Off to a great start

Our four older grandchildren are now off at summer camp, and the two youngest are at camp as well, with their mother who is back working at camp this summer. So we will have a quiet few weeks.

The camps post hundreds of pictures almost daily, and it is the job of us grandparents to look through the hundreds of images for a glimpse of our offspring.

No surprise looking at the picture of his bunk, Joshua quickly made his way to the basketball courts!

So far, we only have a picture of Eliana getting off the bus, but she sure looks happy! She is at a different camp this year, one at which her older cousins had spent a number of summers, and it looks fantastic.

Ella is thrilled to be back with her camp friends, and her smiling face pretty much says it all.

Maya, who was a bit nervous about going to camp without her mom there this year (Simmie now has a 12-month job as director of a preschool program), looks like she has settled in quite well with her friend from home, Bekkah (second girl on Maya's right, in light pink shirt).

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Rebecca

Corpse Flower

Somehow, we seem to have missed this during its previous “blooms,” but tomorrow the Amorphophallus titanum, familiarly known as the corpse flower, will bloom at the New York Botanical Garden.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about this strange plant:

Amorphophallus titanum, also known as the titan arum, is a flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The titan arum's inflorescence is not as large as that of the talipot palm, Corypha umbraculifera, but the inflorescence of the talipot palm is branched rather than unbranched. The species is endemic to Sumatra.

Due to its odor, which is like the smell of a rotting corpse or carcass, the titan arum is characterized as a carrion flower, and is also known as the corpse flower or corpse plant (Indonesian: bunga bangkai – bunga means flower, while bangkai can be translated as corpse, cadaver, or carrion). For the same reason, the title corpse flower is also attributed to the genus Rafflesia.

Due to the wonders of modern technology, we can watch this process without the bad smell from the comfort of our home offices, which sounds to me like a very good idea!

Enjoy!

Love,

Rebecca

Can a “classic” still be relevant?

Yesterday we went to the Sunday matinee performance of “My Fair Lady” at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at the Lincoln Center Theater. We were both quite familiar with the beautiful music and song lyrics of Lerner and Loewe, including “Wouldn’t it be Loverly,” “The Rain in Spain,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “Get Me to the Church on Time,” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” among so many others. Laura Benanti, whom you may have seen recently on her frequent guest appearances as Melania Trump on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, has a fabulous voice and was spectacular as Eliza Doolittle. Here she is singing “I Could Have Danced All Night.”

Mrs. Higgins was played by Rosemary Harris, who had won a Tony Award in 1966 for “A Lion in Winter” and has had a long Broadway career, and received a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement just a few weeks ago.

One of the more interesting aspects of this production is what critics have been referring to as its #MeToo ending.  For those not familiar with the story, it is based upon the George Bernard Shaw play, taken from a Greek myth, “Pygmalion,” in which a sculptor falls in love with one of his works which cames to life. In Shaw’s play, Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can teach a poor uneducated London flower girl with a strong Cockney accent to speak and behave like an upper-class British woman. Throughout the play, Higgins is disdainful of Eliza and treats her quite disrespectfully.

However, Higgins does succeed in teaching Eliza and she attends a royal ball where everyone believes she is upper-class and well educated. In the final portion of the play, Higgins and Pickering celebrate their success while ignoring any role that Eliza herself played in the process. This understandably upsets Eliza, causing her to storm out, but at the very end she returns just after Higgins sings “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face.” 

In the movie, Eliza reappears at Higgins’ home as he is wistfully listening to a recording of her speaking in her old Cockney accent, and you are left with the impression that Higgins and Eliza will marry and live happily ever after. But the original Shaw play did not, in fact, end that way. This production is much more consistent with the original Shaw ending in which Eliza abruptly declares her independence and departs, shocking Higgins but leaving some audience members surprised and others simply delighted.   

To be honest, we had not thought much about the story when we bought those tickets; we were just quite familiar with the wonderful music and lyrics. Admittedly there are a few “cringe-worthy” misogynistic moments in the script, but all in all it was still a most enjoyable experience.

