Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds on DVD

When I took this DVD out of the Netflix envelope, I was afraid it was going to be another special concert offering, but it turns out Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds was made for PBS's American Masters series, and is more talking heads about the history, importance and substance of Rodgers' music than singing heads. I actually would have like a little less conversation and a little more music-making, but seeing as I've already listened to a Rodgers one-off concert, perhaps this is better--for now.

The documentary goes through the three major phases of Rodgers' career--two decades of work with Lorenz Hart, including some time in Hollywood; nearly two more decades of work with Oscar Hammerstein II; and the post-Hammerstein years when Rodgers is working on his own, and several others.

Among the many knowledgeable and informative talking heads are performers--Shirley Jones, Barbara Cook, Diahann Carroll, Maureen McGovern, and jazz musicians Billy Taylor and Barbara Carroll; Rodgers family members--daughter and composer Mary Rodgers Guettel, daughter Linda Rodgers, and grandson and composer Adam Guettel; music theater historians and producers such as Ted Chapin, president of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, which licenses Rodgers' shows.

There are several interesting historical clips the documentary including the wonderful "Bench Scene" from Carousel with John Raitt recorded for television, and the lovely Diahann Carroll singing the title song from "No Strings". I must make a point of finding more to listen to from this show.

I've had the idea for a while to do a concert called Rodgers Without Hammerstein, focusing on his work with Hart, his work alone and including things that wouldn't have lyrics like "Victory at Sea", "Slaughter on 5th Avenue", and the dance music from R&H shows --like "The Carousel Waltz" which has always been one of my favorite pieces of music.

Any takers?

Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds
Produced for PBS American Masters in 2001
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers and others
Cast: Shirley Jones, Julie Andrews, Ted Chapin, Mary Rodgers, Adam Guettel, Barbara Cook, John Raitt, Diahann Carroll, Maureen McGovern

My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies on DVD

This is another of those special concerts at a prestigious venue, drawing in the glitterati of the musical theater world, performing for the creme of society paying top dollar, with the resulting performance being film and presented on PBS or somewhere, followed by the DVD being sold to the general public (and fortunately, Netflix). It's a formula.

With My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies filmed in 1998 it's a formula that works very well:

• Prestigious venue? Check-Carnegie Hall.


• Glitterati of Musical Theater? Check-Julie Andrews, Faith Prince, Liza Minnelli, Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie, Jennifer Holliday, Judy Kuhn, Bebe Neuwirth, and a host of others including the Rockettes, who are the most literally glittering of the -ati.


• Creme of society? I'm not in a position to identify who is in the audience or what they paid to be there, but the hall is full, and most rows seem to include several giddy gay men clapping wildly for Liza.

The main reason this formula works so well in this example is that the fare offered includes a good balance of the usual, the expected, and the unique. Yes, there is Andrea McArdle singing "Tomorrow" and Jennifer Holliday singing her song from Dreamgirls (and blowing the roof off the place, BTW) and Elaine Stritch toasting the "Ladies who Lunch", but there is also the phenomenal Debra Monk, nailing every bit of "Everybody's Girl" from Steele Pier, and Audra McDonald singing a wonderful, clever arrangement of "Down with Love". Ms. McDonald is also joined by Marin Mazzie and Judy Kuhn for a clever medley of Andrew Lloyd Webber songs.

I could have done without Tony Roberts and Robert Morse opening the concert with a number in drag (I assume from a musical version of Some Like It Hot that I don't know). These women can hold their own without any help from the Y chromosome.

Company--a documentary film about recording the Original Cast Album

Forbidden Broadway has an hilarious version the title song from Company in its most recent incarnation: "No strings, no drums, unaccompanied." The only version of the show I've seen is the pared down "unaccompanied" version, so I was interested in hearing the full orchestrations as presented in this documentary film from the long night of recording Company: The Cast Album.

Firstly, I have to get this out of the way: Dean Jones is sexy. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit it, but the dimples, the soulful brown eyes, the long lashes--okay I'm back now. That said, he seems to make a very good Bobby with the boyish appeal, the vulnerability and the singing voice I want from Bobby. I was surprised how well he sang "Being Alive". This is a difficult song (emotionally, too, but I'm mean musically) with a high range that lies so much of the that danger-zone of middle C to F above it. Mr. Jones handles it all very well, and has a lovely sound to boot.

