shows!
Saw *Ella* last night at the San Jose Rep. It was a pretty amazing show, the story of Ella Fitzgerald's life (a wee bit abridged methinks, but human-ly rich and touching, in a very straight-forward, non-analytical way, which I really appreciated), done through a mix of songs (14!) and narration.
I had bits of flashbacks from childhood, seeing Ella in her (to me) old fashioned shiny drapy dresses on awards shows or specials. Bits of the voice. But that's all quite to the side of the topic; I really knew nothing of her, and loved the show. Go see it if you can.
Las Vegas, week of July 4
Blue Man Group: Fun, lots of social commentary, cool video stuff, some simply stuff... bits that still have me thinking 'was this about that?' which is a good sign. Some bits got a little long, but everyone's gonna react a bit differently. I expected a bit more percussion, Wyatt expected a bit more comedy; that was interesting.
Cirque du Soleil's *Ka*: Can one say 'typical' Cirque? ;-) Very enjoyable show, with everything from shadow puppets to archers in the audience.
The big prop of the show is/are two large, moving platforms, over a giant pit (it is the pit of wonder; giving and receiving all things, mysteriously and grandly). The platforms spend a lot of time vertically, with acrobats 'fighting' up and down them and such. Again, it got a little long; we grokked the wonder of vertical movement, we didn't need to spend quite so much time there. But I can understand thinking they had to max it out...
The music wasn't live; instead it was everywhere, in your seats, behind you, in front of you, moving... In truth I missed the live Cirque music, but it was still wonderful and I'd buy the soundtrack (there were a couple taiko drummers way, way up there at one point, which was very cool; the big 'village' set was a jaw-dropper).
I suspect one's 'first' couple Cirque shows are always the best, due to the sheer wonder and magic of them. This wasn't quite that for me, but there were many, many wonderful, creative, beautiful, and breathtaking pieces. -- The hotel was running the 'making of' video, which was really cool, and reminded us of many of the small wonders of the show.
Bobby Slayton, comedian: Well, I wanted old-style Vegas, and I got it. The pre-show black and white light history of Vegas reel was very entertaining. The warm up guy and Bobby each had some funny lines, but really it was a lot of reworked old material. Insult-without-point style comedy doesn't rock my world. Still, I enjoyed the little dark room experience (inside Hooters, which was a bit of a trip in itself).
I am rich in summer fun this year!
I had bits of flashbacks from childhood, seeing Ella in her (to me) old fashioned shiny drapy dresses on awards shows or specials. Bits of the voice. But that's all quite to the side of the topic; I really knew nothing of her, and loved the show. Go see it if you can.
Las Vegas, week of July 4
Blue Man Group: Fun, lots of social commentary, cool video stuff, some simply stuff... bits that still have me thinking 'was this about that?' which is a good sign. Some bits got a little long, but everyone's gonna react a bit differently. I expected a bit more percussion, Wyatt expected a bit more comedy; that was interesting.
Cirque du Soleil's *Ka*: Can one say 'typical' Cirque? ;-) Very enjoyable show, with everything from shadow puppets to archers in the audience.
The big prop of the show is/are two large, moving platforms, over a giant pit (it is the pit of wonder; giving and receiving all things, mysteriously and grandly). The platforms spend a lot of time vertically, with acrobats 'fighting' up and down them and such. Again, it got a little long; we grokked the wonder of vertical movement, we didn't need to spend quite so much time there. But I can understand thinking they had to max it out...
The music wasn't live; instead it was everywhere, in your seats, behind you, in front of you, moving... In truth I missed the live Cirque music, but it was still wonderful and I'd buy the soundtrack (there were a couple taiko drummers way, way up there at one point, which was very cool; the big 'village' set was a jaw-dropper).
I suspect one's 'first' couple Cirque shows are always the best, due to the sheer wonder and magic of them. This wasn't quite that for me, but there were many, many wonderful, creative, beautiful, and breathtaking pieces. -- The hotel was running the 'making of' video, which was really cool, and reminded us of many of the small wonders of the show.
Bobby Slayton, comedian: Well, I wanted old-style Vegas, and I got it. The pre-show black and white light history of Vegas reel was very entertaining. The warm up guy and Bobby each had some funny lines, but really it was a lot of reworked old material. Insult-without-point style comedy doesn't rock my world. Still, I enjoyed the little dark room experience (inside Hooters, which was a bit of a trip in itself).
I am rich in summer fun this year!