Midsummer (a play with songs) - A Wild, Hilarious Ride!

I have been so busy this week I haven't had much time to reflect on Midsummer (a play with songs), that I saw at the Roxy this past Thursday.  Starring Clinton Carew of the amazing voice and the smart and beautiful Elena Porter as a mismatched couple who tumble through a crazy weekend in Edinburgh on a Midsummer solstice night, it is a belly-laughing show that whizzes by like a roller coaster.  I went in to it knowing nothing about it, really.  It popped up in my radar only a week or so before and I put it on my list because I love to watch Elena onstage (she's so sharp) and I love to hear Clinton speak (Best Voice on the Edmonton theatre scene - I have said this before - AND in this one he has a Scottish accent and sings!).  Anyhow, It was so much fun.  I'd rather you experience like I did, with nothing to prepare you.  It's one of those 'anything can happen' kind of stories and the two actors attack it with gusto and absolute commitment.  It has one of the funniest sex scenes I have ever seen (second only to the one in last year's Let the Light of Day Through) and I have been recalling the music on and off ever since I heard it (I was making up new verses to the hangover song this morning in the shower).  Check it out - it's totally worth it!

I also saw the invited dress rehearsal for Long Day's Journey Into Night.  So, so good. I can't wait to see it again this Wednesday night.  I am blown away by how strong it was in Dress Rehearsal, but with that cast and that script I probably shouldn't be surprised.  It hit me like Death of a Salesman did a few years ago. You could tell that the cast and artistic team was really serving the masterpiece that it is.   A night off tomorrow for me and then I shall see it again!

I Can Tell I am in the Right Job...

Because I like doing it, and even have brought work home not because I had to, but because I really wanted to finish something up.  Today was great.  I was a little worried because part of my job involves the Opening Night invitations of VIPs.  It is complicated and there is not enough information written down about how to do it, but I figured out a system that will work for me and that I can refine on-the-go and for-the-future.  What was so cool was how many people responded with excitement over seeing the show - not any show - but this show.  So many people said that it was one of their favorite plays and that they couldn't wait to see the cast we had doing it.  I knew I was in the "Long Day's Journey" Club, but I didn't realize how big it was!  Even for the declines, there were many mentions of seeing the play later in the run.  Of course, they could have just been polite, but it all felt very sincere to me.  In any case, it made me happy.

I am dying to see some theatre though.  Fringe feels too far away.  Luckily I am going to the new Workshop West/Brad Fraser play, Kill Me Now, this weekend.  I was supposed to go last weekend but I couldn't stop coughing and didn't want to be that person in the audience that everyone wishes was somewhere else.  So I decided to be somewhere else that night.  So I will see it this weekend and I am really looking forward to it.  I have some other things on the calendar (Warhorse, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Daisy Theatre) and on my wish list (Midsummer[a play with songs]) so I am anxious for the rest of the month to get a move on!