McCarter's Ten Cents a Dance

While the music of Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart is a always a pleasure, imposing a psycho-drama on top of this music is not a foolproof idea. Ten Cents a Dance tells the story, if you can call it that, of a man reminiscing about his relationship with a single woman over a long span of time. The reminiscing man is played by a single individual and the woman is played by five different actresses. Sounds fair enough. It's hard to make a single person appear 20 years old and then 60 years old, especially if the character shifts back and forth in time. A motion picture could accomplish this, but not a play.

This production, however, puts all five of the women on the stage at once to sing and dance about with the male lead. This in and of itself might work if you could be sure which woman is which. In Ten Cents a Dance you can't. You know who is youngest and who is oldest, but the remaining three are hard to differentiate. The time periods involved are hard to tease out also. All five women wear the same print on very similar gowns all of which would look right at home in 2011. Their hairstyles (all are redheads) bear no obvious marks of any particular era. This is a big fault as it would be so simple to fix. Pick a decade and research women's gowns and hairstyles and you could find plenty of differences over presumably a 50 year period. A twentyish woman from the 1920s should be easily distinguinguished from a fortyish woman from the WWII era, no? YES! And lose the print, it was inappropriate and made dating the characters more difficult than it was before. A black and white theme would have worked well....Think Zelda Fitzgerald for the 20s and go from there.

The five actresses did as much as they possibly could with the situation, we could have used a stronger male lead with a stronger voice. And why the heck did he keep taking off clothes? Perhaps to peel away layers of memory? Whatever.

A psycho-musical like this is an interesting concept, but it would need marvelous costuming and be truly representative of the time frames. The current costuming/hair is sloppy and distracting.

LOVE Rogers and Hart.

Of Ponzi schemes and working recipients

Why is it that someone can make a significant income, in many cases well over 100k, and still collect their Social Security retirement check at the expense of us working people who do not get a check?

Is it because the gov't should be in the business of financing cruises, BMW convertibles or vacation homes? Is it fair to let people take their retirement income before they decide to retire? And if you think someone will give up a 100K job to hunker down with about 25K or less, you are sadly mistaken.

Also about medicare, why has it been rewarded to the under 65 "disabled" crowd? Fine if you are truly and permanently disabled by an accident or a real medical condition like schiizophrenia, NOT fine if you brought it on yourself with drugs and alcohol.

I get sick to death of freeloaders

Shabby Chic

How I hate this term. Shabby is worn, threadbare, delapidated and there is nothing chic about that. I refuse to buy anything advertised as "shabby chic" because I find the terminology so revolting. Even if you are selling a great vintage item, I will ignore it because YOU have listed it as "shabby".

If you must indulge in crappy descriptions why not use "cottage chic" instead? Or just "vintage"?

Shabby garments are something I would not even donate to Goodwill, so please don't assume I want a shabby decor!

Update: I noticed a quilt fabric company called "Shabby Fabrics"...please. Aren't you just dying to feather your nest with shabby crap?

Me neither

Teachers, why the special discounts?

Yes I could see if these discounts were related to classroom use only, but I have not seen that stipulation. And I suspect school districts are footing the bill for most if not all classroom supplies.

I noticed today that JoAnn Fabrics gives teachers 15% off every day because they appreciate their hard work. The Maximalist is a nurse and nurses work hard too! PLUS we don't get all summer off, Christmas and Spring breaks and every holiday known to mankind. In fact we work holidays. Hospitals do not close for Christmas, Easter or for the summer. We work around the clock, too. And yes, while schools are closed for bad weather (and yes it's fine and dandy so our kids should not be at risk)nurses are expected to remain in the building and sleep at the hospital so that there will be adequate staffing. The Maximalist just spent Hurricane Irene at her place of employment and has spent snowstorms at work as well.

So please JoAnn and others, try recognizing other hard working professions for a change! Hmmm?

Things I hate today

Haven't done this in a while so here it goes:

Smacking noises when eating. Why oh why can't some people stop this habit. It's nearly as bad, and can be accompanied by chewing with the mouth open. I would love getting through a whole day without smack smack smack.

Inhaling one's food. Again, just inexplicable to me. I just can't abide the habit of breathing in deeply and loudly with every bite or SLURP of food and fluid. Those mouth-breathers, ugh! If you have to breathe through your mouth try gently exhaling as you load up with soup or hot food.

Dog names for humans. Brandy, Cheyenne, Corky, Prince...why not Spot, Lady and Tramp?

Obama isms like "bone-headed and folks". Are these usages really necessary?