"The Who's Tommy" at the Kennedy Center

I saw the final performance of "The Who's Tommy" as part of the Kennedy Center's Broadway Center Stage program, minimally staged short run productions. 

Content warnings for the show include onstage gunshots, murder, references to child sexual situations, bullying, and a sex worker named G*psy.*

I had seen the movie at some point in my childhood so went in with a vague recollection that that Tommy didn't speak but played pinball. 

The Broadway version dates from the 1990's, but the concept album, and the movie predate that. It is of a piece with something like "Jesus Christ Superstar" in that the songs move forward, expecting the audience to fill in gaps. 

The Broadway Show begins just before World War II when Tommy's parents meet and fall in love. Informed her husband had died in the war, Tommy's mom starts a new relationship. When Tommy's dad discovers this on his arrival home he fights with and then kills Tommy's almost stepdad. Deciding to tell the police it was the almost stepdad with the gun, the parents realize Tommy witnessed everything and tell him to say nothing, that he heard and saw nothing. As a result Tommy stops speaking or responding. Tests are able to determine no cause, and Tommy's essentially non-responsive state leaves him open to much abuse. And then they discover he does respond to pinball. 

The cast of this show was wonderful. This show asks an incredible amount of its ensemble and they were up to it. The choreography was fabulous and energetic. Tommy is played by three actors, and in the first act the younger two's inner dreams and monologue are expressed by the adult Tommy, and then they appear as echoes once adult Tommy is in place. 

The show moves quickly and as such the ideas of justice, or why Tommy chooses and then rejects a public life get short shrift. But Tommy does seem happier at the end and the music is rocking. 

It is always interesting to revisit things one saw as a child, although certainly this is a different form in many ways. As an adult I found this much harder to watch, and yet it's still a good time. 

I always read all the cast bios, and so it was fun to see two locals in the cast, including one who had been in Signature's "Billy Elliot".

*It is my understanding that this character was originally called the Acid Queen. Wow, that change is an interesting choice. 

Writing in Venice

I started writing this post in the Venice airport, after a flight delay left me with a bit more time than planned in the airport. It remains to be seen if I will regret not having taken the earlier flight to Germany originally offered since I am now thinking good thoughts for a swift passport control line. 

But there was something delicious about one last breakfast in the hotel, getting to chat with writing friends old and new, drinking one more hot chocolate (ciocolatta calda) before taking the somewhat leisurely boat to the airport. (And oops, I got in the wrong boarding line and they had to page me. I swear I would have noticed eventually.)

I did the Venice Writer's Retreat with Rachael Herron two years ago and returning was lovely. I explored the city less this year but in a delightful, look I get to go back to this place and that place kind of way. Although I did find a new to me gelato place that was wonderful. I am still figuring out Euros, and there were times I either confused the coins or misunderstood how best to make it easier for them to give me change. 

I wrote pages of words, both from writing prompts and on a fiction piece. I got to recconnect with old friends, make new ones, eat possibly more cheese than was healthy. 

(Also it turns out when you are the last one on the plane and someone has taken your seat they are like, shrug, how about that row.)

I opted in for almost all the group excursions, so did a walking tour where I learned about a cursed house, a boat tour of some of the other islands, rowing with wine and snacks (I was declared an okay rowing student, my boatmates did much better), and screen printing. At the end I was happy sad to leave. There had been so many people, so many food delights, so many writing delights, I was so ready to get back to my computer and to work, and also so sad that the next breakfast would not involve writer friends and hot chocolate. That I would no longer hear Italian seagulls cawing. Of course this means it it likely the exact right amount of time. When you are still happy sad and not yet really over everyone. But like the ciocolatta calda, it is a little bittersweet.

(And I made it through the Munich airport in enough time to get my connecting flight, even with passport control and specialized screening. And back in the US when the passport guy asked if I met up with friends while travelling, my smile was very big.)

