Day 121 - Tuesday - My First Class and Our Second Play

Day 121 - Tuesday - My First Class and Our Second Play

This morning we get up early, Vicky drives me to work and I'm in the office by 8am.  The class goes well - I'm nervous but my supervisor is on the line too, and I'm able to start and end on time and complete the admin tasks by 11am.

We're signed up for a "Curtain Call Luncheon" - a pasta lunch and Q&A with 4 of the people from the Shakespeare Festival.  You never know who will be there but today we luck out - 2 veteran actors, one of whom we saw yesterday as Desdemona's father; the Founder of the Festival - Fred Adams - a vibrant 80-something who always has loads of fascinating stories to tell, and the Festival's Artistic Director, Brian Vaughn, who wowed us as Iago last evening.  I ask them to tell us the character they've played who they would least like as a "best buddy".  Brian, as expected, mentions Iago - a slimy self centered character, but the others surprise me by not being able to name anyone!   I hadn't been trying to stump them.

Then it's back to the theater for "Big River" - the musical (music by Roger Miller) based on Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".  I, not having been born in the US, may be the only person in the audience who's never read the book.  I have trouble with the accents (7 Southern dialects according to Twain) but have no problem understanding the story, a brutally honest description of life in the pre-Civil War South - warts and all.  The music is at once joyful and poignant.  Huck and his friend Tom Sawyer are played by the same two actors we saw yesterday as Ellard and Charlie, and the chemistry between them makes for some very funny scenes.  But it's Jim, the runaway slave, who's baritone voice is the standout for us.  We can really feel his pain in his songs and his acting, a symbol of that experienced by all slaves.  A combination of a thought provoking story (we talk about it for hours) and a joyous musical.

A quiet evening at home with time to review my notes for tomorrow's class, completes an excellent day.