Archive for Theater

Zipless Death, PTSD, and Suicide…

The guided missile attacks that are an important part of Putin’s assault on Ukraine remind me of my own sharply contrasting experience as a fighter pilot in the 1960s. Combined with a recent story of a University of Washington graduate turned drone pilot, it’s brought the horror of today’s remote killing machines home in a heart-wrenching manner.

For seven years I flew state-of-the-art Marine Corps fighters in air-to-air combat, but it was peacetime and my aerial combat took place over California’s Salton Sea. It was the Marine Corps vs. the Air Force. We flew out of MCAS El Toro and the Air Force from bases in the So Cal desert. Engagement was unplanned but both sides entered the restricted area over the Salton Sea looking for targets of opportunity. Our F8s would jump their F-100s or vice versa, and the fight was on. Then, having burned thousands of gallons of JP4, we would return to base and regale comrades at Happy Hour with “war stories” of how we kicked Air “Farce” ass. read more

Reunion Follies…

I hope it doesn’t sound arrogant, but I’m not a fan of reunions. I’ve always thought they were too focused on the past – and often more sad than joyful. Lately that feeling’s been reinforced as a consequence of Stephen Sondheim’s death. Sondheim’s musical theater work is not traditional in the Rodgers and Hammerstein sense. No tunes to whistle. No catchy one liners. No surrey with the fringe on top. I had a philosophy professor who told me Kierkegaard was hard work but worth the effort. I feel the same about Sondheim. read more

Tony B and Lady G: Music Masters Squared

The human brain may be the most astonishing byproduct of the great miracle of creation. It has enabled the specie to unpack secrets of the galaxy, travel to the moon and back, write War and Peace, paint the Mona Lisa and compose the Ninth Symphony. But, human life is finite, and the brain often fades before the rest of the organism lets go.

In 2001, at age 74, Tony Bennett released the first of a series of duet albums. It was called Playin’ with my Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues. The following year he teamed up with k.d. lang for A Wonderful World, the first of six duet albums with fellow artists collaborating on songs from the American songbook. Duets: An American Classic (2006), Duets II (2011), Cheek to Cheek with Lady Gaga (2014), Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 (2016), and Love for Sale, the second album with Lady Gaga (2021). Cheek to Cheek debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. Love for Sale, released on September 30, 2021 came in at #8. Here’s the astonishing part. read more

Chasing Dottie’s Dust…

Dorothy Parker. Does anyone born after 1970 even know the name? Maybe not, but at 4’11” she was larger than life. Writer, screenwriter, wit, poet, founding member of the Algonquin Round Table, and gin lover extraordinaire. She continues to haunt us. If Molly Ivins’ quick wit makes you smile or you cringe at Maureen Dowd’s acid putdowns, Dorothy Parker is in your wheelhouse. The Portable Dorothy Parker, originally published in 1944, is one of three in the Portable Series, along with volumes devoted to the Bible and Shakespeare that has remained in continuous print since first published. read more

A Modern Adaptation…

A glooming peace this morning with it brings, The sun for sorrow will not show its head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things, Some shall be pardoned and some punished. For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.