RENT!!!

[Blogger's Note: I can't believe I've waited so long to publish this... I must be slipping...]

Today's Special: WINE AND BEER!!

First off, let's flash back to Winter Quarter 2006. Five college students all live in the same dorm, all hang out constantly, and are all obsessed with the songs from the musical Rent. They sing those songs when they're out walking at night, when they're sitting together in the lounge, when they're having their girls' nights... basically, all the time.

Now, flash forward to a week ago, when three of those obsessed Rent-heads got a chance to see the BROADWAY TOURING SHOW LIVE AT THE PARAMOUNT, starring ANTHONY RAPP AND ADAM PASCAL.

(For those not in the know, Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal originated the roles of Mark and Roger, respectively, on Broadway and starred in the movie version of the musical. Short of seeing the entire original cast, watching these two actors play the roles they originated is the Holy Grail for true Rent fans.)

Before I get into the show itself, let me tell you a bit about the Paramount. It is, by far, the MOST AWESOME theatre I have ever been in. Besides being HUGE, the theatre is incredibly ornate; it seemed that there were chandeliers and decorations everywhere I looked. For the first five minutes I was there, all I could do was look around me in awe.

The show itself was awesome as well. The musical uses a lot more symbolism and theatricality than the movie did. The sets were suggestive more than specific, and any one set piece could be used for many different things and places. The lighting was inventive too: in "One Song Glory," spotlights cast giant shadows of Adam Pascal on the back wall.

In terms of the cast, I thought they were all pretty good. My favorite was Anthony Rapp's Mark, of course, but I also liked Angel. Benny was more of an ass than the Taye Diggs version, but that suited the character; as much as I love Taye Diggs, I think he's too nice to play Benny.

All in all, I absolutely LOVED seeing the show live. There's something different and special about live theatre; it affects you in a very direct, very present, very real way. Things I loved experiencing live: "Moo-ing" with Maureen, La Vie Boheme, Light My Candle, and Life Support.

Addendum to Reading List

Just a note: My cousin let me borrow her copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Since I've wanted to read this book ever since I first saw it on the shelf of my college bookstore in December (I didn't buy it because I hoped to find it under the Christmas tree; alas, it was not to be), I'm going to let good ol' Faulkner wait for a while before I get to his Light in August (sorry, Willy).

The Lovely Bones

Today's Special: Ruana's apple pie and your choice of drinks from a bar stocked by Grandma Lynn.


Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones was at once what I expected and very much not what I expected.

I expected the novel to be a story about a murder in the suburbs, a tale in which a murder happens in a town where the citizens have always been sure that such a thing could never happen. I expected the plot to revolve around how the murder affects the town and how the murderer is eventually brought to justice.

I wasn't disappointed. The story was about those things. And yet, it was also about so much more.

The Lovely Bones is about grief. It's about how loss can bring people together and tear them apart. It's about how people can eventually, in different ways, come to terms with their grief.

Through Susie, we get to see into the minds of the many people who are affected by her life and death: her father, who becomes obsessed with catching her murderer and ignores other aspects of his life; her mother, who is shaken from the suburban life she settled for; her sister, Lindsey, who finds herself marked both by her status as sister to a murdered girl and her physical resemblance to Susie; Ray Singh, the boy loved Susie and gave her her first kiss; Ruth Conner, a girl who bumped into Susie as her soul left the Earth; and even Mr. George Harvey, serial murderer and rapist who killed Susie.

As we follow these interconnected characters and see their stories unfold, Sebold's greatest achievement lies in getting the little things right. Her characters don't respond in the ways we've been taught to expect in TV shows like Law and Order or CSI. In those shows, the families are usually little more than tools to express the magnitude of the crime; the larger story is the killer who took their family member's life. In Sebold's book, the family and friends ARE the story, and she allows each of these people to be as contradictory and unpredictable as real human beings. We don't always agree with them, but Sebold's deft storytelling allows us to see where they're coming from. Even Mr. Harvey, who is clearly a despicable excuse for a human being, is given a backstory that makes him more complex and believable than your standard black hat.

Sebold does delve into the over-dramatic at times. And there is one sequence near the end that just seemed too fantastic to me. But for most of the novel, Sebold tells the tale in a calm, clear, and patient tone, allowing the characters and story to unfold on their own time. In the process, I think she succeeds in shining a light onto what grief and tragedy really does to people - not what Hollywood would have us believe it does.

The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-Six

This book turned out to be much more fascinating than I'd expected when I first added it to my stack at the library.

I knew the book would feature a new twist on the fairy tale genre, but I had no idea that this new twist would center on something so strange and interesting. In the introduction, the author presents the collection of twelve tales as the result of meticulous research by Dr. Jay Katz, who found a list of thirty-six names below a synagogue in Germany and went from village to village, seeking out old folktales that concerned these thirty-six people. The names are supposed to be the Lamedh-Vov (literally, the Thirty-Six), the number of righteous people that must exist on Earth, according to Jewish tradition, in order for God to maintain his faith in humanity. These people are necessarily anonymous - if any of these people learns that they are members of the Lamedh-Vov, their status is revoked, and someone else is called to take their place. If ALL thirty-six are known at once, the world as we know it will end. To maintain anonymity, their names have been replaced by letters from the Jewish alphabet. In addition, only twelve stories are included in this collection.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the righteous people featured in these folktales is that none of them are the sort of people one would expect to be fairytale heroes. The protagonists are whores, murderers, thieves, false Messiahs, fools, even golems (mud women). And yet, as I read their stories, I found that my initial perceptions were challenged at every turn. And each time, the seemingly lowest and basest turned out to be ones who taught the most important lessons.

What I liked best was the clarity and deceptive simplicity of the storytelling. Jonathon Keats shows incredible talent for telling uncomfortable truths about life, love, and relationships - something I value in my literature. Things do not always wrap up neatly in his stories. The heroes don't always live, love stories don't always work out the way one might want them to, but the message is always clear.

I also liked the chance to learn a bit more about Jewish culture. I love books that allow me to immerse myself in a place and time that I don't know much about.

Bottom line: The Book of the Unknown is a fascinating, thought-provoking, and sometimes unsettling read that is definitely worth picking up.

Summer Reading List - Phase 1

I went to the library today to kick off my summer reading. While the Kent Regional Library didn't have ANY of the books I was looking for (only TWO Jane Austen books? Really?), I did find some potentially interesting reads. Here's what I have for the first phase of my summer reading plans:

• The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-Six - Jonathon Keats
• The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
• Light in August - William Faulkner
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie
• The Quiet Girl - Peter Hoeg

I'm about half-way through with The Book of the Unknown, and it's pretty amazing so far. I'll follow up with reviews once I finish each book.