I had wondered why I've seen more pictures of Larry Kert playing Bobby in the original production than I have of Mr. Jones. Mr. Kert was also nominated for the Tony Award for the role. I had to listen to the commentary track to this documentary to find out; in an arrangement with Hal Prince, Mr. Jones was let out of his contract two weeks after the show opened because his marriage was falling apart and his wife was in California with their kids.

This documentary focuses a lot of attention on Elaine Stritch, who goes from being a car wreck-- as she tries to sing "The Ladies Who Lunch" at the end of a 16-hour recording session--to being a revving Rolls Royce as she completes the song. Ms. Stritch is one of the voices on the commentary track, and she does provide some insight into what was going on, why it was going badly, and how it got righted. But this is only one song (albeit a great one) from this score, and I would have liked a little more time with some of the others.

One beef with the film. It lists identifiers for the producers, composer, director and playwright as they appear on screen, but doesn't have the same courtesy for the performers. Am I supposed to know them all? The ones I recognize are from their later TV roles: Charles Kimbrough (Murphy Brown), Beth Howland (Alice), Barbara Barrie (Barney Miller). The others are a bit of a mystery to me. The commentary track does identify Pamela Meyers who is phenomenal singing "Another 100 People."

One of the other unidentified cast members is Charles Braswell, with a robust baritone voice I've encountered before. Company was his final Broadway show, as he died at the age of 52 folling his run in the show.

Company
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by George Furth
Opened in 1970
Documentary film made in 1970 by DA Pennbaker
Cast from the show: Dean Jones, Donna McKechnie, Beth Howland, Pamela Meyers, Elaine Stritch, Charles Braswell, and others.
Show producers in the film: Stephen Sondheim, George Furth, Hal Prince, Thomas Z. Shepard

Try to Remember: The Fantasticks documentary on DVD

Having recently seen a delightful production of The Fantasticks, I was glad when Netflix delivered to my door Try to Remember: The Fantasticks, an hour-long documentary about the phenomenal 42-year New York run of the show. The documentary was made in 2002, just as the show was closing.

I didn't realize that the original version of this show was produced in such a small theater on such a postage stamp-sized stage. The 50 seat theater where I recently saw the show actually had a larger playing area than the New York version. Perhaps scale is part of the charm of this show. Certainly the close connection between audience and performer must be part of the reason of the show's longevity. How often in a New York theater can you be within 20 feet of the stage for a musical?

This documentary offers a lot of talking heads interviews, and rightfully lets the show's creators Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones to do a lot of the talking. It also includes interviews with former cast members of the New York production, although I was disappointed that the only commentary by the late Jerry Orbach, who originated the role of El Gallo, was done at some sort of reception rather than in a traditional interview setting. While much is made of the fact that several famous people, including Liza Minnelli and Elliot Gould, have performed in productions of The Fantasticks, Orbach is the only actor familiar to most audiences who contributes to the documentary.

There is a lot of tape of the final New York performance; it is a challenge to feel the charm of the show from this, however, due to the poor technical aspects of this footage.

West Side Story--the New Broadway Cast album

The city is sweltering in early summer heat. The news last night reported that hospital blood supplies are low due to an increase in gang activity. And my apartment has been without electricity since early this morning. What better time to put fresh batteries into the Discman (yes, I still have one of those) and listen to West Side Story? (And then go to the library that does have power to post this entry.)

This is another show where the film version is tattooed to my retina, so I was glad to find a recording of the 2009 Broadway cast for my listening. I am ecstatic to find that this is a thrilling (let me say it again) thrilling new recording of a great score.

The "hook" to this production is that the Puerto Rican characters speak in Spanish when they are among themselves. I have to say, I found more exceptions to that rule than I expected. Even though it is sung just among the Sharks crowd, the song "America" is sung in English, undoubtedly to communicate the funny lyrics to the wider audience. In Act Two, "I Feel Pretty" and "A Boy Like That" are sung in Spanish.

All of the singing is of the first order. Matt Cavanaugh handles the challenges of Tony's songs and their operatic high notes with only a slight nasality in his otherwise lovely voice. Josefina Scaglione has a pretty, light soprano that lacks the "spin" needed to sustain some of the final high notes. Karen Olivo's belt singing of Anita is right on the mark.

