ON STAGE—Always…Patsy Cline
Florida Studio Theatre’s production of Always…Patsy Cline was a wonderful immersion in Cline’s most famous hits. This is a play, rather than a cabaret performance, although Patsy is mostly just singing. The context and glue are provided by the connection and friendship that developed between Houston fan Louise Seger and Cline. I expected the role of Louise to be a minor one; instead Susan Greenhill as Louise is superb—funny, mouthy, caustic, and oh, so spirited!
Meredith Jones, as Patsy, appears in almost as many different dresses and outfits, all perfect for the early 1960’s, as there are songs, and captures the aching quality of Cline’s voice. One of my favorite songs being “Crazy.” The show was so popular with local audiences it frequently sold out and was then extended by a week.
ON TV—Janet King (Acorn)
If you liked Marta Dusseldorp in A Place to Call Home, chances are you’ll find her equally fascinating and complex as the star of Janet King. Based in Sydney, Janet King is a crown prosecutor and later head of a royal commission investigating gun violence. She is smart, controlled and controlling and stubborn. Her home life has its own set of potential challenges with a lesbian partner and two small children. Her office colleagues are well developed characters complete with their own issues, both political and personal. This legal drama is full of surprises and twists, some violence, and is occasionally dark, but always compelling. There are three seasons.
ON PAPER—Asymmetry
#6 Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday is one of the more unusual novels I’ve read recently, but also one of the most delightful. The first section, “Folly” is about the love affair between 25-year old editor Alice and the decades older successful novelist, Ezra Blazer (modeled after the author’s real affair with Philip Roth, say the critics). There is tenderness, humor, and discussions of literature and aging as he molds and manages her. His phone calls always arrive, CALLER ID BLOCKED.
In the second section, “Madness,” also aptly titled, is the story of newly minted PhD Amar from Los Angeles who is trying to get to Iraq to visit his brother. He is detained at Heathrow Airport and denied entry to the UK; while there he reviews his own life and his extended family’s checkered history and reflects on both American and international politics, all the while annoyed at this delay, but not overtly angry. Lastly, the extended interview with Ezra Blazer fills in more of his life and loves as well as his thoughts on the role of art and literature. All three sections take place in different years. Blazer’s coda links back to “Folly,” but Amar’s section is more discrete. (~JWFarrington)
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