We completed our days in Ashland with two performances and a lovely dinner. Henry IV Part 1 was a beautifully done, modern style in the round production in the small Thomas Theater. Bumbling Falstaff was there again. He plays dead to avoid getting heavily into the fray. We enjoyed running into cast members as we were leaving and saying how much we had enjoyed the piece ... to which we were told we were an excellent audience and wouldn't we like to come see the tech rehearsal for Henry IV Part 2 that evening? Regrettably we had to say no because we had tickets for Odyssey.
We had had questions about putting Odyssey on our list because it is such a long and depressing adventure of all the mishaps falling the returning leader. However this production ran so smoothly that we scarcely noticed that it was three hours and fifteen minutes long. It was an enchanting production in all respects--story, acting, movement, lighting, choreography and songs. It's perfect for children (even with the sex).
Our last meal in Ashland was at Ostras Tapas and Wine Bar on the main square in the town. The wines were average, the room cold with a fan blowing cold air down on us (to the point that Peter left as soon as he could) and noisy, and the tapas pleasant though nothing outstanding. We enjoyed the octopus though the accompanying patatas bravas were a bit heavy. Both the mushroom and beef empanadas were excellent and we enjoyed the prawns.
We left Ashland for Healdsburg and a quiet night with David at home. A quick jaunt the next morning (July 4th) to Oakland Airport, and an easy flight home. In bed by midnight.
Saturday, July 8, 2017
Sunday, July 2, 2017
Merry Wives and Love Stories
We started yesterday with a talk about theater with Jamie Anne Romero, with whom we had lunched on Thursday. She is the love interest in Shakespeare in Love. It's a great deal of fun to get to know the actors and about them, as we had also done with William DeMerritt, who played opposite her in both Merry Wives and Shakespeare in Love. She was interviewed by Rex Young who played Master Ford in Merry Wives of Windsor. Jamie is a very poised, thoughtful and articulate actress carefully climbing the ladder to what we expect to be great success. After the season here, she is returning to New York to pursue film and television roles.
Shakespeare in Love, of course, is an adaptation for the theater of the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow. Frankly, the idea of the stage production and its execution is better than the movie. When you see the interaction more closely, from the fifth row, of the actual people, you get a much more emotional response to the humor of the piece.
The other play, seen last night, was Merry Wives of Windsor. This is an over-the-top production, far too campy, a bit too long, and just a little bit more farcical (if that is possible) than the play that Shakespeare wrote. That said we enjoyed it particularly the late 70s and early 80s music. The woman who played Falstaff wore the most outrageous codpiece, which became part of the play (when it fell off), and the wives were more than adequate with great timing for the comedy. Romero and DeMerritt as the love interests, the subplot, got quite lost in the extravagance of the performance.
We enjoyed a dinner with Dick and CB at Amuse, one of our favorite places, the others being otherwise engaged. The sweetbreads for an starter for John were very good and his gnocchi with vegetables was a good vegetarian main course. Ben had another lovely piece of halibut (the ocean's will soon be empty) and a leek soup. We enjoyed a Ridge Paso Robles 2104 Zinfandel.
Shakespeare in Love, of course, is an adaptation for the theater of the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow. Frankly, the idea of the stage production and its execution is better than the movie. When you see the interaction more closely, from the fifth row, of the actual people, you get a much more emotional response to the humor of the piece.
The other play, seen last night, was Merry Wives of Windsor. This is an over-the-top production, far too campy, a bit too long, and just a little bit more farcical (if that is possible) than the play that Shakespeare wrote. That said we enjoyed it particularly the late 70s and early 80s music. The woman who played Falstaff wore the most outrageous codpiece, which became part of the play (when it fell off), and the wives were more than adequate with great timing for the comedy. Romero and DeMerritt as the love interests, the subplot, got quite lost in the extravagance of the performance.
We enjoyed a dinner with Dick and CB at Amuse, one of our favorite places, the others being otherwise engaged. The sweetbreads for an starter for John were very good and his gnocchi with vegetables was a good vegetarian main course. Ben had another lovely piece of halibut (the ocean's will soon be empty) and a leek soup. We enjoyed a Ridge Paso Robles 2104 Zinfandel.
Julius Caesar and August Wilson
Friday was heavy duty theater! We had lunch at one of the local breweries with two members of the cast of Shakespeare in Love, which we will see today, Saturday, and a friend of Jane's and Peter's on the OSF staff. John had a huge gyro and Ben a huge salmon salad. Home-made root beer that was surprisingly good. No beer because we didn't want to miss any of the dialogue in the plays we were going to.
The first was Julius Caesar, which we think we had never actually seen before--at least on stage. It was staged starkly with heavy mostly black costumes, save Caesar who wore white. The palace intrigues, intricacies and mindsets of the assassination plotters was particularly notable in light of what we feel sure is happening in the White House today. Clearly the play resonates today given the current years-long division of the American body politic. The last scene of continuing civil war required much thought about Roman politics from 2000 some years ago and, if it is at all prescient about our current situation, it does not bode well.
We had a lovely dinner outside at the Peerless Hotel in their garden. Unlike a restaurant in Washington that had no cocktail onions a few weeks ago, Peerless provided John with a lovely Gibson. The food was up to regular standards--John had spanakopita and Ben roasted salmon filet. All eight of us shared two luscious desserts.
The evening performance, UniSon, was superb. It's a world premiere here this summer. It was developed and performed by Universes, a poetry, musical and dance group. It's based on the poems of August Wilson, the famed African-American playwright of the Hill District in Pittsburgh. Universes got permission from Wilson's widow to examine and use the poems found in Wilson's trunk that he wanted to be destroyed. The piece was written in such a way as to distanc. itself from the biographical Wilson. It is a beautifully done impressionistic study of the agonies of mankind, the secrets we hold and how they can remain personal horrors. Whether the events brought to life by a wonderful cast were actually part of Wilson's life or not, the imagination of the poems lives through the acting of seven players, Wilson's protegé, who has a starring role, and Wilson himself, who reappears after death when she opens the trunk of poetry she was supposed to destroy. A must see if it goes on from here.
The first was Julius Caesar, which we think we had never actually seen before--at least on stage. It was staged starkly with heavy mostly black costumes, save Caesar who wore white. The palace intrigues, intricacies and mindsets of the assassination plotters was particularly notable in light of what we feel sure is happening in the White House today. Clearly the play resonates today given the current years-long division of the American body politic. The last scene of continuing civil war required much thought about Roman politics from 2000 some years ago and, if it is at all prescient about our current situation, it does not bode well.
We had a lovely dinner outside at the Peerless Hotel in their garden. Unlike a restaurant in Washington that had no cocktail onions a few weeks ago, Peerless provided John with a lovely Gibson. The food was up to regular standards--John had spanakopita and Ben roasted salmon filet. All eight of us shared two luscious desserts.
The evening performance, UniSon, was superb. It's a world premiere here this summer. It was developed and performed by Universes, a poetry, musical and dance group. It's based on the poems of August Wilson, the famed African-American playwright of the Hill District in Pittsburgh. Universes got permission from Wilson's widow to examine and use the poems found in Wilson's trunk that he wanted to be destroyed. The piece was written in such a way as to distanc. itself from the biographical Wilson. It is a beautifully done impressionistic study of the agonies of mankind, the secrets we hold and how they can remain personal horrors. Whether the events brought to life by a wonderful cast were actually part of Wilson's life or not, the imagination of the poems lives through the acting of seven players, Wilson's protegé, who has a starring role, and Wilson himself, who reappears after death when she opens the trunk of poetry she was supposed to destroy. A must see if it goes on from here.
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