Signature Theater has made available for free, for this weekend only, their production of Everybody Rise: Signature Remembers Stephen Sondheim. It's on their YouTube channel.    And I think  you can get a couple of glimpses of the set for their production of "Rent".
Premiering January 14, 5PM EST and available until Monday January 17, 5PM EST
If the video isn't showing below then try the link in the show's title above.  That will take you directly to the Signature YouTube page.  

The day started out as a nice winter day.  It is now downright FREEZING!  The temperature dropped and the wind really picked up.  We've got a wind chill advisory tonight of -10 to -20 degrees.  

It was in the 60s today, and it's still 51° outside at 7:30 pm. It was a nice day to be taking a walk except for the enormous amount of goose droppings on the sidewalk. There are certain areas of the sidewalk that have a ton of goose poop, and then other areas that have none, which leads me to believe that the geese designate certain areas to be their "toilets." Fortunately Bernadette shows no interest in the goose poop.

Oh, yes--I was talking about the warm day today. (To get us back to a nicer topic of discussion.)

So far there is very little that's remarkable about this Wednesday. It is in the 50s, with lots of ice melting. I feel like I should be starting on my income tax--although I haven't received any of the forms I'm supposed to receive yet, I could at least start working on my medical expenses and my business income, but I have absolutely no desire to do so. (Even less than my desire to go to Honolulu, where I still don't know if I have to go or not, but I'm looking around at kennels now. I am encouraged by Bernadette not attacking another dog the other day.)

I am starting to understand why this day is called "Hump Day." It feels like a huge hill that I am climbing forever.

At least it's not snowing. (Or is it?) If it were, it might be worth getting Chinese delivery, which I normally don't get because it costs an extra $2 and because I need to order $15 worth (my lunch specials come out to about $10), but I availed myself of it several times when I was laid up with the broken foot because I couldn't walk across the street to do my normal pickup. 

Now I'm managing to make myself hungry for Chinese food.

By the way, it's been in the 50s here for the past couple of days.

It's the east coast's turn for cold temperatures.  Weather Kitty (and I assume Weather Puppy as well) is predicting a high of 16F today.  I'm glad I have off work today so I can snuggle up under a pile of blankets and read a book.  Ordering Chinese food is looking to be high on the list of possibilities even though I would have to venture out to get it.

Enjoying yesterday's "exit interview" with John Cariani, who talks about the weirdness of performing in a pandemic.  (While I wish it had run much longer, Caroline at least bears the distinction of having completed its entire 13-week limited run without a single Covid cancellation).

He also talks about polishing up -- to a very high sheen indeed, I'd say -- his long-neglected clarinet skills over the long nineteen-month shutdown.

They should have taped this for streaming or PBS or something; it deserved to be seen much more widely. 

Tiredness is a relatable theme.  I'm working round the clock on this Much Ado design and the progress is pitifully slow.  For example, you would not believe how long and difficult it has been to build this cute little colonnade.  It's not really even all that cute, yet it took all day, all night and a complete rebuild to finally figure out.

The problem is that it's so open; though it does connect to separate "wings" of the house at either end, its point is to be visible from a very widely fanned (almost 180º) range of audience sightlines, hence the turns instead of a straight linear arcade.  The flat-cutout columns are meant to be simpler & cheaper to build, but the trick is to have them look paper-thin without bulky support beams behind them (even from extreme side angles), while still somehow managing to support the upper level.  In the end, I trashed my original model of this piece and rebuilt it from scratch, this time literally making and assembling digital 2x4s and cutting digital 3/4" ply with a digital keyhole saw to figure out the nuts and bolts of exactly how to achieve that airiness in reality.

Whether or not it could actually support human weight in reality -- my director wants Benedick to climb over the balcony railing and fall into a hedge at one point -- is for the TD to determine.  But if he says it's structurally sound, you could literally build the real thing directly from this model.

I think the colonnade and the watchtower (which had similar issues) will have been the two trickiest pieces to draft.  Working on the groundplan the other day, I discovered that the (unseen) inside of this house, connecting all the various entrances on both levels, and with some kind of backing behind every door or window opening, is a shitshow all its own.  But at least it's much more blocky and opaque: regular walls and platforms whose means of support can be easily hidden (and worked out by the TD, not by me, since they're purely structural decisions that don't directly affect the look of the design).  So drawing it should be easier, and hopefully allow me some respite from tearing my hair out, at least for the time being.

I did get enough sleep last night, and I still feel tired. I was originally planning to stop at Pacific Ocean Marketplace to see if they had any spring rolls, but I was too tired and too hungry to look for them and then wait in line. So I had a Marie Callender's pot pie, which was delicious under the circumstances. Maybe I'll get the spring rolls tomorrow, when I expect to have more energy. I know I have to go to Costco tomorrow.

I put in a surprise 13 hour day last night.  Two flights were delayed and just after the second one left we were notified that a diversion was coming in.  So I had to stay and help with that.  I did not get a full eight hours of sleep last night so I fully expect to be dragging later this evening.  I will have to make sure I have a supply of caffeinated beverages to keep me going until the end of my shift...which hopefully be the scheduled end time.