Trip preparations

Cat and I ran around doing a bunch of last-minute stuff for our trip -- needed new sunglasses and sunblock, mostly. I also got my hair trimmed and nails done, thinking of my class reunion. Nobody will notice because it's very natural looking, but I also got a weave which covers up most of the gray. Vanity, thy name is Charlotte!

Then I spent awhile online looking up bus schedules and directions to the mall ... very important details! The Ala Moana mall is HUGE. Three floors, and they're building a fourth. I'd also not gotten the confirmations for our Elvis Blue Hawaii Dinner or our Pearl Harbor and Island Tour, so I called to follow up on those. I've now got those confirmations in hand (in addition to our Airport transportation, Polynesian Village and Hanauma Bay trip, which I'd already received). We're doing all the tourist stuff!

To help us get in the mood, we went to see the preview performance of South Pacific last Thursday at Delta College. It was a delightful production -- well done and quite enjoyable.

I just fired up the barbecue, and Cat and I are going to have steak and corn-on-the-cob for dinner. It's a bit too hot to cook indoors, but much cooler than it's been. The temperature might be as high as 90 or 95. Quite pleasant!

Lots of family

The reunion yesterday in Lodi (Grace's family) was well-attended and lots of fun. I took about 6 zillion photos -- I think I've already e-mailed the link to everybody who reads this. I really enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up on their lives. Cat and Sean came with me, and Liz and Jerm met us there.

Grace's sisters, Ethel and Mary, were able to make it, along with her brother, Arthur. There were plenty of nieces and nephews and cousins and spouses and assorted shirt-tails. It was plenty hot; however, we were right by the lake with a whiff of a breeze from time to time, so that kept it bearable. I teased Ethel and Cal about being careful not to get too cold, since they live in Phoenix where it's been insanely, unbelievably hot recently.

I had another golf lesson today. I'm supposed to practice swings this week, which will be interesting without any clubs. Sort of Zen, I guess.

Learned something new today!

Did you know country clubs have dress codes? I took a golf lesson today and ended up buying a shirt in the shop -- they require collared shirts, and I had worn a T-shirt. I guess that's why they make "golf shirts"! Now I just need to go get some shorts before next time -- longer and looser than what I already own. I wore stretchy long pants this time, which worked fine but were really too warm for the weather.

I think I did fine. I listened really carefully and did exactly what the golf pro told me. Guess what? It worked! He said I was doing really well.

[Monday edit] Found their dress code online: "No denim, collared shirt and bermuda shorts required."

Beautiful roses!

Aren't these lovely? Today's our fifteen-month anniversary.

We're having another very hot day today (yesterday's high was 104). I heard that someplace in Arizona recorded 124 recently, so I guess wherever our high ends up being isn't bad at all!

Another "Bus Stop" review!

Strong cast and convincing ensemble works for 'Bus Stop'

Sherman Spencer
Special to the Record
Published Tuesday, Jul 12, 2005

In "Bus Stop" -- now being staged at San Joaquin Delta College's Studio Theatre as part of the Stockton Theatre Project -- playwright William Inge tempers the characters' essential loneliness with strokes of broad humor and compassionate understanding. A tiny Kansas roadside cafe/bus stop serves as a microcosm of human isolation when some bus passengers are forced to spend several hours together due to a snow storm.

Into the cafe comes Cherie Catherine Frye, a somewhat shopworn young nightclub singer who is being practically hijacked to a Montana ranch by Bo Brian Peccia, an obstreperously immature cowboy. His friend, Virgil Sean Dinnell, tries with limited success to keep Bo under control, but it requires the strong arm of the local sheriff James Key to bridle his actions.

Another passenger, Dr. Lyman Harvey Jordan, a rather prurient alcoholic, tries to arrange a rendezvous with Ellma Megan Devencenzi, the pretty high school-aged waitress. Grace Joanna Bernazzani, the cafe owner, makes out with bus driver Carl Dean Phillip Gundlach.

The cast is uniformly strong in characterization and works as a totally convincing ensemble, as everyone attempts to assuage the emptiness of their lives.

Frye and Peccia exhibit a flammable degree of chemistry in their relationship, while Bernazzani and Gundlach revel in a more mature sensuality. Devencenzi and Jordan even add a touch of promise and compassion to their aborted rendezvous.

