our week in review

so it was a full week - in the time before classes start for the term (next week) - but the weather was extremely changeable.

on Monday we had Yummy House Chinese -you have to reserve more than a week in advance LOL- there is a dearth of good Chinese food here so they are in demand... actually there is a dearth of good ethnic... we eat a lot of fresh seafood but miss real Thai, Mexican, Vietnamese, Bosnian, Chinese, Korean - this is just not urban enough for authentic ethnic... soooo- stone crab claws anyone??? LOL we are hardly suffering despite the area being seriously lacking in immigrants.

We do have a terrific Philly Cheese Steak place LOL- guess those folks know an appreciative audience when they see one.. this little (seats 30) storefront does a bang up business between 11 and 8:30 their hours.  We also have issues with the hours here- although we never have competition during the hours we would generally be eating - we also find ourselves on the cusp of closings with regularity.  So while we love our winter home in the sunshine, with its white sand beaches and dockside eateries, this will never be our summer location- we go to the city for all it has to offer, the stunning lakefront -the vibrant nightlife and ethnic food!

However, one thing we can say for certain is that our winter home is no slouch when it comes to arts and music and theater - what it lacks in food options it certainly makes up for in culture.  This week we saw The Liar (reviewed in a prior post)

We also went for our first concert of the symphony -Sarasota Orchestra with their real "catch" of a conductor, the amazing Anu Tali.  We heard an outstanding concert which included a piano concerto Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky - here is the evening's list from the program. And yes- we have a brilliant and world renown symphony in Chicago which is not a mere five minutes from our house with free parking- LOL- to say nothing of the schedule conflict of their "year" versus ours.  Most of our local cultural options are less than 20 minutes away. And yes I know this sounds incredibly lazy but access is one element of getting folks out to such events. And we chose the Sarasota area for our winter residence BECAUSE of the cultural options. Just as we choose Chicago for our summer residence for its dining and nightlife options.  We get "the best of all possible worlds" and can live like Candide- LOL

Then just yesterday - completing our week - we saw another production from National Theater Live -this time the Beaux Stratagem.  Absolutely smashing! what a happy accident!  As a member of the Ringling Art Museum, emails keep us abreast of offerings there and yesterday they were broadcasting the National Theater Live of this terrific production from London at the Historic Asolo Theater in the Museum complex, so we snagged tickets and were thrilled by the show.  A Restoration Comedy by a guy who died in like 1707 before the play was even staged and just after he finished writing it...

The Beaux' Stratagem is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Theatre Royal, now the site of Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, London, on March 8, 1707. The Beaux' Stratagem is one of the last Restoration comedies, before the genre was replaced by a new style of more mannered comedy. In a few years, The Beaux' Strategem would have been considered somewhat immoral, notably Farquhar's cynicism about the charms of matrimony.

The ‘Beaux’: Mr Aimwell and Mr Archer, two charming, dissolute young men who have blown their fortunes in giddy London. Shamed and debt-ridden, they flee to provincial Lichfield. Their ‘Stratagem’: to marry for money.  Lodged at the local inn, posing as master and servant, they encounter a teeming variety of human obstacles: a crooked landlord, a fearsome highwayman, a fervent French Count, a maid on the make, a drunken husband, a furious butler, a natural healer and a strange, turbulent priest.  But their greatest obstacle is love. When the Beaux meet their match in Dorinda and Mrs Sullen they are most at risk, for in love they might be truly discovered. George Farquhar’s final play is a fabulous carnal comedy.

Aimwell and Dorinda become engaged to be married at the end of the play, in accordance with the rules of the genre, in which young lovers always get married in the end. However, Farquhar uses Kate Sullen to criticise this facile outcome. She, originally rich in her own right, is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man she despises, who keeps her from the town-based society she adores. The legal system does not allow divorce based on incompatibility, and any divorce at the time left women disgraced and penniless. The dark side to the play produced by this theme threatens to overwhelm the rest of it, and Farquhar has to resort to a deus ex machina character and an arbitrary adjustment to English law to get out of the hole he has dug for himself. Noticeably, even when Kate's separation from her husband seems an accomplished fact, the possibility of marriage never seems to cross either her or Archer's mind.  (above in blue from various websites when searching the play's title and edited to be more concise)

and here are some wonderful photos from the National Theater Live website from the production and rehearsals for the production- the "beaux"-

the terrific set- which was changed with scenes by scurrying in and out amongst the various characters- this was the manor house of Lady Bountiful-

the bandits plotting (in rehearsal)

on stage-

the cute "beaux" who woos Mrs. Sullen-

here's the cute beaux in real life- still cute LOL and made cuter by how much fun he was having in his role- actually they were all having a "jolly good time" and so were we!

http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/50441-the-beaux-stratagem

I think the link above will take you to the trailer- and the great news is all you need to do is check the National Theater Live website to see when it may be playing at a simulcast theater near your location!  Totally worth going out of your way to see it!

