Oklahoma!

When we bought tickets to the highly acclaimed Broadway production of “Oklahoma!,” I was expecting a light romantic musical. I suppose my memories were primarily of the musical numbers rather than the plot line. It turns out that while the score is filled with memorable and easy-to-sing-along tunes, the story is not an entirely happy one. At some point we will need to go back and watch the 1955 film version, which starred Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones.

The Broadway version featured a very simple set. We were seated in the last row (the only accessible one; accessibility issues are abundant in all of the old theaters), but still had a terrific view. I managed to snap a picture before the show began, during which cameras are forbidden. I am sure it was a particularly thrilling experience for those folks at the tables you see on the floor, as they were at times almost a part of the action.  

We were anxious to see this show not only for the lovely music but also for what we had read about the actress who played Ado Annie, Ali Stroker, who is the first actress confined to a wheelchair to perform in a Broadway show. There has been quite a bit written about her since she landed this role, and in particular since she won the Tony award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical just a few days ago.

How Ali Stroker’s Tony Win for Oklahoma! Will Change Theatre Forever

by Seth Rudetsky, Playbill, June 11, 2019

The second thing that happened last night that will have an impact forever is Ali Stroker winning a Tony Award. I thought she was such a bright spot in Spring Awakening and I was thrilled when she got cast as Ado Annie in Oklahoma!. The fact that a woman who needs a wheelchair for mobility has a comic leading role on Broadway—and won a Tony Award for it—has changed the future. I know people with disabilities who want to pursue theatre and have felt there is no place for them. And now Ali has shown that not only is there a place, but there is a place at the top of the food chain. I can’t wait to see what Broadway looks like in ten years! 

“This award is for every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena. You are.” @ALISTROKER at @TheTonyAwards on Sunday night. #OklahomaBway

The current version of Oklahoma! opened on Broadway on April 7^th, following three weeks of preview performances. The show originally opened on 31 March 1943 before closing in 1948 after 2,202 performances. There have undoubtedly been countless performances at high schools, colleges, and community theaters over the past seventy-plus years.

For some perspective, here are the statistics for other recent and ongoing Broadway productions:

Show	Dates	Years
Phantom of the Opera	1988 – present	29+
Chicago	1975 - 77, 1996 - present	25+
Lion King	1997 – present	22+
Cats	1983 – 2000	17
Les Miserables	1997 – 2003, 2014 – present	11+
A Chorus Line	1975 - 1990	15
Oh, Calcutta!	1976 - 1989	13
Mamma Mia!	2001 - 2015	14
Beauty and the Beast	1994 - 2007	13
Wicked	2003 – present	16+
Rent	1996 – 2008	12
Jersey Boys	2005 – 2017	12

The show also featured a fascinating dance performance following the intermission. I had a hard time figuring out what this had to do with the show, but we later read about it in a New York Times piece published back in April, a link to which is here.

A Dark ‘Oklahoma!’ Brings Barefoot Modern Dance to Broadway

If you happen to be in New York and are looking for a most enjoyable experience, check out Oklahoma!

Love,

Rebecca

Three terrific days of food and family

It has been a very busy week since I last wrote. Last Thursday evening we went to see Preet Bharara interviewed by Jeff Greenfield at the 92^nd Street Y, an event promoting his new book, Doing Justice. It was a fascinating and thought-provoking two hours. I especially appreciated that he did not try to paint every question as black and white with clear answers, often presenting both sides of many of the pressing questions in these times.

We drove to Sharon on Friday for a very full three days. Simmie and family joined us at our apartment for Shabbat lunch. Shabbat was followed by the two-day holiday of Shavuot. This holiday has special importance for our family because Barry’s father died on Shavuot 22 years ago. We invited our two nieces, who live in the Boston area, to join us for lunch at Simmie’s house. We do not see them as often as we should and it was really nice for us all to get together and share some fond memories of Barry’s father. Simmie and Dina had shared the cooking – fruit soup, cheese and potato blintzes, quiche, salmon, and Caesar salad were highlights. I am not 100% certain who made what but everything was delicious! For dessert, I contributed my cheesecake and Dina had also picked up a birthday cake for Ella’s 13^th birthday which had been a few days earlier. On the second day of the holiday we had lunch with Dina and her family along with friends, a “baked potato bar” with lots of toppings. Julia sat next to me, and especially enjoyed those potatoes when I topped them with generous pats of butter.

Shavuot is the holiday that commemorates the revelation at Mount Sinai. Dairy foods are traditional for this holiday because when the Jewish people received the Torah on that day, which included a new set of rules on slaughtering animals and preparing meat, they did not have time to do so immediately. Hence, we eat dairy, so it is a particularly enjoyable holiday of vegetarians.

