretty loud and occasionally unpleasantly so, particularly when coupled with the not-always-clear audio at the Pantages. There were a couple of times when I thought that those little foam earplugs would have been nice to have.

Choreography: I think I had seen TV promo performances for Broadway which did not look especially impressive, but it worked better than I would have expected on stage. Most often, the ensemble is flowing around like a single audience organism responding to Neil, though for numbers where Neil is performing directly to the real audience they can be the backup singers/dancers.

Eavesdropping on people around me:

Overheard multiple comments during intermission and after the show from people impressed with Nick Fradiani's singing.

During intermission: "With the new mayor of New York, more people are going to be leaving." (There are so many people out there with so many eye-rolling opinions on Mamdani from across the political spectrum that despite muting his name, three misspellings of his name, and his mother's name on social media, I still can't avoid it.)

In the crowd leaving the theater, from a stoic-sounding older white man: "I guess everyone is depressed in one way or another." That quote seems like it could be unintentionally revealing but I could be reading too much into it. Still, if this show spurs people (especially men) to talk about mental health then that's a positive.

[popblank]

people who learned about greek mythology due reasons that DONT involve having read percy jackson at 12 freak me out, like what the FUCK was going on in your life that you found out that zeus turned into a pigeon to woo his wife like HOW

[popblank]

Q2 goals status:

Culture stuff:

Read 12 books - Progress: blew right past my original goal. Currently at 16 books, though in none of the specific categories. Favorite book so far: still The Extinction of Irina Rey by Jennifer Croft, though Sky Daddy by Kate Folk was fun too.

Watch six movies new to me - Progress: no further progress since April, still at 4 movies.

Promptly post notes on what I see (theater) - Progress: poor; I have seen even more shows and also decided to post about books, which is also going slowly. I haven't had much motivation to write anything lately.

Write a couple more posts on Lempicka - Progress: none yet.

Health etc.:

Get more sleep - Progress: none.

Stretch regularly - Progress: none.

Political/civic engagement

Pay attention to my state legislature - Progress: not bad. I did dial into a Zoom town hall and even took notes. My state representative mostly spoke in generalities but there was more substance than I expected on a couple of topics, so my impression of them improved slightly.

Learning

Complete a MOOC - Progress: none.

[popblank]

I thought y'all might like to see Niagara Falls lit up for Pride.

Hope you had a good one!

[popblank]

when youre running late for saving your soulmate from a cursed pirate ship

[popblank]

Village in the Dark by Iris Yamashita

Sequel to City Under One Roof; it features Detective Cara Kennedy and many of the same characters from the previous book, and addresses the cliffhanger at the end of that book. (It very much helps to have read that one first.) Finished reading in a multi-hour burst when I really should have been sleeping, which is maybe my favorite way to read a book. The storyline is questionably plausible but I avoided thinking about that in too much depth in order to enjoy spending time with the cast of characters in an evocative landscape and big action set pieces with tough female detective at the center of it. The book feels very much in the vein of Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon mysteries set in national parks. It is very easy to visualize which speaks to the author's descriptive ability.