Have umbrella, will travel

Guess where I was tonight?

"The Internet is for porn!"

What a fun night on "Avenue Q"!

Last night I braved the return of Sydney's gusty winds (more red dust was promised, but it was a bit of a fizzer this morning) to head into the CBD, and the Theatre Royal, to see the smash hit musical, "Avenue Q". I guess it is best described as "Sesame Street, live on stage, for adults only".

It's a wonderful satire, with many quotable lines and some very catchy songs (even more so once one has all the visuals in place - I've been listening to the Broadway cast soundtrack for several months now), and it was also fun to finally see acquaintance Mitchell Butel, whom I met last year in a friend's theatre party, performing! Mitchell sings, dances and manipulates at least two of the Muppet-like characters, Princeton and Rod.

What I hadn't realised, until I saw the characters of roommate puppets, Rod and Nicky, was that these characters perfectly lampoon "Sesame Street" residents, Bert and Ernie, right down to Rod's arms being manipulated by rods (get it?), and Nicky requiring a second puppeteer to move one of his hands. To see the dance routines so cleverly choreographed, with most performers with their arms otherwise occupied inside their puppets, was quite amazing!


Some leftover Melbourne references, but still worth a visit.

The hit of the show would probably be Trekkie Monster. An amalgam of numerous "Sesame Street" notables, mostly reminiscent of Cookie Monster, Sweetums, and Oscar the Grouch, Trekkie knows the ultimate truth about life, the universe and the 'Net. (Most "Star Trek" fans know that the Internet has its origins as a text-based data sharing facility between universities, but that what really made it catch on was "Star Trek" and online pornography! Hence, "The Internet is for porn".

The cast even added an extra line to one of the songs last night: a brief but well-received salute to Sydney's now-infamous red dust!

This is a show I need to see again - if I can manage it, before it disappears to Canberra in three weeks!

Keating!: Where were you when...?

... Paul Keating nudged out Bob Hawke to become Prime Minister?

December 20, 1991. I was in the USA, at the start of a six-week vacation. Now, in the US, news from Australia is extremely rare. On my first trip (December 83/Jan 84), the only news from home in six weeks was a Sydney Harbour ferry sinking during the annual Great Ferry Race of 1984. So when, during my 1991 trip - with more a few people I met saying, "I understand you have a new Prime Minister..." - it was only compounding my belief that Americans knew very little about Australia. Eventually, I discovered it was true: Australia suddenly had a new Prime Minister, no election needed.

Last night, I finally got to see an small, but highly acclaimed piece of Australian musical theatre: "Keating!", about the rise and rise of the suave and debonair politician, Paul Keating. Brilliantly performed by Mike McLeish (above left) - at times his Keating-esque glances and poses were uncanny - at almost all times his Keating was as unflappable as the original. With the easy poise of a lounge singer, Keating was surrounded by embarrassing blunderers: hilarious and quirky caricatures of Bob Hawke, John Howard (in several quick-change outfits - marvellous!), both played by Terry Serio (above right, as Bob), and Dr John Hewson and Alexander Downer (both scene-stealing roles played by Brendan Coustley).

This is an expanded version of the 2005 Drowsy Drivers' Melbourne International Comedy Festival pub show. Because both versions usually play in smallish venues, "Keating!"'s reputation for selling out early is well known.

One aspect of this production I really loved: the band members were such essential elements to the action on stage. Those guys weren't just playing instruments, they were doing as much acting as the main performers, and this was evident from their opening notes of the overture. There was some great rapport happening there, and I loved the switch from regulation black shirts and singlets to business suits and ties after intermission. Special kudos to Mick Stuart, who quietly slipped away from his electric guitar and saxophone to emerge from backstage as perfectly coiffed, red-dressed Cheryl Kernot, to sing "her" duet with Senator Gareth Evans (Enio Pozzebon, also from the band).

Terry Serio performed several of his numbers right in front of me (in the front row). That was a little unnerving at times, considering my last encounter with Mr Serio. However, it was Alexander Downer in his fishnets who picked out the two women sitting next to me, to make them a crucial part of his raunchy solo, "Freaky".

It was a fun night at the theatre. Many thanks to Fleur for organising the tickets. I'm sorry I let Mr Downer molest your mother and her friend! Hehehehehe. (Glad it was them and not me.)

And my friend, Maria in Brisbane, would be proud of me for going. Maria has been an avid "Keating!" fan since its early days, and has the original version's cast recording CD on an endless loop in her car. Most of my holiday road trips with Maria since 2005 have been accompanied by the sulty tones of Mike McLeish. I'm guessing her little son, Ben, knows the songs of "Keating!" better than those of The Wiggles.

