Small World part II And Requests for Pictures

Thus is Ryan Douglass


These are the flipflops he left out for me to shower with


This is Boston, MA

I've seen a three plays here, as I did in NY and DC, and now I'ma gonna talk about 'em! The first show I saw was A Long and Winding Road at the Calderwood Pavillion, pictured below.


This production was an autobiographical one-woman show effortlessly performed by the Oscar-winning musician Maureen McGovern, loosely about coming to terms with turning 60 years old. The narrative was loose, meandering and anecdotal, but the 60's and 70's era songs arranged for the production she sang beautifully and for almost 2 hours without an intermission. The scenic design was a slew of projections cast onto flowing gray silks at the back of the stage and coming from the wings, which gave the audience something to look at other than the performer as she plodded through her blocking, but it was not enough to keep the audience engaged. Mostly pictures of her in her youth, laced with iconic people and events of the time. Biggest disappointment - not featured in the production is the song from which the show gets its title.

The next production I saw was Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the same theatre complex as Road but in a small black box venue. This is the only production of the landmark Albee play I've seen, and my God was I impressed. The actors playing George and Martha captured a unique dynamic of a couple who've been together for thirty years and exercised a constant power struggle of who's smarter, stronger and better. As if eclipsed by the former, the actors playing Nick and Honey paled in ability. And while little is required of Honey, a cypher of a character who spends much time off-stage throwing up brandy and a fair amount of her onstage time being shushed by the rest of the cast, the gravity of Nick's role could not be so easily passed off by an amateur. However, all considered, I would strongly recommend seeing this production! This goes to my expansive group followers in the New England area.

Finally, I saw 2.5 Minute Ride last night at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown. To those unfamiliar with it, 2.5 Minute Ride is one of the solo performance pieces written by Kalamazoo College Theatre Alum and poster child Lisa Kron, whose successful Tony-nominated Well landed her a teaching job at Yale, despite having never received her undergraduate degree for lack of one science credit. Much to my surprise upon reading the program did I find that the Artistic Director at the Theatre and the performer filling in for Lisa were both Kalamazoo College graduates as well. Small damn world. The production was good, though it seems strange to me to have someone step in to play the playwright in such a personal piece. The difference with Well, I would argue, is that the play already deals with themes of identity and has actors playing their characters as well as themselves at times. The production was good but left me longing to see a production starring Lisa herself.

Rock over Cambridge, Rock on Allston (where I bought a second-hand coat yesterday)
ABC Warehouse, the Closest Thing to Wholesale