April in Review
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| All the veggies at Reading Terminal Market |
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| Birthday fun at Reading Terminal Market |
Oslo by JT Rogers: I loved this play! I wanted very much to see it at Lincoln Center last season, but never got around to it. I have high hopes that some small theatre in Maryland will choose to produce it soon, because as good as it is in print, it has to be even better live.
The World Only Spins Forward - The Ascent of Angels in America by Isaac Butler and Dan Kois: I've been slowly working my way through this book all month. It's a fascinating take on what went in to creating Angels in America. The interviews with many of the original cast as well as those that have been in it over the last 30 years are so fabulous. Everyone knows that Angels in America is a masterpiece now, but it's surprising to hear just how many people also thought that as soon as Kushner wrote it.
Carmer and Grit - Book One by Sarah Jean Horwitz: In between Angels in America, I've also been making my way through this one. It's my young adult pick for the month, that won't be finished until May. It's really, really good but as I mentioned before my mind has gone in many different directions and I had a very hard time focusing. But I'm most definitely going to be finishing this tale that weaves faeries in with steampunk. So great!
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| Truer words have never been spoken... |
I had no real plans for my birthday this year - other than not being at work. Because of that, we took a drive up to Philadelphia and ate our way through the Reading Terminal Market. A girl can really do some damage there. Of course, because April Showers are kind of a thing (they wrote a rhyme about it and everything : ), that sort of ruined our plan to also see the Liberty Bell (something I've somehow never seen!) so we went shopping instead at Peddler's Village a bit outside of Philly. Love a good shopping day, but torrential downpours sort of put a damper on it.
Because I'm me, April also included a trip to New York City to see a show. This trip wasn't planned by me, so we only had the chance to eat lunch, see the show and then head home. Toloache, a Mexican place I've been wanting to try, was our lunch location. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly fantastic. But it was good in a pinch. In May, I have two overnight trips planned so I'll hopefully have more fun.
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| The gorgeous Kennedy Center on a spring morning in April - little did you know it's about 40 degrees in this picture... |
Like I said at the start of this post, April was chock-full of lots to do. Most of those things to do were theatre. I've gotten to see many, many shows this month in Maryland thanks to writing for the MD Theatre Guide. But I've realized I may have over-extended myself. Yay Theatre! Boo Theatre Hangover! But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy most of them.
True West at Rep Stage was not what I expected.
Catch me if you Can at Dundalk Community Theatre was amazing!
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at Prince George's Little Theatre was fun.
A Chorus Line at Compass Rose Theatre was unbelievable! It was definitely one of the best productions I've seen in Maryland.
Moon over Buffalo at Laurel Mill Playhouse was a funny farce in a super tiny space.
Aubergine at Everyman Theatre was an absolutely beautiful evening of theatre. I cried oh so much. Everything about the production was perfect and I loved having the chance to chat with the cast afterwards.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Vagabond Players was not my favorite, but the actors were fantastic!
Though my favorite event of the MD Theatre Guide assignments was the announcement of the 2018-2019 season at the Kennedy Center. It was a chance to hob-knob with other theatre critics and hear what the Kennedy Center had planned for their upcoming season. We were even treated to a few performances from upcoming shows. I'm more than a little excited about what they have planned!
Also in DC, I saw Let it Be - a tribute to the Beatles. The evening imagined that the Beatles had reunited for one night a decade after their break-up. For a Beatles-lover like me, it was awesome! The day after that, was the quick trip to NYC to see Once on this Island - that I have many, many feelings about that I haven't quite put on paper yet. But will soon, hopefully.
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| Super amazing staging of Once on this Island |
In April I was also forced to get comfortable with being reviewed myself. In one of the reviews I posted, a reader wasn't thrilled by my opinion and therefore felt the need to write an angry email to the editor. Ordinarily I would have backed down and apologized, but I'm trying to be better about not apologizing for everything. So I politely said that I would not change the review, and that she's entitled to her opinion, just as I'm entitled to my own.
I'm not comfortable with these situations at all, and I'm not sure if I handled it correctly. But I do know that my opinion of the show wasn't mean, or judgmental. I even wrote that I enjoyed the show. My issue was with the story itself. And as I'm not writing a thesis, I'm pretty sure I'm entitled to feel the way I feel.
Though, as logical as that decision seems, I'm still letting this one woman's opinion get in my head. Each time I sit down to write, I hear her annoyance. That so needs to end. I may actually be half way there to sticking up for myself but I'm definitely not all the way there yet, as much as I'd like to be. Progress though is happening.
On the other end of the spectrum, I bought a car. More like I HAD to buy a car when mine had some unfortunate damage. You see, I had a whole plan to buy a car - this time next year. But then an accident occurred and I got thrust into paying money I didn't want to pay on something to drive since that's apparently pretty important to life in Maryland (unfortunately!) The plan was to buy a Honda, but my rental was a Jeep. And you know what? I fell in love with that jeep and managed to find a used one for a great deal. So now I'm a super happy jeep owner - until the bill comes of course...
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| See how happy (and nerdy) I look in my cute jeep? |
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