Theater + Locus Awards Weekend
Well, it was really Locus Awards Day for me, given that I didn't attend the Friday night party, but it's always touted as a weekend so there you are. I went to the theater on Friday night instead, so that's where I'll begin.
The weekend started on Friday, not at the awards. I met davidlevine and kateyule at the Center Theater for Book-It Rep's adaptation of "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay." In scope it's probably the second most ambitious production that Book-It has done that I can remember--second only to their excellent adaptation of "Moby Dick," which I enjoyed enormously and thought was just terrific (and which, apparently, I never wrote about here--frustrating). It was a show in four hour-long acts--the first two acts were split by a 15-minute break; then there was a 45-minute break for dinner; then another two acts split by a 15-minute break. At curtain I was 3/4 finished with the book, so the last act was completely new to me.
Generally speaking I thought it was a good--not a great--production. It was as true to the book as it could be given time constraints and Book-it's specific way of adapting material to the stage (which includes incorporating narrative into the dialog). Generally speaking, I found the older actors stronger than the younger ones--except for the actor who played Josef Kavalier (Frank Boyd), who gave a terrific performance. Opal Peachey as Rosa was very good--beautiful, certainly, but also projecting the character's native intelligence and savvy very well indeed. David Goldstein as Sammy kept his avalanche of dialog moving swiftly and snappily, but I never felt he lost himself in the role. Much of his dialog felt a little too deliberately spoken, though part of that may have been his attempts to maintain his uncertain interpretation of a Brooklyn accent, so difficult for him that it became a distraction to this native New Yorker.
I had some laugh-out-loud moments, especially in the scene where Bacon meets Sammy's mother. I disliked the production's interpretation of Luna Moth with her glow-stick hair and dancing-school costume, given the character's very different description in the book. (In the novel, well, there's nudity, but Book-it's never shied from that before; there's nudity earlier in the show. I just feel like rather than be true, they chose to be goofy, and it rang false to the book for me.) I also wondered why the company didn't a) employ a real comic artist to portray some of Josef's artwork or b) do outreach to the local comics and science fiction communities. But I'm sure the company had larger issues to manage as it produced the show.
In the end, I did enjoy myself. It was a good production, as I said, but not a great one. I may have set my expectations higher than I should have. But it was definitely worth seeing.
As for the Locus Awards, I arrived in time for the 11 AM panel, "Adventures in Transrealism: Mixing It Up with Speculative Fiction Based on Personal Narrative," with Christopher Barzak, Terry Bisson, James Patrick Kelly, Nisi Shawl, and Gary K. Wolfe moderating very well indeed. It was a good, but far too brief discussion of the subject. I took some notes and the conversation provoked some interesting ideas. Quote of the panel: Nisi Shawl, talking about research: "To learn about serial killers, I did some online dating." We all nearly fell out of our chairs at that one.
The banquet got under way after the autograph session (I picked up a copy of Karen Joy Fowler's "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves," at the recommendation of Astrid Bear). The food was actually rather delicious and the company excellent (I shared a table with davidlevine, kateyule, claireeddy, Liz Argall, Curtis Chen and others). Connie Willis, acting as M.C., was very funny--as usual--and kept things moving, for which we were all grateful. After her monologue, the traditional Hawai'ian shirt shaming, and the trivia contest, the inductees to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame were announced (Brackett! Frazetta! Miyazaki! Kubrick! Stapledon!), and then the Locus Awards were bestowed with much ceremony and delight. Quite a bit of fun.
I spent the rest of the afternoon running around Seattle with Claire and Kate showing them the thrift store treasures of Seattle. Shopping was done, city sites were seen, dinner was had (at The Hi-Life--always a goodness). I collapsed at the end of the day with great satisfaction.
The weekend started on Friday, not at the awards. I met davidlevine and kateyule at the Center Theater for Book-It Rep's adaptation of "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay." In scope it's probably the second most ambitious production that Book-It has done that I can remember--second only to their excellent adaptation of "Moby Dick," which I enjoyed enormously and thought was just terrific (and which, apparently, I never wrote about here--frustrating). It was a show in four hour-long acts--the first two acts were split by a 15-minute break; then there was a 45-minute break for dinner; then another two acts split by a 15-minute break. At curtain I was 3/4 finished with the book, so the last act was completely new to me.
Generally speaking I thought it was a good--not a great--production. It was as true to the book as it could be given time constraints and Book-it's specific way of adapting material to the stage (which includes incorporating narrative into the dialog). Generally speaking, I found the older actors stronger than the younger ones--except for the actor who played Josef Kavalier (Frank Boyd), who gave a terrific performance. Opal Peachey as Rosa was very good--beautiful, certainly, but also projecting the character's native intelligence and savvy very well indeed. David Goldstein as Sammy kept his avalanche of dialog moving swiftly and snappily, but I never felt he lost himself in the role. Much of his dialog felt a little too deliberately spoken, though part of that may have been his attempts to maintain his uncertain interpretation of a Brooklyn accent, so difficult for him that it became a distraction to this native New Yorker.
I had some laugh-out-loud moments, especially in the scene where Bacon meets Sammy's mother. I disliked the production's interpretation of Luna Moth with her glow-stick hair and dancing-school costume, given the character's very different description in the book. (In the novel, well, there's nudity, but Book-it's never shied from that before; there's nudity earlier in the show. I just feel like rather than be true, they chose to be goofy, and it rang false to the book for me.) I also wondered why the company didn't a) employ a real comic artist to portray some of Josef's artwork or b) do outreach to the local comics and science fiction communities. But I'm sure the company had larger issues to manage as it produced the show.
In the end, I did enjoy myself. It was a good production, as I said, but not a great one. I may have set my expectations higher than I should have. But it was definitely worth seeing.
As for the Locus Awards, I arrived in time for the 11 AM panel, "Adventures in Transrealism: Mixing It Up with Speculative Fiction Based on Personal Narrative," with Christopher Barzak, Terry Bisson, James Patrick Kelly, Nisi Shawl, and Gary K. Wolfe moderating very well indeed. It was a good, but far too brief discussion of the subject. I took some notes and the conversation provoked some interesting ideas. Quote of the panel: Nisi Shawl, talking about research: "To learn about serial killers, I did some online dating." We all nearly fell out of our chairs at that one.
The banquet got under way after the autograph session (I picked up a copy of Karen Joy Fowler's "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves," at the recommendation of Astrid Bear). The food was actually rather delicious and the company excellent (I shared a table with davidlevine, kateyule, claireeddy, Liz Argall, Curtis Chen and others). Connie Willis, acting as M.C., was very funny--as usual--and kept things moving, for which we were all grateful. After her monologue, the traditional Hawai'ian shirt shaming, and the trivia contest, the inductees to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame were announced (Brackett! Frazetta! Miyazaki! Kubrick! Stapledon!), and then the Locus Awards were bestowed with much ceremony and delight. Quite a bit of fun.
I spent the rest of the afternoon running around Seattle with Claire and Kate showing them the thrift store treasures of Seattle. Shopping was done, city sites were seen, dinner was had (at The Hi-Life--always a goodness). I collapsed at the end of the day with great satisfaction.