Acting Up Stage Company - Tapestries

The music of Carole King and James Taylor.

Sorry - this just did not work for me. The arrangements were too far off the mark for my taste. They were more jazz like, it often felt that the band and the vocalists were not doing the same number. There were no melodies in the music and, while the percussionist was very good, there was a bit too much of it.

The vocalists on their own were quite good, with some standout performances from Kelly Holiff, Sterling Jarvis and Arlene Duncan. But the harmonies didn't always work with the voice combos used. One jazz vocalist in particular did not seem in the right place.

Perhaps I am not really a Carole King or James Taylor fan as, unfortunately, this arrangement did not suit my tastes, nor that of my companion. We couldn't wait to escape, although the audience did give a resounding applause ...

Off Mirvish - Terminus

A very clever show - a series of interconnected monologues presented on a small section of the stage, barely big enough for the actor to fill.

In fact, the entire audience was on the stage of the Royal Alex. With stadium style seating set up for an intimate crowd of 200, facing out towards the audience seating, with the actors standing on the precipice, seemingly always just one brief misstep away from plunging off the edge. As a matter of fact, we keep waiting for this to happen, as though that is why we are organized this way.

We follow the lives of a young girl, her mother, her friends, her true love, as they grapple with the consequences of jealousy, love and hate. The dialogue is ambitious and expertly delivered. Even the surreal bits are enthralling. Some of the rhyming bits feel like Dr. Seuss, but in a totally genuine and charming way.

This first show in the Off Mirvish series did not disappoint. I can't wait for the next !

AGO - Frida & Diego

I enjoyed this show, but I suspect my experience was enhanced by my companion, who had seen the movie and gone through the show previously with the audio guide. This is one of those kind of shows where the background story really adds to the experience, particularly since the work is spanning such a long period of time.

Frida's work changes quite substantially over the time frame as it is heavly influenced by the things going on in her life and her personal pain. From a horrific car accident in her youth to repeated miscarriages to the betrayal by her beloved (with her sister, no less, among others ....), some of the images are quite bold and striking.

An obsession with self, there is an overabundance of self portraits. She has a face that is intriguiging and mysterious, evidenced by the interest of so many photographers. In her own self portraits, the juxtoposition of her image with cultural icons and other items tells a story of her interests and obsessions.

It is also interesting to watch the evolution of Diego's work as he moves from Mexico to the U.S. to Europe, influenced by popular culture, including time spent with Picasso. I am particularly fond of the landscapes.

While I am not generally drawn to exhibits so filled with portraits, I enjoyed this one and suggest you check it out. But, it might add to the experience if you have time to see the movie first .....

Gardiner Museum - Harlequinade

We went to the opening of Kate Hyde's show at the Gardiner Museum. This was the culmination of almost a year's work creating Harlequins in the muse of Punch and Judy. The presentation, amongst some antiquities hundreds of years old, was vey creative and really showed her work off well.

Kate is a really talented and exacting artist. Her figures are imbued with life and you feel as though you share their joy and are being entertained.

The detailing of the figures is amazing. So inviting, that you want to reach into the glass to hold their hands. They are a delight to look at and study and you will want to take a bunch home. You should enjoy them while you can - the show closes in mid January and we will be taking "For the Show" home ....

Canstage - Speaking in Tongues

Wow! I absolutely loved this show! This was presented by The Company Theatre, in a collaboration with CanStage.

I can't say I was uniformly impressed by the actors' performance, but the script presentation was awesome and the dialogue was witty.

There are several conversations going on and sometimes the actors speak in parallel, undulating between consecutive and simultaneous phrases. We watch lives and relationships unfold, crumble and, well, not much redemption. These are very normal and fallible people, coping the best way they can.

This was one of the most creative pieces of dialogue I have experienced in a while and, although very different in style, it still felt very genuine. Nice work!

