Sunday, July 27, 2008

Full to Overflowing

As I watch the little gully that runs beside my house fill to a raging torrent thanks to this evening’s storm, I’m reflecting on how much entertainment I’ve stuffed myself with this weekend. Though I didn’t see him there, I joined Granville Scott (star of CAT’s “Harvey”) in watching the Lehigh Iron Pigs fall to “our” Richmond Braves on Saturday night. That was after an afternoon basketball game (my talented daughter was high scorer, though her team lost) and before sampling both a bad bad movie (“Domino”) and a good bad movie (“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”). Then today I followed Bruce Miller’s advice and brought all of the kids to see “Guys and Dolls,” which in some ways is a whole weekend’s worth of entertainment all by itself.

What’s fun about seeing a show like G&D a second time is to take in how its matured, how actors have gotten more comfortable with their characters (hopefully not to the point of boredom), and to catch things that went by too fast the first time. I laughed out loud during the final mission scene when Sky Masterson refers to the gamblers who have assembled, saying, “Sorry we didn’t have a chance to clean them up,” and amidst the hubbub that erupts Jason Marks as Nicely-Nicely Johnson said, “Hey, I flossed!” The great “Sue Me” duet between Adelaide and Nathan (Rachel Abrams and Scott Wichmann) seemed even funnier and more heart-felt the second time around. And the understated but affecting performance of Joel Grow as Arvide Abernathy – easy to overlook amidst everything else to take in on opening night – shone through more clearly.

A couple of other notes from the weekend:

- the almost criminally handsome and very personable Phillip Brown attended the same matinee of G&D as I did and set all of the T-line women’s hearts a-throbbing. If Richmond Shakespeare is selling advance tickets for next summer’s HV, I know at least three people interested.

- the Wichmann / Persinger pursuit of Sports Radio victory continues and no one seems to know when the voting is set to stop. As of Sunday at 7pm, they were 1% behind! Know any teenagers with extra time on their hands? Get them to vote!

- I ran into Terry Menefee Gau’s friendly and talented husband, David, for the second time in two weekends, which reminded me that I still haven’t weighed in with more in-depth-ish comments about “Streetcar” at Sycamore Rouge. That’ll have to wait until tomorrow. But until then, you can look over Susan Haubenstock’s review in today’s T-D that avoids the profusion of accolades that I showered upon the production and yet, is still very positive.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dave, not quite overflowing? I just finished lighting Virginia Shakespeare Festival's season in Williamsburg. The last show, COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA (abriged) is still running this week- and is very much fun! Billsburg is only a hop, skip and a jump away...

best,
g.
_____________________
gregg hillmar
scenic & lighting design
portfolio & life as we know it:
http://www.hillmardesign.com

"Do, or do not. There is no 'try.'"
Jedi Master Yoda

Rick St. Peter said...

Some random thoughts on a boring Monday:

1. I would have to rate Olivier's Richard III ahead of McKellen's Richard III on any "Best of" list...

2. I love all the activity happening in Richmond, we had auditions last night for Constant Star to open our season but we are still 7 weeks away...

3. Joss Whedon should rule the world and I have a certifiable man crush on Doogie after seeing Dr. Horrible....

4. At the same time, I'm in love with the Steingold sisters, their blog is hilarious!

5. I hope the Guys and Dolls boys win their competition but if they don't, I'm ok with that too cuz Scott Wichmann's stupid teams have won enough over the last few years, especially the ones who cheat!!

6. I'm going to be in VA the rest of this week, Charlottesville, if anyone is around that way, holler at me...

Peace
Rick

Anonymous said...

Hiya,

I agree. Phillip Brown is one dreamy boy. However, an English accent and a sexy face does not a good actor make. One of the worst performances I've seen on that stage, by far...

Anonymous said...

How nice to see such open appreciation of Terry Gau on the blog here. She was marvelous in "Streetcar," just as she was in "Volume of Smoke," Richmond Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors," and many other local productions. (And how could we forget her smoldering performance in RS's "Julius Caesar?") She also has also given several superb performances with the Palomino group in Williamsburg - most notably the one-woman show, "An Evening with Gertude Lawrence." A class act and a lovely lady...one of our area's underrated best!

Her husband, Dave, is also a gifted performer and artist, a very funny guy!

Much talent to spare in the Gau household for sure!

Andrew Hamm said...

Trust me, I for one will never forget Terry Gau's smoldering performance in Julius Caesar.

Yes, Joss Whedon should rule the world. And Firefly should still be running. With two or three spin-offs.

I love that one of my all-time favorite guilty pleasures movies, Strange Brew, is #19 on Rotten Tomatoes' top Shakespearean movies list.

Angelika HausFrauSki said...

I love Terry, and I love Joss Whedon. They both hold the rank of "awesome" in my echelon of humanity.

Anonymous said...

Dave, you saw your second performance of Guys & Dolls on the wrong day!!! You should have waited for Saturday night Aug. 9th. I hear there will be a replacement of Harry the Horse for that performance. Some no name, non-musical actor, Tony something...I think he's married to that hottie Erin Thomas. Thank god Harry has no solos, right?

Haha,
TF