Twisted Sisters or How I Spent National Women’s History Month

So March is National Women’s History Month.  I don’t have any particular celebrations but did note that my recent cultural activities involved female protagonists.  Thus my latest random cultural events roundup will cohere around that theme.

WildClaw!’s Carmilla and Lookingglass’ Ethan Frome explore women’s power via manipulation.  Readers are probably more familiar with Ethan Frome, the Edith Wharton classic, foisted upon high school students in a misguided attempt to introduce them to great literature.  No, I am not an Edith Wharton fan.  Her “woe is me” heroines excel in their passivity.  Their falls aren’t tragic; they should have learned that sloth is one of the seven deadly sins.  When Wharton wrote, the West beckoned to men and women who lacked opportunity in the East.  A “poor relation” in the East could have moved West as a Harvey Girl – if she was ill-suited to being an adventuress.

Why did I go see Ethan Frome?  I subscribe to Lookingglass (because they are awesome).  Only Lookingglass could compel me to endure a Wharton.  Phillip Smith (Ethan) and Louise Lamson (Mattie) have been excellent in other productions, so I hoped they could give me a reason to get on board – the stage, not the sled.  While Smith and Lamson were top notch, the Whartoness was too much for me.  Having lived in New England, Wharton’s attempt to portray the lower class/poor did not ring true to me.   Zenobia, Ethan’s wife, Ethan, and Mattie are each too cowardly to act on their dreams or to admit their failures.  Zenobia manipulates Ethan and Mattie; Ethan clumsily attempts to manipulate Mattie, and Mattie winds up manipulating Ethan and Zenobia after the accident.  Yawn.

Carmilla was much more exciting on stage and in prose.  Written by JS LeFanu in 1872, Carmilla is the first vampire story and has a female as its vampire.  Born as a result of suicide on her wedding night, Carmilla lures women away from their husbands, gives them vampire power and strength, and then destroys her harems as she moves to new targets.  The men in Carmilla are the confused and mentally weaker sex.  Ultimately the strength of a man is required to actually kill the female vampires – after their betrayal by women.

Like Wharton’s female characters, Laura, the latest vampire victim is the only child of a once-wealthy family that is descending into poverty.  The family lives on an ancient estate in the woods.  The mother was already seduced and stolen by Carmilla.  Unlike the Wharton females, the Carmilla females manipulate from a position of power.  Laura may be the prototypical ingénue, but she becomes suspicious of Carmilla and instigates the vampire’s downfall.  Carmilla fights physically and mentally to retain her power.  WildClaw! created a vigorous production with lots of blood, fights, and sharp performances.  The final act of Carmilla is a dance macabre where the women lead.

The supernatural theme continued in Yuja Wang’s piano recital at the Chicago Symphony.  A Chinese prodigy, Wang is a mere 24 years old, playing with emotion and sophistication.  Her program began with Rachmaninov and Schubert, impressing the audience with her virtuosity; the second half explored the mysterious and dangerous with selections from Scriabin, Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain, Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Scherzo, and Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre Op. 40.  The Scriabin selections pulled the audience into a mystical and playful dream that became sinister as the devil danced on Bald Mountain.  Shakespeare’s impish fairies chase the devil off the mountain for a short while, but Old Scratch returns to remind us that “death at midnight plays a dance tune” (Dance Macabre – Jean Lahor).

Wang attacked each piece, delightfully frightening the audience with pounding bass lines and intricate treble dances.  Eschewing any kind of orchestral support, Wang challenged her audience as her fingers manipulated the percussive and string power of the piano.  She could easily have played Ethan and Mattie to their destiny with the tree.

Lectures by Jennifer Homans, the author of Apollo’s Angels, and Liesl Olson about Harriet Monroe, the founder of Poetry magazine remind that women have always exercised power either directly or through manipulation – if they had courage.  Ballerinas embody the strength and fragility assigned to women.  Monroe used her editorial powers and friendships with wealthy donors to establish modern poetry in the United States and arguably the world.  While some ascribe influence to Ezra Pound, it is worth remembering that Monroe edited Pound – creating the power of “In a Station of the Metro” through her spacing, from Poetry Magazine, April 1913.

