A Normal Weekend

12 October 2012

Carolyn Pool and Shanan Custer’s 2 Sugars Room for Cream at New Century Theatre

13 October 2012

Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt’s Next to Normal at Mixed Blood Theatre

14 October 2012

Midwest Premiere of Dustin Hoffman’s Quartet at the Twin Cities Film Fest
This Was Made For Women’s Bodies choreographed by Maia Maiden at Intermedia Arts

Another weekend has flown by and I’m quickly advancing into the next art-filled one. It’s like the old days when I was actually journalling, and I’d apologize to myself for falling behind. But there will be weeks of feast and famine, exacerbated by a heavy work schedule, and I won’t apologize for anything. The beauty of it is that I’ve had time to fully digest a very busy weekend (which also involved some bar hopping shenanigans with two of my boys, wearing my Vote No t-shirt while shopping in the Vote Yes laden western suburbs, the last day of Oktoberfest at Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit in Nordeast with my roommate’s family and a mad dash through the Zombie Pub Crawl).

I’ll start with the Fringe-surviving show, 2 Sugars Room for Cream. The New Century Theatre, as a part of the Hennepin Theatre Trust, did what all of us arts organizations do occasionally to paper our houses and shared tickets with the under-paid and over-worked arts community. Charity, really. We’d never get to see anything outside our own medium if it wasn’t for deals and comp tickets like this.

Frankly, to consume this much art and culture this year, I’m going to need to find other ways to get tickets other than paying full price. NOT that I’m saying the cost of art should ever be pennies on the dollar (an opera performance for $20 while Gaga shows go for $200), because most people can and should splurge a little bit on a night of good art…I’m just saying for my own purposes, it’s getting a bit expensive.

I digress, but I wanted to do a shout-out of thanks to Hennepin’s New Century for the ticket and to Carolyn and Shanan for their wonderful show. I don’t know the actors/writers personally, but Shanan was in a show I saw at Fringe called Nightmare Without Pants, probably the best show I saw in the 6 or 7 I attended at Fringe. This was what attracted me to seeing 2 Sugars, actually. She’s a great actor and it’s unusual that I ever pay attention to or even remember the names and faces of straight play actors.

The two woman work they have created is a montage of scenes of them both and a few soliloquies where coffee always accompanies the dialogue or monologue. It’s kind of brilliant, actually. How much of our life is spent with coffee sloshing in a mug. The old saying goes “if I were a fly on the wall,” but I think it more apt to say “if I were coffee in a cup.” (Not as catchy, I understand.) There were moments of singing, which I wasn’t exactly expecting and which weren’t really necessary to the piece. I was with my boys Rich and Wesley, who nearly bolted for the door at the intermission because I had promised them it wasn’t a musical. I managed to get them to stay and I’m pretty sure they enjoyed themselves the rest of the evening.

Two scenes particularly struck me. The first, a very short one without words. Two girls, strangers, on their iPods run into each other on the subway and slowly realize they’re both listening to Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You,” (which happens to be my roommate’s and my theme song). There’s a whole surreal dance off before one of the two needs to get off at her stop. Before the lights go out on the scene, a smile of satisfaction as the remaining rider goes back to listening.

The second scene, which I found to be one of the best of the show, was two women randomly meeting at a coffee shop, discussing modern “literature” (Twilight Series, Shades of Grey, and all that other crap porn writing that’s being published these days). It tied in the theme as coffee as social motivator for me. I remember back when I was in college (and even late high school), when with my friends or by myself solo, I’d hang out at Cafe Wyrd in Uptown. Dates, homework, journalling, breakups, cruising, cheap friend night out when we couldn’t afford to drink, so much of my life spent there. And truly in the 90s, the coffee shop, wherever I went in the country, was the social hub that Facebook destroyed.

Saturday night, after a lovely Oktoberfest meal at Gasthof with the Niemans, I waded through the beginnings of the 2012 Zombie Pub Crawl to Mixed Blood Theatre. This was second Theoroi event of the season and we met with the director, Jack Reuler, before the performance to learn about the show and about Mixed Blood’s philosophy.

