The Miserables

You probably already know that I love the theatre (notice how I spelled theatre if you have any questions) and luckily I have enough money to see lots of shows.  I budget so I can enjoy season subscriptions to lots of local companies, as well as getting myself to NYC at least once a year.  And the best part is that I have friends who enjoy doing this with me, so we have girls night out a couple of times a month for dinner, then a show.  Heaven!

NOTE:  My regular theatre buddies are Jill, Maria, Helen, and Christie. I also go with my mom and now with my niece Katie back in town, I'm ready for even more.  Watertower or Lyric Stage anyone?

Currently, I have subscriptions to AT&T Broadway at the Winspear, Theater Three, Dallas Summer Musicals, and the Dallas Theater Center.  I love them all, but I think my most consistent favorite is the Dallas Theater Center (DTC). 

DTC just makes me think.  Last night we saw their production of Les Miserables and I loved it.  It is one of my favorite shows ever and it was really fun to see what a local company would do with my favorite show.  They set it in modern day instead of the Marie Antoinette days of old, so instead of shooting bayonettes, they shot handguns.  The hilarious innkeeper and his wife stole iphones and samsonite luggage from unsuspecting patrons in suits and jogging outfits.  Super fun.

If you don't know much about the story, the young male hero (Marius) ends up fighting a battle for the people during the French Revolution in Paris.  In DTC's present day production the battle seemed to be over more current topics such as the homeless, veterans affairs -- many different topics with no particular focus.  I am not a student of the French Revolution (and even though it is my favorite musical, I've never even read Hugo's book <chagrin>), so maybe the battle had no focus then either -- but I had always thought it was about the treatment of the poor by Marie and her cronies.

So last night while I'm watching this updated version of the show at DTC and see all of the unfocused contemporary moral problems that supposedly started the students and Marius fighting the police in the streets, I just kept thinking that winning a war without a focus would be hard.  To really get people behind something, you need a single enemy -- or at least a single cause to get them riled up.

Now, if the DTC show had been put on just a few weeks later in the year, they could have really said something and focused Marius and the boys on a revolution relating to the surge of young migrants from Central America crossing the border into Texas.

That's a fight for the miserables (apparently) soon to be among us.

The Hangover Excuse

Where were you on Friday night at 7:45 pm?

I was sitting between Maria and Helen seeing the opening number of Catch Me If You Can at the Dallas Summer Musicals.  We had finished a quick dinner at Salum and rushed down to Fair Park, just in time to be seated for the show.  The opening number is "Live in Living Color" and it was just getting going at 7:45...

At 7:45 pm Friday 5-week-old Spencer Claire White was alone with her 20-year-old father in Garland.  The father said he had a hangover and a headache and was trying to quiet the baby when according to The Dallas Morning News he "placed his hand around the back of her neck and squeezed too tight".  You can see part of his jailhouse interview here from WFAA:  http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Man-accused-of-killing-baby-talks-to-News-8--191895301.html

When a child dies -- and it makes the news -- we shake our heads and talk about the tragedy of the death.  About how someone could do such a thing.  About what sort of person could do that.

Where were you when Spencer Claire died?  Most of you were probably having dinner or watching TV or any number of "normal" things.

I wish Spencer Claire had been with me.