Lion Eyes

While I was on Light Rail halfway to downtown San Jose, Marilyn, the friend with the Lion King tickets, phoned to tell me she had lost her wallet, including driver's license and tickets. That was at 7:10. I figured she would find her stuff in plenty of time for the 8 pm curtain, but she didn't. She called back at about 7:30 to say she wasn't going to make it.

I went to the theater anyway, figuring LK would be sold out, and since I was all dressed up in my Thai silk suit, I could go somewhere like the tech museum and see their IMAX film, or maybe Tied House or some other dive and sit there looking pretty. A 7:50 I went into the lobby, and it turned out they had most of the balcony un-sold, so I paid way too much for a ticket there.

The seats were okay, it's a small theater and even halfway back in the balcony I could see facial expressions and didn't need binoculars. As with all shows these days, it was miked, so hearing was no problem.

I don't have much to say about the show. I have a lot to say about the bios in the program. It's a huge cast, and except for a small handful, they all chose to share their religious beliefs in their bio . One actress didn't write a bio at all, she just had that "for he so loved the world" quote. Made me want to puke. The good news is I didn't read the bios until I was on light rail going home.

<Soapbox>
I've been in theater a LONG time. For several years I edited programs for Menlo Players, and have written dozens of bios for myself and fellow cast members. I have never once been given a bio which thanked any deity for anything, anywhere or at any time. Shout-outs of any kind, especially religious ones, in my not at all humble opinion, have no place in a theater program. Program bios are a mini-resume, and just as you would never thank Jesus My Personal Savior on a resume, you should not be putting that in your program bio. And the editor of the program shouldn't be allowing those in.
</Soapbox>
( Review behind the cut - no spoilers )

I'm not telling Marilyn I saw the show. I don't want her to feel sorry for me paying for a ticket. I'm not concerned that she would feel left out - she was in no mood to enjoy the show, and would have spent the performance worrying about her missing wallet and wishing we were in the front row (her tickets were on the sides of row A) instead of the balcony.

Dark Tower 7 Progress Report

I'm about halfway through. I think this is the most tightly-written of all the books. King's early works, especially thrillers (I'm thinking mostly Tommyknockers genre) annoyed me because he would stretch the anticipation waaaaaaaaaaay beyond what was necessary or (to me) entertaining. One could skip pages, sometimes whole chapters, and not miss anything substantive.

Dark Tower 7 is not that way.

King has also learned how to flesh out his characters early, so we understand why they do what they do. My only complaint is he has this thing for describing pus-eating, and other disgusting habits of the bad guys, and I'm mostly reading this book at lunch or in a coffee shop. Try enjoying a mocha while someone in the book is eating a discarded Kleenex. Yuk.

None of the good guys are gay. Hmmm.