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  • Music Recommendation: I often listen to a Classic Rock station, and a song often played is "Lola" by "The Kinks." It's a catchy tune that led me to get a Greatest Hits CD which I enjoyed. Also, "Love, Shelby" by Shelby Lynne and "Songs in Red And Grey" by Suzanne ("My name is Luka, I live on the second floor ...") Vega are also enjoyable new offerings. I have recently bought a DVD/VCR, and having no DVDs, have used it as a CD player. I actually bought a DVD ... didn't watch it, but I have it!

    Plays

    As a resident of New York City, one of the benefits is our clean and well cared for subway system. Also, there is the myriad choice of plays (as well as various other types of performances, including comedians), both on and Off-Broadway, and not all of them too harsh on one's wallet. Nonetheless, it is true that unless one gets various special deals, most plays tend to be over thirty and often over fifty dollars apiece (the elite Broadway shows can be even more and are a tad too expensive for my taste). Therefore, the experience is necessarily one to be enjoyed less often than movies, but I well recommend trying to schedule one in a few times a year. The intimate nature as well as the energy and immediacy of a live performance is added by the literate nature of many plays. This concern for acting and the written word is a bit too lacking in movies these days, surely if one wants some of the more serious fare certain plays offer. Nonetheless, there are plays and shows that are fun, touching, thought provoking, or maybe not worth the money. Here are a few I saw:

  • The Full Monty: This musicial is based on the popular British comedy/drama about out of work factory workers who decide to strip to make money and feel good about themselves. These quite unstripper like thirtysomethings (with an older middle management type and black guy) don't know a thing about stripping, but they desperately need something to take their mind off various problems. Among them: a divorced ne'er-do-well with a young child to support; his overweight best friend insecure about himself; a lonely guy living with his ill mother in need of friends; and a fired middle management type who is afraid to tell his wife. A rather ridiculous scheme, especially once they agree to do the "full monty" (totally nudity, quickly shown at the end with their hats and the lighting used to block most of the view), but it helps them find a bit of meaning and fun in their lives. The acting is very good, the songs touching and funny, and overall the experience quite enjoyable.

  • Contact: This play uses dance to symbolize our need to connect with others, to have that connect necessary for true happiness. After a prologue concerning lovers on a swing, symbolizing the swing dancing of the play, we have two acts of troubled people (unhappily married woman in the 1950s and a depressed ad exec in the present) that use dance to try to face their demons. Therefore, the play has a rather striking mixture of depression and the energy of dance. This works rather well with the dance (and music) truly filling everyone with energy. A relatively successful use of dance to tell a story. The makers of "Contact" tried to use the same style (dance but with more dialogue) to adapt "Therese Raquin." The operative word being "try." "Thou Shalt Not" (hopefully) watch this play.

  • A crucible is a container used to melt metal or some other substance at a high temperature. It also means a severe test or crisis, which is where Arthur Miller's famous play The Crucible got its name. The play concerns one couple's fight to do what is right during the hysteria of the Salem witch trials (1692), which was used originally by Miller to symbolize the Red Scare of the 1950s. Nonetheless, the struggle of (often flawed) individuals to do right in the face of error and hysteria is a theme that is always relevant. A few years ago it was false accusations of child abuse, today it can be drug related or innocents caught up in the war against terror. Or any of the more limited ways hysteria and ignorance overtakes reason. Liam Neeson and Laura Linney star in the current revival (at the Virginia in NYC) and are excellent as the couple, though the hysteria is a bit over the top in my eyes (the ending moment is a tad much). The story could do with a bit more shades of gray at times, but is a damning record of how mostly good people can fall to extremist forces that suddenly are beyond their control. A lesson quite important these days (e.g. forces in Islam that lead to horrible acts of terrorism and violence).

    Credits: The top pic is of the lead in "That's Life," and the official site is over here. The TV Page link pic is of Lauren Graham, and a couple websites are available on that page, and here is the home page.

    Email: jmatrixrenegade@aol.com