Jeff Grubb's Blog, page 8

Theatre: Dreams and DREAMers

 Sanctuary City by Martyna Majok, Directed by Desdemona Chiang, Seattle REP through 31 March.

First off, parking stories continues. We did get reasonable parking through the theater app, but it was across the width of Seattle Center, which was a long walk for folk of our age, even taking it in multiple stages. On the parking lot elevator, we encountered another grey-haired couple in the elevator who were also attending the same play.

SHE: What do you know about the play?

ME: I don't know much. I tend to go into these things blind.

SHE (Poking her husband): HE'S the same way!

And yeah, we have season tickets, so we're going, even though the matinee has been moved up to noon and we had Daylight savings time to boot. 

Anyway, Sanctuary City. It was very, very good.

The play divides into two neat, well-produced halves. The Boy, simply identified as B (Junior Nyong'o) and the Girl, G (Emilie Maureen Hanson) are both Millennials in Jersey, underage and illegal in a post-eleven America that does not want them. Their situations are not exact, but they team up as friends, G crashing at B's place to avoid a violent stepfather. We follow them through their high-school years in a scattershot of short, short vignettes, the actors dipping in and out of repeated sequences to set up the pattern of their life from school through graduation. On a bare stage, the short vignettes, slammed into each other over the course of years, like the kids are workshopping their adult lives and what they're going to do. Spoiler - one gets legal, and promises to marry the other, regardless of the personal risk.

And it works surprisingly well. Director Majok tried this sort of thing in Constellations, which did not work, but here, under the fire and talent of the leads, it powers through effortlessly grabs the audience and does not let go.

And probably if that was where it ended, it would have rewarding but not enough to justify a full production. But, then, everything changes, the black backdrops rotate (a deft use of the Rep's often-overplayed stagecraft), to transform into an apartment over the New Year's break, three years after the promise. Things have changed, and the kids have moved from sharp, all-elbows and worry to long-term angst and stress. Their lives have changed. G visits and discovers B living his lover (a sharp Josh Kenji). Relationships are tested, and the characters have to face a no-win situation, that, regardless of the choice, someone will have to sacrifice their future.

And it is sad and beautiful and honest. Hanson and Nyong'o grow up (and apart) before our eyes. And while delving into the depths of the political situation of the age (post WTC, pre-cell phones), it is political but never weighed down by the overwhelming politics of the era instead concentrating on the characters' own situations. They take the politics and make it personal, and in doing so conquer their lives. 

Yeah, I liked it. Glad I went in blind, because it left me wondering how it would all turn out, and it was sad and funny and damned good writing with damned good actors. More of this, please.

More later, 

The Political Desk: Pop-Up Primary

We have a lot of "sudden" elections out here. Usually it is some item that for scheduling reasons can't get on a fall ballot. Local school bonds sometimes hit here, or small operations like the King County Conservation Board. Boom! We have an election. We just had one such election just now, north of Grubb Street, in nearby Renton, about raising the minimum wage (Digression: it passed handily, which surprised me, both because these are special elections attract few voters (and those voters are tend to be older and, more conservative) and because it had some well-funded opposition from corporate-funded PACs (with some of the worst lawn signs ever - "We aren't Seattle!" is not a winning slogan, even in Renton)).

Anyway, we have a primary in the middle of March. No, not the real state primary, that's in August. This is the Presidential Primary. The state had the primary moved up from its usual June date because by May its usually all over but the shouting. So it's in March, even though this year it is all over but the shouting. 

And all states have their own method of dealing with choosing delegates for their national conventions. Some have caucuses. Some have primaries. Some have primaries, but real selection happens in the caucuses. Some have their own special rules and conditions. There has been a lot of ink spilled on people trying to get Trump off the primary ballots in some states, but Biden wasn't even on the ballot for the New Hampshire primary (the state party was mad that he didn't want NH to be the "first in the nation" primary - he won handily with a write-in vote). 

Now to be honest, I am a little irritated by the entire idea of party primaries paid for and overseen by the public purse (though I do trust them to do a good job). The majority of folk out consider themselves "independents", even if they tend to vote for one party or the other. So this is a bit of a subsidy for the political organizations (for local elections with a slew of candidates, fine). But that's me.

Worse, of course, is that it is all over but the shouting. The Democratic Party will be nominating the incumbent President Joe Biden, while the GOP will be nominating twice-impeached, many-times indicted Donald Trump. And most of their competition has already dropped out, so, barring some immediate crisis, it is not really an election for the ages.

Anyway, for this presidential primary in Washington State, you DO have the choice of either voting for the Democratic nominee or the Republican one. You can't do both. That is in part to reduce the "mischief" factor of people who feel that their choice is a lock and want to go over and vote for some other candidate than the anointed one in the primary. There's some of that on both sides, I suppose. But this method also tells people how you voted in the election (not WHO you voted for, but just that you voted in THAT election) and probably gets you on a mailing list of some sort. (I haven't done this, but I DO get the occasional "town hall" robo-call from some GOP candidate in a district I don't even vote in, so that tells you how good the entire process is).

