Wake Up, Sir!

Wake Up, Sir! by Jonathan Ames is so fucking entertaining and clever!

I have not been able to concentrate on reading anything for a while. I guess because I've was stressed and busy with the dissertation. This book was just what the doctor ordered. The narrator is witty and neurotic, and in constant dialogue with his imaginary valet, Jeeves. His prose his clever at every sentence, and there were many laugh out loud moments and scenes. His humor, like all good humor, gets its punch from insightful observations, and in general I found myself loving the mind of this writer.

Amadeus

I watched Amadeus last night on Watch Instantly. I had seen this marvelous movie about Salieri's malignant jealousy of Mozart many years ago. I may even had seen it twice before.

Salieri's obsessive religiosity and love of music combines with his resentment of Mozart's flamboyant, manic, and childish personality in such a way that his envy and hatred become an art in and of themselves.

This time around, in addition to my interest in the dramatic relationship between the two protagonists, I was also interested in the treatment of opera and the period in classical music. I loved the opera scenes, and was proud of myself for recognizing bits here and there of Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute. After I watched the movie I wikipediad Mozart and Salieri and understand the poetic license taken with the movie and that it was not historically accurate.

I enjoyed this movie immensely and feel that I learned a bit about music at the same time.

Caballe Beyond Music

Wow! This woman has an incredibly beautiful voice. Almost freakishly beautiful. It's just otherworldly.

Caballe Beyond Music is a documentary about the operatic soprano Montserrat Caballe who was born in Spain to a very poor family. The documentary chronicles her career and includes much footage of her singing exquisite arias.

I was very moved by her singing, as well as by her person. Although some people made comments about her being a bit diva-ish, it was pretty clear that she is a warm, happy, loving woman. (On the other hand, she deposited her children with her parents for them to raise so she and her husband could pursue their careers; not the *most* loving things to do. But whatev.)

This is the best opera documentary I've seen yet. I really loved it. Now to amazon to buy some Caballe CDs!

Come Back, Little Sheba

Come Back, Little Sheba is a 1952 melodrama about a sad dysfunctional older couple who take in a young female boarder.

The husband (played by Burt Lancaster) quietly becomes painfully infatuated with her, while the wife becomes fixated on the girl's love life. She makes both the husband and the wife aware of their sexual and romantic frustrations and dissatisfactions.

The husband is a recovered alcoholic, and the pain of seeing the young girl with another man drives him to drink. The wife, who was always nervous and annoying, becomes even more so, and there is a terrible explosion where the husband gets mean and violent. After going through detox he comes home and repents.

It's weird; I'm not sure if you're supposed to feel happy for them at the end, or feel like anything has been resolved. In a way, it seems that they are ready to turn over a new leaf, putting the past behind them, and aware of how much each means. But on the other hand, they don't belong together and they are just going to grow old in much the same way as they had already been living... I was sort of confused I guess.

The movie is dated and I found the acting stilted. As I always say with older movies, it might make a good remake...

Charlotte Gainsbourg at The Bell House

Last night I saw Charlotte Gainsbourg perform at The Bell House in Gowanus.

She was amazing, very sultry and hip. She whisper/sang all her songs, and the music was varied, from super slow pieces to more upbeat, complex songs. She covered Bob Dylan's She Breaks Just Like a Woman, which I really liked.

Unfortunately, the acoustics at The Bell House were sub-par. The band sounded good, but the vocals got garbled and lost. It was a shame, because I was very interested in her lyrics. When someone whispers to you in an intimate and sexy way you want to know what they are saying!

(The opening band was Dinosaur Feathers, and they didn't do much for me)

The Pirates of Penzance

Last night Meridita took me to see The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players' production of The Pirates of Penzance at City Center.

It was wonderful! Completely joyous and exuberant. Witty and smart, but silly and irreverent. The singing was wonderful (although I thought the soprano had trouble with a couple of the high notes).

The audience was amazing too, thoroughly there with the players, ready to laugh, practically singing along.

I had actually seen this play before, in 1980 at the Delacorte Theater with Linda Ronstadt. But I don't remember a thing about it.

South Pacific

Today I got up early and waited on line for $20 tickets to South Pacific at Lincoln Center.

Our seats were excellent! We were about ten rows from the front and slightly to the side.

The show was very entertaining and absorbing. The cast was energetic, the music catchy and intelligent. Altogether, a very pleasant evening.

I did have some issues with it. None of the performances were really mind-blowing or anything. And I think because I've been going to so much opera, the singing felt kind of like whatever to me. Nothing special, no amazing feat.

Also, I thought that it didn't handle the racism very well. It's an explicit part of the story and it just seemed like the main character thought it over and decided not to be racist anymore. Like it's that easy.