A weekend of theatre

Cynthia Nixon and Josh Stamberg, in Distracted.

I'm "home" in Philadelphia for spring break. Philadelphia means nothing to me. Its close proximity to New York City does. Thus, I spent the entire weekend there seeing shows. Three shows in two days.

First up was Roundabout's Distracted at the Laura Pels, starring Cynthia Nixon. I love the Laura Pels Theatre. So many good times there, seeing the great Blythe Danner in Suddenly Last Summer (twice!), and The Marriage of Bette and Boo last summer. I wasn't sure what to think of Distracted, because I had intentionally not checked out any reviews. I was stunned by it. It was fabulous. The set...cannot be described without pictures. I've never seen anything like it. Unbelievably high tech, and way too cool. Cynthia Nixon, as expected, was wonderful - and very unlike anything I'd seen her in. The entire cast was great, and the play was both thoughtful and funny. I highly recommend it.

Saturday night was 33 Variations, starring Jane Fonda, Colin Hanks, and Samantha Mathis. Well. I don't think I need to tell you about the brilliance that is Jane Fonda. That goes without saying. She was outstanding, as were Colin Hanks and Samantha Mathis. The set and the direction of the play - fantastic. Almost awe-inspiring. The play itself, I thought, was lacking however. I found my attention veering off now and then, which is rare for me in the theatre, and it seemed almost contrived in its attempt to align the life of Jane Fonda's character with Beethoven himself. The writing just seemed...lazy to me, reliant on conventions. That said, that's no excuse to miss this play. You don't miss Jane Fonda. You just don't.

Sunday, we took in a matinee of Exit the King, which officially opens later this week. The show starred Oscar winners Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon (both of whom I have adored for years and years), as well as Lauren Ambrose (from one of my favorite shows, Six Feet Under) and the always hilarious Andrea Martin. With a cast like this, I was convinced the show couldn't fail. But the play is just one giant question mark. From beginning to end, you have absolutely no idea what's going on, or what the point is. It's an absolute farce, but there's no substance there. And the ending, while somewhat riveting (thanks to the nuanced acting of the play's two formidable leads), comes out of left field and is altogether baffling. I admire the effort - and the performances are all absolutely winning (I had no idea Lauren Ambrose had a flair for the melodramatic and nonsensical - she's fantastic) - but the play itself, unless I missed something somewhere along the way, is rather pointless.

I have been obscenely blessed by the theatre gods the last couple weeks, and I have to be thankful for that. But I do have to say that the shows I've seen in Chicago recently really do eclipse what I've seen in New York of late. I wonder what that says. As I noted to my mother this weekend, I wish Broadway was in Chicago and Chicago was in California. Then life would truly be perfect.

in memoriam

RIP, Natasha Richardson.

You were loved, and you will be missed.

A political bloodbath

Last night, I had the enormous privilege of seeing Bill Maher and Ann Coulter claw each other's eyes out at the Chicago Theater. I shouldn't say that. They were relatively civil, considering.

The theater - huge, gorgeous, and legendary - was packed to the gills with Democrats and Republicans alike (mostly Democrats, given that this is newly victorious Chicagoland), all of them older than my roommate and me. We took pride in being the youngest folks there, because we were also possibly the most excited folks there. Alex and I are what you might call Bill Maher freaks. Real Time, Politically Incorrect, podcasts, opening night of Religilous. And, like probably all Democrats, we are likewise Ann Coulter haters. We were practically giddy sitting in that audience.

And what a fun audience it was. Screaming, clapping, booing, whistling. The speakers could hardly get a word in. Fortunately, Bill Maher and Ann Coulter are experts are getting words in. Throughout the evening, it was obvious that they respected each other. They even made a point of noting that they respect each other. But that didn't keep them from tearing each other a part. Which was a beautiful, beautiful thing.

I surprised myself by actually listening to Ann Coulter. Until she called the audience stupid. She said to Bill Maher, and I quote, "Look at you, you're just playing to a stupid audience." That was the moment she lost everyone. But she had lost me a few moments earlier when she went off on single mothers and how children of single mothers are by and large failures. As a child of a single mother, I just about ran up to the stage and tackled her.

