A Late (Or Is it Early?) Ramble About My Sister

By now, regular readers know that Uncle P's sister is a baker. She has a side business making custom cakes, cookies and cupcakes for weddings, birthdays and various celebrations that require baked sweets as part of their rituals. She's gotten quite good, though even she will admit she's no Buddy Valastro. Still, she makes some delightful desserts for special occasions and her clients and co-workers love what she does.

Cakes and cookies non-withstanding, Uncle P's sister is also his best friend and one of the very few (if not the only) people who actually 'gets' him. Growing up, even though we were six years apart, we actually shared a "language" which to this day, no one else understands. It's no secret that one of us can utter a word, phrase or a series of nonsense syllables that will have the other writhing in hysterics to the dismay and utter consternation of those around us. Her husband and our mother still roll their eyes at one another when we get going.

Many years ago, my sister and her husband moved to western Florida. Since then, I've tried to visit at least once a year. We take day trips to Disney or Universal (my personal favorite theme park); loll about in the Gulf Coast sun; hit the outlet malls or dine at unusual places and generally act like the kids we never grew out of being when together. Occasionally, my sister will venture north, though she loathes the weather here and would rather our mother and I come South. Last year, due to any number if circumstances (including the extensive renovations required on Uncle P's house), I didn't make my annual visit.

This week, my sister is making a rare northern excursion to attend her 25th High School Reunion, While I am thrilled that she and I will get to spend some time together, I am also secretly hoping that she will get to experience the surreal kind of event that Uncle P had last year at his 30th.

Needless to say, I doubt her experience will be anything like this:

My sister is actually a successful executive at a major corporation, so there! Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah! While I don't personally care what happens at the reunion, I'm just happy to be able to spend some time with my baby sister (and perhaps confound some folks with our unique relationship).

More, anon.

Prospero

P.S. Tonight, I actually realized how weird it is to refer to myself in the third person. I feel like a "Seinfeld" character... Is that a bad thing? Oh, and if you're wondering if she'll take offense at the pictures I've linked to my sister's references, I can assure you she'll say they just weren't weird enough....

P

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"Glee" Goes Meta

I am usually at least a day behind on my TV watching, and this week is no exception. And of course, regular readers know my theatrical origins lie in musical theatre and high school chorus, which explains my love of Fox's hit show "Glee."

Here in the East (and in the late 70's), chorus wasn't the spectacle that Mid-Western Show Choirs are today. We simply wore gold sweaters with black dickies and performed standards, classical works and show tunes on risers, grouped by vocal range. I started as a freshman tenor, but by the end of my sophomore year, was singing baritone. It wasn't until college (and a wonderful acting professor), that I developed into a full basso profundo. But that's really neither here nor there.

I've watched "Glee" from the beginning, and while it is often uneven in its story-telling, it is more often glorious in its production numbers. Yes, Jane Lynch is amazing as the evil Sue Sylvester and Lea Michele and Amber Riley are often astonishing in their vocals, but this week's episode, entitled "Dream On," featuring a hilarious guest spot by Neil Patrick Harris, totally belonged to Kevin McHale as Artie.

For those unfamiliar, the character of Artie is confined to wheelchair, due to an accident which left him with a crippling spinal cord injury. Artie's fondest dream is to dance, expressed earlier this season by McHale's jazzy interpretation of Billy idol's "Dancing With Myself." This week, encouraged by his girlfriend Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz), Artie had himself a fantasy sequence in which he danced in a mall flash-mob to Men Without Hats' 80's hit "Safety Dance." Choreographer Zachary Woodlee pulled out all the stops and created a number that was not only amazing to watch, but referenced the numerous "Glee" flashmobs which have been cropping up all over YouTube. How meta is that? I've embedded a rather clumsy video below, but you can see a very clear and wonderful version here.