Love,

Rebecca

A visit to the place where it all began

A few years ago, a young scientist who had done postdoctoral work in Barry’s laboratory at Mount Sinai accepted a position on the faculty at the University of Rochester, where Barry and I had met as undergraduates and Barry obtained his Ph.D. in Radiation Biology. Sarah is now one of the scientists working on a grant co-chaired by Barry and a fellow scientist from Manchester in the UK. This week, the core group has been meeting in Rochester.

If travel were less of a challenge, I would probably have gone with Barry. Instead, Barry has sent me numerous pictures of our “old stomping grounds.” Much looks familiar but there are new things as well. A few of my readers are friends from our Rochester days, so I imagine they will particularly enjoy these photos if, like us, they have not been up there in many years.

This first picture is of Goler House, where we lived for the first couple of years after we married in 1973. Here is a picture I found on-line of University Park, where we lived from 1975-1980.

This next picture is the main entrance to the old Strong Memorial Hospital, where Simmie was born after only 28 weeks gestation and spent the first three months of her life in their state-of-the-art Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

These trees have certainly grown!

These next pictures are of Lattimore Hall. In the fall of 1970, Barry and I met in a Differential Equations class in Lattimore 109, the large lecture hall in that building. I may not remember much about differential equations but I definitely remember Lattimore 109! The building still stands but the interior has been entirely renovated and there is no longer a lecture hall in Lattimore 109.

Barry dropped that DiffEq course, choosing instead to take it over the summer, but I went on to become a mathematics major.

  

These next two pictures are of the Rush Rhees Library that stands at the head of the main quadrangle. For Barry visiting the campus now, and for me visiting vicariously through his pictures, we were both struck by just what a magnificent campus it was and continues to be.

Gilbert Hall is the dormitory in which I lived during my freshman year. I can still remember my roommate’s name, Nina. 1970 was the first year that the dorm was co-educational, by floors. The women were in the “basement” (fortunately, above ground) and 2^nd floors, while men lived on the 1^st and 3^rd floors. If memory serves, I was in Room 37.

Barry and I met during the first week of classes of his sophomore and my freshman year. We dated other people that fall, but continued to be part of a group of mutual friends. For reasons I still do not entirely understand to this day, in the spring of 1971, I would often return to my dorm from classes and find Barry sitting on the grass outside my window. And that is how it all began for us.

This hall looked very familiar to both of us but neither could remember what it was called. Barry asked some of his U of R meeting hosts and, as soon as we heard it, we knew: The Palestra. This was the place where many on-campus concerts were held, but it has long since been replaced with a newer and larger venue. I wondered how they are using the building today, and I found this:

Louis Alexander Palestra

Home of Yellowjacket Volleyball, Women's Basketball, Men's Basketball, Intramural Sports, Special Events and Campus Concerts. The Palestra, housed in the Goergen Athletic Center, was built in 1930 and is named in honor of Louis A. Alexander. Director of Athletics and Chairman of the Department of Physical Education for Men, 1945-1966, Varsity Basketball Coach 1931-1957 and Varsity Baseball Coach 1934-1959. Alexander was an outstanding coach and leader in physical education, he enriched the lives of countless students at this University. Possessor of rare talent for developing competitive teams, he implanted high standards of sportsmanship and exemplified the best in intercollegiate athletics.

Here is the football field, where Barry briefly played trumpet in the U of R marching band during his freshman year, before he came to his senses and realized that trying to play trumpet in the snow was not really very much fun.

This is Susan B. Anthony Hall, the dormitory affectionately known as “The Hill.” Kosher meals were served in the Danforth dining room in this dormitory.

Thanks for sharing my walk down memory lane!

Love,

Rebecca

Postscript...

In the category of "how could I have forgotten this?" - Dina acted in a production of "Oklahoma!" at SAR Academy back in 1992 or 1993.

Thanks to our friend Burton for reminding us of this! We remembered "Fiddler on the Roof" but had forgotten about "Oklahoma!".

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