CanStage - Arsonist

Couldn't quite get into this play. Billed as hilariously funny, it moved me to a laugh once, a few smiles and otherwise it just felt a bit tedious. Only 80 min long, I still couldn't help predicting when it might end after the first few scenes, and then actually looking at my watch before the hour was up.

It wasn't very funny, the characters were just plain stupid. Thank goodness for the singing fireman and maid - they saved this from being a dull experience.

Saw some families in the audience, with small children. What were those parents thinking, particularly since the Santa Claus parade was passing just one street north. We all would have enjoyed that much more ....

Do I need to mention that you should give this a pass.

National Geographic Live - Kenny Broad

Extreme Cave Diving: Exploring the Blue Holes of the Bahamas

The opening show for this second season of National Geographic Live was not a disappointment.

I am always amazed by the craziness of these "explorers". Kenny's thing is to go into underground caves that are filled with water, sometimes squeezing through very tight spaces to reach the next cave.

Whlie he says this is the lazy man's activity, ie. when dry caving, it may take days to reach a particular spot as you have to build scafolding etc. to get to a high point, in underwater caves you only have to swim over to it. However, being in an underwater cave, that you may have had to push through some very narrow passageways to arrive, and you are now half a mile from the entry point to the water has to require nerves of steel. This is not for the faint of heart, as several close calls testify.

However, it is wonderful that people like him have the courage to do this and bring back such amazing images for the rest of us to appreciate.

This is a great family show. It's too bad it starts so late (8:00), making a late night at the beginning of the week, which doesn't work out so well for young kids, spending the rest of the week in a fog....

Washington - A Weekend at the Smithsonian

Day 1 - Arrived bright and early on Porter - remind me why we do this. Oh yes, because by the time we clear customs, get our bags, take the scenic route into town (ie. public transit), walk to our hotel from the closest metro stop, check in and unpack, we still have more than half a day of sightseeing time left.

We grabbed a city bus from the airport for $6 per person, which after four stops from Dulles Airport, dropped us within walking distance of our hotel, in very close proximity to the Mall. Had a fabulous lunch at a cafe on the way to the hotel. We really enjoyed the JW Marriott - perfect location and a fantastic breakfast buffet. The elevators provided a really interesting and novel access. You enter the floor you wish to go to and then an electronic sign tells you which elevator to board, which takes you directly to your floor. Not sure if this is more efficient or created in order to ensure enhanced security in Washington.

First stop - Natural History Museum to see the biggest prehistoric snake. Rivalling in size to the basilisc (our HP fan made this connection), it was only discovered in 2004, by an astute grad student who noticed the particular fossils he was cataloging did not match the rest in the batch he was working on and that this particular specimen was probably not an alligator. Reaching out to prehistoric reptile experts, their world was soon buzzing!

We also saw the Hope diamond - talk about an amazing sparkle. As it rotated in its case, it was blinding.

Stopped in at the Smithsonian Castle, to get some info and check out the civil war exhibit. Some great early war photographs taken under extreme circumstances with finicky technology that required quick action between exposing the plates and developing the film. Definitely worth checking out.

　

Headed out the back of the Castle and found ourselves wandering through the a warren of galleries, moving from the Stackler Gallery to the Freer. Quite an amazing collection of Asian art - we really enjoyed this.

As we walked around town, we noticed sandbags left over from Hurricane Sandy. There are a lot of street level basement windows and grates that still sport their protection from the storm.

Day 2 - Back to The Mall to tour the Air and Space Museum, clearly the most popular stop on The Mall. It was the most crowded of the museums and we spent the entire morning here. Lots of interesting reading and great artifacts, from Amelia Erhart to the rockets sent to the moon. The food is standard food court fare (presumably to appeal to the high proportion of children in the patrons) so we headed back to the Castle for a fresh sandwich in the lovely cafe.

