Category: Theater

Tiny Tidy Tidbits

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BOOK OF THE WEEK

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

Author Kennedy (TheTimes.co.uk)

Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, this first novel portrays gritty daily life in Belfast and its environs.  The tension between neighboring Catholics and Protestants is often escalated by seemingly random acts of violence.  Cushla, a young elementary school teacher, lives with her alcoholic mother and helps occasionally at the bar owned by her older brother Eammon.  The bar has its regulars, Catholics, but sometimes a Protestant wanders in.  

One evening, barrister Michael Agnew, notices Cushla and strikes up a conversation which leads to involvement and then an affair.  Michael is not only Protestant, but also married and considerably older.  Theirs is a tender love story marked by absence, evasion, and affection.  

Kennedy straightforwardly captures the small details in the setting.  I found the first part a bit slow, but then the book gained momentum as one tragic event led to another.  Kennedy grew up near Belfast and was a chef for almost 30 years before becoming a writer.  Trespasses was the A Post Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year 2022 and also shortlisted for several other awards. It’s the first read from my summer list.

LIVE THEATER

Man of La Mancha (Asolo Repertory Theatre)

Don Quixote & Sancho (SarasotaHeraldTribune.com)

This run of Man of La Mancha has ended, but it was the all-time best production the Chief Penguin and I have enjoyed at the Asolo.  This is not faint praise as the overall caliber of Asolo productions is always extremely high.  The staging, the setting in a contemporary prison, the intricate choreography of fight scenes, the voices and sounds of actors and musicians, and the music itself combined for an engrossing performance.  We were entranced!  And hearing The Impossible Dream sung and then sung again two more times, we were uplifted.  This play was a gift for our complex, polarized times.  

Tidy Tidbits: Watching & Eating

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PURE ENTERTAINMENT

The Three Musketeers

Sword play (Herald Tribune)

We had almost front row seats for the Asolo Theatre’s action-packed performance of Ken Ludwig’s The Three Musketeers.  The early 17th century was the era of duels and only the slightest of slights could result in being called out.  Thus, there’s plenty of slashing and smashing of swords, leaping, and jumping about, and even the occasional fisticuffs.  This adaptation of Alexander Dumas’ work re-envisions and strengthens the role of women, especially Sabine.  This Sabine, D’Artagnan’s sister, is herself an accomplished swordswoman and won’t surrender to just attending a convent school.  She’s in there with the guys.  

King Louis is ineffectual, his queen is clever, and arch enemy Cardinal Richelieu is conniving, while the musketeers, along with the exuberant D’Artagnan, are ever ready to defend and serve.  It’s rollicking, fun, and even funny! Performances run through March 26.

MURDER IN THE AGE OF FREUD

Vienna Blood (Prime Video, 3 seasons)

Max & Oskar (Endor-Productions)

In 1906, the work of Sigmund Freud was the subject of debate and controversy in the Viennese medical world.  Young doctor Max Lieberman, a disciple of Freud, applies his theories and analyses to his patients and then to coming up with psychological profiles of murder suspects.  Shadowing a very reluctant detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt, Max’s insights help solve a case, and the two become “partners in crime.”  The murder scenes are graphic and even gruesome, and the crimes often revolve around religion, art, or the occult.  

Over the course of three seasons, the relationship between Max and Oskar evolves from strictly professional to comrades to a genuine friendship.  The title refers not only to the victims’ blood, but also to Viennese high society.  Great attention is paid to, and great concern is evinced about one’s standing and one’s reputation in the community.  

It took me a few episodes in Season 1 to become immersed in the series, but once I did, the Chief Penguin and I made it our focused viewing every evening.  I also enjoyed seeing the evolution of Clara Weiss, Max’s former fiancée, from society belle to emerging career woman.  Recommended!

DINING OUT—STEAK & MORE

Modern Chop

Interior (Restaurant Guru)

Modern Chop is a welcome addition to the west Bradenton dining scene.  Located close to Blake Hospital, it bills itself as a steakhouse, but it’s much more.  Yes, several cuts of beef are on offer, but also seafood, pasta, and vegetarian dishes.  

Short rib entree

The bar area was lively with lights and sound when we entered, initially giving me pause, but the hostess then led us to a slightly removed space with nicely spaced tables, large comfortable chairs, and quiet.

Our waiter was pleasant, and our foursome enjoyed everything we ordered.  We shared an appetizer of fried calamari which was excellent, and then individually we sampled the impressive short rib with truffled potatoes and carrots, almond crusted rainbow trout with Béarnaise sauce, and bucatini with chicken in a gorgonzola sauce.  It was an experience well worth repeating!

Rainbow trout with risotto and asparagus

Note: Header photo of Manatee County Map courtesy of whereig.com. Unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Tidy Tidbits: Pachinko & Knoxville

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CONFLUENCE OF RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS

This weekend, for the first time in 30 years, three different religious holidays overlap.  Jews celebrated the first day of Passover on April 15, that same day was Good Friday for Christians, and it’s in the middle of Ramadan for Muslims.  Today is Easter Sunday!  Whatever you celebrate or don’t, may you enjoy the annual renewal of spring!

VIEWING—ASIAN HISTORICAL DRAMA

Pachinko (Apple TV+)

Hansu & Sunja (thecinemaholic.com)

Based on a 2017 novel of the same name by Min Jin Lee, Pachinko is a history lesson in Korean Japanese relations between about 1930 and 1989 and a study of cultural identity.  Set in multiple locations, Busan, Korea, and Osaka and Tokyo, Japan, it follows several generations of a Korean family who move to Osaka.  Japan annexed Korea in 1910 and followed a policy of wiping out as much Korean culture as possible.  This lasted until 1945.  Even after the war, Koreans who had previously emigrated and settled in Japan were subject to prejudice and discrimination.  