Only Virgil is left "out in the cold," as Grace says. The script describes Virgil as a man in his 40s, a parental influence on Bo. Though Dinnell had a consistent and viable take on the role, he is obviously about the same age as Bo. A Virgil who is not seen as a father figure detracts from the ending's poignancy.

Jordan designed the realistic set and also directed the play with his usual emphasis on physical action which gave considerable energy and focus to the plot. Julienne Hastings' costumes were appropriate, but the outfits for Cherie and Bo were a good deal niftier than those described in the script.

The Stockton Theatre Project's second production is thoroughly enjoyable and certainly demonstrates the value of the group's cooperative effort in giving new life to some older American classics.

Contact Sherman Spencer at features@recordnet.com


Copyright © 1998-2005 ONI Stockton, Inc.

Heat, glorious heat!

Today definitely feels like summer.

I was walking around the winery a few minutes ago and was reminded of the deliciously wonderful, skin-tingly feeling it was as a child to walk out of our overly air-conditioned Sears into the dry desert heat. Ahhhh!

Review of "Bus Stop"

Strangers in the night
Drama and comedy binds the stranded characters of ‘Bus Stop’

By PAULA SHEIL
Record Staff Writer
Published Thursday, Jul 7, 2005

A classic of American theater, William Inge’s “Bus Stop” cooks up a slice of rural life full of love, lechery and laughter with a crust of loneliness and despair.

The 1955 comic romance is the second of three shows being presented this summer by the Stockton Theatre Project, a collaboration among the city’s leading theater companies. The series concludes next month with a production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific.”

“Bus Stop” is acclaimed as an ensemble piece, director Harvey Jordan said. The story unfolds after a bus load of strangers is forced to spend the night in a diner because of a snowstorm.

“Inge said he did the play as a study in ensemble acting, creating a reason why people were stuck together,” Jordan said. “He didn’t want to just trap these people together to impact each other, but to force them to take time to consider one another. From that, they grow.”

The central story concerns Bo (Brian Peccia), a randy cowboy who expects to wrangle a woman like a wild pony, and a nightclub singer named Cherie (Catherine Frye), who objects to being emotionally hogtied. Don Murray and Marilyn Monroe filled the roles in the 1956 film version.

Convinced Cherie is the love of his life, Bo managed to get her on the bus with him and plans to marry and keep her on his Montana ranch. She’s trying to figure out how to get out of a one-night stand, enlisting the help of the local sheriff, Will (James Key). Bo’s sidekick, a cowboy named Virgil (Sean Dinnell), steadies the emotional seesaw.

Nineteen-year-old Frye comes to the role of Cherie not intimidated by Monroe’s work. Jordan has toned down Cherie’s Ozark accent and cut some lines referring to her backwoods beginnings, Frye said. The goal is to make the character as “realistic as possible” while preserving the comic aspects.

“She’s a very eccentric character, and I am keeping her very sincere,” Frye said.

People who have seen the film but not the play will discover a slightly different “Bus Stop,” with less background on the main characters and more humor.

“In general, the play is lighter,” Jordan said. “It is a mix of comedy and sentiment and drama.”

Two other dalliances take place in Grace’s (Joanna Bernazzani) diner. She wants to serve up something more than steak for bus driver Carl (Dean Phillip Gundlach), and her waitress, high school student Elma (Megan Devencenzi), falls for a Shakespeare-quoting passenger, Dr. Lyman (Jordan). Stewed in alcohol, Lyman spends the evening recounting affairs with former students.

Peccia, 22, who appeared in productions of “Man of La Mancha” and “How I Learned to Drive,” is no stranger to men who want what they want when they want it. His Bo is “like a puppy who doesn’t know how big he is.”

“That’s where his charm comes from,” Peccia added. “He goes to rodeos. He ropes cattle. He looks at Cherie as kind of like a prize.”

(Copyright © 1998-2005 ONI Stockton, Inc)

"...lovely blond-ringleted Catherine Frye"

I missed this review when it came out -- she mentions that Cat and her "husband" were "...among the most intelligible actors in a cast of over two dozen."

* * * * *

Plenty of laughs in Delta's 'Lysistrata'
Special to The Record
By Dianne Runion
Record Staff Writer
Published Friday, October 22, 2004

College theater regulars are used to saucy characters like "Oklahoma's" Ado Annie, who "cain't say no." But in Aristophanes' ancient Greek farce, "Lysistrata," strong women of Athens and Sparta won't say yes. Fed up with 20 years of Peloponnesian war and under the title character's leadership, the women swear an oath to withhold sex until their menfolk negotiate peace.