7 Posts: Bonus Bonus Bonus Post - The Top Twenty Songs

It's been popular to rank the songs season by season, but I decided to wait for the whole thing and try to come up with a list.  I ranked this on a combination of could I still remember the song, did the song offer some sort of useful commentary and surprise, as well as being fun to couch dance too.  Okay, some of these are not couch dancers.  Some of them are super weird and that's what makes them great. 

-A Boy Band Made Up of Four Joshes - This song is just pure joy in it's 

-A Diagnosis - It's a great song, and a song that survives outside the context of the show, and yet is more meaningful if you've been on this journey with Rebecca. 

- Don't Be A Lawyer - This one falls into the mostly fun side.  It's also the culmination of a journey for Rebecca as we've been watching her struggle to like this job she clearly hates.  

- Dream Ghost - Dream Ghost hits on multiple levels.  It's a fun tune, it pokes fun at a common method of change for fictional characters, and the dream ghost also has great advice.  

-Face Your Fears - This song remains the moment I went from cautiously interested in the show to fully on board.  Much like the "Sexy Getting Ready Song" it makes use of challenging the text within the song to make sure you understand that the metaphor is terrible, but also involves a back up children's choir because why wouldn't it.  

-First Penis I Saw - It's a catchy tune about a moment we all come to recognize has special significance and yet also maybe shouldn't. 

-Friendtopia - It's hard for me to choose between "Friendtopia" and "Let's Generalize About Men" but to me both fall into girl group bonding stuff, and yet, this one is just a little more of a bop.  

-Gettin' Bi - This was a delightful song, and also did a thing that is sadly unexpected it network TV right now.  Darryl realized he was attracted to someone of the same gender and didn't decide he was gay, he decided he was bisexual.  Obviously, all paths are valid, but it was so nice to see a show represent bisexuality as even an option.  Plus it is fun to couch dance too. 

-The Group Mind Has Decided You're in Love - Again I think this works on many levels, although I have some friends who disagree with me.  I think the send up of shipping along with the typical declaration of group peer pressure towards a specific coupling in musicals, the we won't be falling in love (followed of course by the couple always falling in love).

-How to Clean Up - Cracked me up in it's brief simplicity. 

-I Hate Everything But You - It is a delightful song.  Yes, I love snarky dude, as established, but this song is great.  

-I've Always Never Believed in You - I do love a Paula song, but also, I love a song about how you might not really have known if your kid was going to be great, but are glad they kind of did. 

-JAP Battle and the JAP Battle Reprise - Both delightful.  The songs both thread a very careful line of acknowledging and yet not playing into stereotypes.  Besides we all need a good frenemy song. 

-One Indescribable Instant - I swear it's not the Lea Salonga of it all.  Okay, it's totally the Lea Salonga of it, but still, this song again captures these songs that outlast the movies they are from such that you can still hum the song even when your memory of the characters is muddled.  

- Remember That We Suffered - I know there's a lot of love for "Where's the Bathroom?" but for me "Remember That We Suffered"  manged to be both funny and poignant in equal measure. 

-Settle for Me - This song was an early entry, demonstrating character notes, as well as a willingness to use multiple styles.  

-Sex With a Stranger - This song demonstrated some wonderful sex positivity as well as nice balance of concern and excitement, in other ways it felt very real. 

-The Buzzing From the Bathroom - This is one of those things where if I told you there was a "Les Miserables" style song about realizing your spouse has not been getting orgasms from sex with you, but this worked and managed to be funny and tragic.  Well, tragic for Tim.  And his wife.  

-The Moment is Me - Heather hated all of this, but the song rolled on regardless of her feeling about songs about realizing she had everything she needed to move on. 

-The Sexy Getting Ready Song - It's just amazing.  It showed the layered, knowing, and quirky vibe the show was going for.  And captured a very real thing. 

