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Mid-January, Rain - January 13, 2012
Almost Midwinter - December 14, 2011
Saturday, Noonish, Sunny - November 05, 2011
October, White - October 31, 2011
October, 2011 - October 04, 2011


October 26, 2008

11:47 a.m.

Fine Day for a Hike

It's an absolutely gorgeous Fall day here in Eastern Connecticut. Last night I drove home endlessly through slanted rain and gusty wind. It was the kind of rain that takes down a lot of leaves. It seemed to take forever; I didn't leave Norwood until midnight and oh, the drive was so long. Already I've trained myself to be unused to driving.

Fiddler was actually great. The lead was a little too young and there were many spots where it was clear he'd been directed to do certain movements in his songs, rather than the movements rising up from his motivations, but his voice was great and he was very, very charming as Tevye. It's one of the best written librettos I've seen -- I forgot about that. I first saw Fiddler on the Roof when I was about 10 years old. We were living in Germany then and we took a weekend trip to London for an infusion of culture. I remember seeing three shows that trip, and Fiddler must have been new at that time. Zero Mostel created a definitive version of Tevye and that's the one we saw. Of course I couldn't understand many of the subtleties of the show at ten years old, but the sounds of it, his voice, the songs, did remain with me somewhat. Many years later I played Tzeitel and Fruma Sara in a regional production.

Anyway this one was performed with much gusto by the ensemble. The choreography was superb and I cried through most of the musical numbers! Hodel had some trouble with accent, though; she came across with a very lovely Irish accent, for some reason.

Oh, the other plays we saw in London were Promises, Promises, and Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap with none other than David McCallum, who played the Russian spy Ilya Kuryaken in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. I had such an enormous crush on him!

********

Dar and I had dinner at a Lebanese place, which was excellent. I was able to eat something even though my stomach had been odd most of the day. I gave him his little gifties from England. After dinner he went into the theatre and I had an hour to kill, so I walked around a bit and sat in a coffee shop, not drinking much of the latte I'd ordered.

Sitting in my theatre seat a few minutes before the house lights went down, I closed my eyes and tried to listen to the audience noise without thinking about it, without applying words. I heard the discernable voices near me and then the more distant roar of the big auditorium. I tried to let it wash into my consciousness without analyzing it. Later, at intermission, I tried to distinguish soprano overtones, midtones, and bass tones. Then hear everything together. What does it sound like? When all these hundreds of little parts meld together and lose their individuality, yet each remains integral to the whole?

I try to become more transparent.

After the show there was waiting in the lobby for Dar to get out of his costume and spirit-gummed beard. Then he had to talk to some adoring fans, and as he was giving a ride home to the young man who played his son, we invited him along for a coffee before parting ways.

The coffee shop I'd been to was closed, so we went to Dunkin' Donuts which was supposed to be open, but the teenagers running it had already dumped everything and locked the doors by 11:30, thinking there would be no more customers. We got them to open up anyway and they were able to make Dar a tea, and Daniel a sandwich. I was happy to put nothing more into my stomach.

Again, a great visit though the actual visiting time was too short. We were like two little kids who hadn't seen each other since last summer vacation, clinging to each other and rubbing each other's backs and giggling.

********

It's a fine day and I must go hiking. There is no excuse. A fly crawls around on the inside of my kitchen window, and two ladybugs crawl on the outside. Everyone is pleased that the storm is over.


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