Harry Potter And The Cursed Child

I loved it. I really did. I loved grown up Harry, Ron and Hermione. I loved grown up Draco. I love the moment of envy and connection he has with Ginny. I loved their children. Albus and Scorpius are unique and different from their fathers. Yet, Albus is more like Harry than he realizes. I loved Rose and wish we had more of her. I enjoyed the whole story. How the characters changed, then changed again. I loved the glimpse of darkness. The Augery. I loved the Harry Potter series and The Cursed Child is a great addition.

Now I'm eager to see it. I hope the production travels. I hope Harry Potter and The Cursed Child comes to Toronto and I get to see it. I'm sure the tickets will be insanely expensive, but I already talked to Hubby, who is also a huge fan, and we'll just splurge. Yes, we're already planning and the play has only been open in another country for just a few weeks.

Yes, this is very much a play. There are definitely some descriptive, beautifully written stage directions, which lend themselves to the telling of the story, but The Cursed Child is a published script, and those are stage directions, not an artfully crafted descriptive paragraph. I've talked to people who have had a hard time with reading plays in the last, not just Shakespeare, but anything non-novel. I've never had a problem with that. Though I would agree seeing a play is better than reading one. I felt that way after reading Death of a Salesman and Cyrano de Bergerac. But really, this is Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling. If you want to know what happened to Harry, Hermione, Ron and many of the rest, this story is a must-read.

I could gush, I could write all kinds of spoiler-y things, but I won't. I'll just say that this story is amazing.

Kinky Boots

Go see Kinky Boots. It is so much fun!! The music, the costumes, the BOOTS! I spent a lot of the show looking at the footwear. I want a lot of what they were wearing. 

There's also a great message about acceptance and being yourself. There's passion, excitement and sadness. There's humour, unexpected humour too, as an audience member took an extra second to get a joke made by Lola while talking to Charlie about her father. The rest of the theatre was quiet, waiting for the dialogue to continue. This person laughed and the actors were thrown off. Then the whole theatre starts laughing again. It was such a perfect moment. I loved when they broke the forth wall. I loved the actress who played Lauren, she was hilarious!  Also, the slightly shorter blonde Angel, for some reason stood out for me, though all the Angels were amazing. The factory workers, Pat and Lola doing the tango, Don! 

I'm going to stop gushing now. Just go see it. 

MacBeth

MacBeth was interesting, but not what I expected. Though, I don't know what I really expected. I had never read MacBeth before (even though I took an entire class in University on William Shakespeare). I knew about the witches, I knew they told MacBeth some stuff and because it is Shakespeare, I assumed MacBeth died at the end. You know what I didn't know? Lady MacBeth. She does some serious convincing, then she goes nuts! Can I blame her for the path MacBeth goes down a bit? Not all of it though. He goes mad with paranoia! All the those people, former friends, wives and children. The witches definitely put the idea into MacBeth's head, but it is Lady MacBeth that spurs him into action, and MacBeth has to be held accountable for falling into desperate ambition.

I'm left feeling like I did after reading Cyrano de Bergerac, I really want to see this play. I've heard that there is going to be a movie soon, with Michael Fassbender. I'm really excited for it, more than I would have been had I never read Shakespeare's play first. I really enjoy the witches' scenes. Something about their rhymes and laughs and talks with Hecate are so fascinating. I'd love to see it played out. The opening scene, one of the best I've ever read, I'd love to see it on stage or the big screen. The scenes with MacBeth and his wife, making plans, deciding to do the deeds. I also feel like I will connect more with the themes and emotion of the play, if I could see it. Though, the end, with the beheading, very dramatic no matter how that's played out on film or stage. 

Is it weird that this kind of reminded me of The Hunger Games and killing for power... though I suppose there are a lot plays, movies, novels, about killing for power...

I was supposed to be done on October 23 for the Classics Club Spin, but somehow didn't get it finished in time.

I wonder how I'll feel and what new insights I'll have after seeing the movie?

I wonder if I'll ever finish reading all of Shakespeare's plays?

Quotes:

"Fair is foul, and foul is fair:"

"Round about the cauldron go; 
In the poison'd entrails throw."

"Double, double toil and trouble; 
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."

"Fillet of a fenny snake, 
In the cauldron boil and bake; 
Eye of newt and toe of frog, 
Wool of bat and tongue of dog, 
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, 
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing, 
For a charm of powerful trouble, 
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."

