Blood Brothers at the Arts Club Granville Island

The program has quoted that, "Blood Brother's is the musical for those who don't like musicals." I agree. It feels rock and roll. It really is barely noticeable that they are singing their dialogues and thoughts.

Blood Brothers is a musical/play about twins who are separated at birth. The one adopted has lived a privileged life, the other, not so much, in fact, he belonged to an impoverished family.  I love how they have paralleled songs about Marilyn Monroe's life to the story line. Very effective but eventually melancholic.

The most memorable thing about this performance for me is John Mann. I'm embarrass to say that I don't know him or his work at all (Spirit of the West). He plays this somewhat devil like narrator. He's fantastic - he reminds me of the butler in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but in sexy kind of Seal kind of way. He sang in this commanding, concise but hypnotic devilish cadence.

Blood Brothers is at Granville Island, Arts Club Theatre until December 31st.

Backstage Lounge

Before the play, we went into the Backstage Lounge for dinner, it is convenient because it is connected to the theatre, plus you get a 15% discount if you are going to the show. I had the duck pizza with hoisin sauce. Well, I'm definitely copying that recipe - went very well with a glass of cab.

Theatre Terrific

I have been doing some volunteer work with this theatre group for a little over 2 years now and  have finally made it to one of their performances. It is Theatre Terrific's final performance of "A Truck Full of Chickens," which played at the Fringe Festival earlier this month. This inspiring theatre's motto is : "brings together artists who would normally never work together. Our diverse ensembles include professional and emerging artists with or without developmental, physical, or mental health issues, gender or language challenges." 


Check them out next time they have a show, it is usually at the Japanese United Church.

The Graduate

I went to a see Last Tango in Paris with a very young friend last year when it played at Vancity Theatre. It was both our first time seeing this very famous movie that everyone seemed to know about. The most famous scene being the butter scene. Anyways, my friend was absolutely appalled and disgusted. She could not understand why this movie would be so famous. I, being the older one (saw more movies/experiences) earnestly attempted to defend "art." I explained that "art's" existence is not to be liked or loved, "art's" job is to invoke emotion - good or bad.

http://www.artsclub.com/20102011/plays/graduate.htm

When you see good art (theatre in this case), you instinctively feel something. The Graduate failed to make me feel. I did not empathize with the characters. I cannot exactly identify the reasons why, maybe it's because I had the original images of Dustin Hoffman, Ann Bancroft and Catherine Ross and expected too much (like seeing a movie after reading the book). 

"In 1996, The Graduate was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It ranked as the seventh greatest film of all time on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies." <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Graduate>

Late night nosh

Ok, I haven't gone to The Keg in eons (probably since high school, when restaurant choices were very limited). Dining options in Granville Island late night after a show is extremely limited. As it turned out, it was decent enough. At 11:00 pm, my friend and I both had the pepper steak and a glass of wine (one glass only since I will be driving home to the burbs in the snow after all).