The fabulous stage for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Brilliant blocking and direction.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/ts-eliot-sees-cats-for-the-first-time It is awful.

Oftentimes in life, there are those events that are so grand-seeming that you assume they’re for someone else. I’d slot things like “Meeting Paul McCartney” or “Getting a skybox seat at the Superbowl” in this category. I’d almost relegated seeing “Hamilton” to the same category; however, late on Friday night, my friend at work asked if there were any takers for a pair of tickets his sister couldn’t use and I pounced! We could hardly believe our luck and had to check our e-tickets several times to confirm that we really had them and that we really were going to see what Michelle Obama called: “…the best piece of art in any form that I have ever seen in my life.

Last week I celebrated a birthday in high style.

After a leisurely morning where I got to spend time in the beautiful late summer day with my favorite four-legged buddy, I returned to a lovely stack of birthday presents. Lauren got me:

• a new sleeve for my laptop
• some awesome Fox racing biking shorts
• a SUPER-AWESOME tote bag with an Olivetti Valentine typewriter on it

There are only two musicals that I have ever loved: Les Miserables and Cabaret.

The Les Misèrables is a young man’s musical: it is a poem of hot blood, energy, and passion. It’s the belief of young men (and old fools) that their judgement is unerringly correct and that the nobility of their sentiments insulates them from criticism of what their imagined worlds would cost. It’s a warning to beware those hot-blooded young artistic men so very certain that the poetry, passion, music in their hearts ought be made into the culture of all - by force if necessary.

The Cabaret is something about being a true human in the world: it’s something about patience, tolerance, regret, sorrow, error and realizing that we are defined by our folly. It’s about having pity and empathy and realizing you’ve broken the Ming urn of civilization and might not live long enough to see its return. It is a poem of tender humility and regret.¹

Lauren and I were exceedingly lucky to catch the most recent revival after its core star swap out: Adam “Glambert” Lambert for Eddie Remayne and Auli’i Cravahlo for Gayle Rankin. The production was top notch and I have nothing but glowing praise for Lambert and his portrayal of that horn-dog imp, the Emcee.