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Way down under the ground
I stopped sleeping again. Some things that have nothing to do with film noir:
1. An Alphabet of Embers: An Anthology of Unclassifiables has received a story-by-story rave from Strange Horizons. About my story, Karen Burnham says: "[T]he ground is laid to read Sonya Taaffe's 'Exorcisms' in a horror mode . . . But here the potential horror of spirit possession turns out to be something more consensual, and this is a story of immigration both universal (in the sense of those who uproot themselves and settle in new places, what they gain and what they lose) and very specifically from the Jewish tradition." Of the book itself: "[W]hile the individual stories sometimes seem too much like embers (flashing brightly but fading from memory quickly), the anthology as a whole leaves a lasting impression of weight, survival, and beauty." That had better go on the back of the next edition.
2. The Museum of All Things Awesome and That Go Boom is now available in all its adventurous glory. I'll post further once my contributor's copy has arrived. I still like the exhibits.
3. The original off-Broadway cast of Hadestown has been recorded live, according to The New Yorker. I assume I wasn't there the night it happened, since I feel like somebody would have pointed out either Anaïs Mitchell or Stephen Sondheim to me, but I like the idea of the bootleg sound. Like a songcatcher's field-recording. Works for me.
1. An Alphabet of Embers: An Anthology of Unclassifiables has received a story-by-story rave from Strange Horizons. About my story, Karen Burnham says: "[T]he ground is laid to read Sonya Taaffe's 'Exorcisms' in a horror mode . . . But here the potential horror of spirit possession turns out to be something more consensual, and this is a story of immigration both universal (in the sense of those who uproot themselves and settle in new places, what they gain and what they lose) and very specifically from the Jewish tradition." Of the book itself: "[W]hile the individual stories sometimes seem too much like embers (flashing brightly but fading from memory quickly), the anthology as a whole leaves a lasting impression of weight, survival, and beauty." That had better go on the back of the next edition.
2. The Museum of All Things Awesome and That Go Boom is now available in all its adventurous glory. I'll post further once my contributor's copy has arrived. I still like the exhibits.
3. The original off-Broadway cast of Hadestown has been recorded live, according to The New Yorker. I assume I wasn't there the night it happened, since I feel like somebody would have pointed out either Anaïs Mitchell or Stephen Sondheim to me, but I like the idea of the bootleg sound. Like a songcatcher's field-recording. Works for me.
no subject
Thank you! (I looked up the show; it sounds amazing.)
Did you manage to leave your program here, or somehow not get one from the theater?
Neither—I brought mine home with me, along with the leaf I took from the floor. You may have an extra free-floating program. Your house sort of sheds them, like blossoms and autumn leaves.
In similar news my sister pinged me last night to say that she would like to see Hadestown again (it's her birthday) and suddenly the Saturday night show wasn't sold out. I suspect that this is birthday magic, so I will be able to give you a first-hand report of the new Hades.
All right: what was he like?
no subject
I don't have the name of the actor to hand, partially because I was given an old program book (the theater apparently lost the box that had the corrected books, and thus only half the audience saw the appropriate credit).
The actor is physically dark skinned, shorter than Patrick Page and heavier set. He calls to mind a Papa Legba, rather than a traditional Hades. His voice is somewhat higher and his movements were not as spare, but he was equally confrontational and projected an air of harried brusqueness, overlaying a deep worry about the state of his kingdom.
He made a much more human Hades, as he projected less of an untouchable persona and was given to wiping his bald head with a handkerchief repeatedly, which wasn't just stage business, as he was copiously sweating throughout. He was costumed almost exactly as Patrick Page was, but the pants were a different stripe and therefore not as elongating.
In performance, he brought a stronger forward momentum and a deeper sense of the tenuousness of his relationship with Persephone. You had the sense that he was really drinking her in, and truly starving without her, which I didn't get as much from Patrick Page, but that might have been the height disparity more than any particular body posture.
It did change the color balance of the play significantly, and I found delivery of Hey Little Songbird much more jazz/R&B inflected than Page's which made for an interesting interpretation. I can certainly picture this Hades doing a stint above ground as a jazz singer, or occasionally moonlighting at Persephone's speakeasy.
no subject
Cool. I like the sound of him.
It did change the color balance of the play significantly
Although I liked what the racial casting did for the parallels between Orpheus/Eurydike and Hades/Persephone in the original cast, there is absolutely no reason why anybody in this show should be white.
I can certainly picture this Hades doing a stint above ground as a jazz singer, or occasionally moonlighting at Persephone's speakeasy.
Poem. Or story. Some combination thereof will do. Thank you.