Pieces and Parts

I’m a little melancholy these days so I apologize in advance for any world-weariness that might seep onto these virtual pages. Memorial Day hit particularly close to my late dad’s birthday this year and I also was recently reminded of a co-worker who died 6 years ago this coming Friday. One of this co-worker’s verbal tics was to include the phrase “pieces and parts” into almost every description of a project. She was kind of a legend around the Sauer’s plant, having worked there some 30-odd years. May all of those we remembered this past weekend rest in peace.

Newspaper and magazine articles are usually referred to as “pieces,” and one of mine was in this past week’s Style. It’s a preview about “Live Art,” a somewhat generic name for what is a truly transformational project. I’m glad that Style devoted a full page to the piece but I’m also a little disappointed. They didn’t tease the article on the front cover and the picture that ran with the piece doesn’t really capture the expanse and vitality of the effort. The picture is also just a bit dark which is unfortunate for a project that is so full of light. Still, I’m glad the piece ran and I don’t know if any picture could really have given a sense of what magic will unfold this Sunday evening. I have been very excited to see several of the other local media outlets have been talking up the big concert. It should be a very cool evening.

The Style website also features a review of "The Musical of Musicals" that didn't fit in print and a preview of the Tony awards that seems to have been written by the former Richmond Ballet managing director, Keith Martin. Style loves us theater goers, really it does! (And since sarcasm and the lack of it don't always come across in print, I'm NOT being sarcastic. The Style editors really are pretty great about squeezing theater coverage into their ever-decreasing pages.)

Part 2 of the “Spring Awakening” rehearsal video diary was posted yesterday. In it, parts of a couple of songs from the show are heard. There is also plenty of energetic and goofy footage of the cast frolicking and lip-syncing. What comes across most clearly is that these are people having a great time working together. If even a small slice of that energy comes across on stage, this is going to be a hell of a show.

“Catfish Moon” and “The Musical of Musicals” close this weekend – you can see them both and still go to “Live Art” on Sunday! “Dessa Rose” was scheduled to close but was extended for another week. Clearly this show has found its audience, always a good indicator of the power of strong work of mouth.

And in case news of this slipped past in the midst of the other media clutter, RTP and the Firehouse are collaborating on a reading of “8,” the show about California’s Prop 8 legal battle that was famously read by a slew of A-list celebs in LA earlier this spring (a great series of clips from the Broadway reading are posted on the Firehouse site). The Richmond A-list has stepped up to fill the parts in the show, including Gordon Bass, David Bridgewater, Katie McCall, Melissa Johnston Price, Adrian Rieder, Irene Ziegler and more. Leave a space on your social calendar for this one, set to run June 13 and 14.