The best aspect of this new recording is the orchestral playing of the score. The liner notes list an orchestra of 30 players. It sounds like 50. The playing of the dance sections of the show are exciting and fresh-sounding even though they are 50 years old. I was particularly taken with an instrumental section in "Somewhere". With a lot of open sixths and fourths, this section sounded like Aaron Copland music.

I was disappointed with the liner notes for this recording. In 34 pages it has all of the lyrics (which would really only be important for the Spanish sections, I would think), only four photos (most of which don't identify the performers) and no essay. I would like to know something about the history of this show or the development of this production.


West Side Story
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Arthur Laurents
Opened originally in 1957, this production opened in 2009
Cast: Matt Cavanaugh, Josefina Scaglione, Karen Olivo

Mame--film on DVD

There was a line in the most recent version of Forbidden Broadway that struck me as I watched this film; it was something like "the days of unique talents are past". Forbidden is talking about star replacements, such as in Chicago, but it seems appropriate in thinking about the film version of Mame.

Lucille Ball was a unique talent, there is no question in my mind. I laugh out loud to myself just thinking about the candy factory scene, or the Vita-meata-vega-min commercial. I think of Ms. Ball as a brilliant physical comedienne, and in the several scenes in Mame that require physical comedy is when a bit of her brilliance shines through. But that was her unique talent. In the rest of the film, particularly the musical numbers, she is out of her element, and unfortunately it shows.

The cast surrounding Ms. Ball is full of unique talents who are fitted to their parts. Beatrice Arthur became a star as Vera Charles on Broadway, and the film shows us why. Robert Preston is suave and charming (although I don't like the song he sings that was written for the film). Bruce Davison is cute as a button. Also reprising her Broadway role Jane Connell as Agnes Gooch is, umm, particularly unique, and imbues her role with empathy and specificity.

Maybe that's part of the problem with Ms. Ball. I don't get much specificity from her, particularly when she's in reaction shots, but also in the songs and dances. There are times in the dances, when I swear she is mouthing the steps, or plastering on a smile to keep from mouthing the steps.

That's not the inner life I want from my Mame.


Mame
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Opened on Broadway in 1964
Film released in 1974
Cast: Bruce Davison, Lucille Ball, Beatrice Arthur, Robert Preston, Jane Connell

The Sound of Music--Original Broadway Cast Album on (gasp!) LP

The film of this show is so ingrained in my mind that I really wanted to find a different version of The Sound of Music to consider. Since I'm at my parents' home for Father's Day weekend, I've fired up their old turn table and put on the thirty-three-and-a-third cast album. If you don't know what 33-1/3 refers to, I don't want to know you.

Did anyone other than Mary Martin originate two R&H roles? If so, I can't think of them. Maria would have been after Nellie in South Pacific, and it's interesting to think that both characters are rather innocent of the wider world, while being thrust into it. Ms. Martin makes a very different Maria than Julie Andrews--at least as this recording and the photos included in the fold-out album cover convey. Martin is less crystalline, slightly more adult, and does a whole lot of portamento singing that I don't remember Ms. Andrews using in the film.

SOM was the first musical I was ever in, as a 9th-grader. "I'm Friedrich. I'm fourteen. I'm a boy." Yes, I was the von Trapp's oldest son and La in the solfege line-up. What a great first show for a kid to be in. Not only was I rehearsing and performing at the Senior High School, while still being in Junior High School, but the children are front and center most of the time on stage and sing some very fun and challenging music. But you always have your six stage brothers and sisters with you, so you don't have to carry a lot on your individual shoulders.

Several songs from the show's score were left out in the film, and it was nice to hear the funny "How Can Love Survive" and "No Way to Stop It" again--although the later song has the unfortunate association of turning a blind eye to Nazism. I had forgotten the duet "Ordinary Couple", replaced in the film with "Something Good", which is a better and more interesting song, I think.

Oh, Lord, my father is setting up the slide projector for the umpteenth viewing of some trip or family reunion or other. Maybe you can't go home again, but you will see the photos again and again.

