Trojan Women after Euripides

Cover of the program by The Getty

(Before I get started, I want to welcome my newest follower, my dear sister, Julie, who is about to become a mother-in-law!  Congratulations and welcome! ! !)

The program cast and credit page by The Getty

Last week I went to ancient Troy to witness the aftermath of the end of the Trojan war on the women of Troy.  I first drove to Pacific Palisades to the Getty Villa and then very patiently awaited the transport back in time.  

The back cover of the program - The Getty

They have a small, intimate amphitheater and they use very few props and backdrops.  In this case, the Villa was the backdrop, and their props consisted of an apple, a few simple chairs, a bench and a length of fabric.  But, their performances pack a powerful punch even without complex props and backdrops.  I saw Tyne Daly there in Agamemnon a few years ago and it became my new favorite spot for play watching.  It is the perfect setting for those written by the ancient Greek and Roman playwrights: Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophicles, etc.  

The Getty Villa amphitheater - from The Getty website

The Villa was built by J. Paul Getty to house his growing art collection, and the design was inspired by the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum.  The buildings are decorated with tile mosaics in themes that are based on those found in Herculaneum and other ancient villas.  They are surrounded by gardens based on those that would have been found around those ancient villas.  Since photography is not allowed during performances, I hope you'll enjoy these photos I took of the villa during a previous visit.  

It was a gorgeous evening, not too warm, not too cool (but I had my blanket ready . . . just in case - as it can get a mite chilly that close to the ocean's edge in the evenings).  I got there early, got my glass of wine, got seated (I snagged a center seat in the 4th row - first come, first choice seating) and waited for the play to begin.  The moon was anxiously waiting for the show to begin, peering over the Villa down to the little stage area.  People began streaming in, bits of conversation were overheard . . . "he said it was like watching a still life" . . . "he can't hear you" . . . "we will be leaving for Italy tomorrow".  And as they settle in, they bring all their peculiar odors with them.  The gentleman to my right must have been in an overly warm room for quite a while and, it would seem, had very recently enjoyed a meal consisting mainly of garlic, and the gentleman in front of him, a member of the press, had apparently just come from a long visit to a cigar club.  I was worried these things would prove too distracting and detract from the enjoyment of the evening.  

However, once the play began, the actors were so good, they immediately grabbed your attention and pulled you into their world so completely, your neighbors nearly all but disappeared.  You became a silent witness to the stark tragedy unfolding before you.  Quite frankly, I was completely mesmerized and brought to tears.  It is a heart-wrenching story about the queen, Hecuba, and her daughters facing the destruction of their city, the deaths of their husbands, father and brothers and the prospect of being divided up and becoming slaves to the victors.  And, let's not forget the infamous Helen, she counts among the Women of Troy as she was the reason for the war.  It is the morning after the Greeks had hidden in the Trojan Horse and while the Trojans were celebrating what they thought was their victory, the Greeks snuck out of the horse and sacked the city.  Ten years of fighting, thousands of lives lost, one of the world's greatest cities completely destroyed; all to rescue and bring home the infamous, beautiful Helen.  All Hecuba's hopes are pinned on her infant grandson, whom she envisions growing up and seeking retribution for them and restoring Troy to her former glory.  But, unbeknownst to her, Andromache had killed her son (Hecuba's grandson) to keep him from suffering a lifetime of slavery or a painful death.

Put yourself on their mailing list so you receive notification of their performances and make sure you go online to order your tickets as soon as they go on sale.  They sell out very quickly!  Once you go, you'll see why!  I, for one, can't wait until the next play!

Well, that's it for now!  I have a long road trip coming up soon, so hopefully I'll have some nice pics to share from my travels!  Hope you have a spectacular day!  See you later!

Wicked!

All photos from the Souvenir Program!

Well, my pretties, I had a GREAT time!  The costumes!  The choreography!  The music!  The color!  BRAVO! ! ! !

By now, we all know the story of The Wizard of Oz, but do we all know what happened prior to Dorothy's little sojourn there?  Wicked is the prequel to TWOO.  And, probably everyone but me has already seen it, but this was my first time and I absolutely love-love-loved it!  Now I know how the tin man, the lion and the scarecrow came to be and more importantly, the backstory to The Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda, the Good Witch.  Things are not always what they seem, are they?  "Are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them?" muses Glinda.

