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Oh my god, I feel completely hung over, though I had nothing to drink last night. I went to see Mother Courage and her Children in the park with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
petitesoeur in the Park. Petite and I have been rained on before. Honestly, I never thought we'd go through anything that topped the Liev Shrieber Henry V "We've got to turn off all the microphones so you few people who are left better come down real close to hear us over the downpour!"
We had vouchers and were happily standing in the little field for voucher-folk when the sky just opened up. It was the kind of rain that rains in all directions at once. And it rained for over and hour. Eventually we did at least get a clue and go hang out under the overhanging roof of the theater with the smart people, but I have never been so cold and squishy for so long in my life. The rain seemed to gravitate especially to my underwear and my socks--and I somehow also got covered in mud. Both books I had are now permenantly warped.
At 8:15 (fifteen minutes after curtain should have been) they announce they're going to decide what to do within the next half hour, during which time it just about stopped raining, and finally they said they'd open up. And this is what I love about the NY Shakespeare in the Park crowd--as soon as that was announced half the crowd filed off to their correct entries into the theater and the rest tramped back down into the field. The voucher people got into a little knot with our soggy orange slips of paper. The stand-by line lined up single file in the exact order they had been in before, minus people who had given up. Unsurprisingly, we all got in, but still everyone waited their turn. The voucher people totally waited for the person to call every number four times before she got to ours. The show started about 9--which was around the time I learned it was 3 1/2 hours long.
Keep in mind that was 3 and a half hours that we were sopping wet. I tried warming my thighs by spreading out the Playbill and now my pants seem stained with ink that seeped out of it. But honestly, it's a tribute to the production that while it was really uncomfortable, it wasn't torturous--and 3 1/2 hours of soggy Brecht could easily have been so. The play is too long, but the translation I thought was great, as were the performances (there was one song where the choreography was pretty bad, though, and we noticed there was no choreographer listed). "Meryl Streep" has become almost a synonym for "great actress" but that just doesn't cover her on stage for practically the whole time doing this character (and you don't often get to see her perform songs--her last song of the first act and her lullaby were really phenomenal). We both had a hard time imagining Christopher Walken doing the part of the cook, as he was originally supposed to do. It seemed perfect for Kevin Kline.
I think on bad weather nights the audience tends to feel all that much closer to the actors. It also leads to some unintentional laughs--like when they turn on the rain machine and there's a groan or they make any reference to rainstorms. One of the first lines has one of the characters picking out someone in the audience to describe what a pathetic army recruit he would make and I would love to check if "soaking fucking wet" is actually in the text or if he just threw it in looking at our audience. I will admit that when Mother Courage and the Cook are supposed to be shivering in the winter I found myself feeling a little resentful, since I'd been eyeing Meryl Streep's cozy dry looking wool skirt, leggings and boots since the moment she rolled onstage.
It was when we were walking out that I seemed to start falling apart. We're walking down the stairs andpetitesoeur asks, "Are you okay?" because I'm literally falling down the stairs like a drunk person. It was just that my legs and feet had started randomly cramping and I was shivering so violently I couldn't handle the stairs! My teeth were clacking together like a novelty item. (I’m a big shiverer in general.)
Anyway, I had a feeling I'd be sore today from holding my bag for a long time and having my shoulders hunched in the cold but damn, I woke up with a splitting headache. The sacrifices we make for art!petitesoeur and I have, however, vowed for next year: ponchos, changes of clothes, and big towels to every show. I feel like we ought to get some sort of medal for this one.
petitesoeur in the Park. Petite and I have been rained on before. Honestly, I never thought we'd go through anything that topped the Liev Shrieber Henry V "We've got to turn off all the microphones so you few people who are left better come down real close to hear us over the downpour!"We had vouchers and were happily standing in the little field for voucher-folk when the sky just opened up. It was the kind of rain that rains in all directions at once. And it rained for over and hour. Eventually we did at least get a clue and go hang out under the overhanging roof of the theater with the smart people, but I have never been so cold and squishy for so long in my life. The rain seemed to gravitate especially to my underwear and my socks--and I somehow also got covered in mud. Both books I had are now permenantly warped.
