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a cuckoo in the hall
Mar. 18th, 2024 05:14 pm1 day until the vernal equinox
And now that it's almost spring, it's back to being in the mid 40s.
I met a big dog (weighs in at a little over 7 Drakes) named Spartacus on the Red Line.
The MFA is still between exhibits. Hallyu is March 24, Dress Up is April 13, Songs for Modern Japan is April 13, the restored Japanese gallery and jewelry exhibit are in May. Dali is in July, so good news: you don't have to visit Clearwater.
One of the ushers was telling her friends, one of whom was named Rachel and the other is British but doesn't care about the royal family at all and goes unnamed but might be named Emma, about the book The Twenty One Balloons, which I said sounds like Up and she said that was exactly what she thought.
She asked what the most heterosexual car was because she will one day end up somewhere where she’s going to have to drive and I suggested it was one of them pickup trucks with four wheels in the back and oversized wheels and is so high up you can’t see Overseer Domaroth if he walked in front of your car. If you’re a manly man, anyway. If you’re a biological woman, the most heterosexual car is a two-lane wide megasized SUV.
She wants an ultracompact car instead.
Act 1:
Scene 1:
Once upon a time, there were two children who lived in the woods. One was named Hänsel and the other was Debbie.
Hänsel is a diminuitive of Hans, and, why, yes, the pronunciation of the name does shift, while Debbie is a diminuitive of Deborah. Hansel wore lederhosen and Debbie wore a dirndl.
It was performed in English rather than Geramn, and that's typical of performances in English-speaking countries. The translation was very good.
Yes, Debbie.
They decide to slack off instead of working. Debbie teaches Hänsel how to dance.
Scene 2:
The mother, who is named Gertrud by the script but never referred to by that name, comes home, threatens to beat Hansel and Debbie with a stick and knocks over the jug of milk they were going to use to make rice pudding. She sends them off to pick strawberries.
And off they skipped merrily off into the dark and scary forest.
Unaware of the evil that lurked ahead.
Scene 3:
The father, who is named Peter by the script but never referred to by that name, bursts in singing about hunger and pulls out all sorts of foodstuffs from his pack. He asks where the children are and she tells him they’re in the dark and scary forest. The father is like “oh no, that’s where the Witch lives.” They both run off in search of them.
Act 2:
Scene 1:
Debbie weaves a crown of flowers. Hansel isn’t interested. They hear a cuckoo calling and fight over strawberries. The sun is setting. Hansel and Gretel call out asking who is there and are answered only by a chorus of echoes. A crone shows up. Gretel screams.
Scene 2:
I thought the old crone who sung in a soprano voice was the witch but I checked the plot summary during the intermission and he’s actually der Sandmann. I was thinking “wait, how does throwing sand in someone’s eyes cause them to fall asleep” and it turns out the sand is a folkloric explanation for why there’s that crusty gritty stuff in your eyes when you wake up.
Scene 3:
The tiny lights on the ceiling equipment look just like stars. Intermission.
Act 3:
Scene 1:
The Dew Fairy, who wears a gauzy prom dress and is not played by the Sandman as I learned when the opera ended, wakes the children. Well, Debbie, anyway. Hansel has to be shook awake. They both talk of their dreams.
It’s not even that the two singers looked the same. The Sandman was wearing a mask over her eyes and the cloak was baggy. They’re the same person in every other performance.
Scene 2:
Oh, look, a cottage made entirely of healthy snacks.
Healthy snacks? What fun is that? The house is made of pizza.
No it’s not, it’s made of healthy snacks
Pizza!
Healthy snacks!
Piz-za!
Heal-thy-snacks!
PIZZA!
HEALTHY SNACKS!
PIZZA!
You’re both wrong. The house is made of fish sticks.
Imagine that. A fishstick house.
Scene 3:
Welcome, you lost children. Come in and eat my house. I got plenty of tartar sauce.
Now, remember, I’m the witch.
In the opera, the witch had a youthful face, being a student and all, but wore a gray wig, a sparkly vest, a shirt with puffy sleeves, a long wide skirt, and heelies so she could glide around the stage on her broomstick. Chloë who played her does not wear glasses but the Chloë at Wings Over Boston does. In this performance, she was played by a mezzo-sooprano but sometimes she’s played by a tenor and sometimes she’s an ogre. She kicks aside one of the bushes to reveal an oven.
On the way out, the guy behind me was saying that the only thing he remembers about the story is the Witch and she shows up really late.
DUN DUN DUN.
Yes, it is I, and I’ve come bearing gifts.
Hansel hands the witch a bone instead of letting her feel his fingers, so she tries to fatten him up a bit.
Would you like a juicy blue apple?
Wash it down with a delicious beverage?
Okay.
Then how about an after dinner mint?
Hansel and Debbie shove the witch into the oven.
Scene 4:
The Gingerbread children are turned back into human children.
Scene 5:
Father and Mother show up. The gingerbread children reach into the oven and pull out a gingerbread cookie with a grey wig on it.
burning question: what does Hansel and Gretel have to do with Christmas? Gingerbread? They’re picking strawberries so clearly it’s not the dead of winter. Babes in Toyland at least tries to shoehorn Santa in there. But then again, Secret of Mana shoehorns Santa Claus and yet it definitely has a late summer or early autumn mood.