You take a bored housewife, mixing it up with a traveling salesman from Kansas, who's pushing a green elixir and you end up with a child who comes out with a distinctly emerald complexion, whom the husband abhors.  She was named Elphaba, as in EL-faba.  When they find out they are expecting again, the husband is so worried the next child will also come out green, that he forces his wife to chew milk flowers, but that ended up causing the baby to come early with legs that did not form properly and caused complications that ended up taking the life of the mother.  This daughter was confined to a wheel-chair.

As kids do, the poor girl with the emerald skin felt her mother's death and her sister's deformity was all her fault and really took it to heart when her father charged her with the care of her younger sister.  

Now, send both girls to school (one to care for the other) and add one shallow, extremely pretty, spoiled and self-absorbed room-mate and you get sparks.  Galinda, that's Galinda with a Ga, is the popular one, whose sole aim seems to be to embarrass and taunt Elphaba, but slowly, she begins to change because of Elphaba's influence.

Eventually, they end up being good friends.  That is, until you add in a boy.  Galinda had her sights set on Fiyero, the new boy in school, who on the surface, appears to be just as shallow as Galinda, but he seems to have his sights set on Elphaba.  But, more on that later . . .

One of the instructors in the school is a goat.  Prior to the arrival of the Wizard during the great drought, animals always spoke and everyone got along.  But, something happened and animals were starting to be persecuted and caged.  Once caged, they began to lose their ability to speak.  Elphaba was speaking out in their defense.  The instructor was taken away and a new professor came in with a caged lion cub and began extolling the virtues of caging animals and taking away their ability to speak.  (This cub later became the cowardly lion.)  Galinda, loses the GA and just becomes Glinda when she decides to show her solidarity for the animals for her friend, as the goat professor could not say the name Galinda correctly.

Elphaba and Glinda end up going to the Emerald City to meet with the Wizard (who, unbeknownst to any of them was Elphaba's father), which is when Elphaba found out that he was not the great wizard everyone thought him to be and that it was him who was behind the caging and persecution of animals.  He gave her a book to see if she could read the spells in it and in doing so, she was tricked into casting a spell that caused the monkeys to grow wings.  (Flying monkeys, oh my!)  She was horrified at the pain she had caused them during the transformation.  When the Wizard found he could not control Elphaba, he sent his guards to kill her, but she escaped, and became known as the Wicked Witch of the West.

Cut to the younger daughter, Nessa, who had fallen in love with Boq, the munchkin boy who was, in turn, in love with Glinda.  Elphaba had gone to visit her sister and fix her legs with a spell so she could walk.  The jeweled slippers her father had given Nessa as a gift for going to school, were turned into ruby slippers in the process.  But, then Nessa became enraged when she found out Boq did not love her and cast a spell from Elphaba's spell book that cause his heart to shrink and disappear.  Elphaba tries to save him, but in doing so, he was turned into a tin man and Nessa blamed Elphaba for it.

When the guards captured Elphaba, Fiyero came to her rescue and she was able to escape, but he was then taken into custody and punished for helping her.  Elphaba cast a spell to keep him from being killed, but it caused him to be turned into a scarecrow.

And, at some point in there, Elphaba discovers the travel charms of the broomstick and mysteriously Glinda begins to transport herself via bubble, which, when Glinda disparages the broomstick transport allows Elphaba the great retort:  "Well, we can't all come and go by bubble."

Then the brat from Kansas (and her dog Do-Do, as Glinda called him in Wicked), landed her house on Elphaba's sister, killing her and stole the ruby slippers and set off for Oz to see the wizard.  And, well, you know the rest . . . or . . . do, you?  Is Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, really melted?  Or, was that just an elaborate ruse so that she and Fiyero could steal away to live the rest of their lives in peace?  Hmmmmmmm . . . . 

If you haven't seen it, go see it.  If you have seen it, go see it again!  It's that good!  Really!  Here is a link to the script.  And, another one here.  I just wish I had the video of it to share with you, too!  It was simply fantabulicious!  No wonder it is so pop-pu-lar!

