Happy Monday to everyone out there in the vast hinterlands.
Yesterday’s entertainment doubleheader was a split for Billi Pod.
I really enjoyed what was the final performance of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, at the St. Jeans Playhouse on E. 75th Street. The show was sold out.
My only quibble was the casting of Scout, Jem and Dill. The actors were all in their mid/late teens, playing much younger characters. It is hard to believe they couldn’t have found age-appropriate performers in the vastness of New York City.
The guy playing the villain, Bob Ewell, was evil but not nearly as evil as I portrayed him 20 years ago. My director gave me virtually an open book to develop the character and I tried to make him the personification of evil, and, trust me ... I did.
I made a big deal out of chewing tobacco (chopped up licorice sticks) and spitting on the stage and into a spittoon during the courtroom scene. I had made a pact with the stage manager that I would clean the stuff up after the final curtain.
In the climatic scene when Ewell spits in Atticus’s face, he got a load of “tobacco juice.” Interestingly, in last night’s show that scene was totally omitted and only made part of the narrative.
When the show was over I rather leisurely walked down Lexington Avenue to 59th Street and then over to the theater for my second show. Had time to have some fruit and a Fresca at the deli next door to the theater.
Now, on to BURMESE DAYS, about British colonialism in Burma==>for whatever reason this show just didn’t work for me.
The actors all played multiple characters, without hardly ever leaving the stage, so sometimes it was difficult to discern who was who. And, I felt totally disconnected from the story line - I just didn’t care about any of the characters.
At intermission Billi Pod did something he very rarely does, especially with a comp. ticket ... he fled the scene.
Came back to PHC and settled in to watch the Giants implode once again, losing to the Eagles.
Since today is Monday, it will be errands and stuff and then tonight is ...
7:30==>IRON CURTAIN - “The show follows the misadventures of Howard Katz and Murray Finkel, hapless songwriters who finally get their big break when they are kidnapped by the KGB, taken to Russia and forced to fix the worlds worst communist propaganda musical. With the help of their madcap Soviet collaborators, the team gets a taste of the fame they never had in America.” (Off Broadway - discounted TDF ticket)
This sounds like a lot of fun.
I will close by sharing with you loyal and faithful readers Billi Pod’s entertainment schedule for the remainder of the week ...
Mon - 7:30==>IRON CURTAIN
Tues - 7:30==>NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC @ Avery Fisher Hall
Wed - 2:00==>HUGH JACKMAN, BACK ON BROADWAY
8:00==>STANDING ON CEREMONY
Thurs - Thanksgiving Dinner with friends
Fri - open at the moment
Sat - 6:00==>meet up with David Huddleston and Sarah Koeppe for dinner at Sardi’s
7:00==>GATORS/FSU on ESPN2 (yeah, I gotta stay in to watch us get our butts kicked)
Sun - 2:00==>MESSIAH: REFRESHED @ Avery Fisher Hall
On Friday, unless something really interesting shows up on one of my ticket services, I will probably try to do a movie doubleheader==>Ben Stiller’s TOWER HEIST and A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS.
OK, got things and stuff to do ... so ...
GO GATORS!!
Billi Pod
“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”
ALEX-89
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