Bill Maher, on the other hand, was brilliant and hilarious as always. Yes, I'm biased and yes, I'm okay with that. To my chagrin, he wasn't able to talk much about religion, just as Ann Coulter wasn't allowed to talk much about gay marriage. The topics centered mostly around the Obama Administration, which was admittedly mature if a little disappointing.

All in all, a fantastic night. I never thought I'd be in the presence of Ann Coulter in my lifetime, and especially not alongside Bill Maher, so this'll be a story for the grandchildren.

And now comes the weekend, which will consist of cleaning, sleeping, hair cuts, working on my screenplay for class, and Magnolia at the Goodman. Should be a good last weekend in Chi before spring break hits on the 20th.

People are meant to go through life two by two

Our Town at Lookingglass was last night. I was ushering, so I had the fantastic opportunity to see the cast warming up beforehand and doing some last minute rehearsing. David Schwimmer walked past me in a track suit. You know, the usual. I really love ushering. I love feeling like I'm a part of the whole theatre experience. Really, all I'm doing is stuffing playbills and ripping tickets, but it's kind of nice to feel like you have a little authority even if you really don't. And Lookingglass is so great to usher for, because it's such a cool set up, and so intimate.

Onto the show itself. I need first to talk about the set. Or lack thereof. There was nothing on the stage but a couple of chairs and two tables. No props. All the women wore the exact same outfit, the men did mostly. The actors essentially pantomined everything. They went through the motions of cooking breakfast, eating, drinking, all with only their hands. And here's the kicker - the entire set, the props, endless furniture, etc., were all hanging from the ceiling. Literally. There was a bathtub hanging above my head. It was unbelievable, and too cool. Here's a picture.

All of the actors were essentially the same age. You have David Schwimmer - who's got to be about forty by now - playing a 17-year-old, and so on and so forth. It was all very simple, very minimalist. And absolutely fantastic. You could see that this was lost on many people in audience. But the ones who got it seemed to really, really enjoy it.

I had never seen Our Town performed prior to this. But I remember the exact day when I read it. I was in Ocean City, Maryland with some friends - back when I was going to school in DC - and I read it on the beach. Because clearly, Thornton Wilder is appropriate beach reading. I fell in love with it then, a love that has only been strengthened after seeing it live. I can't recommend it enough.

This is such an excellent theatre month for me. Up next: a Bill Maher/Ann Coulter bloodbath at the Chicago Theater on Wednesday night.

California girls

This is what my fridge looks like at home. Home, as in not my apartment in Chicago but as in the place where my mother pays the bills in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. We have a magnet for every place we've ever been, and they all go right here, along with the occasional embarrassing photo of me and my cousins. I asked my mom to take these pictures the other day, because I've been thinking a lot about it. The places that I've been, and the places I want to go.

People shake their heads at me when I tell them I want to live in Los Angeles. "It's not all it's cracked up to be," they say. Well, no kidding. There isn't a place in the world that is. It's the same way with people who romanticize New York all out of proportion. I tell them, "Hey, it ain't so great." But we want what we want, for whatever reason.

I've been to Los Angeles once, last September. I said to hell with class, and met up with a few of my closest friends there, from all over the country. I flew in from Chicago, there was one in from Texas, three from Washington, D.C. We were there for not more than four days. And we were supertourists. We hit the Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, we took the WB studio tour, the obnoxious double-decker bus tour, everything. It was completely kitschy and we loved every minute of it.

I've never been happier. See, I'm an East Coast girl. I was born and raised in Boston, then moved to Philadelphia, then went to school in D.C. before settling on school in Chicago. The landscape in California blew me away. We drove from Santa Monica through Malibu and I was just lost for words. We had dinner one night in Venice Beach, which was...an experience to be sure.

I have been all over the world. Well, okay, that's a lie. I've been all over Europe and the Caribbean sea. I've been to Prague, I've been to Budabest, I've been to Vienna. Rome, London, Paris, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Athens. (My mom is obsessed with travel, it's always been our one extravagance.) But I had never been to the West Coast before. And I was so convinced that I'd never seen anyplace more beautiful in my life. I still believe that.