With "Lysistrata" now playing at Delta College, director Jeff Wentworth reprises a 1990 success. This production is also Wentworth's Delta swan song, as he retires in June.

Wentworth can take great pride in the 100-minute high-energy romp of a classic drama that merges lip-synched pop music, timely subject matter and timeless bawdiness.

I would not take young children or my maiden aunt to this show, but high school kids and adults with an eye and ear for double entendre and sexy shenanigans will love it.

Just 18, Naomi Uvalles plays a curvy, feminine Lysistrata. She's the strong heroine who persuades the women of Athens and the hillbilly Spartans to hole up with the war treasury in the Acropolis and hold out on the men.

Jason Flores plays a goofy Commissioner of Public Safety, Lysistrata's nemesis, wielding a golf-club scepter. Like about half the objects and architecture, it's phallic.

Roughly half the other objects are vessels, including John K. White's cartoonishly vaginal Acropolis portal. Neither symbol is subtle; both are nonoffensively comic.

Renata Bricka designed the splendid costumes. The Athenians wear hot reds and oranges; the Spartans, blues and aquas. The men's kilts grow more or less permanently tilted in a running sight gag.

Douglas Parker's 1964 translation mixes elevated syntax with casual contemporary speech.

Wentworth ratchets up hilarity with musical numbers, often providing ironic comment on the action. A chorus of old women dance a delightful "Producers"-like canes-and-walkers number to "I Am Woman," led by bloomer-flashing Christina Chavez Nelson.

As Kinesias, Lee Silveira makes an unforgettable second-act Elvis-type entrance to "Great Balls of Fire" -- a musical comment on the men's deprived state. His moussed-up, glittery Mohawk typifies Wentworth's superb hair and makeup design.

Silveira has a deliciously mobile face for comedy. He plays opposite lovely blond-ringleted Catherine Frye.

The pair is among the most intelligible actors in a cast of over two dozen. Diction, clarity, projection and too-rapid delivery are the show's consistent -- and only -- problem. The young actors need more hard work on modulating their voices and pacing lines so as not to bury them in laughter or lose wit and meaning.

To the show's credit, laughter ranges from constant ripples to explosive guffaws.

"Lysistrata" bursts with eye candy -- handsome soldiers doing a gladiatorlike chorus line to "One" and the pupil-popping erotic dance of "Peace" by the lithe and sinuous Christina Bayless. Her cream-colored see-through accordion-pleated cape makes her look like a gorgeous, exotic moth to the flame of male lust.

Below the hilarity, "Lysistrata" reminds us of a more contemporary weary war. The laughter provokes anti-war thought while showing that after 25 centuries, the battle of the sexes doesn't change much.

Another beautiful wedding picture!

I know we've seen zillions -- this one's particularly sweet!


Jeremiah & Elizabeth

Early Fireworks

Red-haired Jem

This is an adorable picture of little Jem -- it definitely shows how red his hair is getting! His eyes are a very deep blue. Such a good-natured, happy little guy!

We spent last weekend at Lizzie and Jerm's wedding. It was incredibly beautiful -- the most touching and sweet ceremony I've ever been to. I wish I could have taken the day off on Friday, but I coordinated a health fair last week and there were still a ton of details to be nailed down. It went quite well (whew!), which is a good thing because it was one of the events mentioned when I interviewed for the job! K & I took about a zillion photos of the set-up, wedding, and aftermath. I think I've e-mailed pretty much everybody on earth the link to them. A lot of people were taking pictures, so I'm sure Elizabeth and Jeremiah have quite a nice record of the whole event. Even poor Lizzie's nose....

Catherine, Sean, Cynthia and I went to Marine World yesterday and had a ton of fun. We did pretty much everything -- all the major roller coasters and shows. The fireworks show was huge and amazing and timed to the music. Cat and I don't have any particular plans for tomorrow -- maybe a barbecue or something -- so it's good we've already taken care of the fireworks part. I think we'll probably watch one of the extravaganzas that's supposed to be on TV.

Cat has rehearsal for Bus Stop tonight, since they open on Friday. We spent our time after church today shopping for a bunch of last-minute stuff for her...hot rollers, false eyelashes, underwear that won't show under her costume, etc...

I'm still figuring out what I'm going to do tonight -- maybe Miracle-Gro the lawn, take a shower, go work out, take another shower, then watch TV through my eyelids. Sounds like a plan!