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Most expensive Sound of Music ever
Dec. 13th, 2015 07:29 pmOne of my actorfriends is touring in Sound of Music, and they're in Baltimore this weekend. I DM'd him on Friday that I was coming to the Saturday matinee (I got a good deal on a limited view ticket), and all this was originally supposed to be a quick trip up. I leave town at 12:30 for a 2 pm show, so I have time in case traffic does weird stuff and to drop off a gift for him before the show.
Remember how one of my tires has an excruciatingly slow leak that can't be found, so I was late to the James Bond thing because I had to refill? Different tire, but I found on the problem on Saturday! Dry rot had set in on all of them.
I'm on 95, luckily in heavy traffic, when I run over a plastic bottle someone else had already run over, and that was enough that my front left tire decided there and then to give up the ghost. Getting over to the right-hand shoulder happened only because of heavy traffic, it was definite "clunk, clunk, clunk", and very flat. So much for a 2 pm show - I can't get to Baltimore on the spare, but I'm right outside Columbia, so I head for the nearest tire store. It is by now after 1:30, so obviously 2 pm in Baltimore isn't happening.
So four new tires, labour costs, alignment, etc. $564 just to get to Baltimore to see Ben, who I haven't seen in ages. New ticket purchased, also limited view but maybe actually better than the original if I'm honest (I think the tower was going to be more in my way with the original seat).
I have been so damned exhausted today because even though I spent a solid two and a half hours just sitting at NTB and playing on my phones (thank god I had work and personal because I hadn't counted on downtime and had partial battery on both, no charging cables, and no book in my purse so I was on phone-only entertainment), the stress was tiring.
On the up side, the show was excellent. I am still pissed off at Jack O'Brien for what he did to Coast of Utopia (some weird cuts, a big chunk of miscasting, and some choices that made it seem like it was thought American audiences are stupid and cannot understand subtext, which pissed me off most), but this Sound of Music is pretty well done. Most importantly, the kids never come off as twee or too cute and Liesl has amazing teenage bitchface (though sadly this doesn't play out the way I want it to with Rolf - she's patently annoyed that he's calling her a baby after they've been making out in the woods or whatever, but she doesn't get to do her verse of Sixteen Going on Seventeen sarcastically even though he deserves it). Merwin Foard might be my favourite Max - he is exactly like Cameron Folmar as Lucio in Jonathan Munby's production of Measure for Measure. And I was there for two reasons, really - to see Ben as Captain von Trapp with a more age-appropriate Maria (the last time was Elena Shaddow, who is my age or older, and Ben is too young for the role unless von Trapp was made a captain at 19, but now he's older than Christopher Plummer was, so this role always gets cast too damned young for the math to make sense), and to see the Maria, Kerstin Anderson, because in all the pictures, including on Ben's doughnut blog, she just glows. And holy shit, she does. Glows. The last time I saw anyone with this kind of stage presence was Janie Brookshire as Desdemona at Folger a few years back (Owiso Odera as very hot Othello). I couldn't stop staring at her, because how could anyone? Of course the Captain is paying attention to her because how can you not? She is luminous.
So in the end, I got exactly what I wanted - a good production from decent seats, a chance to see Ben again for the first time in ages (last attempt failed because I tried to hurry up to see him in Violet before he left and then he was sick that performance, so it has been a few years, we think), and new tires that I knew I was probably due to buy anyway but was really hoping to put off to the new year. And Ben got his delivery of a dozen doughnuts from District Doughnuts because I like to show off and buy the love of barricade boys *g*. (Seriously, I've known Ben Davis for a solid 17 years, it's a nice stage door relationship, and as he's jokingly touring the US in search of great doughnuts, I had to make sure DC was appropriately represented.) So everything worked out, but I could definitely have done without the stress. (and the money isn't an issue - it's what savings are for - I just really did not want to have new glasses and new tires in the same month. But that's also what Visa is for - if my billing period still closes on the 11th of every month, I just barely managed to slide the tires onto the next billing cycle, so close enough.)