Dreamland arrives

I forgot to mention that my personalized, autographed copy of Dreamland, a new musical-for-CD by Brent Spiner and Maude Maggart, arrived last week. (Check the great Youtube clip in the above link.)

I'm playing the CD at the moment, and it's delightful! Lots of well-known songs, strung together with new, fun dialogue. Highly recommended! (I can't say too much about the plot without spoiling it.)

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of receiving this CD was when I noticed that the green US Customs Declaration sticker, affixed to the padded postbag, had also been signed... by Brent Spiner!

This CD may get played as often as "Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back" did in 1991. Brent's first CD of show tunes has become quite a rarity (both publishers went defunct, leaving distribution very spotty) in Star Trek fandom, and it consistently fetches amazing prices on eBay. I've had my copy of that since its first week of release, when Richard Arnold brought a small batch of the very first copies to a Brisbane Star Trek convention.

See you in Dreamland

Youtube has a peek into the making of Brent Spiner's new "Dreamland" CD - a unique combination of old time radio, musical theatre and film noir. A sort of "audio film".
You can buy it at www.therealbrentspiner.com.

Pre-order: $US 19.95
Autographed version: $US 24.95
Personalized version: $US 29.95

This looks great! I've just pre-ordered my copy. It's been a long, long time since "Old Yellow Eyes is Back".

Brent Spiner, of course, played Data on "Star Trek: The Next Generation". And various members of the Soong family of scientists and androids in guest roles across the Star Trek franchise.

Sunday on Saturday

Today, after voting (Labor was returned to power, by the way), I went to see the local production of the musical, "Sunday in the Park with George" at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre (scene of my recent stage escapade), and I found "Sunday..." to be very moving. Sometimes, a musical comes along at just the right moment in one's life and, only this morning, I'd been contemplating some themes that were brought into perspective by the messages in today's performance.

A few weeks ago, one of my new Star Trek friends (discovered via the online Meetup group) happened to ask if his father was welcome to attend the next meeting. Well, of course he could. But the topic was mulled over in my head, until... I emailed him back today, saying, "I just realised, of course, that your Dad is probably about my age. I feel so old! ;-)

Ben wrote back, "He's just turned 40. Does this make you feel any better/worse?"

I'm 48. Gosh, I dunno how I feel? It's really weird. I relate to Ben - and AdamJ, for that matter - as equals, because we are all science fiction media fans. However, Ben's Dad is not only younger than me, he's also younger that both of my younger brothers.

Actually, I'm looking forward to meeting Ben's Dad; every now and then (but not often) I regret not ever having kids. To think, by now, in some alternate universe, I have a whole household of some really cool 20-Something kids who like SF. So bizarre. And very, very kewl (to coin a phrase). Actually, AdamJ, who's already taken to calling me "Dad", tells me that his parents are visiting Australia this year, from the UK. (Cheeky young whippersnappers!)

Anyway, all this "woe is my future" stuff was reflected, quite unexpectedly, by the plot of the second half of "Sunday in the Park with George". The action jumps from the 1880s to the modern day. One of the characters, a wheelchair-bound character in her 90s, had been a tiny babe-in-arms in the famous painting being celebrated ("A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte" by Georges Seurat). The important thing, she explains to an art gallery first-night audience, is to leave a legacy after one has died: and that can be children and/or art.



I guess, since I'm not producing any children of my own (not counting, I guess, the 380 young students I teach every week), I'm really going to have to get my act together, and finish preparing something from the arts to be my legacy!

The other scary thing is: we have Grandparents' Day coming up again at school, just before Easter. We teachers realised a few years ago that most of the grandparents who attend are actually younger than most of us. Sigh.

Saturday in the Polling Booth, without a Clue

New South Wales goes to the polls tomorrow to elect a new state government. After helping to vote in some very unwise choices over the years - and then having to live with the resulting changes to education (Terry Metherill, remember him?), etc. - I gleefully voted Australian Democrats for several elections, so at least I knew I'd voted to "Keep the Bastards Honest".

But then, I began to notice that the Democrats couldn't even get enough volunteers to hand out their How to Vote cards at each polling booth. (I almost volunteered myself!) A few elections later, they shot themselves in the foot, then in the head.

Dunno what I'm going to do tomorrow...

After voting, I'm off to see a local production of the musical, "Sunday in the Park with George". Except I'm seeing it on a Saturday. With CH and Jonas.