Sound of Music
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse
Opened in 1959
Cast: Mary Martin, Patricia Neway, Theordore Bikel, Marion Marlowe, Kurt Kaznar

Anyone Can Whistle--OBC album on CD

While the liner notes to this 1988 CD reissue to this 1964 original Broadway cast album don't give much in terms of the plot of the show, it gives a lot of information about the ground-breaking nature of the show, and how Anyone Can Whistle was the seed that eventually bloomed into Sondheim's successful shows. I particularly liked reading what other shows played Broadway the same season as Whistle--Fiddler on the Roof, Funny Girl, Hello Dolly! Can you hear me singing "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong"? Can something really be ground-breaking if the ground doesn't want to be broken?

That sounds mean-spirited and I don't want to be, because I like much of this score. Didier Deutsch describes it as being embryonic of ideas that will come again in later Sondheim shows. And I can hear that, although I hear themes of Follies, not Company, which is the show Mr. Deutsch compares it to. Perhaps that is because there is a chorus in this show, and I can't think of another Sondheim show other than Follies that has a chorus.

It's a sad thing when I have to say that Lee Remick is the vocal standout of this cast, but that's the state of affairs. She sings her three big songs very well--the title song, "There Won't Be Trumpets" and "See What it Gets You" which feels like a typical (and effective) 11 o-clock number. Harry Guardino is strangley effective and I like the quality of his voice if not the pitch, which is often an issue. I continue to like Angela Lansbury as a musical performer, although her efforts into head voice are a bit tortured.

Perhaps there is another legacy that Whistle can claim--opening up new avenues for musicals to be incubated and hatched. Was there such a thing as an off-Broadway musical at this point? Certainly this show could have benefited from opening on a slightly less-White Way.

Anyone Can Whistle
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Arthur Laurents
Opened in 1964, ran for 9 performances
Cast: Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick, Harry Guardino

Candide--semi-staged concert version on DVD

There must be more versions of Bernstein's Candide than any other musical. There's a three-act version, a two-act version, an opera house version, and myriad concert versions that distill the dialogue down to anywhere from non-existent to nearly full-fledged. Previously, I watched a concert version from the 1980s, but today I'm taking on the 2004 semi-staged version presented at Lincoln Center by the New York Philharmonic.

This version keeps the show fairly intact, I believe--certainly more so than the earlier concert version I watched--allowing sections of dialogue to remain for all the characters, yet utilizing a narrator to talk through some of the action. There is a surprising amount of staging in this version, a ton of work for the chorus, and all of it is memorized. That's a plus; while I understand the need to present works in a compressed rehearsal time frame, sometimes I think the mere hint of a script in a binder somehow blocks the connection between performer and audience. Not here, though, the audience is mostly lapping up whatever is given them by the accomplished cast.

I have heard Kristin Chenoweth sing the aria "Glitter and be Gay" before, in a concert in Central Park, that I saw on television. So, I knew she could sing it. If she goes a little (or a lot) overboard with the camp theatrics, it would seem to be my issue, because everyone else seems to love it. I liked it up to a point--that point being when it took away from the singing.

The rather adorable Paul Groves sings the title role of Candide with all the finesse and security you would expect from an accomplished opera singer. If he seems a little one-dimensional in his portrayal and the delivery of his dialogue, well, it's balanced out by the 12-dimensional delivery of Chenoweth.

Baritone legend Thomas Allen (that's Sir Thomas, to you) takes on the role of Dr. Pangloss and provides the narration throughout. He sings his one song well, and delivers his raft of narration very well. Here clearly is a singer who can act, well giving narration is slightly different than acting, but suffice it to say he can deliver spoken word as well as he can sung words.

Candide
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Dorothy Parker, John La Touche, and others
Book by Lillian Hellman
Based on the novel by Voltaire
Opened on Broadway in 1956
This concert version filmed in 2004
Cast: Kristin Chenoweth, Paul Groves, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Thomas Allen, Patti LuPone, Janine La Manna

Forbidden Broadway--The First and the Latest

It's a two-fer today. Two incarnations of the Forbidden Broadway franchise: the first album from 1983, and the latest 25th anniversary version from 2008. I figured, at a year into my listening project, I might know enough to get the jokes from these spoofs. Others may disagree about me knowing anything.

