I saw West Side Story last night, but unfortunately kept drifting in & out of consciousness throughout the first half or two-thirds of the movie, so it was a disorienting and wholly unsatisfactory blur; I'm very annoyed with myself for not getting any sleep the night before, and thereby ruining the movie experience for myself.  I'll go back at some point, maybe even to an IMAX screening next time, but still.

I was alert during "I Feel Pretty" to enjoy the playful excuse they (Spielberg? Kushner?  Production Designer Adam Stockhausen or Set Decorator Rena DeAngelo?) have engineered as justification for the Coward-ian sparkle of Maria's lyrics.  I imagine SJS must've appreciated that.

On a brighter note, one reason I haven't been sleeping enough is that the last few days have been very productive.  In addition to dealing with various home and medical/dental issues for my mom (and finally scheduling a dental checkup/cleaning for myself, too), I dove in and got a start on the Much Ado About Nothing I'm designing for an outdoor amphitheater in Florida next May.

I am stopping by to create the daily thread before I go to bed. Hopefully it will finally snow tonight, which is something that hasn't happened all season yet. Goodnight!

I feel I should be saying something profound, especially since we missed yesterday's daily thread, but all I have to say are:

1. It has been a very frustrating day.
2. I want Chinese food.


I will post my opinion on Evening Primrose instead of something profound. I have three recordings of this score, none by the original cast. Of the three, my slight favorite is the one by Neil Patrick Harris and Theresa McCarthy, although it's very close between that one and the Patinkin/Peters one. I haven't heard the one by Liz Callaway and Gary Beach on the Sondheim at the Movies recording for a while, so I'm not even remembering it well, but I don't remember it being very far behind the others.

So, there's an opinion to start an argument.

I'm trying to think of something great to say about today.

I just gave a donation to the Dumb Friends League to help homeless animals. 

The latest PBS pledge drive is still going on. I should probably give to them while I'm in a giving mood.

Amy, I didn't think you were heartless.  I understand everyone deals with grief differently.  I'm so sorry if I made you feel badly.  I will be able to listen to Sondheim again.  It is not going to be a years long process for me. 

Part of my "problem" right now is that one of our supervisors at work is out sick for 2-3 weeks and I don't have time to deal with my grief at the moment. I've got too much to coordinate at work.  The non work part of my time has been occupied with vacation plans.  Speaking of work, I've got to head into work.  Mom needs me to pick up a prescription and 'right now' is the only time I'll have before I leave for Chicago at 5:30 AM tomorrow.

Two interviews with Kushner, both published a couple of weeks ago, about Caroline, or Change and West Side Story:

https://forward.com/culture/478209/tony-kushner-caroline-or-change-west-side-story-angels-in-america-jewish/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/30/t-magazine/tony-kushner-caroline-west-side.html

This past week has had record-breaking temperatures. Today it's in the 60s, and it was in the 70s yesterday and Friday. 

Today I've been listening to Sondheim's lecture at the 92nd Street Y, I assume in 1971 or so, but I forgot the date, and I wasn't savvy enough to put it in the metadata. It reminds me of the symposium I went to with Lonny Price and Paul Gemignani where SJS stopped in for a minute at the end.

Such beauty in that moment!

Quote from: AmyG on Dec 04, 2021, 01:25 pmTom and Aileen. I guess my post came off as heartless. I deleted it. I am of course grieving very much but I didn't want to make my first post about Sondheim's death be about me and what I was feeling. I wanted it to be about him and how great he was. In addition to being sad that we lost him, it is very, very fortunate that we had him for so long and we have this large body of work to enjoy forever.

Listening to and thinking about his art comforts me. I hope you two can find the same comfort one day.

Oh Amy! I wasn't offended at all. Grief is different for everyone. We are all just healing the way we need to heal.
I love that you and Chris are listening to his music and healing. ❤️

I agree with Amy. I've listened to and watched his music more for the last few days than I had in years. I think I'd reached a point of Sondheim burnout before he died but my interest has been revived and, somehow, knowing that these are almost the last new compositions that we'll hear (though certainly not the last recordings) has lent a new excitement to his music, something I haven't felt since Sunday in the Park with George came out in the 80s.

I'm hoping the publicity attendant on his death will spark new interest in his work and maybe some revivals of shows and songs that would not otherwise have happened. I wish he could have lived to see it.