A Lil' Bit o Cultcha

Local culture vulture here. Happy to report in on this week's assembly of art forms seen for free in the Boston area:

The first was the production of Frost/Nixon that is in town from Broadway. Harvard had free tickets so we partook. I learned more about Nixon than I'd previously known, and probably ever needed to know, but I guess it did humanize him beyond being, in my mind, a man who shook his jowls and gruffed "I am not a crook". It was interesting to watch the characters on stage. I'm so much more aware of people's body movements - how their arms swing from their shoulders, how their hips are held. I felt frustrated by Stacey Keach's shoulders which seemed to be up around his ears and found myself jamming my own shoulders down my back to try and send a message to him. About an hour into the production it finally occurred to me that he was doing that because old tricky Dick had his shoulders up by his ears. It was a relief to have him come back on for his bow and see that he was moving like a normal person.

One thing I really liked about the production was the way they incorporated multi-media. There were 12 television screens up above the stage - in a way that you could see one big picture across all 12 screens or something different on each screen. Because the play focused on David Frost's interactions with Nixon and Frost was a television talk show host of sorts, they often projected onto the screens above, what was going on, on stage. So, they found a way to have you watching television as you watched a live production. It was quite ingenious.

My other cultural outing of this week was my artist date with myself (for those of you who know the artist's way, this is not a new concept. If you don't and you are a creative person, the author recommends you take yourself on a date every week to see something creative/artsy/inspirational as a way of getting out of being creatively stuck.).

This was last night and involved going back to the Harvard Dance complex for a concert. Now, some of you will recall my earlier entry in reaction to a fall concert they sponsored. Yesterday we saw a video clip in the staff meeting of Boston Ballet's new production Black and White.

Oh it made me want to go. Now, mind you, I don't like ballet. I went a few times as a child and it left me with that ho-hum feeling. This however, was modern. It was ballet without tu-tus. And that, my friends, is ballet I'd like to watch. The company was brought 12 dancers to Harvard for a preview followed by Q&A. We got to see 2 of the 5 dances. Even without full costumes, make up, sets and lighting. It was spectacular. The strength of their bodies and the choreography were just incredible. The ironic setting and interpretation of music was so right on. Only once (or ten times) did my mind wander to being a bit jealous that no flab was jiggling on the thighs of those women moving nimbly across the stage. But, seriously, if you're in Boston next week, go see the show, it will be spectacular.

As I left, I chatted briefly with the admin folks from the dance program. I've had in my head an idea to put together a concert that would have both singing (me) and dance (definitely other people). Recently, I've been intrigued by looking at war and peace in music and could imagine combining to have some singing alone, some dancing alone and then doing some pieces that are combinations of me and the dancers interpreting what I'm singing. Something to mull over as I think about what's next for me in the singing world.

All in all, a great few nights of taking in art forms that are similar yet oh so different from what I do. Felt like food for the soul.