First of all, what a great company. It had been ages since I last experienced Mixed Blood. But their way of doing things has certainly evolved appropriately with the changing face of the arts and with the changing demographic of the neighborhood in which they exist. The idea of Radical Hospitality, where they erase any and all deterrents for people to attend their shows, is truly revolutionary. This is something I wish we could do at the Opera, frankly…or at any of the big budget arts organizations in town. It would certainly fill our seats and get people in them who a) appreciate the artform, but cannot afford regular ticket prices or b) have not experienced opera or classical music before. Long have I believed that getting a person’s butt in the seat for an opera performance, nine times out of ten, they’ll return. It’s getting past the perceived barriers of language of the opera, high-brow nature of the content and cost of ticket that prevents people from experiencing our artform.

Next to Normal is a rock musical with lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt. It is a story about a mother who struggles with bipolar disorder and explores the effect of her illness on her family. The musical also explores many other issues: drug abuse and addiction, suicide, grief and abuse of power in the world of psychiatry. In a world that does not deal well with issues of mental illness, what a powerful and daring story to set to the musical stage.

Because I was one of the last people into the theatre (damn iPhones and their horrible batteries, I was trying to charge it up a bit before wandering out into the night full of zombies after the show), I ended up sitting in one of the “Tweet Seats”. A program I’ve long wanted to launch at Minnesota Opera, a back row of seats or a secluded seating area is designated for people who wish to remain on their mobile devices, tweeting their experience out throughout the show. Though I’ve managed to kick off a small group of tweeters at my Social Media Nights, I keep learning from other companies whose Twitter communications plan is much more developed than my own (Mixed Blood, Wits, etc.). Following are my tweets to get a flavor of how it all went down:

Hey @TheoroiProject peeps…excited to hang out tonight for#nexttonormal @mixed_blood tonight! Beware flesh eating zombies

With @theoroiproject @mixed_blood for #nexttonormal pre-show chat w/ensemble vocalizing loudly downstairs…http://instagr.am/p/QvcZkOtXqF/ 

At #Nxt2NormMBT with @theoroiproject…curtain up http://instagr.am/p/QvipsLNXhQ/

“You can’t call me a twat” #Nxt2NormMBT @mixed_blood

“Mozart was crazy” yup ah, but the power of music #Nxt2NormMBT@mixed_blood

“I don’t feel anything” anyone who’s been on anti-depressants knows this story #Nxt2NormMBT @mixed_blood

Interesting theatre trick…pot (for medical use in this case, to treat ADD) is substituted with oregano, which smells relatively authentic

Was distracted momentarily by the backdrop, reminiscent of Georges Braque #Nxt2NormMBT @mixed_blood @TheoroiProject

.@tessalr was right…a little too close to home (like Rent for the 2000s, actually) #Nxt2NormMBT @mixed_blood @TheoroiProject

Is this Freudian theory at work? Son as the Id, perhaps? This story is a bit Wagnerian. #Nxt2NormMBT @mixed_blood @TheoroiProject

Crap, band will eat us “@mixed_blood: Because, they work their nursing shifts @ UM Med Ctr after this…JK.They’re “in costume” for later”

HOT“@mixed_blood: You should see Ben Kelly & Dan Horvath at their other gig, the Mpls band Sexy Delicious. SO FUN! @sexydmusic#Nxt2NormMBT”

After tilted waltz lullaby, (SPOILER) suicide attempt…being from opera not surprising but sad it feels only option to some#Nxt2NormMBT

@mixed_blood PR/Communications Mgr at MN Opera…I’m taking copious mental notes of your amazing social media!

From my cultural experience, am wary of electroshock therapy…they used to “erase the gay” with this shit #Nxt2NormMBT

Retweeted by Daniel Zillmann Diana doesn’t recognize her house or family#thingsaregettingcraycray #tweetingmnoperastyle #nxt2normmbt@artyculturevore

Movie music…can’t figure out from what…represent the fading voice of Di’s dead son like a Wagnerian leitmotif (2for2 now)#Nxt2NormMBT

There is was again…and now the tilted music box theme…two themes for mother and son. Deep and haunting #Nxt2NormMBT

@mixed_blood everything is cinema…including symphony and opera (seeing Fantasia with @chicagosymphony in a month) it’s what moves people

Guessing this doesn’t end well. #Nxt2NormMBT What is the other way? Beyond therapy and drugs?