Wicked - Score! ! ! (. . . and my shopping loot!)

From OCPAC's website.

OMG!  SCORE! ! ! !   I can't believe I was able to get a ticket at the last minute for Wicked - front and center (just 8 rows from the stage)! ! !  The week following the date I am going, the same seat goes up to $163!  Wooo hooo!  I was so stoked!  I missed it the first time around and kept forgetting to check on tickets this time until this past week.  It begins its run at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa on Wednesday, March 9th.

From OCPAC's website.

This is what OCPAC has to say about it on their website:

"The New York Times calls Wicked 'Broadway's biggest blockbuster,' 

and when it first played the Center in 2006, it broke box office records 

and sold out in record time.  Winner of 35 major awards, including a 

Grammy® and three Tony Awards®, Wicked 'is hugely entertaining' 

and 'brilliantly crafted' (Orange County Register).

Long before that girl from Kansas arrives in Munchkinland, two girls 

meet in the land of Oz.  One -- born with emerald green skin -- is smart, 

fiery and misunderstood.  The other is beautiful, ambitious and very 

popular.  How these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West 

and Glinda the Good Witch makes for 'the most complete and 

completely satisfying new musical in a long time' (USA Today)."

Anyway, I am so excited to be able to go and will let you know how it is!

I went shopping yesterday and ended up with all kinds of of pretty things. Looks like I am getting ready for spring and summer!  I really liked these pretty little pastel ramekins.  I have put different items in them for these photos, but I wish I had also picked up some pretty candies to increase their cuteness factor a bit more!  Pastel M&M's or candy coated almonds, or maybe some jelly beans.

I also found these cute little buckets and a little pink tray.  I picked up 6 of these buckets, as they were only $1 each, and am not entirely sure what I will end up doing with them, but I think they will make nice little containers for some tasty treats one of these days, dressed up with some iridescent cellophane.  I can't wait to make some cupcakes to decorate with these pretty little dragees.  But, this weekend is packed with a to-do list a mile long, so it will be a while before I will have any time for baking!

The ramekins will be perfect for little scoops of ice cream drizzled with chocolate or some little treats like strawberries!  Yum!

I picked up a couple dozen plastic eggs, they were so shimmery!  They will make nice Easter decorations.

The ramekins could also hold decorative items like bits of sea glass, or shells, or maybe supplies for your desk, like pastel-colored paperclips.

Or, they could be used on a vanity to hold your jewelry.  If you want to really see some great pics of these little ramekins, Jessica over at Such Pretty Things has some really eye-popping snaps of them!  Her whole blog is truly pretty!

I have been wanting an hour glass and liked the simplicity of this one with the green sand.  I think the color will work perfectly when I get everything repainted and am ready to start decorating!  I am painting all the walls white and I want to go with a beach cottage look and will be focused on aquas, turquoise and blues with occasional little pops of green.  I liked the little vase with the little dots of white.  It reminds me of a gorgeous urchin shell I had once.  It was quite large and I wish I still had it, but it got broken about a year ago.  :-(    I haven't been able to find another one like it.  In hindsight, I wish I had tried to glue it back together!  I also liked the turquoise hanging wire candle holder.  And, in keeping with the beach theme, I also picked up the koi statue and a ceramic coral candle holder.

Well, that's a peak into my little corner of the world today!  Hope you have a great day!  See you soon!

Peter Pan

Peter Pan at South Coast Performing Arts Center

Please, do yourself a favor and go see this play (take a quick peek at the video link above).  I saw it with a friend this weekend and it was fabulous! They are starting to blur the lines between film and theater with this one.  It was held in a tent that seats just over 1300 people, with part of the tent, an area equivalent to the size of 3 IMAX theaters, serving as a 360 degree screen on which the background was projected.  There are 12 projectors each responsible for 30 degrees of the scene.  They blended some amazing CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) with the action on the stage, or, in this case, over the stage!    :-)    They were able to have 5 people in the air at a time and it all combined to make you believe they were really flying, or swimming, depending on the scene.  The photos here have been taken from the Peter Pan Souvenir Program I purchased as they do not allow any photography, which I understand, but am sad I couldn't share some of the best parts of the show.  (Copyright to all photos in this particular post belong to them.)  Actually, you would need video to really capture the amazing effects they were able to create, again, check out the link to the video promotion above.  You actually felt as if you were flying or swimming right along with them.