We got in a bunch of games and some nice time sitting outdoors in the beautiful weather. All in all, it was a fun-filled three days. Now it’s back to work and back for the last week or so of school.

Have a good week!

Love,

Rebecca

Ain't Too Proud

We have lived in New York for over twenty-five years, but until we started taking our grandchildren to Broadway shows, I do not believe we had seen more than a couple in the first twenty. Somehow, though, we have gotten the “theater bug,” and as you who are regular readers have probably noticed, we have found ourselves in the theater district (the area bounded by West 40th Street on the south, West 54th Street on the north, Sixth Avenue on the east and Eighth Avenue on the west, and includes Times Square) fairly frequently of late.

Our latest Broadway extravaganza was “Ain’t Too Proud – The Life and Times of the Temptations.” The Temptations were quite popular in the 1960s, but if you had asked me a few weeks ago to sing some Temptations songs, I am not sure I would have correctly identified very many of them. However, in doing our usual “homework” prior to the performance, including listening to the Broadway album, I realized that I was quite familiar with virtually all of the long list of songs included in the show.

This was a high energy and totally enjoyable performance. The personal history of the group members, which included various artists who floated in and out of the group over many years, was not at all familiar to us. Unfortunately, a fair amount of heartache came along with their success, including problems with drugs, romantic relationships, and fellow musicians. But the music is still incredibly enjoyable, and the show relied almost entirely on that music, with only brief snippets of narration by band member Otis Williams (played by Derrick Baskin) and a bit of dialogue to tie things together.

I include here both a version of the Temptations singing that title song back in the 1960s (sorry the video is a bit grainy), as well as some excerpts from the Broadway show.

If you are of a certain age, or maybe of any age, and in New York looking for a totally enjoyable evening, I highly recommend this show!

Love,

Rebecca

James Holzhauer

I am not sure why I have not written about James Holzhauer. For those of you who are not fans of the television show Jeopardy!, or have just somehow been oblivious to the extensive reporting on this fellow, James Holzhauer had won 33 games of Jeopardy!, earning $2,462,216 (an average of over $74,000 per game), just a bit less than the $2,522,700 earned by Ken Jennings in his 74-game streak in 2004. Had Mr. Holzhauer been able to make it to 74 games at the same rate of earnings during his 33 games, he would have earned over $5.5 million dollars! He also set the record for single day earnings, increasing it from Roger Craig’s $77,000 to the new high at of $131,127. In fact, he now holds the slots for the top sixteen highest scores!

Rank	Score	Player	Type	Date
1	$131,127	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/17/19
2	$130,022	James Holzhauer	Regular	5/27/19
3	$118,816	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/23/19
4	$110,914	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/9/19
5	$106,181	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/16/19
6	$101,682	James Holzhauer	Regular	5/1/19
7	$96,726	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/30/19
8	$90,812	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/22/19
9	$90,812	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/25/19
10	$89,229	James Holzhauer	Regular	5/20/19
11	$89,158	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/12/19
12	$86,905	James Holzhauer	Regular	5/21/19
13	$82,381	James Holzhauer	Regular	5/3/19
14	$80,615	James Holzhauer	Regular	5/2/19
15	$80,006	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/19/19
16	$79,633	James Holzhauer	Regular	5/31/19
17	$77,000	Roger Craig	Regular	9/14/10
18	$75,000	Ken Jennings	Regular	7/23/04
19	$74,400	James Holzhauer	Regular	5/24/19
20	$74,133	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/18/19
21	$73,621	James Holzhauer	Regular	4/24/19
22	$71,885	James Holzhauer	Regular	5/22/19
23	$69,033	James Holzhauer	Regular	5/29/19

These numbers are all fascinating and a bit dizzying, so you may be wondering why I have not been blogging about Mr. Holzhauer over these past nine weeks (nearly 7 weeks of the games he played interrupted by a two-week break for the annual teachers’ tournament). To be honest, I have had mixed feelings about this fellow. Unlike Julia Collins, about whom I wrote a few years ago during her month-long (21 April – 02 June 2014) winning streak on Jeopardy!, he was simply not a very likeable fellow. It was easy to distrust him, to think maybe he was up to something no good. I never thought he had “broken” the game, as many said and wrote, and last night’s game showed this to be the case. The news of his performance in his 34^th game had leaked out (and I am sure if the producers could prove who divulged that information, heads would roll), but even had we not heard that, he clearly seemed off his game. He lost to Emma Boettcher, a 27-year-old librarian from Chicago. She played impressively, with winnings of $46,801 following a very large wager on Final Jeopardy. Even the Jeopardy! host, Alex Trebek, seemed sincerely surprised by the outcome!