The apparition       of these faces       in the crowd   :

Petals      on a wet, black    bough   .

Willkommen Bienvenue Welcome

If the band/orchestra sucks, flee the theatrical performance immediately.  Even great actors cannot save horrible music.  However, a great band can save you from bad or mediocre actors.  The band for the hypocrites’ Cabaret was amazing.  Supplemented by violin and harmonium, the core piano, bass, percussion, and saxophone were frisky with an undertow of menace.  Kristina Lee, the bassist, was especially skilled at keeping the bass sounding crisp, not muddy (a common problem for bassists).  She and the percussionist, Kevin O’Donnell, playfully interacted and showcased the complexities of the score.  Some of the musical arrangements were a bit simplistic, but the vocal prowess of the actors may have been the reason why.

Cabaret is surprisingly bullletproof, like My Fair Lady or the Lennon-McCartney songbook.  The emotional resonance pulls you through, even when the actors aren’t quite up to the task.  According to the theatre geeks in line behind me, we were enjoying the 1998 re-staging of the show.  No Bob Fosse.  For most theatrical companies, the 1998 version is more manageable.  More bumping and grinding, rather than actual dancing.  The writhing on stage was particularly inspiring to a couple in front of me who made out during every intermission.  During the second intermission, the couple sitting next to Make Out Couple #1 decided that four could play that game and launched at one another.  Very entertaining.

The Emcee (Jessie Fisher) stole the show.  The woman playing the part really understood the need to hint at the fear and desperation that bursts forth from the decadence during the second and third acts.  Alas, the actors playing Sally and Cliff didn’t really delve into their characters, focusing on a surface shallowness and ignoring how both characters are weak and pathetic.  Michael York and Liza Minnelli really were excellent in the movie version and had more script to work with.  The book for this stage production let down the actors a bit.  Some scenes felt rushed or perhaps lines were cut.  The other supporting characters were able to flesh out their characters reasonably well.  Several people did succumb to shout-singing.  Too much American Idol.

the hypocrites at least try to challenge the audience and to interpret the material uniquely.  Some minor characters and plot-lines were more prominently explored.  Unfortunately, those minor characters upstaged the main storyline.  Cliff and Sally were tangential.  An art experience is successful if it provokes thought  and entertains.  While I found their Frankenstein to be a more satisfying theatrical experience, the hypocrites’ Cabaret was an entertaining production.  The band was excellent.

A Listener Objects

Improving my piano skills is one of my goals for this year.  Serena, my Chartreux, objects to this goal.  To be fair, I have not played in about 20 years.  The rust is there.  The piano also needs to be tuned and voiced.  However, I am not that horrible, and the piano isn’t too offkey.  Biting my knees is a bit of an extreme reaction to the situation.

Preston, the Greyhound, and Phoebe, the Siamese, have no objections to my efforts or to the piano’s sounds.  Preston rolls over and goes back to sleep.  Phoebe sits on the piano and watches the hammers plunk the strings.  Serena bites my knees.  She did seem to enjoy sitting in my lap and letting me use her paws to hit the keys.  Perhaps she is a frustrated musician.  No need to be violent about it.

Everything Old

Now that I am escaping corporate life, I have to restart my brain cells.  Return to intellectualism and art.  I also need to revamp my writing skills.  PowerPoint has bastardized them.  At work, I am forced to use UK English conventions.  Not even good Economist rules.  Crappy Collins English dictionary rules.  Strunk and White are weeping.

My plan is to use this blog to brush up on the writing skills and log my intellectual/artistic endeavors.  Over the next year, I have to relearn French & Russian, improve my piano skills, read history books, study for the GRE, embroider, and endure my daily work life until grad school acceptance.  Fingers crossed.  If I win more than $20 million in the lottery, I reserve the right to chuck these plans and open a greyhound retirement home.  My real dream.

Off we go on our intellectual and artistic journey.  Still observing the rules of alrisha – tying together disparate topics to create a whole.