Corner of the Sky

It's good to be home, even if it's for just a little while. Finished up with PEI for the time being last Friday and had a marathon day of travel, 4 airports, 3 states and two countries. Since it's close to the holidays, flight prices are ridiculously out of control. I had to go the most roundabout way to get from Charlottetown to Boston (Charlottetown - Toronto - Newark - Boston). I was able to go to the company Christmas party and catch up with some folks I haven't seen in a while, so that was good.

Finally got to see Lincoln over the weekend, and it was just as magnificent as I expected. More, actually. I wasn't expecting to be as moved as I was. The measure of any good film (especially one where you already know the outcome), is the suspense that it creates. Argo was a fantastic example of this, and Lincoln was done equally as well. Set in the last 3 months or so of his presidency, Lincoln deals primarily with the passing of the 13th amendment to the Constitution - outlawing slavery. The performances were uniformly excellent, and Daniel Day-Lewis is just as good as you've heard. He is Abraham Lincoln. The rest of the supporting cast was great as well, it was a variable who's who among the Hollywood elite. This could easily be Spielberg's best film since Saving Private Ryan, it really is that good. This past week it scored big with 13 Critics Choice (a record), 7 Golden Globe and 4 Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. I can totally see this film sweeping the Oscar nominations in a few weeks, with upwards of 13 or 14 nominations (the record is 14; All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997). The only few films left to see this year are Les Misérables (which has gotten pretty tepid early reviews), Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal's follow up to 2010's Best Picture The Hurt Locker) and Django Unchained. Hope to see Les Mis and Django between Christmas an New Year's, and Zero Dark Thirty ASAP. It's opening in limited release next Wednesday, but that might only be New York and Los Angeles. Hopefully it comes to Boston.

Tuesday night, Miss Alison Hay and I saw Diane Paulus' new production of Pippin at the A.R.T. in Cambridge. I saw her latest production, The  Gershwin's Porgy and Bess a year ago on Broadway and it was outstanding. There had been rumblings since it was announced that this production would transfer to New York, since it hadn't been on Broadway since its original production in the 1970's. It was one of Stephen Schwartz first musicals (although he doesn't have to write anything ever again thanks to a little musical Wicked), and was directed by Bob Fosse. Naturally, I needed to get tickets. Basically, a mysterious acting troupe, led by a Leading Player, tells the story of Pippin, a young prince on his search for meaning and significance in life. I didn't really know a whole lot about it other than that, so I didn't really know what to expect. That was all for the better, I was completely taken with the show, and cannot wait to see it again. The acting troupe was/is a traveling circus, the set is a stylized circus tent, so it was like a production of Cirque du Soleil meets musical theater. Clearly, I was in heaven. The circus acts were outstanding, and it was a nice frame to the story. There were also quite a few clever magic tricks that only added to the overall excellence of the production. The score was great, and the re-worked orchestrations made it sound much better than the original recording from the 70's, which was a little to synth heavy for my liking. Hopefully this will get a cast recording. Matthew James Thomas was outstanding as the titular character, and Patina Miller (who I saw a few years ago in Sister Act) gave an excellent performance as the Leading Player. The rest of the supporting cast was quite good as well, but the real stand-out was the ensemble, consisting of seasoned Broadway performers and trained acrobats. The positions that they could contort their bodies into was nothing short of impressive. Seriously, there were multiple times I'm sure I was wide-eyed and open-mouthed. Hopefully this transfers to New York in the Spring. After the dismal start to this season, Broadway needs something like this for a boost. It's playing at the A.R.T. through January. The Boston Globe ran an excellent article on the production a few weeks ago; check it out to get a feel for the piece. Go see it. You won't be disappointed.

Speaking of New York, heading there tomorrow to see The Mystery of Edwin Drood, the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of the musical from the 1980's based on Charles Dickens last, unfinished novel. I don't know a whole lot about this one either, except that the audience gets to pick the ending. That's a gimmick enough for me, and it opened to rave reviews a month ago. I love New York at Christmastime, combination of my favorite holiday and one of my favorite cities in the world, there's nothing else quite like it. Will be getting up a little extra early though. Since I'm going to be going back and forth between the US/Canada for a while, I applied for the Global Entry program, which is essentially a customs pre-clearence and will cut down on my wait time at the airport. It can be used at any border entry into the US, and is good for five years. Anyway, you have to go to an airport for an interview and to get you finger prints taken, and the earliest appointment at Logan wasn't until mid-February. I was, however, able to get an appointment at Newark on Saturday at 10am. Figured since I was planning on being in the city that day anyway, might as well get it taken care of. So have to leave Ashburnham at 5am. Whatever, this will totally be worth it.

Flurry of awards activity the past week, with Critics Choice, SAG and Golden Globes. Right now things are pretty much status-quo as far as awards contenders go. Lincoln, Les Misérables, Argo, Zero  Dark Thirty and Silver Linings Playbook have been popping up everywhere. If it there were still only five nominees for Best Picture, those would definitely be it. This has been an excellent year for film.