PARKING LOT MEMORY

 My friend has a fitness pass that allows her to bring a friend. I get to work out for free, and she gets the motivation to go when I join her. It’s working for the both of us.

We left the gym, and were standing between the two parking lots, deciding our next workout. She had parked where I always do, and she was hating it. I parked where she usually does, and laughed that she didn’t do it too!

The sky was painted with a vivid pink and muted purple. The sun had set, and its last reflections backlit the scattered clouds in grey. 

I heard the honking, and looked up just in time to see a gaggle of Canada geese flying across the sunset, crossing our vision like a live version gif. 

As they moved across from East to West, I followed their action and noted above them a dark expanse with a tiny crescent moon in its typical waxing association that marks flags across middle eastern countries.

It was a splendid live moment, and being shared, however briefly, made it that much more precious.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

WARNING: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

It is hard to describe the performance I watched tonight, but in a phrase, it was unbelievably moving. I was honestly concerned that I would be disappointed, because the original recording is incredible, and I was looking forward to the show for a long time.

I didn’t need to be worried. It was incredible! The songs came to life with some voices that I had confused, now concretely performed by distinct characters. The voices of Jesus and Judas took me back to my early adult years of the characteristic falsettos of the heavy metal genre I still love. Mary Magdalen had such beautiful dynamic control of her emotional vocals. The entire score is a rock opera triumph!

It’s getting late, but here are a few highlights:

The theatre marquis was BRIGHT, but all LED! 

The Stanley Theatre is amazing. Built in the 1930s, it was renovated in the 1970s and is in spectacular condition today.

Opening scene is the stage with a base guitarist stage left standing in alcoves with two other instrumentalists (unseen thanks to my partially obstructed seat E22, so I may be wrong) that played throughout

Lots of dry ice, glitter and confetti, with glitter as water, and blood, silver glitter smeared on a number of performers in a quick costume change that I would love to have seen back stage. It was efficient!

The ramp that descended center stage was cross shaped

The Pharisee pair of tenor and bass were unreal! The costumes and props were simple and effective. I found myself grinning with the beauty of it, when they were actually condemning him to death! I had trouble not enjoying myself more than caught up in the story until Jesus finishes sitting in the garden, exhausted and reconciled to his fate.

Jesus in Gethsemane. I noticed that the singer/actor was adding the extra complexity of playing the guitar during the buildup, and I was starting to think he was just not going to do the high notes that take my breath away when Steve Balsano sings, but then he did it! I was among the many to hoot and cheer when he finished. It was too amazing not to be recognized, even though it was a weird place to break out of the story. 

Judas’ narrator role might have inspired Aaron Burr’s a little. His anguish was portrayed with his hands dipped in silver for his betrayal, and his suicide a combination of his climbing the platform and the “mob leader” falling forward on her head below as a metaphor.

Herod as drag queen in a gold Liberace style cape of feathers and extended eyelashes, with a brutal row of headless, tongue less victims, playing it psychotic and effeminate with a southern twang, was the most radical of changes.

The “mob leader” was an unexpected weirdness, frenetically thrashing in random places. Got to credit her for physical effort. Giving Jesus 39 lashes with glitter was quite an intense scene.

Also, there missed opportunity for one scene of mob asking questions of Jesus. I would have loved see them as paparazzi shoving mikes in his face. ( I have since watched the original film, and they do it brilliantly. It was excellent too, but the live performance cannot be beat!)

The Crucifixion was necessarily brutal and gruesome, with a crown of thorns.

They end with Jesus off the cross, sitting across from Judas, on either side of the transverse cross.

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber truly made a masterpiece. It is my favourite version of the last days of Jesus, with complex emotions and historical and political maneuvering that I have never seen or heard paralleled.

Although there was a mix of melanin in the cast, I did not so anyone leaving the theatre that looked anything but white.

When I relistened to the original tracks on the way home, I realized that the organ, tambourine, and saxophone had been removed. Is it possible there was only guitar, and that the piano was removed too? I suspect there was a keyboard, but can’t confirm. 

If you can see this extended 50th anniversary tour version of JCS, you need to go! You will not regret it!

I LOVE SOLO TRAVEL

I drove 8 hours today to see a 2 hour musical that is bound to be, on some level, a disappointment. It’s spitting rain, and I am badly parked in front of a Dominican restaurant where the single server was engrossed in a difficult Doordash order when I arrived. When I got her attention, somewhere halfway through explaining every item on the menu on the phone, I gestured questioningly to a table, hoping to seat myself at the window if I could. She nodded, and here I sit at a table with a table covered with a red checkered cloth, and a vase of snow white flowers. The air is filled with a warm aroma of garlic and oil, and I am drinking a unsweetened ice tea in a glass of ice waiting for plantain and yucca dishes that I will wolf down with pleasure. My only emotion is happiness. I have loved this day, and I haven’t even seen the main event. 

When I travel, I don’t feel lonely when I am alone. I can stop at a restaurant, ignore others, read a book, eavesdrop on conversations, and no one bats an eye. I can stop where I want (although time is always at a premium), and I found on this trip that I no longer even need a navigator, having downloaded the complicated route to my phone, that happily indicated each turn with a morse code buzzing on my wrist and a broadcast through my car stereo when and where and in which direction.

I sat outside with my neighbours last night, and excitedly explained to them about my upcoming, last minute, whirlwind trip to see the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. I have been enjoying the score for years. Telling them turned out to be a mistake, because they had no ability to enthuse vicariously. They were honestly worried for me, with one of them bewildered by my plan to go alone. She shook her head, saying,” I wouldn’t do it”. I showed them the incredible vocal range of my favourite song “Gethsemane” ,they were not only unconvinced; they didn’t like it!

I feel sorry for them. I am grateful that I am able to go to something truly special  even when no one else appreciates it. I am grateful that it’s still exciting to navigate myself to somewhere new. I am grateful that I can pack in a few minutes, grab my car keys, passport, and proof of insurance, and be on my way! I am grateful that I can sit at a table alone in a restaurant and find myself in the most pleasant company. I am grateful that I can travel alone, and that I love it!