Stephen Sondheim, who was still actively working on new projects at age 91, is dead.
(I know he died a few days ago, he's still dead now)
"Are you working on something new?"
"No."
"That isn't like you, George."
Edited to add: the intersection between Sondheim and Seurat is a musical called Sunday in The Park with George.
Today is George Seurat's 162nd birthday, and Google has doodled him.If you google "Color and Light Sunday" you get the good version. At least I do. If your algorithm doesn't deliver Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, here you go ...
Rabbit and I were talking about versions of musicals and how she can appreciate > 1 version of a show whereas I have traditionally listened to the one version I liked and found all others unacceptable. That has changed for me over the years in many cases. Here are some examples:
Sweeney Todd - Len Cariou (Original Soundtrack) and George Hearn (original filmed stage version) are both great Sweeneys. Ken Jennings (OST) and NPH (revival) are both great Tobys. Also, I enjoyed the casts of Sweeney in two local productions I saw. So I am expanding my horizons. Johnny Depp's attempt at Sweeney - still unacceptable.
Gypsy - my favorite Mama Rose is Bernadette Peters, but I also like classic Ethel Merman and the two local Mama Roses I saw.
Jesus Christ Superstar - Murray Head (Concept Album) is still my favorite Judas (I know, I know ...) but I like Carl Anderson (Original Movie Cast)'s performance. Ted Neely (OMC) as Jesus can go sing country somewhere else, Ian "Deep Purple" Gillan (CA) is my Jesus! Though I have seen local performances with good Judases and Jesuseseses ... I don't know where to stop, it's like banana ...
There are more, but is already TL:DR ...
So, ok, long list of progress with the open-mindedness, yeah?
But let's get back to my complete LACK of progress, the hill on which I am sure I shall die.
The Mandy version is always the best version, with one and only one known exception.
No, the exception is NOT Evita. Mandy singing "High Flying, Adored" is the reason I am obsessed with musicals. Eight year old me understood what it was like to hear the voice of an angel coming from my friend's parents' record player ...
The exception is the 1990 studio cast version of Man of La Mancha. It's fine but not great. Mandy's performance is excellent and he is a strong contender for my "favorite Sancho Panza", but Placido Domingo just doesn't deliver Quixote as well as Brian Stokes Mitchell. You can survive with an okay Sancho or a so-so Aldonza, but a Quixote who doesn't knock it out of the park deflates Man of La Mancha like it was poked by the lance of the Knight of Mirrors.
Right, where was I? Happy Birthday Georges Seurat!
The Mandy version of Sunday in The Park With George is the best version, but it's not exclusively because of Mandy. Bernadette Peters also makes it great - she glows like a Seurat painting and each of them individually and the two of them together make this musical, which, admittedly, has some serious flaws in its plot/construction ... iconic.
"There are only two worthwhile things to leave behind when we depart this world of ours: Children and Art." - James Lapine, book, Sunday in the Park with George
I included the clip above. Just listen ...
We'll miss you, Mr. Sondheim. So much.
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Recommended listening if you want to hear some Sondheim ...
Sweeney Todd, OBC
https://open.spotify.com/album/2q6InM859RCsSQOjHWNHk2?si=2kmz22NVSvmg1C712-us9Q
The great culling
1/6 '22
When I can't even summon the commitment to thank someone who has been a friend for years and says "I see you" in response to a dithering update that necessarily lacks critical detail* I know I need something I'm not getting regular access to.
*I don't think I'm being actively stalked any more but stuff I learn about while within these concrete walls reminds me that people who may wish me harm are never far from being able to do so.
For me, this space is for staying in touch with people I already know, hopefully getting to know them better, and meeting new people I'd like to know better too. I was pretending that other outlets were providing the same benefit. In small ways, they have.
But in general, the rest of "social media" is one long, loud paid advertisement—in fact paid for with my valuable time/scrolling/clicks. I've grown tired of shouting over the noise just to say hi to folks; my time is more valuable to me than that. I've had a better time chatting with the pickle ball players who come to the tennis courts next door, even in the dead of winter. (It's quite a sight, people dashing back and forth on the shoveled courts in full winter gear; so cheerful and somehow hopeful as well, humans playing together despite the elements.)
Anyway, I ramble. I always look forward to your posts and enjoy reading them, however vague you need to make them for safety's sake.
I'm starting a new work assignment this month and the shift in social norms (more social loafing before getting down to meeting business, apparently email more strictly business, lots of immediate feedback) is a little jarring. Which it shouldn't be, but I get so little practice, as do we all.
I think after the plague, if there is an after, I will miss the fellow who lives in the same building as the local welfare offices spewing random comments about poop and farts whenever he sees someone on the street wearing a mask.
I culled my Twitter to people I know and People to whom I can remember what my professional relationship is a couple years ago but it’s time for another go.
I've thought from time to time about the question of /why/ I put the stuff on waider.ie; long ago, I started it because I was reading Alan Cox's (Big Linux Nerd) version of the same thing, and some days it was "wrote arcane kernel code" and other days it was "went to get icecream" and I think the whimsy of it struck a chord with me. I also harbour the occasional notion that something I write - of a nerdy nature, typically - might be of use to someone facing the same problem I've just solved. At this point, a lot of it is just a diary, but eviscerated of overly personal detail. I do periodically go back looking for something from an old entry and usually wind up reading through The Partial Story of My Life Circa 2006 and the like, which is often fun. But I can't say I've ever had a specific audience in mind, and I'd be hard pushed to explain exactly why I write about the stuff I write about. I mean, really, who cares that I just finished installing a new dishwasher, exactly?
Hmm. This comment is at this point long enough to be an entry on this site... sorry. Got carried away :-) As I said before, I love what you write here, and the sheer joy of your family life (with all the attendant bumps in the road) always shines through.
And good on ya for dumping Twitter. I similarly dumped Facebook and it has been so, so, so good for my mental health.
I've been away from OPW but am always glad for our interactions, so your content here is very much appreciated, love.
I hardly ever post here myself...not because I spend so much more time on Twitter (tho somehow I have over 1160 followers now {shock emoji}) or FB (which numerous friends of mine use as their sole mode of lengthy communication with numerous other friends, and asking them to communicate in other ways is Not Going To Happen). I stopped updating my blog a couple of years ago for lack of anything non-repetitive to say there, though I'm going to take a stab at it again this year. Perhaps if I do I'll cross-post here once in a while.
Throw me a bone, baby.