Bottom is the round stage, the dark band above it is the audience and
the blue, underwater scene above is a 360 degree underwater computer
generated image that you "move" through with the action in the play.

It began it's run a little over a year ago, summer of 2009, in London and arrived here from San Francisco.  It is currently playing in Costa Mesa at the South Coast Performing Arts Center and will be traveling on to Atlanta and Chicago after the beginning of the new year.

My friend and I started the day with a "tour" called Into Neverland given by Ian Street, who played Curly, one of the Lost Boys from the play, and another member of the crew and I deeply regret that I cannot recall his name.  They were both extremely personable, informative and entertaining. They provided a lot of behind the scenes information.  I would strongly suggest you take advantage of this presentation if you possibly can.  It really added to the whole experience.  They provided a wealth of information regarding the history, statistics and inside stories that helped make a great play even more enjoyable.  Ian also shared that the crew had created an alternative Peter Pan "horror" show and posted it on YouTube.

Curly is the cute blond, second from the left.

We had about an hour between the "tour" and the time the play actually started, so we grabbed a cup of hot cocoa while we waited and just chatted away until it was time to head into the tent for the performance.

It would be extraordinarily difficult to describe the wonderful job they did with the CGI.  When the children were flying away from their home, you were flying right along with them over the city, between the spans on the bridges, past great domed buildings and right through the clouds.  And when they dove into the sea, you went right down along with them, with soap bubbles rising in the air from the middle of the stage adding even more to the feeling you were under water, as the scenery around you moved you through the sea.  The mermaids were breathtaking to watch as they seemingly swam along on fabric that held them suspended above the ocean floor.  No wires holding them up, they totally depended on the strength of the fabric and their own body strength to keep them from falling to the stage.

But, I have to say, my favorite character by far was Tinkerbell, who was superbly played by Emily Yetter for the performance we saw.  What a naughty, feisty, ornery and completely adorable little fairy she was!  She played the part so convincingly that it was hard to remember it was not a young child we were watching.  Her mannerisms and the faces she made were exactly those of a child.  She threw the most amazing little fits shaking her head with her little cheeks all puffed out, fists waving in the air!  And I was mesmerized by the way they had managed to get lights in her hair and costume.

Peter Pan, the eternal, impish little boy, was played by Nate Fallows and he did a great job with his performance.  During the scene where Tink was dying he explained that in order for her to live, everyone had to softly say they believe in fairies.  I wasn't sure if we were really supposed to be saying it out loud, but I certainly felt that audience participation would have been very much appreciated at that point.  I know I felt very much compelled to join in to save Tink!

Jonathan Hyde did double duty as Mr. Darling and as Captain Hook and he played both parts very well.

The pirates were a fierce bunch, but in the end, were, of course, no match for Peter and the Lost Boys.

The puppets were made of things that one would find in a nursery.  The crocodile was made of coat hangers and, I believe, clothespins.  He had a terribly fierce roar as he is demonstrating in the photo above.  He leaned out over the audience and bellowed out at them.  It is quite understandable that Captain Hook would be so terrified of him.  There was also an ostrich made of among other things, a rugby football and a badminton shuttlecock.  He was so cute, I wish I had a picture of him, but you can catch glimpses of him in the promotion video.

And poor old Nana.  Nana was a very convincing and compelling dog.  You almost didn't notice the man behind her giving life to her actions.  When Mr. Darling got upset with her, you could feel her sadness and dismay.  The puppeteer did a fantastic job of bringing her to life while becoming almost "invisible" himself.

All of the cast did a great job and brought everyone to their feet at the end.  It was one of the best performances I have seen in a while.  It was a truly enjoyable and memorable performance.

Have you forgotten the story?  Is it perhaps time for a refresher?  If so, here is a link to DailyLit.com, where you can subscribe for free to this or any of a number of other books.  They deliver portions of the book to your email so you can read it a little at a time.  I think it is time for me to reread it and I have subscribed and read the first 4 installments already.  I hope you revisit this story and enjoy it again!

So . . . tell me, . . . do you believe?