A Little Brains, a Little Talent

There are a lot of performers careers that I really admire, not only for their acting ability alone, but for the breadth of genres that they cover as well (Audra McDonald anyone? And, as Cameron from Modern Family would vehemently agree with me, Meryl Streep…)

Don’t even get me STARTED on Sophie’s Choice!

Which brings me to another actor I would want even half the career of: Christopher Lloyd.  Some of you may be thinking, “what does that have to do with Modern Family?” Well:

*Update 1/23: So… apparently I’m an idiot (this may not surprise many of you), but my sister-in-law pointed out to me this morning that not all Christopher Lloyds are created equal and the creator of Modern Family is not the same, dear Professor Plum I know and love.  Lame! STOP WRECKING MY LIFE, FAKE CHRISTOPHER LLOYD!!!! [It’s okay, though, I’ll make up for it in my next post.]
And that’s not even the START of it.  He was in two of my absolute favorite movies:

        

   I’ve already waxed (not so) poetically about it here!!       You’ve no soul if you aren’t a bawling mess by the end 

However, what prompted this particular post is that last night he appeared on my current ub-session of a TV show, Fringe.  I’ll basically follow J.J. Abrams down any conspiratorial rabbit hole (Alias, Lost, Undercovers) so it’s no surprise I’m transfixed by this modern day X-Files.

I’ve yet to actually watch the episode, but based on this still from the episode alone I am hypothesizing he plays an Andy Warhol inspired, S&M loving shape shifter from the other universe.  That’s probable on that show, right?

Oh yeah, and he was also in some rarely seen trilogy from the ‘80s about a time traveling teen and his wacky mad scientist cohort.  You’ve probably never heard of them though so it’s not really worth discussing.

Artist: Richard Adler/ Album: Damn Yankees

Random nerd fact: Eric Stoltz was actually supposed to play Marty McFly because Michael J. Fox was busy filming Family Ties, but midway through shooting the film makers decided he wasn’t quite right for the role.  Blog full circle moment?: During an episode of Fringe in the alternate universe this can be seen in the background…

STOP BLOWING MY MIND, CHRISTOPHER LLOYD!

He that shall endure to the end, shall be saved

Welllllll this is the last post from Europe!  Last night was the final Elijah concert (until Ann Arbor that is) and praise be to God that it is being held in a cathedral!!  I am so happy to have our last performance in an appropriate space! (The exclaimation points mean I'm thrilled!!!)

The Billerbeck Dom

Restoration that was taking place

Side chapel

I am lucky enough to be staying with the conductor for this leg of the tour, which means that I got a little extra time to work with him on tempi... plus he didn't feel the need to show me around because he knew that basically all I wanted to do was rest.  It was the perfect last house! He met his wife while visiting France and because he only spoke German and she only spoke French they had to talk to each other in English!  At home, though, she speaks French to her daughter and he speaks German, so needless to say there were many many conversations I didn't understand.

With Ann and Pouline!

                    

Maestro Ludwig before the performance

And for one final random picture... they had this game at there house in German! (of course, what other language would it be in?) If you read my previous post then you know I LOVE anything to do with this game!

THE BUTLER DID IT!!! BTW, who the blank is Fraulein Gloria? And don't even get me started on Oberst von Gatow... I'm pretty sure that's not even a real German name.

The Elijah performance went very well and we even had a thunderstorm during part of it which was wholly appropriate.  DIRECTLY after the performance we had to load up the bus and take a nine hour drive from Billerbeck to Paris.  

                        

Oooooweeeeoooohhhaaaahhh... creepy night time bus ride

                                  

Our bus for the last 3 1/2 weeks.  I would have gotten a picture with the driver, Peter, but quite frankly he was super grumblies and not exactly the most agreeable of people!

Then we continued the whole process by getting seventy plus high schoolers through Charles de Gaulle airport, which I'm sure you can imagine was a fun time for all involved.  Luckily, though, I had spoken with my friend Steven (he was one of my closest friends at my undergraduate, Baylor University, in Texas) and oddly enough had been in Germany visiting family and was flying out of Air France at the same time as us but only to Houston instead of Chicago.  Even though we only got to see each other for five hot seconds it was enough to get me through the morning!

                        

I MISS YOU!

Everything involving the check in, flight, and process of going through customs went very smoothly and the parents were at the airport to happily collect their progeny.  I can't tell you the joy I myself had in seeing their heads get smaller and smaller as they were swifted away!!! (Yes, five weeks with high schoolers has soured me a bit!)

As I mentioned earlier, we will have the chance to perform Elijah one more time... at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI on July 27th at 7:30pm.  If you are in the area, PLEASE come! It is truly a wonderful piece of music and I am very proud of the work that I and the choir and orchestra have put into it.  If you aren't able to make it to Michigan, don't fear: the Blue Lake radio station, which is the NPR channel for that part of the state, will be broadcasting it and also live-streaming it on the internet.  I will have more details to follow once I get them.