And today for lunch we tried a new place for lunch- one that got a decent review recently in the paper when it opened but was a big disappointment- it is called the Ugly Grouper- and so we went for grouper sandwiches (which they curiously did not have - it was crossed out on the menu- and the serve made some lame excuse about they don't have storage space for grouper filets even though they have grouper...bizarre) so we ordered grudgingly the grouper tacos - which might have been OK except they were stuffed with cabbage! since when do tacos have cabbage instead of lettuce? forewarned! they look good but tasted more of cabbage than any other ingredient...

so we drown our "sorrows" at the indifferent meal by going to the fish market and buying stone crab claws and ahi tuna for some claws and poke for dinner! Can't go wrong there! And now back to Cuba and on to Cienfuegos where we hear angels.

makes no sense

So last night we went to our final (for this season) production at the FSU Conservatory for Actors. They were performing Chekhov's Cherry Orchard. And this morning I found myself marveling at the similarities between the play and the soda that Phil is so inordinately fond of...

at first glance you may not notice it- LOL

and it isn't because they both have "cherry" (corrupted in the case of cheerwine) in their names- it is because neither one of them makes sense!

Cheerwine (been around since 1917! but who has ever heard of it? the legend! LOL) is a cherry drink without any identification of it being cherry - just being cheery!  here is some info on it from wikipedia-

When the Maysville Syrup Company of Maysville, Kentucky went bankrupt in 1917, L.D. Peeler and other invested businessmen moved the company to North Carolina and renamed it the Carolina Beverage Corporation. That same year, Peeler purchased a recipe for a cherry flavored soda from a Saint Louis flavor salesman, which eventually became Cheerwine. Though it had been around since 1917, Cheerwine first became a registered trademark in 1926.  Cheerwine has a mildly sweet flavor with strong cherry notes, most notably black cherry; is burgundy-colored, and has an unusually high degree of carbonation compared to other soft drinks. The product was named for its color and taste; the company website states that "it made sense to name a burgundy-red, bubbly, cherry concoction—Cheerwine." Despite its name, Cheerwine is not really a wine and contains no alcohol. 

OK so I get maybe the wine color misled you into thinking it made sense to call it "xxxwine" but is the cheer a misspelling of cherry? This makes no sense to me...

Which leads me back to the play- it also made no sense to me... here is the synopsis- 

here is my thumbnail synopsis of the play- "everyone gets what they deserve"- rarely will you see a stage filled with such a group of morons as this one. Clearly inbreeding rendered them "incapable of saving their estate" it rendered them INCAPABLE of even making a decision! These losers couldn't have held on to that orchard and house if they had money- one of them gives away everything she has to a less than scrupulous lover (who not surprisingly keeps sending her telegrams entreating her to return to him in Paris) another spends his time repeatedly saying the phrase "yellow ball in the side pocket".... the whole thing reminded me that I had not yet mentioned the meal we had on Saturday night (LOL- just wait for it...)

an excellent pizza place in Cortez right next to the best ice cream in town (Tyler's Homemade)

the above pizza is called Adam's Favorite but it my favorite as well!

but back to the stupid people who couldn't bother to make a move to save their own estate- - - Society is breaking down, the servants are dancing in the ball room with the local bureaucrats... people wander in and out of scenes making statements that don't make any sense...

after having listened to the drivel coming out of the characters mouth's last night I read literary criticism of the play and see there are many levels and of course even during the play I was aware of the issues of the time period with the end of the aristocracy in Russia... but even with all this context I found their inability to make a decision and to take action seriously annoying............

 

so out with the old year and in with the new- here is the upcoming 15-16 season for FSU/Asolo

and they are also starting to release the 15-16 season of the Asolo Rep -

so we will see what next year brings- and since I am heading next week (for the first time) to the Florida Studio Theater - that season will be added into the choices we have--- as well as some more music at Phil's favorite venue- Fogartyville! Stay tuned... as we are off to the SFF (film festival) tomorrow for our day one of entertainment!....