Ace at Signature Theater

"Ace", the latest production at Arlington, Virginia's Signature Theater is a lovely piece. Its music is good, its acting is superb, the kids who have the leads are superb and the plot line holds your interest. The play is about a mother who had been determined to keep from her son the family history of flying. Her husband crashed and left her pregnant in World War II, her husband's father crashed and left his wife pregnant in World War I. The mother suffers from significant suicidal depression over the thought of losing her son, but in the end decides to fill in the blanks of her son's life.

The sets give a fine illusion of flying, from Sopwith Camels over Germany to Claire Chennault's Flying Tigers over Chiangmai, Thailand when it was occupied by the Japanese.

We don't understand why Peter Marks at the Washington Post didn't like it. Conversations with friends who have seen it add to our feeling that this production will do well. It's a premiere here and will go on, we expect, to Broadway. Our New York brethren will enjoy it.

We have not been dining out much lately.

A couple of weeks ago we spent four days at the Jersey shore staying with friends in their Victorian house in Asbury Park. We "did" the craft fair in adjoining Ocean Grove, where we did not eat deep-friend Oreo cookies. We roasted a bit on the beach during the afternoon and enjoyed a Saturday night fireworks with the sound of surf in the background. We even went out and danced some at the local club, the Paradise Lounge. The crowd was hot enough for our hosts to return to the club after we thought we had called it a night. And the music, though loud, did have a good disco thump to it.

We continued our study of diners adjacent to the New Jersey turnpike. The last, Liberty II Diner, on U.S. Route 130 north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike access spur, near Bordentown, was enjoyable. Very large Greek style sandwiches.