                        

Though I am not exactly sure what time zone, or state (mental or physical) or day it is, I am very happy to be back in the states.  I had an ab.so.lutely amazing tour and the good times certainly helped me get through the stressful ones.  I made so many fantastic friends, got to sing something that I have dreamed of doing for the last eight years and I hope you enjoyed the photos and stories in the process!!

At the dark end of the street

Move over, Oprah, there's a new book club in town!!!! And by "book club" I of course mean "I-don't-actually-read-books-and-just-watch-a-lot-of-movies-and-television-,-some-of-which-might-happen-to-be-based-on-books." Whew... looks like I've used my hyphen allotment for the day week.  It's okay though, because I have a fellow non-reader whommm's intelligence I admire and can justify my not reading because she's smart.  That makes sense, right? 

For the inaugural selection it may not surprise a lot of you that I have chosen Clue, my absolute favorite movie!  It is the one constant gauge I use to judge whether or not I should be friends with someone, and only one person has gotten away with not liking it; I excuse him only because he grew up on a farm and doesn't know any better.  It is also the only movie ever to be based upon a classic board game.  Well, until those bastard step-triplets Monopoly, Battleship, and (I'll admit it, this one sounds fabulous) Candy Land come out.  Unfortunately, those are in fact legitimate films now in production... but needless to say: Clue was the first, and from the looks of it, will still be the best.  That is, unless they hire Meryll Streep to play the old leather boot.  The Oscars just LOVE a rags to riches story. 

Side note- Did you know that Clue, originally called Cluedo in it's native United Kingdom, changed the character of Reverund Green to Mr. Green when translating for American audiences because there was an objection to even the chance that a man of the cloth would have something to do with a (hypothetical) murder?  Yeah, didn't think so.

Yet I digress.  The plot is basically what you would expect: people go to a ominously dark mansion, there's a bunch of murders, blah blah blah secret passage ways, candle sticks, etc.  What makes it such a great movie is the stellar ensemble cast: Madeline Kahn (Mrs. White), Christopher Lloyd (Professor Plumb), Tim Curry (the butler), Lesley Ann Warren (Miss Scarlet), Eileen Brennan (Mrs. Peacock), Michael McKean (Mr. Green), Martin Mull (Colonel Mustard), and Colleen Camp (the maid).

I have seen this movie more times than I can count, but I first watched it (and then rewatched and rewatched) with my brother when we were younger.  The part that always got me then was when the singing telegram girl gets shot:

(Hopefully this isn't where my career is headed)

Since then I have owned the movie in all its various incarnations... VHS, DVD, digital download from iTunes, and finally on my iPod.  At one point, my friends Will and Clinton and I would watch it over and over, just focusing on one character the whole movie through.  And yes, somehow I have managed to get three degrees in the process!  I have watched it so many times that it is among the few movies I can quote large sections of.  Sections like these:

(MMMMM... omlets)

(Just listen to those suspenders pop!)

Mr. Green: Who would wanna kill the cook?

Miss Scarlet: Dinner wasn't that bad.
Colonel Mustard: How can you make jokes at a time like this?
Miss Scarlet: It's my defense mechanism.
Colonel Mustard: Some defense, if I was the killer, I would kill you next.
Miss Scarlet: Oh?
[Everyone looks at Colonel Mustard]
Colonel Mustard: I said, "if," "IF!"

Wadsworth: The game's up, Scarlet. There are no more bullets left in that gun.
Miss Scarlet: Oh, come on, you don't think I'm gonna fall for that old trick?
Wadsworth: It's not a trick. There was one shot at Mr. Boddy in the Study; two for the chandelier; two at the Lounge door and one for the singing telegram.
Miss Scarlet: That's not six.
Wadsworth: One plus two plus two plus one.
Miss Scarlet: Uh-uh, there was only one shot that got the chandelier. That's one plus two plus *one* plus one.
Wadsworth: Even if you were right, that would be one plus one plus two plus one, not one plus *two* plus one plus one.
Miss Scarlet: Okay, fine. One plus two plus one... Shut up! The point is, there is one bullet left in this gun and guess who's gonna get it!

Mr. Green: [to Miss Scarlet] So, how did you know Colonel Mustard works in Washington? Is he one of your clients?
Colonel Mustard: Certainly not!
Mr. Green: I was asking Miss Scarlet.
Colonel Mustard: [to Miss Scarlet] Well, you tell him it's not true.
Miss Scarlet: It's not true.
Professor Plum: [to Miss Scarlet] Is that true?
Miss Scarlet: No, it's not true.
Mr. Green: Ah ha! So it is true!
Wadsworth: A double negative!
Colonel Mustard: A double negative?
[whispering]
Colonel Mustard: You mean you have photographs?
Wadsworth: That sounds like a confession to me. In fact the double negative has led to proof positive. I'm afraid you gave yourself away.
Colonel Mustard: [angry, to Wadsworth] Are you trying to make me look stupid in front of the other guests?
Wadsworth: You don't need any help from me, sir.
Colonel Mustard: That's right!