The series focuses on Sunja, a young woman in Busan, who falls in love with and becomes pregnant by Hansu, a rich, married man.  When offered the opportunity to marry Isak, a stranger to her village, she accepts and moves with him to Japan where his brother and wife live.  The series goes back and forth in time so that we encounter Sunja in 1989 as an old woman, her son Mozasu, who runs a pachinko (game) parlor in Osaka, and her grandson, Solomon.  Solomon appears to have a successful financial career in the States but is currently on assignment to Tokyo.  

Although it follows the basic threads of the novel, the series is quite different, particularly in its juxtaposition of past and present timeframes.  As one example, the centrality of rice is played out ladled from a primitive stove and, in the next scene, scooped from a modern electric rice cooker.

This drama is an ambitious effort with a large Asian cast and different colored subtitles in Japanese, Korean and English, depending on who is speaking.  Once I became familiar with the characters again, I found it compelling and even tear-inducing at points.  There will be 8 episodes in all with the last two released later in April. Very much recommended!

LIVE THEATER—SLICE OF LIFE

Knoxville (Asolo Theatre)

Assembled cast (heraldtribune.com)

Knoxville, a new musical, is more opera than theater, more sung than spoken.  We were at the world premiere the other night, and it was an immersive and emotional experience.  A study of ordinary life, faith, and death, it’s based on James Agee’s autobiographical novel, A Death in the Family.  Viewed through the perspective of the adult author and the author as 6-year-old Rufus, it’s a story of a different time (1915) in a particular place (Knoxville, Tennessee), but its themes are universal.  

The cast of characters and musicians (some doubling as actors) is large and diverse, and Jack Casey as young Rufus is just one standout.  As always, the staging at Asolo is very creative. The use of a portable window frame throughout was especially effective.  

The play was performed without an intermission and the hour and forty minutes just whizzed by!  If you saw Our Town earlier this season, you’d probably agree with me that Knoxville is a companion piece—different time and place, but related themes.  In both works, religion plays a prominent role.  

Professional theater doesn’t get much better than this, and we in the Sarasota-Bradenton area are fortunate to be the beneficiaries.  Tony Award-winning director and writer Frank Galati directs this production.  It runs through May 11.  Highly recommended!

The Local Scene: Culture & Food

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CLASSIC THEATER

Our Town

George, Stage Manager, & Emily (heraldtribune.com)

Most everyone of a certain age has been exposed to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in junior high or high school.  I recall that we read it in English class and may even have acted out a scene or too.  When we were young, many of us (theater folks included) found the whole business dull.  Therefore, I approached the Asolo Theatre production with skepticism.  To my surprise, I enjoyed it much more than I anticipated. 

The staging is spare, and a diverse cast made the residents of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, come alive.  The stage manager describes the layout of the town and introduces us to the main characters, then steps in and out of the drama to move things along or to go back in time.

Yes, the play is dated.  It is set in the early 20th century when milk was still delivered by a horse-drawn wagon, and mothers focused on preparing meals and raising children.  But the themes of love, duty, and death it explores are universal.  The last act, set in the cemetery with the dead talking to one another, delivers a gentle punch to the gut.

Unlike the stilted, formal presentations of this character I remember, Kenn E. Head imbues the stage manager with humor, verve and a bit of sass.  He makes the role, and by extension the play, memorable!  Performances continue through March 26.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

The Rent Collector by Camron Wright

Camron Wright (amazon.com)

I’m currently reading The Rent Collector, a novel for our local book group.  It’s by an author I hadn’t known.  Like the nonfiction work, Beyond the Beautiful Forevers, set in a trash dump near the Mumbai airport, the setting here is also a dump, but in Cambodia.  People live in shacks constructed out of paper and cardboard, and they pick through the trash for items to sell or recycle.  This is a more hopeful work and is also based on real people.  

Sang Ly, the main character is learning to read, and she and her husband Ki Lim and their sickly son Nisay eke out their existence midst this challenging environment.  Winner of several book awards, this is an absorbing and uplifting novel.  (~JWFarrington)

EATING OUT

BOUTIQUE RESTAURANT IN SARASOTA

A Sprig of Thyme

Interior (tripadvisor.com)

This cozy restaurant close to Sarasota Memorial Hospital offers an appealing menu of seafood and meat entrees which should tempt and satisfy any palate.  Friends introduced us, and we were very pleased with our choices.  I ordered Scallops and Shrimp Taulere on a creamy parmesan risotto with a chardonnay wine sauce.  The scallops were large, the shrimp perfectly cooked, and the whole dish saucy in a good way.  The Chief Penguin opted for Saltimbocca of Scallops (sea scallops) being a saltimbocca kind of guy.  

Our friends each ordered the Mediterranean Shipwreck which was a grouper paillard, three jumbo shrimp, and a diver scallop all broiled on a cedar plank.  Most entrees came with asparagus and yellow pepper strips plus a choice of the risotto or mashed potatoes.  Other menu items range from a selection of salads to beef, lamb, duck, veal, and chicken entrees.  Service was both professional and friendly.  We’ll go back!

CASUAL LUNCH FARE IN BRADENTON

Central Café

It was several years ago when we last dined at Central Café.  In the interim, they have expanded their dining room and still serve a great variety of salads, sandwiches, and fries to die for!

Plate of fries (sarasotamagazine.com)

We were there with friends and shared a heap of skinny fries.  Two of us had the Caesar salad with either shrimp or tuna while others ordered the beet salad and the Californication sandwich (made of ahi tuna, bacon, and condiments).  We arrived before noon, and within about fifteen minutes, the place was full!  A perfect place for as much lunch as you’d like.