Fierce Anticipation: Dec. 12-14
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A blogumn by Ryan Dixon
FIERCELY ANTICIPATING
The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirit by Les Standiford
We’ve seen Shakespeare in Love, now get ready for Dickens In Debt. That’s the starting point in this fascinating non-fiction work that chronicles how, after being the most popular writer in England, 31 year-old Charles Dickens suddenly found himself a broke and nearly destitute man stuck with five kids and a wife (like a Victorian Eddie Fisher, our dear Charles would eventually leave Mrs. Dickens #1 for a much younger woman). It is at this low point that he becomes inspired to write a little story about a man named Scrooge and publishes it with his last bit of money, which leads to very happy endings for both Dickens and the story. Standiford’s great triumph in the book is illuminating how A Christmas Carol ended up having a bigger influence on our Yuletide rituals than any other event in human history, including that supposed barnyard birth some 2000 years ago. “Bah, humbug!” indeed.
In Bookstores Now.
KINDA WANNA SEE
Will Green once again equal green on the Great White Way? DreamWorks Theatricals is betting many millions that Shrek will defy box office gravity and follow his hue-sharing neighbor Elphaba in doing the Blockbuster Grapevine. Recently, critics have taken calling Broadway Las Vegas light. However, now that 42nd Street is populated with mermaids, monsters, ogres, disfigured opera ghosts, witches, anthropomorphic lions, the occasional appearance of flopping Vampires (talk about being in the red) and a soon to be singing Spider-Man, maybe it’s time to rename it Fantasy Island?
Now in Previews. Opens December 14th.
WOULDN’T GO IF YOU PAID ME
Christmas Cat Shows:
Catxmas on the Beach / Katnappers Christmas Show
Since seemingly every other post on FaN revolves around cats, I have finally decided to capitulate to the will of the masses. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t exactly “hate” cats. I may be allergic to them, but a tear graces the eye any time my iPod shuffles to the opening lines of Grizabella’s lyrical lament (Memory, turn your face to the moonlight…), and even I will occasionally fawn over their cute and wily ways (of course, any public display of fawnage is always followed by self-hating flagellation once I arrive home). And based on personal interaction, I’ve found that cat people, as these sort of groups go, are on the whole a much better breed of Homo sapiens then those who spend their days drooling over members of that subspecies of four-legged Steinbeckian Lennie’s otherwise known as dogs.
But while the degree of my allergy to cats is perhaps debatable — Is it such a crime to stretch the truth of my allergy when visiting any member of my cat obsessed family so as to sleep in a freshly cleansed cat-free private bedroom as opposed to lying scrunched on a furball addled couch?– the truth remains; I duly despise cat hair with every black fabric in my wardrobe. Whenever I take a seat in any feline infested house, I get the creeping feeling that shedded cat hair is crawling up my rear side like some sort of cotton sucking leech army. Suffice it to say the idea of attending a Christmas-themed cat show where fake-antlered tabby cats meow the opening chords of Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus while feline dander wafts through the air like the diaphanous gelatinous spores in 1978’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers is not my idea of a good time.
Catxmas on the Beach: Dec. 12-14, Corpus Christi, TX
Katnappers Christmas Show: Dec. 13-14, Arcadia, CA
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I saw Shrek when it started in Seattle, and unfortunately, it's a bit of stinker. I got to see it for free, with orchestra seats, if that's saying anything about how did at the 5th Avenue. The technical elements & costumes are fabulous and Sutton Foster is flawless and the misfit fairy tale performers were scene stealers, as was the always hilarious Chris Seiber. The material, though, is a dud. for the most part. Shrek is completely unsympathetic & totally emo. The guy who played Donkey I hear was let go, which was a good idea as his comedic timing was not as good as his singing. The dragon role was dumb. Just totally disappointing when it could've been something like Audrey 2 in Little Shop of Horrors. Hopefully the production team has made some content changes. The issue with this is that Disney musicals onstage work because the music is usually well thought-out. Here it all seems like add-ons, and inconsequential. Not really the point of a musical, eh?!!
As with most of DreamWorks animated products, the secondary characters steal the show. Eventually they will realize (hopefully) that they should , maybe, I don't know, just re-gig to make the secondary characters PRIMARY characters…?
I was afraid of all that. Aside from the actor playing the donkey, they also radically reworked the dragon. Although the movies have their funny bits, I always found them a bit overrated (especially considering that Shrek 2 is one of the top five highest grossing films of ALL TIME).
Ryan you are just a hater.
how can you dislike both cats and dogs. i don't understand. fun to know that dickens was a bit of a dick. merry christmas!
I learned it by watching you.
I actually hate the people who obsess over the animals far more than the creatures themselves. It annoys me deeply when I see pets taking over their lives. "I have to get back home to feed/walk/pet the dog." etc…
Why do you assume Dickens was a bit of a dick? All he did was leaved his aged wife for a younger model. I mean, think of all the novels he was writing, he had to get excitement somehow!
