"A Wrinkle in Time" at Arena Stage

Content note: bullying

I'm going to start by covering the musical, and then talk a little about differences from the book.

Meg and Charles Wallace Murry's father disappeared two years ago. Three strange ladies, who say they are more like stars than angels, appear and say they know how to help Meg and Charles Wallace find him. Calvin, a school mate arrives and says he felt compelled to talk to Meg. The three ladies decide he should also join them. Three three kids and three ladies journey across planets in their quest to retrieve Dr. Murry. 

I got a little teary in the very first song, so I was sucked in quickly. The cast includes Amber Gray as Mrs. Whatsit, and Vickie Lewis as Mrs. Which. I mention them because I was familiar with their work but the cast was excellent from top to bottom. The music was enchanting in places, ethereal and otherworldly in others. The costumes and hair were fascinating. And they made great use of a smallish stage. 

It was amazing enough that I considered going immediately to buy another ticket to see it again. 

Now. I still have lines from this book memorized. So I am both an avid and annoying audience. There are changes, books are not musicals. But that this show was crafted by folks who love this story seemed clear throughout. 

Some obvious changes, the twins are gone. (Sorry Sandy and Dennis fans.) Charles Wallace wears overalls, but is played by a college kid. He is believably in school, but not believably six. (His age is not mentioned.) 

Calvin is new in town, and no mention is made of siblings. Only that his parents work multiple jobs and might not notice if he misses dinner. 

They chose to act out the tesseract, which was to me a little odd, but I got used to it, as the tesseract went on. 

I don't want to spoil how they changed the meeting with It, but I thought it worked well.

Note: I attended a masked showing. Most patrons seemed to arrive without masks, and made use of the surgical masks the ticket takers gave out.

"Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations" at National Theater

Content note: brief references to suicide, racism, addiction, gender essentialism, and chronic illness.

A friend invited me to join her and her two kids at the show. With this being a jukebox musical, she had expected some hits and a smidgeon of plot. The book was based on Eddie*'s memoir of the group. The show, as the subtitle might lead you to believe attempts to chronicle the formation, founding and the struggles and successes of a group with a multi-decade career. 

As such it kinda speedruns through a lot of information, and if your kids are at the "why" stage, there's a lot of room for why questions. 

In some ways the show reminded me of "Bohemian Rhapsody", not because Queen and The Temptations are comparable groups, but because when the folks left alive to tell the story are in charge of the narrative, it favors them. 

Now, I do not know more about the inner working of The Temptations than Otis does. But the show posits that he became the leader, even as the other characters keep telling him he's not in charge, they are supposed to be a group. 

Summarizing a multi-decade career while also making time to sing about twenty songs, in the length of a musical is always going to be a nearly impossible task. But were there entertaining songs and fun choreography? Yes, absolutely. 

But if you or anyone you are going to the show with has a lot of why questions, probably make time to skim some Temptations history too, either before or after the show. 

DC: I Love You, Ready or Not at the Folger Theater

The ending affects so much of how you feel about a thing, that it can color your perception of the whole thing.

While conceptually related to the Mt. Pleasant version in the use of multiple places, one for each scene, though this time in or near the Folger, there were some differences.

Instead of a new couple and new actors in each setting, we followed three actors. Two of them played the same character throughout, and one played multiple characters. 

I spotted two other scenes for later groups, and there was some gender bended casting. So the gender of the characters was different, depending on which group you ended up in. 

Hunter, our main character was having a day. Hunter was being followed by an audience no one else seemed able to see. One character, suggested Hunter might be in a rom-com. Another, who had a ukulele, suggested it might be a musical. Hunter tried leaning in, but wasn't feeling it, so then tried to escape the audience. It gets a little more meta after that.

We were advised early not to interact with the actors, because one of them could see us, and in fact at one point asked us to stop following them. There were some incredible lines, and in my group, two of the actors had been in the Mt. Pleasant version, so it was great to see them again so soon.

Go with a friend who you can talk about the ending with.

All locations accessible by ramp or elevator.  ETA: Originally I wrote genderblind casting, which I belated realized was a very ableist turn of phrase. I apologize for my usage.

"Senior Class" at Olney Theatre Center

Content note: classism. 