At 8:15 (fifteen minutes after curtain should have been) they announce they're going to decide what to do within the next half hour, during which time it just about stopped raining, and finally they said they'd open up. And this is what I love about the NY Shakespeare in the Park crowd--as soon as that was announced half the crowd filed off to their correct entries into the theater and the rest tramped back down into the field. The voucher people got into a little knot with our soggy orange slips of paper. The stand-by line lined up single file in the exact order they had been in before, minus people who had given up. Unsurprisingly, we all got in, but still everyone waited their turn. The voucher people totally waited for the person to call every number four times before she got to ours. The show started about 9--which was around the time I learned it was 3 1/2 hours long.
Keep in mind that was 3 and a half hours that we were sopping wet. I tried warming my thighs by spreading out the Playbill and now my pants seem stained with ink that seeped out of it. But honestly, it's a tribute to the production that while it was really uncomfortable, it wasn't torturous--and 3 1/2 hours of soggy Brecht could easily have been so. The play is too long, but the translation I thought was great, as were the performances (there was one song where the choreography was pretty bad, though, and we noticed there was no choreographer listed). "Meryl Streep" has become almost a synonym for "great actress" but that just doesn't cover her on stage for practically the whole time doing this character (and you don't often get to see her perform songs--her last song of the first act and her lullaby were really phenomenal). We both had a hard time imagining Christopher Walken doing the part of the cook, as he was originally supposed to do. It seemed perfect for Kevin Kline.
I think on bad weather nights the audience tends to feel all that much closer to the actors. It also leads to some unintentional laughs--like when they turn on the rain machine and there's a groan or they make any reference to rainstorms. One of the first lines has one of the characters picking out someone in the audience to describe what a pathetic army recruit he would make and I would love to check if "soaking fucking wet" is actually in the text or if he just threw it in looking at our audience. I will admit that when Mother Courage and the Cook are supposed to be shivering in the winter I found myself feeling a little resentful, since I'd been eyeing Meryl Streep's cozy dry looking wool skirt, leggings and boots since the moment she rolled onstage.
It was when we were walking out that I seemed to start falling apart. We're walking down the stairs and
petitesoeur asks, "Are you okay?" because I'm literally falling down the stairs like a drunk person. It was just that my legs and feet had started randomly cramping and I was shivering so violently I couldn't handle the stairs! My teeth were clacking together like a novelty item. (I’m a big shiverer in general.)Anyway, I had a feeling I'd be sore today from holding my bag for a long time and having my shoulders hunched in the cold but damn, I woke up with a splitting headache. The sacrifices we make for art!
petitesoeur and I have, however, vowed for next year: ponchos, changes of clothes, and big towels to every show. I feel like we ought to get some sort of medal for this one. 
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But at least you got to see it and it was worth it.
Hopefully you won't get a cold. Drink lots of tea and broth.
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I saw Kevin Kline in Much Ado in the Park--several years ago. I think I was still a kid. It was the one with Blythe Danner. It was actually really good. Whenever I think of great productions in the Park that's one I remember. It wasn't raining when I saw that one, I can tell you that much!
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When I lived in NY, it always seemed that whenever we decided to go see something in the park, it would end up being one of those unspeakably hot days. By the time the production itself started, it would usually be bearable out, but my friends always wanted to get there early and do the whole picnic thing. I'd often wind up feeling vaguely ill and heat-strokey.
The nice thing, though, is that memory tends to erase those details eventually (until something comes along to rekindle them, of course!), so that several years down the line, what you're usually left with is just the memory of the production itself.
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But glad to know Mother Courage is reasonably good--I'm supposed to go next week, I think.
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That rain was amazing. We all expected it to be like the shower earlier in the day that was short and sweet.
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That would have been back in '67 or '68. It had a message then and it has a message now, and they are not *quite* the same message. Some of the songs have followed me around ever since.
Actually, rain would have worked perfectly will with most of it. Except for not being able to hear. That is a show where you definitly need to hear it.
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I don't remember it being there. But I read it in German, so maybe I missed something. ; )
This sounds so cool. Wet, but cool.