Brief New Mexico Hiatus

Heading to Albuquerque for the Better Call Saul Three Strikes Group Final Party. Will be back by Sunday evening!

Barney Google's Song is 100 Years Old

One hundred years old! I remember Snuffy Smith well enough from the comics when I was a kid; Barney Google was older and beyond my time, but his name apparently inspired the large number Googol, which then inspired the Google we know today.

 

Damned Granite Countertops

Stonecutting is always hazardous, and engineered stonecutting is the worst:

Silicosis can ravage the lungs of workers after they inhale tiny particles of crystalline silica while they cut and grind stone that contains the mineral.

The disease dates back centuries, but researchers say the booming popularity of countertops made of engineered stone, which has much higher concentrations of silica than many kinds of natural stone, has driven a new epidemic of an accelerated form of the suffocating illness. As the dangerous dust builds up and scars the lungs, the disease can leave workers short of breath, weakened and ultimately suffering from lung failure.

“You can get a transplant,” Cabrera told the man in Spanish, “but it won’t last.”

In California, it has begun to debilitate young workers, largely Latino immigrants who cut and polish slabs of engineered stone. Instead of cropping up in people in their 60s or 70s after decades of exposure, it is now afflicting men in their 20s, 30s or 40s, said Dr. Jane Fazio, a pulmonary critical care physician who became alarmed by cases she saw at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Some California patients have died in their 30s. 

“They’re young guys who essentially have a terminal diagnosis,” Fazio said.

"Something Rotten" - DMTC - September 23, 2023

I made a very low-key visit to DMTC Saturday night in order to support several cast members. Several cast members stood out: Matthew Draper as Shakespeare, Tea Berumen as Portia, and Pam Lourentzos as Shylock. Kyle Jackson is particularly good as Nostradamus. Kat Fio is excellent as co-choreographer and in the dance ensemble. I had problems with the one-tone, Shouty McShoutface portrayal of Nick Bottom by Hugo Figueroa (which I blame on the writing, not Hugo's capabilities). The ensemble is uneven, per usual. I thought Rachele Wurr is particularly good.

"Fiddler on the Roof" - Lincoln Theater Company - September 16th and October 1, 2023

(Draft) 

The original Broadway production of "Fiddler on the Roof" (1964):

Book by Joseph Stein 

Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick 

Music by Jerry Bock 

Entire Production Directed & Choreographed by Jerome Robbins

From Wikipedia:

Fiddler on the Roof is based on Tevye (or Tevye the Dairyman) and his Daughters, a series of stories by Sholem Aleichem that he wrote in Yiddish between 1894 and 1914 about Jewish life in a village in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia at the turn of the 20th century. The stories are based on Aleichem's own upbringing near modern-day Kyiv (fictionalized as Yehupetz). It is also influenced by Life is with People, by Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog. Aleichem wrote a dramatic adaptation of the stories that he left unfinished at his death, but which was produced in Yiddish in 1919 by the Yiddish Art Theater and made into a film in the 1930s. In the late 1950s, a musical based on the stories, called Tevye and his Daughters, was produced off-Broadway by Arnold Perl. Rodgers and Hammerstein and then Mike Todd briefly considered bringing this musical to Broadway but dropped the idea. 

Investors and some in the media worried that Fiddler on the Roof might be considered "too Jewish" to attract mainstream audiences. Other critics considered that it was too culturally sanitized, "middlebrow" and superficial; Philip Roth, writing in The New Yorker, called it shtetl kitsch. For example, it portrays the local Russian officer as sympathetic, instead of brutal and cruel, as Sholom Aleichem had described him. Aleichem's stories ended with Tevye alone, his wife dead and his daughters scattered; at the end of Fiddler, the family members are alive, and most are emigrating together to America. The show found the right balance for its time, even if not entirely authentic, to become "one of the first popular post-Holocaust depictions of the vanished world of Eastern European Jewry". Harold Prince replaced the original producer Fred Coe and brought in director/choreographer Jerome Robbins. The writers and Robbins considered naming the musical Tevye, before landing on a title suggested by various paintings by Marc Chagall (Green Violinist (1924), Le Mort (1924), The Fiddler (1912)) that also inspired the original set design.

