The Theatre, the theatre! What's happened to the theatre?

Well, today's was kinda the opposite of last weekend's great theatre. Actually, this week was that way, and I have one shot left at any good theatre this weekend. Sad, sad, sad. I truly hope that my one shot left will prove to be successful.

Thursday night was the K-4th grade Christmas Program at school. I probably wouldn't have gone, were it not for my photo obligation to the yearbook. I would've asked Jeanne to go as my fellow co-editor, since she didn't go to the 5th-8th grade Veteran's Day Concert last month, but she had a choir obligation. I think she'll be taking the pictures next Tuesday at the Preschool Program. I'll be spending time with Stephanie and Merci (Who's moving in about 1 1/2 weeks to Utah!!!! How sad am I?). It was okay, but about 90% of the Kindergarteners seem to be quite hammy.

Today, I took the 7th-8th graders on a field trip to see Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella at the Reno Hilton, with Jeanne, Ann and about 6 parents (which thankfully meant I didn't have to drive students!). I was pretty excited about seeing it. Too bad that was dashed fairly soon after the show started. Oh, before the show began, they allowed the kids have a chance at an open mike thingy like last year during The Jungle Book. Aaron said, "MEEGYPTIONS RULE!!!!!!" Tori and Chae decided to sing. Nubia said, "I love Ms. Brown!!!!!!!!" Ah, junior highers.

Anyway, the show absolutely stunk. It rivaled the production of Little Shop of Horrors performed by Pine Forest when the plant was feeding lines to Seymor. It rivaled the beastly production of Romeo and Juliet at Regent's Park in London where not one part of the show was done correctly (accordian dropping at the discovery of dead Paris, Romeo, and Juliet, Mercutio the unfunny, bitter drunk, etc.). It rivaled the production of Much Ado About Nothing in Boise where the performers all were awful, and the role of Margaret was played by a 9 year old and was in a "relationship" with a man who was at least 50 or older! It rivaled the production of Little Mary Sunshine performed by the students at Exeter Union High School, which was the first time I actually hated being in a theatre. It was horrible enough to even perhaps surpass each of these miserable times at the theatre. The only good parts of the show were the sets, the orchestra, and the fact that the lines were memorized. It was horrendous: mike problems, random Disney songs thrown in (Illegally, I'm sure. The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization and the Disney Organization would never actually permit this), bad singing, hideous acting, and on and on it goes. There are not enough adjectives in the Oxford Dictionary to describe how truly heinous this show was.

So, I went to the BAC to see Carson High School's production of Oliver Twist with Chris tonight. Break here to say that it's great to have friends in Carson who are more than willing to see shows with me, I've missed that! Anyhoo, it was an awful script. Half the people decided to attempt British or Cockney accents. The other half used typical American teenager accents (including Oliver!). I sometimes had to shake with laughter because there were such bad parts, but I didn't want to throw off a performer with laughing outloud at an inappropriate part. I wanted to leave at intermission when Chris suggested it, but I knew some of the kids and would have felt bad (we were in the second row, and in plain view). The script distorted much of the story, and it saddened me to see how Dickens was slaughtered. Why destroy greatness???????? Who would intentionally do this?????

So, tomorrow is my last straw. I am desperately grasping at it, clinging to it, praying that it will prove worthwhile. We got tickets for Ruthless tomorrow night. I'm hoping it will be good, I truly am. I need to salvage my deteriorating belief in the existence of good theatre locally--two bad shows in one day may prove to be too much for this naiive faith I once held.

Well, if nothing else, I have great theatre in my room at the moment. I bought Season 2 of Gilmore Girls, and have been laughing incessantly at the sheer intelligent humor which permeates throughout each episode. What other show would throw in references to Herman Melville, the Spice Girls, and Frank Sinatra all in one normal episode? This show is so smart, funny, and doesn't gloss over real life issues. It is honestly the only show I make a point to watch.

The lyrics come from the song "Choreography" which was used in White Christmas. Gotta love those Irving Berlin numbers!