FUN MUSICAL FOR A SUMMER NIGHT
Some Like It Hot (DPAC, Durham)
This past week the Chief Penguin and I went to our first performance at DPAC (Durham Performing Arts Center) in downtown Durham. We went with a group and transportation was provided to and from. It’s amazing how stress-free this makes the logistics. (Confession: we used to chuckle at seeing all the buses outside the Sarasota Orchestra performances, waiting to take seniors back home.)
Some Like It Hot is based on a 1959 movie that starred Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, and Marilyn Monroe. Set in 1933, two musicians in Chicago, Jerry and Joe, are trying to find a new gig when they witness a mob murder. Fleeing the scene, they end up masquerading as women and joining an all-women’s band which travels to San Diego. The play is a high energy comedy, but more character-driven than the movie with a more contemporary ending.
Joe finds it difficult and frustrating to play being Josephine. Jerry, as Daphne, comes into his/her own and feels seen and comfortable. The cast of the movie is all white, while here several characters, including Daphne, are Black which adds another perspective. Overall, there’s humor, but also heartfelt emotion. The music is lively and the dancing, all tap, is fabulous. I think we left tapping our toes all the way home!
DPAC itself was an experience. It’s a huge venue (more than 2500 seats) and all attendees are electronically screened before entering. Inside, with the crowds and chaos, we were initially overwhelmed. We had seats on the second level in the last row, a long way from the stage, but high enough that the sightlines were excellent.
FINDING WHO YOU ARE
Violet (Justice Theater Project, Raleigh)
Earlier this month, the C.P and I went to the last play of the season from the Justice Theater Project, a musical entitled Violet. This company performs in a church and is celebrating its 20th year. Their focus is on dramas with a message. Violet premiered off Broadway in 1997, won several awards, and was revised and then presented on Broadway in 2014.
Violet is a naïve young woman from North Carolina who leaves home and boards a train to Tulsa. She is seeking to have her scarred face healed by a TV preacher. It’s the 1960’s, and on the train, she becomes friendly with two soldiers, Monty, a white officer, and Flick, a Black enlisted man. How her adventures play out and what she learns about herself and what matters form the crux of the drama.
The dialogue is almost all sung. The voices were very good, but some actors didn’t enunciate making it hard to catch all the words. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the performance, and it’s been well received locally.
READING: POLITICAL FALLOUT
Original Sin by Jake Tapper & Alex Thompson
The subtitle of Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, tells you almost everything you need to know. I read this book recently and certainly was aware of most of the content. No big reveal other than the extent to which Biden’s closest aides and his family members, especially Jill and Hunter Biden, drastically limited access to him. As his term went on, fewer and fewer of his cabinet members and others met with him regularly.
Communication was handled by those closest to Biden, and even after Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June 2024, these individuals bought into an alternate reality that he was still capable of running for re-election. The book made me sad, upset, and angry. Sad for Biden and upset about his stubbornness and hubris in not being honest about his limitations. Angry about those individuals who enabled him and let themselves be in denial. Sadly, Biden is not the only politician who believes he will endure forever; too many other examples exist in Congress and elsewhere. (~JWFarrington)
VIEWING: STRUGGLING AFTER DEATHS
The Survivors (Netflix)
This crime series (6 episodes) is based on Australian author Jane Harper’s book of the same title, The Survivors. Set in Tasmania on the coast, The Survivors opens 15 years after the deaths on the water of Kieran’s brother Finn and a friend. Kieran has returned with his girlfriend Mia and their baby Audrey to visit his parents, Verity and Brian. Another girl, Gabby, died at the same time as the men. Gabby’s death has been less remembered until Bronte, a local woman, starts asking questions about it. Add in yet another death, and tensions, suspicion, and distrust run high. Those who are alive and knew the deceased ones must cope with their memories and events in the present.
I am a big fan of Jane Harper’s novels having read all of them. The Survivors series starts out slowly with numerous watery flashbacks but picks up the pace as it gets farther on. Recommended, especially for Harper fans!
Note: Header photo of hot pink blooms ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
I realized that I had never seen the movie and found it on Amazon and watched it. Some differences but mostly the same plot.