Finishing the trip to Nashville

Well we rolled into Nashville this afternoon. Went directly to Calypso Cafe, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Doug was there and showed us precious pictures of his son who is now 11 months. Dave had nachos, of course. Abby enjoyed the patio and we felt at home.

Now to fill in the rest of the story. I left everyone in Las Cruces after a great side trip to Silver City and City of Rocks. Well, the next day reminded me why we don't drive I-20 between El Paso and Dallas. Borrrrriiiinnnngggg. Flat, no scenery, nothing fun doing. We already decided next year we'll go to Carlsbad Caverns and skip I-20. Did that years ago with Mother. Time to do it again.

Anyway, we stopped at a fabulous La Quinta. I highly recommend this one. It's in Eastland which is before Dallas. We will definitely stay there again. Great breakfast, brand new, lovely rooms, friendly staff and free for doggie.

Then we pushed on to Brandon MS. Scenery improved and then got looking very green again, sigh. Miss the open views of sky and desert. Anyway, the Brandon La Quinta is brand new too. Not as nice as Eastland but we'd do it again.

Then on to Montgomery and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, which is the entire reason for taking this route. Ah so worth it. The first play was Saturday at 2pm. We made it with 25 minutes to spare. As we walked down the aisle to the seats, Dave looked again at our tickets and the date was 6/6. Now mind you we are still in May at this point. I'm thinking..what?!? So we backed out and skittered over to the box office. Turns out good ole Elise had made the reservations for the wrong weekend (thinking the Annual Meeting was going to be June 1, how silly was that). Then Elise figured out the mistake, called ASF, changed the tickets, made notes in her daytimer and promptly forgot about it. Easily rectified. They had the new tickets waiting for us at will call. Not as good seats but good enough.

So, the first play was The Three Musketeers. Too wonderful. The black actor Esau Pritchett was elegant and convincing as the author Dumas. The swordplay was gifted and the fellow playing King Louis XIII was hilarious. He's an acting student but I wanted his part to be even bigger. Everything word and gesture was hilarious. My fav actor at ASF, Rodney Clarke had a nice role in this play along with Ray Chambers. Rodney brings something different to every role, and a vitality and energy that is palpable. Apparently he's been the leading role in some plays during the winter, sorry we missed them.

Then afterward they had a described changeover, meaning the head of sets stood out with the audience and talked about what they were doing to prepare the set for the evening show. It was quite detailed since there was a center block used for all three shows. But for Three Musketeers that had a moving periphery going around the block to make for action scenes with horses and indicate movement of time and place. Extremely effective. Anyway, we stayed for almost an hour watching them take down one set and construct the next. His information was fascinating, and some of the questions were excellent. It was like an insiders view of theater. Not to be missed.

Found a shortcut to the hotel, after almost 25 years coming here you'd think we might have figured this out earlier. Took care of Abby, the dog, went to Pickadilly cafeteria thankfully for the last time. I've been off of this place for several years. It's dirty and the food isn't good. Finally Dave agreed. The servers were serly. The food below par, and it's still so dirty I can't believe health codes allow them to stay open. But then this is Alabama folks.

Anyway, we just made it back in the nick of time for the evening bard talk with our favorite prof Susan W. We were seeing Comedy of Errors and she gave a delightful summary with written notes that were extraordinarily good.

The play was wonderful. Both sets of twins did a great acting job. Costuming and sets were good. The timing was excellent. Superb directing for the men, but we were disappointed with the two female roles. The director should have done a bit more directing there. We discovered from the last play that the female lead is an exquisite actress, but you'd never know it from this production. Which means it's the vision of the director that didn't translate well for the female roles. Other than the abbess Caroline Strong. She was exquisite. She was exquisite in all three roles. She played Madame de Winter in Three Musketeers, and Iago's wife in Othello as well. Three completely different personalities, all done perfectly. I'd like to see her as Lady MacBeth or in a play where the women have larger roles. The women were really on the sidelines this year. Matt Renskers, the hilarious Louis XIII was in this show in a tiny role Dr. Pinch which he drew out for every laugh possible. Put me on this guy's list of fans.

Sunday, we went to church, visited with friends. After more than 20 years people remember us, and I lectured here a couple years ago. Grabbed a quick lunch at Olive Garden, took care of the dog and made it once again in time for the pre talk for Othello. Susan wasn't there, but it was still good. This was the best production of Othello I've seen, and it was due to Esau Pritchett. This man is an acting genius. He doesn't overact. He doesn't posture. He's a man with a real personality and emotions who happens to be acting them, but you think he's living those emotions. Unbelievably good. They even did the epileptic fit scene which I've never seen done, and he was extraordinary. Here was where the female actors shone. Everyone was exquisite. I didn't care for Iago, but I don't think I've ever seen an Iago I liked. The part is so slimey. Actually I don't care for this play. I've never liked the play. The premise and lies and evil deception is painful to watch. But like many plays I go because of the acting and this production didn't disappoint. I'd drive miles to watch Esau Pritchett do anything. What a performance!

Afterward the did a talk with the actors and guess who came out? Othello and Iago! Astounding! The questions were excellent. We learned about their background, how they became actors, how they memorize lines, how they work on their acting craft. It was really good. Went for a nice walk in the waning warm sun, popcorn for dinner, finished a lecture, and left the next morning to arrive in Nashville. What a weekend!