“Crazy is perfect and fucked up is perfect…” Discuss.#Nxt2NormMBT

Retweeted by Daniel Zillmann Audience member: life isn’t always clean, & families don’t always stay together. Favorite line ‘loving means loss, but we do it anyways’

FAMOUS! “@TheoroiProject: Really great meeting & talking to Artistic Director, Jack Reuler before the performance. http://twitpic.com/b3yybg ”

I’m not going to do much critiquing because I think it’s an entirely worthwhile performance to attend. It runs through November 11. The message is strong and well delivered, the acting is sound. Aditi Kapil as the Mother is convincing as a victim of bipolarism. And the standout was her Daughter, Brittany Bradford, who is the greatest victim of her mother’s illness. Her character is plagued by alcohol and substance abuse as a coping mechanism, perfectionism, distrust in relationships and so many other things in her young life. And she could sing.

Prepare for a RANT. I’m a liar. I said I wasn’t going to critique. But I am. Now, I realize that musical theatre singing is a completely different beast than the classical world in which I inhabit. First of all, there isn’t hardly a musical theatre singer who can survive without a microphone (I believe this to be a failure of good vocal training and the emergence of amplified instrumentation). Where singers of musical theatre may put more emphasis on their theatricality on stage, most opera singers put their money literally where their mouth is and stage technique takes a back seat. But I feel that through the years of enjoying both sides (yes, I’m a gay who loves a good musical), I’ve developed a taste for good musical theatre singing. And this was, as I’ve often said to my best friend Elizabeth, “not my favorite.” Their voices sounded tired, frankly. And even in their warmups, which I could hear through the floor during our pre-concert discussion, gave me an indication that it wouldn’t be the best musical experience of my year. I wasn’t even listening for color or quality of voice in this situation. I was listening for basic things like pitch, range, rhythm. And I was distracted several times by the story, during parts that I’m sure were intended to be highly emotional, because they were not making it happen musically. AND SCENE. I said my peace.

Now forget what I said and go to this amazing work of musical theatre!

By now, I’m probably loosing my readers as I approach 2000 words! My strong point has never been brevity, my dears.

Sunday afternoon, I attended the first of two Twin Cities Film Fest screenings of my week (the second I’ll reflect on later this weekend). Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut in Quartet was quite a first flight. Though it had several faults of story line (some aspects of it were just never well developed…the relationship of ALL four people in the “Quartet” for one), it was a wonderful journey into old age and brought up, for me, many questions about dignity of our elders. For instance, when I am put into a retirement home, how will my caregivers honor and respect my own personal history. I’m not saying that I’m famous in the opera world or ever will be, but I have definitely done amazing things with my life this far.

Through my mind, I kept wondering about the great singers of yesteryear. Where are they now? Do the people who care for one of the greatest mezzo-sopranos of our time, Dame Janet Baker (now 79), understand how important she was to so many people? Did the nurses who witnessed Joan Sutherland‘s last breath a few years ago at 83 understand why she was given the name “La Stupenda”?

The Twin Cities Film Fest was an amazing experience, and not only because Minnesota Opera sponsored this particular screening. The experience they created was incredible and, again, I’m taking notes for the experience we create for our audience front of house at Doubt in January.

I finished the day with This Was Made for Women’s Bodies, the dance performance of my friend Susan Leppke’s troupe at Intermedia Arts. Another amazing small theatre and performance art institution, I highly recommend keeping an eye on IA’s schedule. They tend to do a lot of multicultural and community-based art.

I’ll admit, dance has always been my weakest artform…in studio, in history, in theory, in critique and in ranking amongst other artforms. But I do find myself drawn to the more modern dance forms (perhaps ballroom and ballet were too rigid for me in studio classes at St. Olaf). And in this performance, even late on a Sunday night, I found myself incredibly engaged (along with the great audience around me). A mix of hip hop, jazz, classical, modern, street and other forms, the performance also featured spoken word and interviews. The subject matter was feminist in nature, but I think really spoke to the body issues African American women face.

In discussions with people after the performance (friends who had attended earlier in the weekend…I missed the conversation afterwards because I was so exhausted), it was brought up that one of them would have liked to have seen men involved, in order to give the masculine perspective. I responded that I thought that would have been offensive. And further explained that I had a hard time with the single Caucasian woman in the cast…definitely not because of her technique, but because what she danced and her very presence as a white woman really didn’t add anything to the story that was being told. Her solo scenes provided the comic relief and the thriller moments of the show. In mind mind I told myself, “of course the white girl gets to dance to Schubert and do the strange modern dance with the creepy spider projection.”

Moral of the weekend? Five shows in three days is wonderful, but I think I needed the break I’m getting today…catching up on my blogging in bed until 1:30pm, assembling a Halloween costume with my roommate, dining out with one of my besties and a “dark” night at the theatre.