by I’ve been missing because I’ve been online and on the phone trying to find doctors who take my insurance, and then my printer broke, but I can’t really replace it with what I want without upgrading the operating system of my computer and won’t that be fun, and Bleecker might be sick, and I had some problems installing a new webserver on Echo and removing some old ones, and what is hell is going on with my ear?? I just want to work on my new book.
The picture below is of the choir before a performance of the off-Broadway play The Events. That’s the back of the lovely and charming music director Magnus Gilljam. There’s a different choir for every performance and it occurred to me that is must be quite the trick wrangling all new people who you’ve never worked with before, night after night. I’m with the house choir, we fill in on nights where they don’t have a choir so we’re the one group he has worked with before. I’ve sung for this play twice now. A bright spot in my stressed-out weeks.
The play has only two actors, Clifford Samuel and Neve McIntosh, both of whom were amazing. Clifford went back and forth between scaring me, making me laugh, and finally evoking compassion. He’s very charismatic. He moves around a lot on the stage, and I kept wanting him to move by me, which he did one night. Sat right next to me. I was terrified. (You’ll have to see the play to understand.)
The New York Times loved it by the way, “a solemn, searching and ultimately very moving play about a faith-shattering act of violence.”
Neve had me riveted because I’ve struggled with all these questions (again, you’ll have to see the play, but 9/11, Sandy Hook, Boko Haram, Isis, and on and fucking endlessly on). She portrays conflict exquisitely. In every section there is always at least two emotions present in her face and demeanor. And openness. This was important because in certain key moments in the play I didn’t know where she would end up or what she was going to do.
I only recently found out Neve McIntosh plays the Silurian detective Madame Vastra on “Doctor Who,” a character I love on a show that I adore. When she stood by me on Thursday night the whole time I was thinking, ‘Holy Shit! Madame Vastra is listening to me sing!’ Also, ‘God damnit, how can I get a picture of this??’
