clockfuckery
March 10, 2008

I had sort of a cruddy weekend, some fun stuff aside. I rose early on Saturday to get some frantic housecleaning in before B�s appointment. Vacuuming, dusting, bedmaking, bathroom scrubbing, and laundry, followed by lightning-quick showering and dressing.
Once we dropped him off, we ran out to pick up Nephew, who was coming to hang out/go out to eat/go to the play/sleep over. Then back to town, and back to pick up the dog. More laundry for me while the guys vegged around, and then another quick change to get ready for dinner and the show.

We went to a new pizza place in town, Kaiser�s. They�ve moved into the old Stonewall Grill downtown. The food and service were very good, and these folks already have a good following down in Lake County, IL, so they might do well. Downtown is such a hole, though.

And seriously�why do people keep thinking that what K-town needs is more fucking booze and pizza?! This city consists of practically nothing BUT bars and pizza joints.

After dinner, Nephew and I dropped Spouse off at home and headed over to the high school for the closing night of �Rent: Student Edition�. We got there 45 minutes before curtain, and the lot and lobby were already packed. I�d picked up advance GA tickets at the grocery store, but a well-timed question at the reserved seating booth rescued us from the balcony for a mere four dollars. Well worth it�especially when it helps support BHS theater. And as packed as it was, there are too many cheap people in this town for reserved to be sold out, so after the intermission, Nephew and I moved down a row and spread out a bit. We are both large people, and we were quite cramped in on either side in our first-act seats. The spot we moved to had five empty seats in a row, enabling us to have empties between us and on either side--I believe that was the first time I�ve ever been more comfy during the first act than the second.

The show itself was extremely good. I never cease to marvel at the talent, commitment, and pure love of theater these kids have. I�ve already gone on record as saying that I preferred their Sweeney Todd to Hollywood�s version, and while I can�t make that statement about Rent (too many originators in the film)�it�s pretty close. I can say that they were far, far better than the touring company we saw last spring. Their timing was tighter, their voices were better�choreography, lighting, set--even the stage management was better than what we saw at the Genesee. I�m telling you, I even what it would have been like to be a part of such a professional production when I was in high school.

Nephew enjoyed it too�although he was having a rough time getting past the general sense of envy over the facility, theatre program, and level of community support. I know the feeling, as I have those same twinges. But it is sad to realize that 26 years after I graduated from that place, Nephew and his fellow students are still dealing with the same shitty facilities, non-existent budget, and fundamental lack of respect I did when I was a thespian there.

The show was a tight 2.5, with a short program at the end to honor graduating seniors. We made it out of the building and the parking lot pretty quickly, though�pausing only to drop a fin in the hat for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. My busy day wasn�t quite over, though. I had to make a drugstore run before we got home, and even when we did finally make it, we all ended up staying up even later. I finally got to go to sleep at about 1:30.