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Mar. 17th, 2003 06:20 am
The Weekend Report
As Weekends go, not bad.
Friday night I went bowling with some friends. Dark alleys, fluorescent lighting, 80's music -- not bad. Afterward, we had dinner at Outback Steakhouse, then hit the local Gamer Geek store and then went our seperate ways.
Saturday we went up to Sutter Creek, a small, picturesque foothills community about 50 miles from Sacramento. Sutter Creek is known to history as the town that served the Sutter Gold Mine, which launched California's Gold Rush back in the latter half of the 1800s. (There, Lograh: Historical.)
While there, we perused the many antique stores. My focus was on old books. I found two I had to have: the first is an old Teacher's Class Book (in which teachers keep grades of their students), printed in 1886 and filled with the records of a teacher from the term beginning in February 1928. If you want to know what Emily Dixson got in Typing I&II, I can tell you. This, of course, was bought for mostly "neato" value for this teacher-to-be.
The second was a book of Anglican devotionals, written by a vicar in Shropshire, England and printed in Philadelphia in 1819. The book is a first edition, making it 184 years old. It's in remarkably good condition, though far from perfect. I'll be seeking the proper storage/display medium for it ASAP.
Later, we had drinks at the local saloon and then headed over to the theatre, where we saw Amadeus -- which goal had been the motivating factor for this trip, our friend Ed being an actor in the show.
Holy. Shit.
I'd seen the movie version of the play, but the stage version broke me. It is lyrical and fantastic, a veritable storm of warring ideologies and emotions, and it exhausts the audience even as it exhausts the actors.
Bill Voorhees as Mozart was a surprise; I hadn't been told he was in the show (I've seen some of his other work here). I knew he could handle the infantile behavior of Mozart, but I wasn't convinced he could handle the man's descent into despair. I have rarely been so wrong. He not only handled it, he played it like Yo Yo Ma plays the Cello. A very good job.
Allen Pontes deserves an Elly for that role (The Elly is the local Sacramento Stage awards). He's on stage the entire show (minus maybe five minutes), and he moves from pleasantry to despair and back like no one I've seen before. His voice, his movement, his face -- all were used to perfection. I was in awe of the man.
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mslulu and I are of the opinion that Sacramento Audiences -- and likely most modern audiences -- are far too liberal with standing ovations. Such things are for the rarest and most fantastic of performances, not just anything you liked. And bit players, unless they steal the show, don't get them. Yes, there are no small parts.
Pontes deserved one. We should have been on our feet, proclaiming his work deserving of our awe. But no one was able. We were simply too awed, too exhausted, to stand. But at least there was the appropriate rise in level of applause, along with a few whistles.
If that's the caliber of work the small (ten rows of 14 chairs) theatre puts on regularly, I think I shall be attending more plays there.
Editted: Added Pontes' name
Friday night I went bowling with some friends. Dark alleys, fluorescent lighting, 80's music -- not bad. Afterward, we had dinner at Outback Steakhouse, then hit the local Gamer Geek store and then went our seperate ways.
Saturday we went up to Sutter Creek, a small, picturesque foothills community about 50 miles from Sacramento. Sutter Creek is known to history as the town that served the Sutter Gold Mine, which launched California's Gold Rush back in the latter half of the 1800s. (There, Lograh: Historical.)
While there, we perused the many antique stores. My focus was on old books. I found two I had to have: the first is an old Teacher's Class Book (in which teachers keep grades of their students), printed in 1886 and filled with the records of a teacher from the term beginning in February 1928. If you want to know what Emily Dixson got in Typing I&II, I can tell you. This, of course, was bought for mostly "neato" value for this teacher-to-be.
The second was a book of Anglican devotionals, written by a vicar in Shropshire, England and printed in Philadelphia in 1819. The book is a first edition, making it 184 years old. It's in remarkably good condition, though far from perfect. I'll be seeking the proper storage/display medium for it ASAP.
Later, we had drinks at the local saloon and then headed over to the theatre, where we saw Amadeus -- which goal had been the motivating factor for this trip, our friend Ed being an actor in the show.
Holy. Shit.
I'd seen the movie version of the play, but the stage version broke me. It is lyrical and fantastic, a veritable storm of warring ideologies and emotions, and it exhausts the audience even as it exhausts the actors.
Bill Voorhees as Mozart was a surprise; I hadn't been told he was in the show (I've seen some of his other work here). I knew he could handle the infantile behavior of Mozart, but I wasn't convinced he could handle the man's descent into despair. I have rarely been so wrong. He not only handled it, he played it like Yo Yo Ma plays the Cello. A very good job.
Allen Pontes deserves an Elly for that role (The Elly is the local Sacramento Stage awards). He's on stage the entire show (minus maybe five minutes), and he moves from pleasantry to despair and back like no one I've seen before. His voice, his movement, his face -- all were used to perfection. I was in awe of the man.
mslulu and I are of the opinion that Sacramento Audiences -- and likely most modern audiences -- are far too liberal with standing ovations. Such things are for the rarest and most fantastic of performances, not just anything you liked. And bit players, unless they steal the show, don't get them. Yes, there are no small parts. Pontes deserved one. We should have been on our feet, proclaiming his work deserving of our awe. But no one was able. We were simply too awed, too exhausted, to stand. But at least there was the appropriate rise in level of applause, along with a few whistles.
If that's the caliber of work the small (ten rows of 14 chairs) theatre puts on regularly, I think I shall be attending more plays there.
Editted: Added Pontes' name