7 Posts: Bonus Plus Post - I Had a Theory

The show creators have always been pretty transparent that "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" was a show about someone raised on the rom-coms who tried to take them literally.  Which is to say it's a look at what it would mean if you watched some of the crazy stalkery manipulation that gets passed off as adorable when in pursuit of love.  I listened to a podcast once where two dudes said, unironically, the only difference between a rom-com and a stalker movie is that it's positively received behavior.  And here's the thing, they are not wrong.  But it sounded to me that they were sort of saying if she likes it, then you're cool.  And if she doesn't and you don't back down, then you're wrong.  Not, hey, we shouldn't engage in this behavior ever.  

Over four seasons, Rebecca has upended her life, engaged in terrible behavior, been the victim of terrible behavior, dated three different men for long enough for them to be considered contenders, made new friends, changed her career, gotten into therapy, and worked on her mental health.  In many ways the trajectory of the show had already been a lot and enough.  

I confess, I am often the person who tries not to pick sides, pick ships, especially in a show that had a whole song about shipping people who don't want to be shipped.  It's not because I can't decide, it's that I have often seen shows do things I would not have predicted and they made me believe.  So I kept an open mind as they brought in Greg 2.0, revisited Josh, and Nathan.  I watched people do polls about which she should choose.  But as I mentioned in the post about the rom-com episode, by the end of that episode they almost had me convinced that Nathan should be with Maya, so I try to enjoy the ride.  

But I also wondered.  Early on, Dr. Akopian had said true love doesn't have to be a person.  And I wondered if that was the message.  Not that Rachel doesn't deserve love, but that that love doesn't have to reside in a person.  People often say to me, oh but you read and write romance, you want the happy ending. I do. But I am also well aware that ending a story with characters smooching doesn't always feel like the happiest choice.  

So, yeah, my theory was what if the back and forth between Josh, Greg, and Nathan wasn't the typical final season stuff about drawing out the decision.  What if the point was that this wasn't really the thing that was going to make her happy.  This was the distraction.  

And after going "The Bachelor" style with dates, and choices, Rebecca realized that her true love was the songs.  The thing that had always been there for her.  And that's who she ended up with.  

7 Posts: Bonus Post - The Community Around You

By titling the show "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" it focused on how Rebecca upended her life in pursuit of Josh.  But, of course, the Josh pursuit, was a metaphor. (Sorry, Josh.  You deserve love too!)  Because what Rebecca, and anyone who watched the panic attack caused by success in her prior life, knew, was that her life back in New York had sucked.  And yes, moving across the country to reconnect with your camp boyfriend is not a great choice.  And it won't always work out.  But it is very true, much like that are you emotionally stable enough to get bangs quiz, there are moments when you know something isn't working and you reach out to change something to make it better.  

Regardless of how Rebecca's relationship with Josh did or didn't work out, her life got better in West Covina less because of Josh, but because Rebecca found community (and also, therapy, a diagnosis, and some medication).  Early on it looked like they were quickly wrapping up the folks around Rebecca, much the way that shows often do to get some resolutions out of the way to clear space for the finale.  But they weren't done.  Heather and Hector got married and moved into their own place and figured out how to negotiate life as adults.  Kind of.  Valencia and Beth move to New York, but struggled with being ready for commitment on the same timeline.  (Valencia's joy at realizing she could propose was a thing to behold.) Nathaniel decided to be nice, a thing he told many people, because that's exactly how that works.  Paula passed the bar and sent her kid off to the non-Peace Corps thing.  Greg figured out that West Covina and his dad's restaurant were actually kind of great, and a lot of his negativity had to do with his dad having been a drunk who mishandled the business.  Darryl and white Josh figured out that they were leaning on each other for emotional support too much, and white Josh got back in the dating game and Darryl found April in the hospital waiting room.  

There were further developments in finale episode, but in many ways, despite the decision that Rebecca revealed, the thing she really found by going after the wrong thing in the wrong ways, was a really great community.  (Well, white Josh still isn't sold on her, but really who could blame him.)