"By the pricking of my thumbs, 
Something wicked this way comes."

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player 
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage 
And then is heard no more: it is a tale 
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,"

Cyrano de Bergerac

I want to see this play! The story is brilliant, tragic, and full of emotion. If you don't know Edmond Rostand's most famous work, Cyrano de Bergerac is about love and appearances. Cyrano has a rather large nose and is considered by himself and others as ugly. He is in love with a beautiful woman, Roxane. Roxane is in lust with Christian, though for the time, they call it love. Christian is also in love with Roxane, but must work to woo her. He has no words. Cyrano is an expert at words, he is a poet and perhaps could have been a playwrite. Cyrano believes that Roxane could never love him, so gives his words to Christian. First in a letter, then in the famous balcony scene where Cyrano whispers from the bushes, a scene that has become a part of pop culture and parodied in so many different forms.

The end is just so sad. Though familiar with the balcony scene and the play, I didn't know how it began or ended or the other man vying for Roxane's affections. I hoped for truth, for love to conquer all. I wanted for Cyrano and Roxane to find happiness. You'll have to read it to find out what happens. It's one of those works that is so frequently referenced, that you think you know what happens, but you actually don't. As when I finished Death of a Salesman, I want to see Cyrano de Bergerac now. I'm going to be keeping my eye out to see if the play will be preformed in Toronto or Stratford. I should check a couple of the local theatres too. I have to find a good movie adaptation. Suggestions? Cyrano de Bergerac was a fantastic play and I'm eager to see it performed.

Classic number 18/60!

Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman is a brilliant play.  Willy, Linda, and their sons connect with the audience.  I could see their lives in the lives of people I've known.  The play is American in sensibility, as well as origination, but appeals to everyone.  Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman has been performed around the world, from England to Italy to China.  The hopes and dreams of the Lomans are the hopes and dreams so many people have.

I have had the 50th anniversary edition of Death of a Salesman sitting around in my house (and all the apartments before) for over a decade.  I read The Crucible twice, once in high school, once in University. I also vaguely remember seeing the movie. I missed out on Death of a Salesman. Sometime after my second reading of The Crucible, I saw the 50th anniversary edition of Death of a Salesman on a clearance table. I had to get it.  Afterwards, because University didn't allow for much recreational reading, it sat on my shelf.  I don't know why I let it get away from me. It was brilliant. Death of a Salesman is one of the best plays/stories I've ever read.

I'd love to see it performed.  As far as I know, it won't be playing in Toronto or Stratford in the near future.  I know there are 1966 and 1985 films, maybe I'll be getting my hands on one.  I could picture it all in my head though.  I know it's called "Death" of a Salesman, but I was still holding out hope.  I know it was silly, but I wanted Willy and his family to break free.  Maybe he did in the end.

I felt so sorry for everyone, the boys, who grew up with parents who built them up so much, they didn't know how to fail.  I couldn't comprehend the lies, I know they were "selling" themselves, but it seemed so false, lying not just to others, but to themselves.  I think of all the characters in the play, Bernard probably saw the truth more than anyone else.  I wonder if that's why he wasn't also a salesman.

I'm not sure how I feel about Linda.  I think she has strength, trying to hold her family together and supporting her disintegrating husband.  But she also seems a victim.  Was this the lives of many housewives of that era?  Do they hold on desperately?  Is it the lives of some wives now?  Linda also tells her sons what is acceptable, she scolds them for their bad behaviour.  She tries to protect her husband's state of mind.  I think, whether I end up liking her or not, she is a great character.

Arthur Miller's play is amazing.  I recommend it (and The Crucible) to everyone.  I think it is thoroughly a modern classic.  I am glad I finally read it. 

The Empire Striketh Back

The Empire Striketh Back is the second installment in William Shakespeare's Star Wars. Everything I enjoyed about the first book was here in the second. I still love R2-D2's asides. I enjoyed the Shakespearean insults. While the novelty of writing Star Wars in Shakespearean language was starting to wear off, there was enough new stuff to keep me interested. Author Ian Doescher goes deeper into the character of Lando of Calrissian, more than what we learn about him in the movie. There were singing Ugnaughts. Best of all, Yoda spoke in Haiku. I loved the Haikus.