Here's the poor quality version:

And here's my favorite "Glee" flashmob event in Rome, last December:

"Dream On" also revealed that rival Glee Club mentor Shelby Corcoran (the incomparable Idina Menzel) is actually the birth-mother of Rachel (Michele). Their duet on "I Dreamed a Dream" was nothing less than heartbreaking. Of course, the physical similarities between Menzel and Michele made this a foregone conclusion, as soon as Menzel made her first appearance on the show. Still, it was nice to see that all of the speculation was right.

To be honest, given my personal High School history, it may be difficult for me to be completely objective about "Glee," though I will be the first to admit that its plots are often far-fetched. But with guest stars like NPH; Molly Shannon; the always amazing Kristin Chenowith; Menzel; Josh Groban and Olivia Newton-John; along with some of the best arrangements of popular music (both new and old), the show's creators have managed to produce TV's first successful episodic musical. Previously, shows like "Cop Rock" "Eli Stone" and "Viva Laughlin" failed miserably, mostly because they were just plain silly. By setting their musical in a high school glee club and casting some amazingly talented (and attractive) performers, creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Fulchuk and Ian Brennan have tapped into the angsts and joys of high school life, something all of us can relate to.

Next week's episode, like the Madonna-centric episode a few weeks ago, celebrates the music of Pop's latest sensation, Lady Gaga. I, for one, can't wait.

More, anon.
Prospero

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School Daze

Tonight, Uncle Prospero had one of the strangest, most surreal* and thoroughly enjoyable experiences of his life. Yes, I attended my 30th High School Reunion.

"Holy crap!" you might be saying. "Prospero is that old?" Yes, I am that old. Still, more people recognized me than I recognized, so I guess I'm doing okay.

I went to Woodrow Wilson High School, which has since been re-named Harry Truman High School, after the closure of my district's other high school in the 80's. I moved around a bit and lost touch with almost everyone from Wilson. But, with the advent of Facebook and similar social networking sites, I suddenly find myself reconnected to folks I haven't seen in 30 years. And it's wonderful.

I was, I will admit, a bit apprehensive about attending. I hadn't been to (nor was even aware of) any previous reunions, for any number of reasons. But thanks to Facebook, I was able to attend this one - and it was just terrific.

So much of who we are today is based on the relationships and experiences of our past. It was honestly wonderful to see so many friends from the past (and sad to not see those who couldn't attend). I recognized some folks immediately (my friends Nina and Holly virtually unchanged) and a few others after squinting at their name tag under the banquet hall's dim lights. One friend surprised me with what she thought was shocking news, while others surprised me with their rather unexceptional lives. And more than a few were absolutely unrecognizable, but out of a class of 400+, that's understandable.

Kudos to Debbie L and Suzanne B for organizing an outstanding evening.

Remember - there will be no Saturday post this week. Instead, read me on The Zombie Zone.

More, anon.
Prospero

*By the way, this is a link to my favorite painting of all time, by Salvador Dali. I have no idea why it means so much to me -- it just does. Dali is my favorite artist and The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus speaks to me in a way few paintings can, even if I don't understand why. I hope you've experienced the same phenomenon, yourself.

P

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A Geek's Response to "Glee"

I'll be the first to admit it - I love "Glee," Fox's surprise musical series about a high school glee club. As a high-school Chorus and Drama Club Award recipient, how could I not? Of course, none of the numbers we performed in Woodrow Wilson's Chorus were nearly as slick (or current) as those on "Glee." And unlike the members of the uber-talented Glee Club on the show who know all the notes and lyrics with barely a glance at the sheet music, we took months to prepare our selections. As for choreography and costuming... well, that was left to the annual musical.

I appeared in all of the musicals presented in my four years at Woodrow Wilson High School: "Bye-Bye Birdie;" "Godspell;" "The Wizard of Oz" and "South Pacific," moving up the ranks until I was cast as Emil in my senior year (the less we talk about my role as the Cowardly Lion, the better).

Still, what I wouldn't have given to be a part of Mr. Schuester's amazing ensemble of singers/dancers. Of course, the singers/dancers on "Glee" are all seasoned veterans well beyond the age of most actual high-schoolers, but that hardly matters.

