Life in the Miser Mom household continues to be rich and full.
We started the week by blowing long-distance kisses to our oldest daughter, who on Sunday turned 28 -- a perfect number, because 28 is the sum of its proper divisors. In fact, L-daughter hasn't been this perfect since she was 6! (Because 6 is also the sum of its proper divisors, you know. I'm feeling very math-y tonight).
We also started the week by tending to the sick and wounded -- or at least, to the sick. N-son had a fever early in the week that kept him home from school one day. K-daughter, to the north of us, suffered from a flu that turned into a measles-like rash, and she is slowly recovering from that. J-son is still trying to drop weight for his next match, and so he's one hungry guy.
But as N-son recovered, and as K-daughter rested up, a large subset of our family went to a rousing and memorable performance of Annie, Get Your Gun. The plot is horrific from a feminist point of view, but the music and the dancing were fantastic! None of us had realized that many of our favorite show tunes come from this show, and the cast did an astounding job of acrobatic dancing and vocal marvels. If we could only rewrite the show so that Annie dumps the jerk at the end instead of marrying him, the show would be nearly perfect.
My husband went to several more protests (I'm sort of losing count; it was either two or three), and I had a long-awaited paper come out. We're in our elements, here.
I like the versions where she teaches him to become a feminist and learns to be fine with her being a better sharp-shooter than he is, personally. :)
ReplyDeleteIs there such a version? I'd like to see that someday!
DeleteOur local theater is fantastic, and they can be pretty good at fighting homophobia, and occasionally (but not always) sexism. If you're going for traditional musicals, you work with what you've got, right? But I really do wish they'd work harder on diversity.
And what the heck, I'll just paste in my most recent letter to them here, in case anyone else from my area wants to try to encourage this also.
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As a longtime season subscriber, I want to applaud the amazing work you do at the [Local Theater] House. During the quarter century in which I’ve lived in [our city], I have seen performances improve dramatically; the cast, costumes, the lighting, and the music have all been first-class in the last few years. I’m so proud to be part of the community that supports live theater at this scale.
At the same time, I would like to add my voice to those who plead for a more diverse cast for your shows. I’ve raised my family on [Local] Theatre musicals. My sons, who are both African American, have occasionally asked me why there are no black people in so many of the shows. They were thrilled by Sister Act and also by the Urleen in Footloose (who was Asian, just like our host daughter).
In Beauty and the Beast, which was so incredibly well done, the fact that the cast is lily white struck a surprisingly sour note in an otherwise amazing production. It did not escape my family that the only brown person in the cast was the enchanted beast, and that he became “beautiful” again by turning back into a white person. This is not the message I want to send my children, and I’m sure it is not the message [Local] Theatre wants to promote, especially in a city as racially diverse and vibrant as [ours].
I look forward (as does my family) to purchasing subscription tickets to next year’s season.