Doescher writes a bit of an Afterward explaining some of his choices in Empire and how this book differs from the first. I thought it was interesting (and I appreciated it as an Afterward, not an Introduction). I also thought it was interesting that one of his readers who was an expert in Shakespeare, has never seen the Star Wars movies (has he been living under a rock?). I really enjoyed The Empire Striketh Back and I look forward to the third book, The Jedi Doth Return. 

Alice Through The Looking Glass, Stratford Festival

Alice Through the Looking Glass is being performed as part of the Stratford Festival this year. I was lucky enough to get tickets for a performance where the proceeds went to the United Way. I was excited to see Alice, looking forward to whimsy, colour and fun. Alice was good, but not great. The second half, after intermission was fabulous. It was engaging, funny and exciting.

I love the theatre and was so excited to see a play in Stratford this year (I’m hoping to see another one in the fall).  I wish I could have been as excited about Alice as I was about Tommy last year.  Alice Through The Looking Glass is fabulous source material (which I should read), I thought there would just be more.  The costumes were fantastic, the bicycles were perfect.  The set, the effects, were all brilliant.  If you can sit through the talking of the first half, the second half is definitely worth it.  It’s worth it just to see Humptey Dumptey have his fall.  That was hilarious, laugh out loud funny. 

I have to warn, this show is not really for little kids.  I did not bring my five-year-old and I’m glad.  There were kids her age there and younger.  They were so very bored.  It was better for them for the second half too, but there were things happening throughout the whole play that I don’t think they would necessarily understand.  Children should be at least 8, I think, maybe older.

Alice Through The Looking Glass was fun.  More than anything, it has made me want to read the book.  I’m looking forward to the next play I see too.  I hope I get to see another play at the Stratford Festival this year.

Books of 2014 - So Far...

I've seen a lot of "best of 2014, so far" lists lately. The end of June marks half the year; I suppose that has people thinking about what has passed in 2014 this far. 

If I think about the first six months of 2014, I think about some great new food I've made, like my quinoa salad recipe, which I hope I'm not making too often now. I also think about how my kids have grown. My son's vocabulary has ballooned. My daughter finished her first year of school. My Hubby is preparing for Warrior Dash. I became unemployed, but have enjoyed the extra time with my children...and the extra reading and writing time. 

I've read some fantastic books this year, so far. I don't think I could make a "best of" list right now because I loved them so much. I've read some new favourites, additions to great series, stories full of fun, fright, love and sadness. 2013 was full of great reads and it looks like my choices are still going strong; 2014 will be a fantastic reading year too. 

Reviews this year, so far:

 

He Giveth His Beloved Sleep

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise

Batman:  The Killing Joke

Champion

Ur

The Last Policeman

Undead and Unfinished

The Thousand Orcs

Undead and Undermined

Lives of Girls and Women

William Shakespeare's Stars Wars

Star Wars: Jedi Academy

The Raven Boys

Masked Mosaic

Fool

The Dream Thieves

The Fiction Writer's Handbook

Generation X

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Clockwork Prince

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - The Man In Black

City of Lost Souls

The Strain

Delirium

Clockwork Princess

Alias Grace

The Lone Drow

The Silkworm

 

Food:

 

Deconstructing Meals

My Basil Plant

Macaroni, Cheese & Spinach Cups

Quinoa Salad

Some thoughts:

 

Why I Don't "Panic" About How Much I Have To Read

Not This Again

Why Have I Read Only One Book By So Many Authors?

Buying Books for a Baby Shower

Culling eBooks is SO Much Easier Than Print Books

 

Umm... Wow.  I did not realize I had posted so much in the last six months (and that's not everything).  What was I thinking linking to everything.  Ugh!

 

William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope

When I saw a book titled, William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope, I knew I had to have it. William Shakespeare's Star Wars was everything I expected it to be. I already knew the story, as most people who pick up this book would. As each scene came up I eagerly anticipated the Shakespeare-ization. Re-writing Star Wars in iambic pentameter doesn't make it "literature", but it does make it thoroughly entertaining. It could not have been an easy task for Ian Doescher.

One thing I didn't expect was R2D2. He is hilarious. I loved his insights. It was the most original thing Doescher could do with the task he had given himself. I also quite enjoyed the stage directions. They really seemed as though the author (or translator?) was imagining what a director would be doing with this story and a stage. I feel like this little book is ready to go if anyone wanted to put on a Star Wars stage production. 