The Lincoln Theater production is directed and choreographed by Jeff Teague. In general, Teague's production moves and flows very well on a fairly-small stage. Teague has an excellent eye for movement. (Friend and Choreographer Pam Lourentzos particularly praised Teague's choreography.)  Musical Directon is by Bill Zinn. The Lincoln Theater production featured recorded rather than live music. 

My attention was drawn to the Bottle Dance (I've done it myself twice; in 1997 and 2008). On September 16th the dancers managed to keep their bottles on their heads (although Matt Dunn's bottle was off-center and he had a terrible challenge to keep from dropping it), all succeeded!  I was impressed how the costumes and the background set worked together in the wedding scene.

The central character in the musical is Tevye (played very well by Gary Giurbino).  Tevye is earnest, active, doing his best to maintain Jewish traditions in an era when political violence and rapid changes systematically upended every tradition. 

Tevye is ably assisted by his wife Golde (played by Rachel Rycerz). Rachel is a wonderful Golde, with the clearest singing voice and convincing familial center. 

The three older daughters - Tzeitel (Leah Deutch), Hodel (Amanda Bistolfo), Chava (Sierra Nevin) - and their beaus - Motel (Jack Fidler), Perchik (Matthew Dunn), Fyedka (Drew Mayes) - are the familial flywheel that spins apart. All three daughters play their parts well. Deutch has a bright, winning personality.  Bistolfo has an excellent singing voice and Nevin carries the difficult acting required to portray Chava's shunning. 

There are several important character actors. The Fiddler (Kayden Dayog) has a larger and welcome presence in this production than in others I've seen. Karen Tricomo portrays Yente and her talkative ways (but had a tendency to wander off-script). The Constable (Adam Triplett) seemed measured but remote. Lazar (Jamesson Kaupanger), Rabbi (Steve Allison), and Mordcha (Travis Mononym) were ably played. 

The Lincoln Theater production was dogged by difficulties, with the cast and crew catching Covid-19, among other problems. There were changes in the September 16th show that were significant. Fruma-Sarah was played, I believe, by Amanda Bistolfo. Mendel (Vikram Verma) was unable to finish the September 16th show

(More to come) 

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Role Name Hodel (Amanda Bistolfo) Sasha (Brandon Hunter) Yussell (Colin Monks) Momma (Dawn Maurer) Fyedka (Drew Mayes) Tevye (Gary Giurbino) Fruma-Sarah (Gracie Hollwager) Motel (Jack Fidler) Lazar (Jamesson Kaupanger) Yente (Karen Tricomo) Momma (Kasper Cummins-Rodriguez) Momma, Grandma Tzietel (Kay Jones) Fiddler (Kayden Dayog) Daughter Ensemble (Kourtney Sebree) Tzietel (Leah Deutch) Shprintze (MaKenna Spencer) Perchik (Matthew Dunn) Avram (Matt Toto) Belke (Persephone Hanks) Golde (Rachel Rycerz) Chava (Sierra Nevin) Rabbi (Steve Allison) Momma Ensemble (Susan M Stecz) Momma Ensemble (Tea Hanks) Mordcha (Travis Mononym) Mendel (Vikram Verma) Constable (Adam Triplett) Position Name Director/Choreographer Jeff Teague Musical Director Bill Zinn Stage Manager Patti Keeling-Haines Set Designer Brandon Hunter, Jeff Teague Costumer Laurel Krein Lighting Designer Chris Moore Sound Designer Paul Schechter Executive Director Paul Schechter Executive Producer Peggy Schechter Props/Production Assistant Kate Abila