What does matter, is the heart and soul behind the characters in the show. There's Rachel (Lea Michelle), the girl who knows she is destined for theatrical greatness; Finn (Cory Monteith), the Football jock who nevers feels so good as when he is singing; Quinn (Dianna Agron), Finn's cheerleader girlfriend, pregnant by his best friend and sent to Glee Club as a spy by the evil Ms. Sylvester (the always amazing Jane Lynch) and the rest of losers and jocks who are are inspired by Spanish teacher Will Schuester (Miss Saigon's Matthew Morrison), himself a past member of the school's formerly championship Glee Club, now surpassed by Sylvester's championship "Cherrioes" squad. Of course there's the adorably giant-eyed Jayma Mays (Red Eye; "Heroes") as the school counselor in love with Will, but betrothed to the awkward gym coach, Ken (Patrick Gallagher) and the hilarious Iqbal Theba as the clueless Principal Figgins, who seems to take delight in pitting Schuester and Sylvester against one another. And don't get me started on Will's wife, Terri ("Nip/Tuck" alum Jessalyn Gilsig), who is pretending to be pregnant in order to hold onto the man she doesn't deserve. And then there's the gay kid, Kurt (Chris Colfer), whose coming out to his dad made me cry and the adorably hot best friend, Puck (Mark "Please Lose the Lame Mohawk" Salling) who not only knocked up Quinn, but hooked up with Rachel because his mother wants him to date a "nice Jewish girl." Talk about ensemble casting! And I've barely scratched the surface, here.

Say what you may about Fox's deplorable and ridiculously right-skewed news division; their entertainment division has done something no other network has been able to do. They've created the first ever successful musical TV series. Anyone remember "Cop Rock?" If you do, I'm sorry. Hilarious, topical, sexy and fun "Glee" is probably the best non-Sci-Fi series to hit the airwaves in a very long time.

I say it's about time that Musical Theatre Geeks got our own TV show and I proudly stand among them shouting "Thank you!" to the show's creators, writers and cast. I just have to ask, where the hell were you when I was 16, and really could have used you?

If you haven't seen "Glee," do yourself a favor and watch it. And here are a few clips to whet your appetite:

You go, Girl!



That song's never going away, is it? So, which character do you think I identify most with? No cheating!

More, anon.
Prospero

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The Times, They Are Changin'

Can you find your Uncle Prospero in this picture? The year was (yikes!) 1977. The show was Godspell at Woodrow Wilson High School in Levittown, PA. I was a a 15 year-old sophomore and already knew that the Theatre was going to be a permanent part of the rest of my life. The director was the brilliant Louis Volpe (the first adult to tell me upon graduation that being gay wasn't such a terrible thing). My then best friend, Todd Hartman, can be seen at the top of the pyramid, wearing the beret and pink shirt.

Thanks to Facebook, I've recently begun to reconnect with friends from those days. To be honest, most of the folks who've remained true friends were those I met in college and after - my darling Janet; my rock, K and my Dear D. A few others. Some of my high school classmates are long gone (the fellow in the yellow hardhat was gunned down in a senseless bar fight not too long after this picture was taken). Others were taken wherever the fates took them. I think of them more and more these days, especially now that my 30th HS reunion is coming up (yikes again!).

I'm not exactly sure what I intended to say with this post. I think time has been kind to me. I certainly like myself a lot more now, than I did then. And I certainly appreciate the difference that life experience has made in my artistic sensibilities. I've travelled the country since then, living in many places and doing theatre for many companies. I've acted, directed and designed for more shows than I care to remember (including a production of Godspell in which I played Jesus about fifteen years later). But there is something about this particular production that will always occupy a special place in my heart. Hell - maybe I'm just getting old.

By the way - In case you haven't guessed, I'm the one in the straw hat, all the way in the right corner of the photo. Damn, I was cute!

Moe, anon.

Prospero

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