Covered Bridges - an unintended pun

Slept in. So did Spook. Up in time for lunch, which was 4 slices of cinnamon raisin toast. There was some football on TV and some email and Facebook on the 'puter.

Loaded the dishwasher, should have done that days ago, but I had the plague. Only 1 soup spoon left in the drawer. Laundered the white bath towel and the mostly white calico cat furry thing which I like to hug when I sleep.

Played a little with the train set. Hot glued the tender to the locomotive, and messed up the contacts so now it doesn't make any of the sounds, and the remote control flashes. But the train works. Worked on the cat toy on a stick so now it is implanted in the end of the caboose. Spook played with it a little, but as soon as I make the train move she bolts.

Drove to Saratoga and got there half an hour before show time, but the parking lot was way too full - must have been something big at the senior center or the rec center, because a full house at the theater doesn't fill the parking lot.  And it wasn't a full house.

The Bridges of Madison County, the Musical. The first thing I noticed in the program is the director has shortened her surname by two syllables, changing it from an Eastern European name to a competitor for Ovaltine. Looking further, I have been on stage or backstage with more people than I thought. Only one of them had a major role. He is the one I had come to see, and I am glad I saw him.

Hard to describe the show, I don't know if Ovaltine over-directed it, or if she recreated the Broadway show. It was way too busy. There was usually more than one scene going on at the same time, the main stage was 3/4 of the real estate, the second stage was the stage right quarter. Mostly. Rule of thumb. Sometimes the entire ensemble appears and fills in the chorus part of the action between the main characters.  Sometimes the stage right scene is related to the main scene, sometimes it is the couple next door's kitchen. All the characters move set pieces, it's a very modular set.

My friends raved about the music. I didn't come away humming any tunes. This was no Man of La Mancha. Most of the songs ran way long, often they were passed from one main character to another and then to someone stage right or someone breaking the wall stage left. But the droning went on and on and on.

There was one double scene which infuriated me, and also made me LOL. In the main stage the two about-to-be-lovers are in the kitchen, turn on the radio, and find a music station. A lovely ballad comes on. Stage right, the woman next door is in her nightie, on a stool, fixing her hair, and she is singing the song which we hear on the radio. So far so good. The woman next door happens to be one of my favorite local veteran actresses,  she has a beautiful voice. She is not slender. As the main scene turns more romantic, the singer launches into a full body attack on the song, burlesque style.

For me, it totally ruined the feel of the show, but it was also funny as hell. The main characters were criminally upstaged.

Act I takes place over 5 days. Act II jumps in leaps and bounds about 20 years. All of a sudden, the romance from Act I disappears, and it shouldn't have. I don't like the ending of the book/movie anyway, the musical IMHO should have fixed it.

It was good the see M on the stage again. He was the leading man of the first show I did in the Bay Area in the early 80's - he was in his late teens or early 20's. We did Man of La Mancha together at the Saratoga theater in 2008. He was pianist for many auditions, and accompanist for other shows. He changed careers, became an oncology nurse, but also kept up his music, theater and costume building. He recently lost his partner, who went in for what was supposed to be routine surgery, but never came out. It has been a rough year for him. Theater is therapy.

Home, feeling very sleepy. Relaxed, channel surfed between football games. Chicken broth with a drumstick, then ha gow and sui mai. Root beer float for sweet hydration.

Played with the trains when I saw Spook playing with the toy I'd hung on it, but she ran under the piano bench I was sitting on when the train started moving.

Went outside to put some wrapping paper in the bin, somehow the car hatchback was open, the running lights were on. Fixed that, watered the carport garden. It looks like the saffron bulbs are finally sprouting. It has been almost 2 months. Too warm I guess.

The smoke has mostly cleared here, temps were back near 80 this afternoon.

Flattened all the boxes, there were a lot of them, bundled them with paper tape and they are on the sofa until they get put out with the recycle bin tomorrow.

Plans for tomorrow:
Take it easy
Watch football
Plan a Thanksgiving trip (?)