I was surprised that I had heard so few of the songs from the original 1983 album. After all, I was hot and heavy into musical theater at the time, and would have embraced anything that so effectively poked fun at the institution without doing anyone any harm. I had heard the "Don't Cry for me Barbra Streisand" and it was funny to think that 25 years ago, while everyone knew Patti LuPone wouldn't be asked to star in the movie version of Evita, no one had probably even heard of Madonna.

I had also heard the Dolly Levi sequence with its funny "Dolly is a Girl's Best Friend." I had no idea though that Chloe Webb was in the company of the show. I know her only from her television work. She sings well when asked, and mimics even better.

From the most recent version of the show is Rude Awakening. I laughed out loud at some of the lyrics pointed to recent shows such as Mary Poppins, Spring Awakening, and Little Mermaid. The satire in the Forbidden franchise seems to work best when pointed at a specific show, performer or kind of show. There are two songs on this album that poke fun at the tourist audiences that lap up shows like Curtains, while dismissing shows like Grey Gardens; I felt they were a little mean spirited, although if I were a New Yorker perhaps I would feel differently. Lord knows, I make enough jokes about the tourists in Chicago.

Forbidden Broadway
Opened in 1983
Music by anyone willing to not sue
Lyrics by Gerard Alessandrini
Cast: Chloe Webb, Gerard Alessandrini, Nora Mae Lyng, Bill Carmichael, Fred Barton

Forbidden Broadway: Rude Awakening
Opening in 2008
Music again by the non-litigious
Lyrics by Gerard Alessandrini
Cast: Jared Bradshaw, David Caldwell, Janet Dickinson, James Donegan, Valerie Fagan, Gina Kreiezmar

Lost in the Stars--film on DVD

Kurt Weill's career and works are generally divided into two sections, his Wiemar Germany days-- which include Threepenny Opera, the Mahagonny songspiel and opera, and The Seven Deadly Sins--and his Broadway efforts, which include Street Scene, Lady in the Dark, and One Touch of Venus. The two periods contrast one another in themes, musical styles, and structure.

However, Lost in the Stars, Weill's final Broadway effort before his death in 1950, feels to me like a synthesis of the two Kurt Weills. Here is the theme of poverty and the struggles of "have-nots" against "haves" from his early works. Also musically, this show uses its chorus much as the German Weill used the chorus--commenting on the action and extolling some of the inner dialogue of the main characters. While there are certainly more tuneful songs in Lost in the Stars than in Threepenny Opera, some of Stars' music sounds like the Wiemar Weill, too--harsher, more confrontational, and angry.

Perhaps it is the story line that lead Weill to include these aspects in the score. Based on Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country, Stars follows the story of Stephen Kumalo a Black, rural South African minister looking for his grown son in the slums of Johannesburg. When he finds him, the son Absalom has shot a wealthy white man and is going on trial for murder. Despite Absalom's repentance and decision to tell the story truthfully in court, he is found guilty and sentenced to die by hanging, while his cohorts lie about their involvement and are let go for lack of evidence against them. The elder Kumalo resigns his post as minister, because he finds he can not see God's justice in this world. That nihilist viewpoint seems right out of Weill's days with Bertold Brecht.

There are several beautiful songs in this score that are not heard enough elsewhere. The title song, sung by Stephen Kumalo when he is asking God for help for those of us "Lost in the Stars", is the most familiar tune of the show. Rightfully so, it is a lovely lyric and a fine legato tune. I had also heard the song "Trouble Man" from this score and like it very much, but I was also taken with the song "Stay Well" sung by the same character (Irina, the pregnant girlfriend of the condemned man).

This film version of the 1949 show was made in the 1970s and at times is a little awkward in its camera-work. Brock Peters as the elder Kumalo has a wonderful resonant baritone and delivers his songs well. Melba Moore as Irina sells "Trouble Man" for all it's worth, but struggles somewhat with the more challenging "Stay Well". Clifton Davis as the younger Kumalo has one song that seemed very much in the Wiemar style--angry, tuneless, and with a chorus commenting on his emotion and action.

As I first sat down to watch this, I wondered why concert stagings and opera house versions of Weill's Broadway shows happen regularly, but Lost in the Stars is not done. Having watched and listened, I know why. In addition to the challenges of finding a primarily African cast, there are great sections of this show that feel stylistically awkward and would be a challenge for a contemporary audience, despite the still-timely issues of race relations and struggles with poverty.