The guy who playes Shrek did a major behind the scenes piece on "Good Day New York" and the video was posted on myfoxny.com. However, as opposed to Shrek, he reminds me more of something from Star Trek: The Next Generation, or worse, Seaquest DSV. (with Roy Scheider, not Micheal Ironside when they cancelled the show.) To me, it doesn't seem to work as a Broadway production and is best suited for the big screen.
I love that Shrek reminded you of a corny alien / underwater creature as opposed to an Orge. Yes, there doesn't seem to be a lot of positive buzz coming out for this show. We will see soon enough.
This has to be the best example of your true personality yet!!!!!
Why thank you! I am hoping to be known in the virtual universe as a cat-hating misanthrope!
Ryan,
Cool history about Dickens that I didn't know. I'll have to read some more on his bio.
Pretty rough on cats aren't you? And your allergies must be worse now, because I remember them as being pretty mild when you visited my parents' house. Perhaps I just didn't notice your allergies, however.
Ryan, I am printing your article and showing it to mom and dad. For years I have been telling them that you fake it and they never believed me and it always really pissed me off because they always catered to your needs. "Ryan needs the bedroom, We need to clean the sheets, Ryan gets that, Ryan gets this" blah blah blah. When we buy our future house the 3rd bedroom will be for Paradise and you will be confined to the couch with all the cat hair. FYI remember that time you came to visit us in Vegas when Mom and Colleen were there and you had that chocolate cake at our apt? Well, I let Paradise lick all over it and I put it back in the box and I watched you eat later that evening. lol. Love you lots.
I saw Shrek when it started in Seattle, and unfortunately, it's a bit of stinker. I got to see it for free, with orchestra seats, if that's saying anything about how did at the 5th Avenue. The technical elements & costumes are fabulous and Sutton Foster is flawless and the misfit fairy tale performers were scene stealers, as was the always hilarious Chris Seiber. The material, though, is a dud. for the most part. Shrek is completely unsympathetic & totally emo. The guy who played Donkey I hear was let go, which was a good idea as his comedic timing was not as good as his singing. The dragon role was dumb. Just totally disappointing when it could've been something like Audrey 2 in Little Shop of Horrors. Hopefully the production team has made some content changes. The issue with this is that Disney musicals onstage work because the music is usually well thought-out. Here it all seems like add-ons, and inconsequential. Not really the point of a musical, eh?!!
As with most of DreamWorks animated products, the secondary characters steal the show. Eventually they will realize (hopefully) that they should , maybe, I don't know, just re-gig to make the secondary characters PRIMARY characters…?
I was afraid of all that. Aside from the actor playing the donkey, they also radically reworked the dragon. Although the movies have their funny bits, I always found them a bit overrated (especially considering that Shrek 2 is one of the top five highest grossing films of ALL TIME).
Ryan you are just a hater.
how can you dislike both cats and dogs. i don't understand. fun to know that dickens was a bit of a dick. merry christmas!
I learned it by watching you.
I actually hate the people who obsess over the animals far more than the creatures themselves. It annoys me deeply when I see pets taking over their lives. "I have to get back home to feed/walk/pet the dog." etc…
Why do you assume Dickens was a bit of a dick? All he did was leaved his aged wife for a younger model. I mean, think of all the novels he was writing, he had to get excitement somehow!
The guy who playes Shrek did a major behind the scenes piece on "Good Day New York" and the video was posted on myfoxny.com. However, as opposed to Shrek, he reminds me more of something from Star Trek: The Next Generation, or worse, Seaquest DSV. (with Roy Scheider, not Micheal Ironside when they cancelled the show.) To me, it doesn't seem to work as a Broadway production and is best suited for the big screen.
I love that Shrek reminded you of a corny alien / underwater creature as opposed to an Orge. Yes, there doesn't seem to be a lot of positive buzz coming out for this show. We will see soon enough.
This has to be the best example of your true personality yet!!!!!
Why thank you! I am hoping to be known in the virtual universe as a cat-hating misanthrope!
Ryan,
Cool history about Dickens that I didn't know. I'll have to read some more on his bio.
Pretty rough on cats aren't you? And your allergies must be worse now, because I remember them as being pretty mild when you visited my parents' house. Perhaps I just didn't notice your allergies, however.
Ryan, I am printing your article and showing it to mom and dad. For years I have been telling them that you fake it and they never believed me and it always really pissed me off because they always catered to your needs. "Ryan needs the bedroom, We need to clean the sheets, Ryan gets that, Ryan gets this" blah blah blah. When we buy our future house the 3rd bedroom will be for Paradise and you will be confined to the couch with all the cat hair. FYI remember that time you came to visit us in Vegas when Mom and Colleen were there and you had that chocolate cake at our apt? Well, I let Paradise lick all over it and I put it back in the box and I watched you eat later that evening. lol. Love you lots.