So I decided to go spend Yom Kippur with the parents. Yes, I'm ostensibly Jewish, although I haven't done anything remotely religous (aside from at funerals) in the last 10 or so years. But something about losing my last remaining grandparent made me decide that I need to spend more time, when I can, being close to my parents, and since this is important to them, I figure I'll tag along. I have reserved the right to excuse myself to the hall should the whole religious thing be too much for me.
Speaking of things that are just too much for me, I saw "The Oldest Profession" last night at the Signature Theatre. Strange play. Real strange to see women who are probably older than my grandmother was tramping it up on stage. Katherine Helmond, I mean you! When I worked at Williamstown in the early 90's, we thought she was old and odd, and now it's 11 years later and, well, she's older... and so when she's in a really revealing costume, well, it's just creepy. She did a good job with the role, though, I think... I'm still not sure what to make of the play. What I can tell you is that Mary Louise Burke and Priscilla Lopez are wonderful actresses. I kept wanting Miss Lopez to burst out into some big ole Fosse number. I think she'd be a better Charity than Christina Applegate, regardless of the age difference.
The play is by Paula Vogel, and it's about a bunch of aging whores in 1984. The political jokes still ring true, the whore jokes are creepy (I mean, I gues I know that women that old have sex, but I guess I didn't want to know about it which means I guess I went to the wrong play?), and there's something amazingly wrong about watching Katherine Helmond, aka Jessica, aka Mona, call Priscilla Lopez a bitch... or to see her (KH, not PL), with a switchblade... Or to hear any of these women, all of whom are old enough to be grandmothers, speaking words that would make a politically correct sailor blush a shade of beet red. I'm intrigued to see what the reviewers will make of it.
At least I know the next play that they're doing, and I know it's poignant and beautiful. ("The Baltimore Waltz")
Tonight was my first evening for the season at the Metropolitan Opera House. Ben Heppner, all 30000 pounds of him, sang Verdi's Otello, and Barbara Frittoli was a lovely Desdemona. The child who sat next to me for the first half, though, needed to have been better behaved. Luckily, his father asked the kid if he wanted to stay for the second half. The kid wisely went home. And not a single cellphone went off! Thank God for that. Now, if we can just get God to give us a hand with this election and get Bozo The Clown back to that village in Texas which has been missing its idiot for the last four years...
Posted by Jon at September 23, 2004 11:30 PM | TrackBackI know this comment isn't about today's post, but here goes.
Reading back through your blog, I noticed that you have an interested in the House of Tudor. Since I've read your other blog, and because I have no idea how long you've been knitting, or whether you already know about this book, I'm recommending Alice Starmore's book "Tudor Roses". It's about much more than Henry VIII (or Hank 8, as we say on Knitting Beyond the Hebrides). Besides the wonderful photos of some of the House of Tudor castles, there are photos in some of the gardens, and of course the wonderful designs inspired by the main cast of characters.
Posted by: Sweet Caroline at September 24, 2004 12:18 PMtony musta taught her how to use a switchblade.
did she say "bitchillcutchu"?
Posted by: Dennis at September 25, 2004 10:17 PM