Lost in the Stars
Music by Kurt Weill
Book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson
Opened on Broadway in 1949, film version released in 1974
Cast: Clifton Davis, Melba Moore, Brock Peters

Ghost Light Monday--Arabian Nights at Lookingglass Theater

Lookingglass Theatre is one of the "new generation" of companies in Chicago, not a newbie like in a storefront doing guerrilla theatre when and where they can, but newer than say Steppenwolf or Victory Gardens. Lookingglass was formed (I think in the early 1990s) by an ensemble of performers and directors who mostly were at Northwestern University together. Notable names in the ensemble are director Mary Zimmerman, actor (and now writer/director) David Schwimmer and actor Joey Slotnick.

I've seen three or four Lookingglass productions in recent years, since they moved into a blackbox theater in the pumping station of the Chicago Water Tower. Part of the building still functions to pump water (and is visible when you enter the building), but some unused space was rented (or given) to Lookingglass by the City of Chicago to make into their permanent playing space. Last weekend I went to see a revival of the company's production of The Arabian Nights.

First presented in 1992, this is a production created and directed by Mary Zimmerman from the 1,001 Arabian Nights collection of stories. Simply and creatively staged, using hanging lanterns, kalim rugs, and low wooden tables, the production is beautiful to look at--a trademark of Zimmerman shows. An ensemble cast is on stage for most of the show taking on a variety of roles--another trademark.

I was mostly enchanted by this show which depicts perhaps a dozen tales from the collection, tied together by Sherahazade seeking to preserve her life for one more night. What could have been confusing shifts between individual stories, the through narrative and different characters/same actor were all handled deftly through consistencies in staging, lighting, and costuming. The nature of most of the separate stories lent a lyrical quality to the production, which was only interrupted by an extended improvised section that I thought took away more than it added.

There was quite a bit of music in the show, which was--if not actual Middle Eastern songs, chants and drum rhythms--evocative of the time and place.

The Arabian Nights
Adapted and Directed by Mary Zimmerman
Running at the Lookingglass Theatre Company through July 12, 2009
Cast: Ryan Artzburger, Louise Lamson, Heidi Stillman, Barzin Akhavan, Louis Tucci, Usman Ally, David Catlin

A Year in the Life of Musical Thinking

Happy New Year. I started this project on June 1, 2008, stating that I wanted to recapture the interest of my teen years when I (like so many others) would obsess over Broadway musical cast albums. As adulthood has taken hold, I felt I had lost some of that "can-do, let's put on a show" enthusiasm. I hoped to bring back some excitement, and see where it lead me.

So what I have noticed over the course of 365 days, 240 entries, 214 shows, 14 live performances, 126 DVDs, and 77 cast albums?

Nothing beats seeing a show live. Even if the show is a bomb, the truest sense of it is obtained when sitting in a darkened theater surrounded by an audience all anticipating the performance. The least effective version is often a film version, or perhaps I should call them film adaptations.

I'm not as myopic as I was in high school. I need more than just one distraction. Call it maturity, television obsession, or ADHD, but I can't listen endlessly to albums like I did back in the day.

I like cross-over singers, by which I mean those trained as opera singers who have either chosen to focus on musical theater or are "slumming" for a production or two.

There is usually something or someone I am drawn to in every production. One song, one actor, one voice can capture my interest and sustain me through any production.

I'm not an expert on the American musical stage--I'm not even reasonably knowledgeable. Just ask anyone who has corrected me in a comment on this blog.

I don't write as well as I wish I did. One of my unstated goals in starting this Year past was to hone some rusty writing skills--primarily unused in my current professional life. My vocabulary is limited. My sentence structure is not varied enough. And my style is often too casual.

I'm lazy. I was much too willing to watch a DVD that Netflix delivered to my mailbox, which is much more passive than seeking out and listening to a cast album. Even if my mind wanders while listening, it is a much more active process for me.

There is more to do. Even if the 12-months is over, there are lots of musicals to go, lots of Thinking to do and obviously lots to still learn and discover. I hope I will continue posting entries on a weekly or twice-weekly basis.

But then again, I'm lazy, so it might not be as often as I hope.