Problem Solved

Today we found out who won CBC's How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? competition. I'd been rooting for Marisa, our local talent, and Jayme, who we'd seen in the Stratford Festival's 2006 production of Oliver!, but I have no doubts that Elicia will be wonderful as Maria.

I generally sneer at reality shows and this columnist has a point. Yet I, along with the rest of the family, couldn't stay away from our TV sets the past few Sundays and Mondays. When Julia was much younger, she danced around the house singing the songs from The Sound of Music, and now Kate is following in her footsteps. The fact that Maria was tall, blond and Austrian (and they're not) never seemed to deter them. I've always loved the movie myself and it's given rise to my favourite scene from The Simpsons.

Homer (after hitting a deer statue with his car): "D'oh!"
Lisa: "A deer!"
Marge: "A female deer."

So having fallen for all the hype, we'll dutifully buy our tickets and look forward to seeing the real thing, a true Canadian Maria, in Toronto later in the year. "The hills are alive with the sound of music ...."

Othello

Work has been overwhelming lately, but yesterday I took an afternoon off and went to the Stratford Festival with three friends to see Othello. I'd studied Othello in Grade 11 but had never seen a stage production. Let me state the obvious: reading the text of a play is a poor substitute for seeing it performed by top-notch actors. Everyone in our group is enthusiastic about Shakespeare, but Othello is actually a terrific play for people not terribly fond of Shakespeare. It is tense and exciting and has a bit of everything: jealousy, racism, madness, anguish and a decent body count.

We all enjoyed the performance, though not nearly as much as the young women ("younger women", I should say) sitting behind us, who had truly cathartic experiences. The sobbing, which continued intermittently for over half the performance, was a little distracting at times, but it was gratifying to see customers really get their money's worth. Philip Akin's performance as Othello got mixed reviews but all agreed that Jonathan Goad was superb as Iago.

Going to see Shakespeare with English majors makes for thought-provoking discussion and we had lively debates during the car ride home. I erroneously claimed that Shakespeare wrote four true tragedies, i.e., ones that featured the classical tragic flaw in the protagonist. It turns out I was wrong. First, the four tragedies I had in mind (Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Hamlet) are called his "major tragedies" and they are not distinguished from the others by the tragic flaw characteristic. I guess I should have paid more attention in Grade 11. Makes me wonder what makes Romeo and Juliet a "minor" tragedy ....

If you want to introduce your kids to Shakespeare, Usborne Books publishes two terrific books: Stories from Shakespeare and World of Shakespeare. My kids like reading these, but it'll be a few years before I attempt to take them to a Stratford production of Shakespeare. In the meantime, I'm having fun going with my literary and literate friends!

William Hutt

I was saddened to read that Canadian actor William Hutt had died. I was fortunately enough to have seen him several times at the Stratford Festival over the last two decades. The Globe and Mail published a lengthy article today that is worth reading.

Stratford Festival

We went to the Stratford Festival yesterday, with the kids and Todd's parents, to see Oklahoma. We all enjoyed it very much. I'm not the biggest fan of musicals, but I've liked every one I've seen at the Stratford Festival over the years, mainly because the production, choreography and acting are always first-rate.

I've been going to the Stratford Festival faithfully for the past 25 years and try to attend two or three shows each summer. There was a gap of a few years when I did not go to any show; ironically, it was when Todd and I actually lived in Stratford. Once we moved away, the theatre's appeal returned. Memorable performances for me have included Hamlet, A Man for All Seasons, The Glass Menagerie (twice!), and Death of a Salesman (with Al Waxman and Martha Henry).

If you ever visit Stratford, be sure to check out my favourite places: Rheo Thompson chocolates, Bentley's (one of the few pubs in this area that feature both good beer and great food), and Family & Company (an incredibly fun toy store).

Kate dressed up for the outing. The lacy white dress gives the image of youthful innocence, and a hint of a delicate, ethereal nature. However, the orange crocs totally give her away. Yup , Kate is most certainly an orange-crocs kind of girl.