James Holzhauer on Jeopardy

The good news here is that Jeopardy! is not broken – it is as popular as ever, so we hope to be watching for many years to come.

Love,

Rebecca

On the run again

Last Sunday, Dina was once again on the run…this time, the Bank Newport 10 miler. We were unfortunately not able to be there, but she did send along some pictures.

We are just so proud of her perseverance and grit!

Love,

Mom/Rebecca

Lots of music

It has been a busy past few days. On Thursday we got together with Barry’s brother, Richard, who lives in Florida but was in New York on a visit. It was our first time meeting his new ….  what word can I use? “Girlfriend” seems a bit odd for a couple in their 70s. “Lady Friend” seems too formal and old fashioned. Is “partner” the right word? I guess I should have asked them what they prefer to be called. But likely the best answer is that whatever moniker they might choose, we were thrilled to have a chance to finally meet Jill, and we wish them only much good health and happiness.

On Friday afternoon we saw the new film “Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation,” a documentary about the famous event held in upstate New York during the weekend of August 15-18, 1969. The emphasis was much less on the music than on the experiences of some of the organizers and attendees, including some footage of Max Yasgur, on whose farm near Bethel, New York, the festival took place.  The preparation for the event was rocky and the facility was not ready in time, so when literally hundreds of thousands made their way to the site, the infrastructure was not in place to take care of them. Yet, somehow, between generous local residents and the good spirits of the over 400,000 attendees, the event was an amazing success. Although there were problems, particularly with drug overdoses and bad weather, overall it was an incredibly powerful and positive experience for most of the attendees. Sadly, it is hard to imagine such an event having this outcome today.

In August of 1969 my family had just moved from St. Louis to West Hartford, Connecticut. I was 17 years old, did not really know anyone my age (until the start of the school year in September), and I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine my parents would have let me go. Still, there is great nostalgia watching the various films about the festival and just thinking about what it must have been like to be there.

We had a nice Shabbat. We had invited our friends Judy and Lanny to join us for a light supper (Seudah Shlishit). We had not gotten together since well before Passover so it was wonderful to have time to catch up.

On Sunday, being in the Woodstock mode, we went to see another new film, “Echo in the Canyon.” This movie was directed by Andrew Slater and featured Jakob Dylan’s performances and extensive interviews with many former Woodstock performers and folk/rock musicians of the 1960s and 70s, including David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young (CSNY), Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr (The Beatles), Roger McGuinn (The Byrds), Michelle Phillips (The Mamas and the Papas), Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys), John Sebastian (The Lovin’ Spoonful), and the late Tom Petty (Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers, in interviews filmed shortly before he died of cardiac arrest on October 2^nd of 2017, two weeks short of his 67^th birthday). There were also interviews with and performances by contemporary artists who have recorded some of the work from the 1960s icons, including Nora Jones and Beck. This was really a first-rate documentary, and the minute it ended my comment to Barry was that I really would like to see it again. We had a brief conversation with a couple of fellows sitting next to us and they agreed whole-heartedly!

One of the reasons we went into the City to see the movie was because we had tickets Sunday evening for Billy Joel’s 65^th monthly sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden (the run started in January of 2014). So far there are five more shows that have been booked:

Thursday Jul 11, 2019

Wednesday Aug 28, 2019

Friday Sep 27, 2019

Friday Oct 25, 2019

Friday Nov 15, 2019

Billy, who recently (on May 9^th) celebrated his 70^th birthday, sounded terrific! Here is the full set list:

Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)

Pressure

Vienna (audience choice over Just The Way You Are)

The Entertainer

Zanzibar

Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)

Layla (Derek and the Dominos cover) (coda only)

Don't Ask Me Why

New York State of Mind

Say Goodbye to Hollywood

Allentown

She's Always a Woman

Pour Some Sugar on Me (Def Leppard cover, with Joe Elliott on vocals)

My Life

Only the Good Die Young

Sometimes a Fantasy

The River of Dreams

Dancing in the Street (Martha Reeves and The Vandellas cover, with Crystal Taliefero on vocals)

Nessun dorma (Giacomo Puccini cover, with Mike Del Guidice on vocals)

Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

Piano Man

Encores:

We Didn't Start the Fire

Uptown Girl

It's Still Rock and Roll to Me

Big Shot

You May Be Right (with “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin snippet sung by Mike Del Guidice)

Looks like lovely weather here in New York the next few days. We took a little time this afternoon and headed over to the Bronx Zoo, just to walk around outside. There were busloads of school children of all ages, clearly thrilled to be out in the nice weather, as were we.

Have a great week!

Love,

Rebecca