Once again, after visting the Hirshhorn Museum, touring the Al WeiWei installation outside and show inside, as well as the rest of the modern art exhibits, we were treated to the jaded observation from our teen. On Al WeiWei: "modern artist is the politically correct term for con artist". On the sculpture garden: "I would get more intellectual value out of breaking Popsicle sticks". In this particular case, we couldn't really say that we disagreed.

We ended the day by taking in the new Bond film at a cinema within 15 min walking distance of our hotel, in the middle of a busy restaurant strip, with everything ranging from take-out to quick eats to fine dining. Only a small crowd at the movie, given it seems that not a lot of people live in the vicinity.

We found a Pret-a-Manger, the chain we discovered in London this past June, in the vicinity of our hotel (F and 11). We love this place as the ingredients are all fresh, there is lots of choice to appeal to any pallet and the service is quick.

Day 3 - The next day we set out for a nice walk in the opposite direction, wandering past the White House. We couldn't get too close as the President was in that day and they were getting ready to move out for Remembrance day celebrations. It was fascinating to watch the cavalcade of black SUV's when they were on the move. We continued on our way to the Lincoln Memorial, truly an awesome piece of architecture, so large and yet so moving.

We headed back through Constitution Gardens to the Vietnam Memorial and WW2 Memorial. These are both such impressive memorials. Seeing all those names on the Vietnam memorial and the mementos left behind by visitors all along the memorial made it really hard to walk along it without shedding a tear.

As we were running out of time, my husband detoured to the Textile Museum, which he really enjoyed, while the kids and I continued on to the American Art Museum, just a little bit up the street from The Mall. He also passed through the Renwick Gallery and strongly recommended we include this on the list for next time for some Arts and Crafts.

We planned arrival at the American Art Museum to coincide with lunch. Not a mistake, as the the Courtyard Cafe offered delicious soups, quiche specials and an amazing salad bar. You can get espresso coffee here and really yummy deserts are on offer. Enjoy your meal under the glass roof in a huge courtyard - it is really lovely.

The second floor of the gallery was overflowing with fantastic landscapes. There was a particular gallery that provided a unique perspective via two massive landscapes. These were the same vantage point and by the same artist, however painted over 50 years apart. It was very interesting to be able to observe not only the change in the artist's style, but the not so subtle changes in the landscape itself over this relatively short time period. My teens were enthralled - we must come back when the kids are less tired.

Across the street is the Spy Museum. We didn't go in, but had a lot of fun perusing the shop and picking up some spy gear .......

An early end to the afternoon and I wanted to take a quick shopping trip to Macy's, but my feet were burning and we still had another day ahead of us, with two more museums on the list of must-see's.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner with our friends, who live in the area, at Carmines. We discovered this chain in New York and it is a great spot to go with a group. I love ordering platters of food and sharing with friends, just as if you were entertaining at home, but without the cleanup !

Day 4 - Today we headed over to the National Gallery, to spend some time in the 19th Century French and 18th & 19th Century Spanish galleries, with fantastic impressionist galleries. Were not too impressed with the Lichtenstein exhibit - really have to wonder about some modern art - why do people find it important, brilliant, evocative - it many cases, it is none of these things.

Our capacity to put in a full day diminishes as we get to the end of this trip. Despite sleeping in and not leaving the hotel until check out time, we are pooped by 4, so we should have taken an earlier flight home. We had a long wait in the airport....

Soulpepper - The End Game

A stark and forbidding set - this was a very unusual play.

The set was a dull uniform concrete grey with whisps of dirty brown, suggesting years of neglect and decay.

This was a comedy about the very far future, when everyone was gone except for this one wealthy man, his parents and his servant. His parents occupy a very unique position in the household - they literally live in the trashcans.

Searching for moments of joy in an unending tedium of daily living with such stark company, the characters expressed themselves with remembered joy. The laughter and impish glee was genuine and made you smile and laugh along with them, even thought you didn't really get the joke.

The expressions of mom and dad were hilarious, the acting was superb and, while a definitely unusual and puzzling script, well worth seeing for the amazing performances.