I missed it

Specifically, I missed the "Hamilton" performance at Dogwood Dell this past weekend. Everything I heard about the event was positive, effusive, glowing with effervescent praise. The cast of performers was top-notch and I've been a fan of Mr. Trinh since his early days with the Mills Family Band. Happening just a stone's throw from the first local staging Lin-Manuel Miranda's first monster triumph, "In The Heights," I'm sure the evening was epic.

And I was out of town. Based on what people have said, the Dogwood Dell performance was not unlike the concert production of "Ragtime" that I was lucky enough to see many years ago. It seems I missed the latest possibility for that kind of transformative experience. Damn.

But the potential silver lining for me is that seeing the glowing Facebook posts about "Hamilton" gave me the same kind of antsy feeling that finally pushed me to start a blog more than 11 years ago. Even when I wasn't seeing theater then, I was thinking about it and I wanted to talk about it. This blog started many online conversations, many of which were then continued IRL (as the kids text). The whole experience deepened my appreciation of the people involved in the Richmond arts scene, even when I wasn't seeing every production or performance.

I have missed writing these random missives about local theater. I'm not a critic anymore; I hung up my poison pen last December. But I still have opinions and I still occasionally see a show here and there. In fact, I'm planning on stepping up the theater viewing again as the summer heats up. There's just too much good stuff going on to stay away.

So if you liked or were vaguely entertained or maybe even modestly enlightened by some of the stuff I posted here oh so many years ago, tune back in and I'll try to provide a forum filled with better-than-mediocre conversation about live theater, art, culture, and maybe some gossip about stars of the local scene. Sure, since I suspended activity on the blog 4 years ago a bunch of other forums have sprung up for online chatter. But I'm hoping there's still some value in a good old fashioned blog. Please feel free to tell me if you disagree.