And then I got up this morning because I couldn't sleep anyway, washed the car, got groceries, came home, and slept for another three and a half hours. Too much stress yesterday!
Remember how one of my tires has an excruciatingly slow leak that can't be found, so I was late to the James Bond thing because I had to refill? Different tire, but I found on the problem on Saturday! Dry rot had set in on all of them.
I'm on 95, luckily in heavy traffic, when I run over a plastic bottle someone else had already run over, and that was enough that my front left tire decided there and then to give up the ghost. Getting over to the right-hand shoulder happened only because of heavy traffic, it was definite "clunk, clunk, clunk", and very flat. So much for a 2 pm show - I can't get to Baltimore on the spare, but I'm right outside Columbia, so I head for the nearest tire store. It is by now after 1:30, so obviously 2 pm in Baltimore isn't happening.
So four new tires, labour costs, alignment, etc. $564 just to get to Baltimore to see Ben, who I haven't seen in ages. New ticket purchased, also limited view but maybe actually better than the original if I'm honest (I think the tower was going to be more in my way with the original seat).
I have been so damned exhausted today because even though I spent a solid two and a half hours just sitting at NTB and playing on my phones (thank god I had work and personal because I hadn't counted on downtime and had partial battery on both, no charging cables, and no book in my purse so I was on phone-only entertainment), the stress was tiring.
On the up side, the show was excellent. I am still pissed off at Jack O'Brien for what he did to Coast of Utopia (some weird cuts, a big chunk of miscasting, and some choices that made it seem like it was thought American audiences are stupid and cannot understand subtext, which pissed me off most), but this Sound of Music is pretty well done. Most importantly, the kids never come off as twee or too cute and Liesl has amazing teenage bitchface (though sadly this doesn't play out the way I want it to with Rolf - she's patently annoyed that he's calling her a baby after they've been making out in the woods or whatever, but she doesn't get to do her verse of Sixteen Going on Seventeen sarcastically even though he deserves it). Merwin Foard might be my favourite Max - he is exactly like Cameron Folmar as Lucio in Jonathan Munby's production of Measure for Measure. And I was there for two reasons, really - to see Ben as Captain von Trapp with a more age-appropriate Maria (the last time was Elena Shaddow, who is my age or older, and Ben is too young for the role unless von Trapp was made a captain at 19, but now he's older than Christopher Plummer was, so this role always gets cast too damned young for the math to make sense), and to see the Maria, Kerstin Anderson, because in all the pictures, including on Ben's doughnut blog, she just glows. And holy shit, she does. Glows. The last time I saw anyone with this kind of stage presence was Janie Brookshire as Desdemona at Folger a few years back (Owiso Odera as very hot Othello). I couldn't stop staring at her, because how could anyone? Of course the Captain is paying attention to her because how can you not? She is luminous.
So in the end, I got exactly what I wanted - a good production from decent seats, a chance to see Ben again for the first time in ages (last attempt failed because I tried to hurry up to see him in Violet before he left and then he was sick that performance, so it has been a few years, we think), and new tires that I knew I was probably due to buy anyway but was really hoping to put off to the new year. And Ben got his delivery of a dozen doughnuts from District Doughnuts because I like to show off and buy the love of barricade boys *g*. (Seriously, I've known Ben Davis for a solid 17 years, it's a nice stage door relationship, and as he's jokingly touring the US in search of great doughnuts, I had to make sure DC was appropriately represented.) So everything worked out, but I could definitely have done without the stress. (and the money isn't an issue - it's what savings are for - I just really did not want to have new glasses and new tires in the same month. But that's also what Visa is for - if my billing period still closes on the 11th of every month, I just barely managed to slide the tires onto the next billing cycle, so close enough.)
And then I got up this morning because I couldn't sleep anyway, washed the car, got groceries, came home, and slept for another three and a half hours. Too much stress yesterday!