I've done my time as an East Coast girl. I can deal with the smog. I want to be a West Coast girl now.

My Sophie's Choice

On Wednesday afternoon, I took a surprisingly interesting walk. Lately, I've been taking walks either down State St. or Dearborn towards the canal, despite freezing cold that defies imagination, to clear my head. On this particular afternoon, I was on State, about three or four blocks from my apartment and I was stopped by a representative from Environment Illinois. I hadn't really been paying attention, I had my iPod on - probably listening to some embarrassing '80s tripe as I tend to do while walking - and stopped without thinking. When she told me which organization she was from, we had a nice, long talk about their goals and strategies. She was really and truly surprised that I didn't walk away, and moreso that I was willing to have a serious and engaging conversation about the issues - and that I was comparatively well-educated on them. And I couldn't help but think how sad it was that she had to be surprised about something like this. It says some terrible things about our nation.

In any case, the problem with this is that they want money. Not that I fault them for this - money really is the only thing that actually gets things done - but if you're haunting streets in the South Loop of Chicago hoping for financial supporters, you're in the wrong place. You're only going to hit college student after college student and we are dirt poor. It bummed me out quite a bit, because I wanted so badly to help, but I just can't afford $15 a month. I can't say that it's, to quote the old cliche, hard to find good help these days, but rather hard to help period these days.

After our somewhat lengthy encounter, I ran into Kristen Wiig from Saturday Night Live. So. It was a helluva walk. Anyhow, I got back to my apartment about an hour later and I started to feel guilty. Granted, I have had a lot on my mind this week - far more than I'm used to ever having - but the guilt was still there. I thought, "Well, I can spend money I don't have on a seemingly bottomless pit of theatre tickets but I can't afford $15 a month for the environment? Really, Self?"

So then I started to wonder: what's more important? My rabid, almost chemical need to see every single play that comes through Chicago, or...saving the planet? An age-old question, I'm sure. The answer should be pretty clear and, I guess, it is. I'm just ignoring it.

...In other news, I'm seeing Our Town at Lookingglass on Friday! Actually, I'm ushering for it, which in some ways is even better. You don't get the relaxing, recreational theatre experience, but you get to be a part of it, and see the show for free! And usually all of the volunteer ushers at Lookingglass are upwards of sixty and those kids are the best. I'm rambling now. Ta.

Meaningless ramblings

I can't sleep. Normally this would be of little consequence to me, but I have therapy early in the morning. And I have a headache plaguing me somethin' fierce. So what do I do? Blogville, USA.

I haven't been posting as frequently as I used to. This may be either due to the fact that I have nothing intelligent to say, or the fact that I'm busy. But who am I kidding? I'm a college student. I'm not busy. I sit on my computer all day when I'm not in class and not "partying." Don't ever let a college kid tell you that they're busy. Because it's a lie. Nine times out of ten they're spending the majority of their day on Facebook and/or lounging in their apartment watching Comedy Central or something equally mindless.

In other news, my roommate and I went to Second City on Tuesday night. I hadn't been since September, and the show was even funnier than the last one I saw. Taylor and I were crammed together at a table with two guys in their late '20s, who bought us drinks (Second City makes a mean strawberry daquiri, by the way), and we all managed an intelligent conversation about Saturday Night Live vs. SCTV. As much as I love SNL, I'll take Catherine O'Hara and Andrea Martin over anyone from SNL any day. I wish there had been a sketch show comprised entirely of Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, and Martin Short, just for kicks.

Also, we got lost and ended up taking a $3 cab ride because the theatre was literally two blocks from where we finally broke down and hailed a cab. Classy, right?

Apropo of nothing, I want to talk about Big Love. I don't know if any of you watch it, but this season has just been blowing me away. The show is finally exploring so many of the issues that have needed to be address in the past, and bringing so many fascinating emotional conflicts into the fray. It's better than it's ever been. It's always been brilliant, but I really cannot get over how flawless it's been lately. If you don't watch it, consider this my recommendation.

Okay, that's it for me. I'll save my Los Angeles longings for next time. That's a loaded topic.