Musings on the holidays

Hey gang, just a quick one this time. Heading out tomorrow for the yearly rounds of "family Christmas." We travel each year to my family and my wife's family to make sure we don't leave anyone out. In all the rush and bustle, we do- we leave us out. We've been together for neary thirty years, and in that time we've only spent one Christmas on our terms. One year, maybe when we've got grandkids we'll have Christmas at home. Awww... who am I kidding? As long as the celebration isn't here, we don't have to keep things too clean, and we don't have to spend our limited time decorating. So- I'll keep complaining and secretly thank the universe for Christmas away from home.

More of the theater weekend

If you haven't read my previous post, read that first. (Unless you don't want then... don't.)
The following morning after our highly entertaining night at the opera (thank you Marx Brothers), we headed back home in time for a 2 p.m. Palestine Community Theater performance of "A Miracle on 34th Street" at the Texas Theater. The newly renovated Texas was beautifully decorated in the holiday spirit. Most of the show was pretty good. The director, Terri Warren, had to take over the role of Doris Walker, and she did well. The other two standouts were Chris Ryal as Fred Gaily and Megan Meyers as Susan. These last two showed great energy and pathos in their portrayals of the would be suitor and his love interest's daughter. Kris Kringle, played by newcomer Fred Stroud, presented a bit of a problem. It was obvious from his first few lines that he has had a stroke in the recent past. This made him difficult to understand at times and stole the life from his character at most times. Santa should be "lively and quick, a right jolly old elf" and Fred just couldn't pull that off. He certainly looked the part with a genuinely white 72 year-old beard. The overall show was quite enjoyable, and, though only modestly attended, was a success.

But did this end our "Performing Arts Weekend"? Oh no. Sunday evening we attended a concert/contata performed by the Anderson County Community choir & Orchestra with the Anderson County Youth Chorus. I had heard the choir once before last spring when they sang with the local high school band for one number. Okay, but not spectacular. This was a whole new experience. The choir had nearly doubled in size due to the exposure last spring. The orchestra practiced with the choir instead of separately leading to much better coordination. It was spectacular, even though the inexperienced audience sometimes showed their lack of concert experience- read "manners". The music was a stirring performance with a full, rich sound that was surprising for a small-ish east Texas community. I say this without bias, even though my son was the tympanist with the orchestra. The only place they dropped the ball was the regretable east Texas habit of doing your thankyous (to the director and such) onstage instead of the more appropriate backstage setting. Of course that's just me, I guess. The upshot of all this is that, come Easter, I'll be sure to clear my calendar and attend their next performance. See you next time.

Last weekend was our "Performing Arts Weekend". After a really delicious office party for my wife's work on Friday, we headed to Dallas on Saturday for a day of shopping and a night at the opera. The shopping I won't go into as no one cares... not even me. But the opera- ah that's another story.

This time it was the "Barber of Seville" by Rossini. Mother came with again as well as my sister Connie, a first timer. After a wonderful dinner at the 440 Grill in Bishop Arts, we threaded our way through traffic to the theater where an officious parking attendant refused my parking in the reserved section because I had left my card at home. (My tickets have always been enough before.) We made our way inside and took our seats center front balcony.

We most often do not associate opera with laugh-out-loud comedy. This was just that. From the first, the slapstick staging along with the skilled delivery made for wonderful comic moments throughout. Dr. Bartolo (Donato Distephano of Italy) and Rosina (Vivica Genaux of Alaska) were the standouts. He the pompous, scheming doctor in love with Rosina and her dowry and she his spoiled, scheming ward in love with Count Almaviva in the guise of Lindoro. The Count (Richard Croft of New York) plays roles within roles in his attempts to rendezvous with with the sequestered Rosina. Chaos reigns supreme throughout and of course they get together in the end.

The music, some of the most recognizable in opera, was very well done. Though Croft's tenor was less than robust, it was well tuned and modulated. The best male voice was the monor character of Don Basilio (Oren Gradus of New York). Here is a strong bass with gusto and character. Figaro (Giorgio Caoduro of Italy) also had a lively baritone, and his delivery was deliciously quirky. The evening was fine with a responsive audience to this final performance of the schedule. I had to wonder how much of the interplay was choreographed and how much was final night playfulness. Hard to say... don't really care. Loved it all regardless. Check the next entry for the next day's performances.

A Wedding in the Family

(Written 03 Dec 06) A marriage in the family is almost always a time of hope and joy. Saturday, December 2 was one of those times. My Aunt Sue married Uncle Jim in a beautiful ceremony in Kingwood, Texas. Now this was a little on the unusual side as Aunt Sue is my mother's sister and "Uncle" Jim was my late father's oldest friend. Both of them became preachers, but they had their first funeral together when they were five years old! They buried a dead bird out in the field. Both Sue and Jim had been widowed in the last couple of years. They began seeing each other a while back.

I had to decide on which side to be seated. Sue is blood relation, so there I happily sat on the bride side, knowing nearly everyone on the groom side, too. Sue was radiantly beautiful, and Jim was... uh... acceptable. No, he looked joyfully handsome surrounded by family (including greatgrandchildren), friends, and family to be. Just goes to show, love is ageless.