A show about teens who discover there is no budget left to put on a show, definitely feels like it has been done before. A show about teens who decide to do "Pygmalion" (public domain!) but update it for a modern audience and maybe make it a musical, has also been done before. (Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, anyone?) But some ideas are repeated because they are great ideas. After all, I've loved approximately ten different versions of "A Christmas Carol". 

I adored this show. George Bernard Washington, G.B. to his friends, as the writer/director of the show made clear how much the act of writing and directing feels a little like being Professor Higgins, trying to mold something in a new direction but discovering the thing you are trying to mold doesn't always accept your directions. 

Alyzé as a broke ballerina who does subway showtime dancing to help raise funds for her schooling was wonderful. 

And Colin, G.B.'s best friend who dreams of a Jimmy award, and casts a jock as Pickering to his Higgins was delightful.

The choreography was wonderful. The songs were fun. The direction was delightfully specific. If you are a person who likes peeking at the background actors, they were always doing little things that made them seem more like fully rounded characters. 

My one critique would be the sound design seemed to overwhelm some of the solo singers.

And the lesson that no one wants to be Higgins, Higgins gets left all alone, community is what you need, was perfect.

(Also those of you who recall my opinion that Freddy is Liza's best choice, well, this shows agrees with me.)

Three Interesting Things

1. Penguin poop might be saving the world.

2. This was a nice round up of the Tonys. 

3. This is my local breakfast taco place, talking about how they survive the rush.  I literally did not think I liked breakfast tacos until they converted me. 

Tara Describes the Tony Nominated Plays Badly

Hello, I love theater and do not always get to see everything nominated for a Tony for reasons that include, COVID, lack of infinite monies to travel to New York.  So I have seen only one of these.  And I'm still going to intentionally describe it badly.  This tradition started as me attempting to describe these things in one sentence, and devolved from there.

To all the people who make theater, whether award nominated or not, I love you. 

Plays -

English:  English is hard. 

The Hills of California:  Fame doesn't make up for your mother dying. 

John Proctor is the Villain: Teens push back against reading a play where the supposed good guy sucks. 

Oh Mary: Being the spouse of the president is awful, it would be so much better to be a cabaret singer. 

Purpose: Adult kid brings home friend to family house, hijinks ensue. 

Musicals -

Buena Vista Social Club: Some music albums take forty years to make. 

Dead Outlaw: What if you could make money by lying and showing off a dead guy?

Death Becomes Her: Sometimes you have to live forever to truly attempt to outdo your best frenemy. 

Maybe Happy Ending: Two outdated robots discover they might have more to learn about the world. About love. 

Operation Mincemeat: What if a dead person was the key to winning the war? 

One could argue just about everything is about love and death, but there's a definite corpse theme going on in many of the musicals this year. Not a complaint, just an observation.

Does the Tally Matter?

NaNo's daily goal was 1667. #1000WordsOfSummer is, well 1000. I read a post once from someone who had a daily goal of 10000, and no, that is not a typo. And I recently came across a post from someone who said after discovering a famous writer had a daily goal of 500, that they would be happy to be half as productive and set their daily goal to 250. 

So, to answer the question I asked, I don't think the goal you set matters. Well, I think it matters that it is achievable for you on a multi-day basis. There are people who can run marathons and then there is me. I could set a goal of running three miles a day, but, oh that's right I don't run. 

For me, when editing I find the goals harder. I can read three chapters a day. Or stare at the manuscript for at least an hour. Or fix at least four things. In the end it tends to be a mix of things. It goes faster when I look at it each day, but I don't always. On days I don't even peak I try to at least actively think about it for a few minutes. 

And the other thing that doing these group writing bits helps with, is the camaraderie. Showing up to these people, even if they are mostly strangers on the internet, and declaring that I am making space for writing, it helps. It reminds me that I am not alone. That folks are cheering me on, just as I cheer them on. And that helps. 

Mariame Kaba often says everything worth doing is done with other people, and while she was mostly talking organizing, it applies here to. 

If you are writing too this summer, feel free to hit that contact button over to the right and tell me about it. I'd love to cheer you on.

Tara Kennedy

Note: If you are reading this outside of your normal work hours, feel free to hold off response until your work hours.  

~To the world we dream about, and the one we live in now. 

"Hadestown", book and lyrics by Anais Mitchell