There really isn't anything I can say about the story. It's Episode 4 as you would expect it to be.  It starts off with Leia. Then Luke. Then Han and Chewbacca. Obi-Wan does his thing. Luke uses The Force.  The Death Star blows up. Also, the Droids are being quite funny the whole time.  Though not necessarily for fans of Shakespeare, fans of Star Wars will enjoy this play. Those who are also fans of Shakespeare might like it even more.

I didn't even mention the illustrations!

Tommy

On Saturday, my Hubby took me to see Tommy in Stratford.  He was very excited to see it.  I was... interested.  I've never seen a play in Stratford.  I knew of Tommy, that it was a famous, well-loved musical that has played everywhere.  I knew it was a "rock opera".  That was it.  I had no idea about the plot, unlike a lot of other musicals I've heard of but haven't seen.  When I asked the Hubby about it, he said it was about a guy who was really good at pinball.  What?  Really? Umm, okay...  But no.  That's not what it's about.  Tommy is so much more.  It begins during World War II.  It progresses through the 1950s.  Tommy is traumatized and then we watch him grow up.  The things that happen to this kid are insane.  The only outlet for him is pinball and he's a pinball wizard, so I suppose that's the part my Hubby thought was enough to tell me.

Tommy is based on an album of the same name by The Who.  It was classified as a rock opera.  The musical's plot is based on the story of the album  It has also been made into a movie. After reading more about Tommy since watching it, I've discovered that the movie made some plot changes from the album and musical.  I don't know if I'd like it the same, but I'd have to see to find out.  I find myself interested in listening to the original album, something I would not have picked up had I never seen the musical.

Tommy is an amazing story.  I'm glad that my Hubby took me to see it.  It doesn't matter if you don't know anything about it, Tommy is worth it.

Classics Club

I’m a moody reader.  I read a variety of books, at different levels, in different genres.  Because of this, I don’t join challenges.  If I feel forced to read a book, I’ll avoid it and continue to avoid it, until I grudgingly pick it up.  Joining the Classics Club, however, has been something I’ve thought about for a while.  I wasn’t sure about joining because of the pertinent question: what constitutes a classic?  I follow several bloggers who are part of the Classics Club and after reading their reviews, I think I have a good idea of what the Club considers classic.

My list consists of “Modern Classics” and “Old Classics”.  There are some genre books, some short stories, some children’s books and some poetry.  There are even a couple books that can be debated about whether they are actually classics.  There will be a few re-reads, but it will be mostly new.  These are all books I already own.  On the Classics Club website, they describe the list we submit as a living list.  While I’ve put 60 titles on this list (to make it a little more challenging, since I'm including children’s stories, short stories and novellas), I’m not guaranteeing that I’ll read all these particular books.  Like I mentioned previously, I’m a moody reader.  If I can’t finish something or another classic catches my fancy, I’ll change the list.  The only thing I plan on guaranteeing is that I’ll finish this list in five years - January 3, 2018 (I'll be so old!).

In alphabetical order, 60 classics I plan on reading by January 3, 2018:

1. Stories from Hans Christian Andersen, by Hans Christian Andersen

2. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

3. Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood

4. The Big and The Little, by Isaac Asimov

5. Emma, by Jane Austen

6. Lady Susan, by Jane Austen

7. Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen

8. Northhanger Abbey, by Jane Austen

9. The Watsons, by Jane Austen

10. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

11. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Brontë

12. Villette, by Charlotte Brontë

13. Sonnets from the Portuguese, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

14. Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

15. Appointment with Death, by Agatha Christie

16. Lyrical Ballads, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth

17. The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins

18. Discourse on Method, by Rene Descartes

19. A Tale of Two Cities, by Dickens

20. Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens

21. A Selection of Poems (1. Life), by Emily Dickinson

22. Sherlock Holmes #1: A Study In Scarlett, by Arthur Conan Doyle

23. Sherlock Holmes #2: The Sign of Four, by Arthur Conan Doyle

24. Medea, by Euripides

25. Middlemarch, by George Eliot

26. Grimm's Fairy Stories, by Jacob Grimm & Wilhelm Grimm

27. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

28. Daisy Miller, by Henry James

29. The Wings of the Dove, by Henry James

30. The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence

31. The Man Who Loved Islands, by D.H. Lawrence

32. Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller

33. Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery

34. Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery

35. Anne of the Island, by L.M. Montgomery

36. Anne of the Windy Poplars, by L.M. Montgomery

37. Anne’s House of Dreams, by L.M. Montgomery

38. Anne of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery

39. Rainbow Valley, by L.M. Montgomery

40. Rilla of Ingleside, by L.M. Montgomery

41. Lives of Girls and Women, by Alice Munro

42. Animal Farm, by George Orwell

43. Lady Lazarus, by Sylvia Plath

44. The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe

45. The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter

46. The Cat In The Hat, by Dr. Seuss

47. Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

48. Queen Mab/The Daemon of the World, by Percy Bysshe Shelley

49. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

50. Dracula's Guest, by Bram Stoker

51. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy

52. Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain

53. From the Earth to the Moon, by Jules Verne

54. The Weapons Shop, by A.E. van Vogt

55. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells

56. Under The Knife, by H.G. Wells

57. The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams

58. Kew Gardens, by Virginia Woolf

59. Solid Objects, by Virginia Woolf

60. The Waves, by Virginia Woolf

I will have a page listing each of these books, with links to reviews once I finish them.

*SIDE NOTE: I’ve been considering creating some reading projects for myself.  For example, I want to read every Margaret Atwood and Stephen King book.  I also want to read more Canadian authors and more immigrant literature.  Should I create these self-imposed projects, or will my moodiness negate my success?  Thoughts?

Wicked: The Musical

Warning: I’m going to gush.

I thought Wicked: The Musical was fantastic. Elphaba’s costumes were perfect. Glinda’s dress sparkled across the theatre. The songs were great. I really enjoyed the references to the original Wizard of Oz. I’m sure this won’t give anything away, but one of my favourite lines is something like, “Who takes a dead girl’s shoes? What were you, raised in a barn?” It was brilliant.

Much of what I like about the musical, I liked about Gregory Maguire's book, (though there are differences, so I’ll just be talking about the musical). Glinda says, “Are some people wicked or was wickedness thrust upon them?” In the show, I think it’s clear that wickedness was thrust upon Elphaba. She couldn’t betray her principles. She wanted to defend the Animals. She wanted to do what was best for her sister. Elphaba is only made out to be a Wicked Witch. Glinda knows this. Even though her social climbing and then her jealously blinds her to this for a while, she does what she can for “Elphie” and shows that she really is her friend.

I also really liked the ending. It’s not what I expected.

If you’re in Toronto, go see it before it’s gone. If you’re somewhere else, see it when it gets there.

Another’s Review of Waiting for Godot

I read Waiting for Godot while in University. It was fantastic! I can’t express how much I loved this play and the discussion in class that followed. As part of the class, a few students preformed a scene. I also had the pleasure of watching a video of the whole play. Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is an excellent example of the Theatre of the Absurd. Read a great review by John Mutford atThe Book Mine Set.

http://bookmineset.blogspot.com/2010/06/readers-diary-624-samuel-beckett.html

Evil Dead: The Musical

“It’s like the musicals you love, only evil.”

Evil Dead: The Musical is too awesome! It is full of camp, slapstick, blood and gore. It’s hilarious. I barely stopped laughing the whole time. They’ve captured the essence of the characters and blended the first two movies wonderfully. They make fun of the movies, Sam Raimi and themselves. I could not have asked for a better production!

It’s currently playing at the Diesel Playhouse in Toronto. Evil Dead will be there only until September 6th, so get your tickets fast. I saw the show in the middle of the week and it was still pretty packed. There is also a production in California. Where it’s off to next, I’m not sure. You should also check out the Facebook group.

The truth is, I can’t get over how much fun I had at this show!

I have a couple of fun and/or useful links below.
http://www.evildeadthemusical.com/
http://www.dieselplayhouse.com/
http://www.bruce-campbell.com/pilot.asp
http://www.willowstheatre.com/evildeadmedia.htm

An Italian Straw Hat

An Italian Straw Hat is a ballet (yes, a ballet) running at the Four Seasons in Toronto. It was the funniest ballet I’ve ever seen. If you want to try out ballet and you’re not sure about it, go see An Italian Straw Hat. The characters are interesting and hilarious. The music is beautiful and energetic. There are love triangles and all kinds of suggestive positioning. It opens with a woman sitting on a man’s face!! I’d love to see it again.