Thursday, April 5, 2012

Back-To-Back Doubleheaders==>AWESOME!!

Good morning my loyal and faithful readers out there in cyberspace ... yep ... back-to-back doubleheaders for Billi Pod ... and here are the details ...


I am happy to report that yesterday’s entertainment doubleheader was stellar ... and ... yes ... Billi Pod survived the 3+ hours of A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN, Eugene O’Neill’s bittersweet 3+ hour elegy about redemption and the saving grace of love==>A<==with some serious qualifications.


Incredible acting and staging but, in the name of fair and unbiased reporting, I have to reveal that I disliked everyone of the characters, from the moment they first appeared on stage until their final scene(s).


It is also difficult for a theater nut like moi to admit ... but ... I had never seen this play before, anywhere, so I made myself remain focused on the underlying theme of this theater “classic.”


As I reported yesterday, the play was done in 3 acts (actually they combined what was originally acts 3 & 4) and clocks in at 3 hours and 20 minutes with the two intermissions. Folks ... that is a long long time. Almost all of the audience remained.


My problem with the show was that I got very tired of all of the yelling, screaming, cussing==>begging for forgiveness<==then yelling, screaming and cussing again. Plus ... the two main male characters are virtually 100% dead-ass drunk throughout the show.


Whoa, you are no doubt saying to yourselves ... why, then, does Billi Pod give this an A? Well ... simple ... acting and staging and because it is a recognized theater “classic.”


Having said that==>ain’t ever gonna see it again.


The show was over at 5:50pm. The weather was nice. I walked over to Midtown East for my second show @ 7:00pm at The York Theatre in The Citicorp Building. Had time for a cup of coffee and something sweet and then it was ...

STORY BY STORY: A Conversation with Tom Jones @ The York Theatre - Jim Morgan and Tom Jones talk about his historic career in the theater==>A.


Tom Jones was charming, insightful, and a bit risqué. His insider stories about some of Broadway’s legends were extremely interesting and entertaining.


Interesting side note==>Tom shared that he had gone through the Army Intelligence School at Ft. Holabird in Baltimore, MD, in the early 1950s and was an Special Agent with the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC). Well so did I in 1955. I was also a Special Agent, later stationed off-base in Washington, DC. After the show Tom and I had a brief chat about our experience(s).


This is a Thursday but Billi Pod has yet another entertainment doubleheader. The first event is ...

3:00==>FOOD, THE MUSICAL - “This culinary feast of songs and comedy features 5 short mini-musicals in between short songs about Food Network star wannabes, dinner party menus, cooking as therapy, eating out and celebrity chefs.” (Off Broadway - free ticket).


This is a staged reading as part of the York Theatre Developmental Reading Series and I will be attending as part of Dian Crystal’s posse.


Then for this evening is ...


8:00==>AN EARLY HISTORY OF FIRE - “This is the world premiere of David Rabe’s play which is set in a small Midwestern town whose mores/morals are challenged by the shifting ideology of the early 1960s.” (Off Broadway - complimentary ticket)


This show is playing at a theater on my block and is in early previews so there is no advance buzz.


Well, my loyal and faithful readers ... the countdown to Opening Day is really clicking through Billi Pod’s head. And ... there is also another VERY POSITIVE countdown underway, the details of which I, unfortunately, cannot share with you at the moment.


GO YANKEES AND 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-231

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