And now that it's almost spring, it's back to being in the mid 40s.
I met a big dog (weighs in at a little over 7 Drakes) named Spartacus on the Red Line.
The MFA is still between exhibits. Hallyu is March 24, Dress Up is April 13, Songs for Modern Japan is April 13, the restored Japanese gallery and jewelry exhibit are in May. Dali is in July, so good news: you don't have to visit Clearwater.
One of the ushers was telling her friends, one of whom was named Rachel and the other is British but doesn't care about the royal family at all and goes unnamed but might be named Emma, about the book The Twenty One Balloons, which I said sounds like Up and she said that was exactly what she thought.
She asked what the most heterosexual car was because she will one day end up somewhere where she’s going to have to drive and I suggested it was one of them pickup trucks with four wheels in the back and oversized wheels and is so high up you can’t see Overseer Domaroth if he walked in front of your car. If you’re a manly man, anyway. If you’re a biological woman, the most heterosexual car is a two-lane wide megasized SUV.
She wants an ultracompact car instead.
Act 1:
Scene 1:
Once upon a time, there were two children who lived in the woods. One was named Hänsel and the other was Debbie.
Hänsel is a diminuitive of Hans, and, why, yes, the pronunciation of the name does shift, while Debbie is a diminuitive of Deborah. Hansel wore lederhosen and Debbie wore a dirndl.
It was performed in English rather than Geramn, and that's typical of performances in English-speaking countries. The translation was very good.
Yes, Debbie.
They decide to slack off instead of working. Debbie teaches Hänsel how to dance.
Scene 2:
The mother, who is named Gertrud by the script but never referred to by that name, comes home, threatens to beat Hansel and Debbie with a stick and knocks over the jug of milk they were going to use to make rice pudding. She sends them off to pick strawberries.
And off they skipped merrily off into the dark and scary forest.
Unaware of the evil that lurked ahead.
Scene 3:
The father, who is named Peter by the script but never referred to by that name, bursts in singing about hunger and pulls out all sorts of foodstuffs from his pack. He asks where the children are and she tells him they’re in the dark and scary forest. The father is like “oh no, that’s where the Witch lives.” They both run off in search of them.
Act 2:
Scene 1:
Debbie weaves a crown of flowers. Hansel isn’t interested. They hear a cuckoo calling and fight over strawberries. The sun is setting. Hansel and Gretel call out asking who is there and are answered only by a chorus of echoes. A crone shows up. Gretel screams.
Scene 2:
I thought the old crone who sung in a soprano voice was the witch but I checked the plot summary during the intermission and he’s actually der Sandmann. I was thinking “wait, how does throwing sand in someone’s eyes cause them to fall asleep” and it turns out the sand is a folkloric explanation for why there’s that crusty gritty stuff in your eyes when you wake up.
Scene 3:
The tiny lights on the ceiling equipment look just like stars. Intermission.
Act 3:
Scene 1:
The Dew Fairy, who wears a gauzy prom dress and is not played by the Sandman as I learned when the opera ended, wakes the children. Well, Debbie, anyway. Hansel has to be shook awake. They both talk of their dreams.
It’s not even that the two singers looked the same. The Sandman was wearing a mask over her eyes and the cloak was baggy. They’re the same person in every other performance.
Scene 2:
Oh, look, a cottage made entirely of healthy snacks.
Healthy snacks? What fun is that? The house is made of pizza.
No it’s not, it’s made of healthy snacks
Pizza!
Healthy snacks!
Piz-za!
Heal-thy-snacks!
PIZZA!
HEALTHY SNACKS!
PIZZA!
You’re both wrong. The house is made of fish sticks.
Imagine that. A fishstick house.
Scene 3:
Welcome, you lost children. Come in and eat my house. I got plenty of tartar sauce.
Now, remember, I’m the witch.
In the opera, the witch had a youthful face, being a student and all, but wore a gray wig, a sparkly vest, a shirt with puffy sleeves, a long wide skirt, and heelies so she could glide around the stage on her broomstick. Chloë who played her does not wear glasses but the Chloë at Wings Over Boston does. In this performance, she was played by a mezzo-sooprano but sometimes she’s played by a tenor and sometimes she’s an ogre. She kicks aside one of the bushes to reveal an oven.
On the way out, the guy behind me was saying that the only thing he remembers about the story is the Witch and she shows up really late.
DUN DUN DUN.
Yes, it is I, and I’ve come bearing gifts.
Hansel hands the witch a bone instead of letting her feel his fingers, so she tries to fatten him up a bit.
Would you like a juicy blue apple?
Wash it down with a delicious beverage?
Okay.
Then how about an after dinner mint?
Hansel and Debbie shove the witch into the oven.
Scene 4:
The Gingerbread children are turned back into human children.
Scene 5:
Father and Mother show up. The gingerbread children reach into the oven and pull out a gingerbread cookie with a grey wig on it.
burning question: what does Hansel and Gretel have to do with Christmas? Gingerbread? They’re picking strawberries so clearly it’s not the dead of winter. Babes in Toyland at least tries to shoehorn Santa in there. But then again, Secret of Mana shoehorns Santa Claus and yet it definitely has a late summer or early autumn mood.