I could probably go on like this for a while but it might be easier-- and probably more entertaining-- for you to just rent the damn movie.  Plus, it has three different endings!!!  When the movie was first released theatrically, depending on which theater you went to, you would get a different ending, just as if you were playing the game. C'aint nobody say that about Fargo.  Like, what if it were Jerry Lundegaard, in the dealer lot, with a tire iron instead of Gaear Grimsrud, by the lake, with a woodchipper?  Doesn't exactly have the same ring as Miss Scarlet, in the study, with the revolver.  Apparently a fourth ending was scripted and filmed but never made it into the movie because it clashed with the comedic nature of the movie.  Must have been horrifying!

Oh... and I also recently read that Universal Studios is set to film a re-make of the movie, which will most likely be horrible and cast Jessica Simpson as the maid. Gore Verbinski, of Pirates of the Caribbean directorial fame, is said to helm.

Damned Ladies

I admit that I am doing a bit of backtracking here, but I couldn't get away without posting a couple of photos from the University of Michigan production of Christoph von Gluck's Armide that went up last weekend.  For a more detailed summary of the opera check Wikipedia's page here,  but a brief synopsis provided on the site is as follows:

Set during the First Crusade, this is the love story of the sorceress Armide and the Christian knight Renaud. At war with the Christian Crusaders, Armide ensnares her enemy Renaud with her magic spells, but at the moment she raises her dagger to kill him, she finds herself falling in love with him. She casts a spell to make him fall in love with her in return, but two of his fellow soldiers find their way to Renaud, and break her spell. Renaud is thus able to escape from Armide, who is left in enraged despair.

Or at least that's what I hear happens.  I was in the first two of five acts and don't really know what happens after I leave!  I didn't realize until about a month into rehearsals that I was not playing Armide's father but her uncle :-/ 

Kristin Eder, Warrior Princess

(with Mary Martin and Amy Petrongelli)

... and her sassy servant Mary Martin

Armide's father uncle, Hidraot, doing his best Jewish mother impression:

"The war's over, I'm getting old, settle down and get married already!"

She ain't havin' none of it. 

(Jennie Nash as Armide, with Mary Martin and Nicole Greenidge)

Uh oh! Someone has set all of our captives free!

(Nick Ward as some beaten-up soldier)

You free'd my slaves? I'll just call forth all the demons from Hell.  Check and mate?

I LOVE this picutre because everyone around Jennie is moving and she's just summoning her sould out... or, rather, lost souls out

 

HA! I've got you

(Kristin Eder and Willis Bote as Renaud)

You know, you're kinda hot... I don't know if I can go through with this

(Jennie Nash and Kyle Knapp as Renaud)

So, that didn't work and I fell in love with you.  I'll see my demons and raise you the personification of Hate!

(Jennie Nash and Kyle Knapp)

Wah-wah.  Smoke and glowing red walls are never a good omen

Renaud's Crusader back-up getting seduced by one of Armide's temptresses.  Or is it temptressi?

(Jesse Enderle and Kate Wakefield)

A leading lady, a knife, and being alone on stage at the end of an opera does not a happy opera make.

Armide-with the dagger-in the palace... Wadsworth had it all wrong!

And finally a couple of pictures from backstage in the dressing rooms... where all the glamor happens!

Mary Martin, Joseph Roberts, Jennie Nash, Nicole Greenidge

This is what happened when we were told to do a "silly" picture.

To college students I guess "sexy" equals "silly"? Although Mary adds a dash of confusion to her sexy.

A little May/December romance perhaps?

What... grey hair is distinguished looking, right?

Finally, thanks to Willis Bote, one of the Renaud's, for providing the pictures from the show! Oh, and also, the title of the post is a reference to a great song by Rufus Wainwright in which he pleads with the leading ladies of opera not to kill themselves, in case you were wondering.  In fact, all of the titles are song names that have something to do with their respective posts.  It's ridiculous, I know, but I'm not that ashamed of it in the least.

Here's to Life

What are you doing? What, what, WHAT are you doing tonight? If the answer isn't: "watching the premier of Life on the Discovery channel," then you don't deserve to be my friend. I have been excited about the follow-up to Planet Earth, a collaboration between The Discovery Channel and the BBC, ever since I saw a clip from the British version last year.

My ub-session with Planet Earth actually began when Oprah devoted an entire episode to the series on her show. I now own it and it's by far the most re-watched DVD in my collection. Well, that and Clue: The Movie.  She became such an advocate for the show that the producers hired her to narrate Life in the US, though I'm a little sad we won't get to hear the gravitas-laden voice of David Attenborough explaining the mating habits of Bornean orangutans with a certain eloquence only a Brit can muster. Smart move, mind you, because with her involvement it is bound to win a gazillion awards. Or we'll see the historic election of our first TV Documentary president in 2012.



Oh yeah, and blah blah blah topical comment about Life and the impending health care vote tonight.

Update: I completely buried the lead in my original post. My old roommate, Lembit, is friends with a guy who wrote some of the music for Life. How cool is that?