And you DO you choice, but the deck is more than a little stacked for the party-chosen favorites. Let's take a look at each of them. Your own state's rules can be found here, 

The Democratic Party is sending 111 delegates to the National Convention in Chicago, of which 92 will be pledged as a result of the primary (we'll talk about the other 18 in a moment). Sixty of those are pledged as a result of elections in the State's 10 congressional districts (3 per district). The other 32 are pledged based on the statewide results, with 20 of those determined as "At large delegates".

The 18 from the general group, and the 12 from the statewide group are what they now call PLEOs (Party Leaders and Elected Officials - also known as "super-delegates") From the  group of 18 taken right off the top, that is 8 members of the DNC, 10 members of congress (our 2 senators and 8 representatives of the Democratic Party), for the rest, the other 12 are...well, I'm not quite sure who they are, but they're there. The PLEOs will not vote on the first ballot, but are allowed to vote after the first ballot.

Confused? Yeah, me too, a little. But the result is that a healthy chunk (about a quarter of the total) of the delegates come from the "organized party", and if the party is organized (and sometimes it's not), the party's chosen has a significant leg up.

The Republicans, on the other hand, are actually simpler. They are sending 43 delegates to the convention in Milwaukee. This is a "winner-take most" situation, where each legislative district is sending 3 delegates to the convention. If one candidate gets 50% plus, they get all three. If 2 candidates get 20% plus, the higher result gets 2 and the lower 1. If none get 20% or more, or if more than 2 get 20% or more, then the top three get one delegate. I know, it sounds like the victory conditions to a European Board Game, but it makes a modicum of sense.

And in addition to the 30 from the district results, there are 10 at-large delegates based on the statewide results (with similar restrictions as above) and only 3 RNC delegates selected by the party (National Committeeman, National Committeewoman, and the chair of the Washington Republican Party). All of these 43 delegates are bound only to the first round of ballots, and after that can do as they see fit at the convention. Which is actually a little clearer and fairer than the Democratic side, and puts a lighter thumb on the scales for the national-level party choice.

But it doesn't matter, really. The Democrats are going with the incumbent, and the GOP is going with their former choice, who has pledged to drain their coffers dry in his attempts to stay out of jail. That last one bothers me only in that Eugene V. Debbs, the Socialist Candidate in 1920, ran for president from prison, where he was serving time for SEDITION, and got 3.4% of the vote. So jail is hardly a recommendation, but is not a career-ending fact.

In the end, we're looking a push-poll, as effective as those Advisory Votes I always rail against. Something to note in the press for that week, then move on. Sure, go take a look at the Candidate list and their statements in the Voter's Guide (The one for Trump suspiciously has no ALL CAPS and less whining), and if the spirit moves, go for it. Make your voice heard. I probably will. But I, for once, am a bit cynical about the process.

But I will see you in August, when the REAL primary shows up.

More later, 

The Significance of the Chocolate Donuts

 So, Jeff Grubb Day (8 February, mark your calendars) has come and gone. I have explained the story of Jeff Grubb Day, and the Roger Moore Connection. Friends like Stephen Schend have kept the celebration alive, and it has spilled out over the Internet and Facebooks. Next up, we shoot for Federal Recognition!

And many who know have responded with mentions of chocolate-covered donuts, which have become part of the celebration. But I have not explained the significance of the little chocolate donuts. 

At several times during my tenure at TSR, I was put in the position of product manager. This wasn't a real position (nothing on the business card, no raise, often the name changed), but I was responsible for keeping an eye on the design/editing of various lines. I didn't have any real authority, so I was what is now called "a dotted-line report" - I was supposed to keep tabs on things and help make deadlines, but had no real power to make stuff happen. So my responsibility consisted mostly of running the weekly meeting where everyone would report in on what they are working on (yeah, standups are not as a new business thing, either). And for my teams, this involved little chocolate donuts. 

Mind you, chocolate donuts are bad for you. They are heavy, dense little torus-shaped nuggets covered in a waxy chocolate coating. Saturday Night Live did a great false commercial on them. They are definitely not good for you, so if you're going to have one, you'd better have a damned good reason to do so. In fact, you should have done something to DESERVE a chocolate donut. So every week, at these meetings, we would play "What have you done to deserve a chocky donut, dammit?".

And, spoilers, everyone always did something to deserve a chocky donut (dammit). But there was one interaction with the mighty editor Steve Winter involving them that sticks in my memory. Here's the gist of the interchange:

Me: So, Steve! What have you done to deserve a chocky donut, dammit?Steve: (laughing) Well, I've been working on the CRAPfest of your most recent Spelljammer turnover. so there's that.Me: Here. Take the box. 

So that's the significance of the chocolate donuts in regards to Jeff Grubb. And now you know.

More later, 

Play: Best Frenemies

 Born With Teeth by Liz Duffy Adams, Directed by Mathew Wright, Arts we through 25 February.

This one is bloody brilliant, probably the best I've seen at the Arts West in the post-COVID years.

It's a two-person play. Shakespeare and Marlowe, at the start of Shakespeare's career. Marlowe is the established superstar of the era, and supplements his writing with adventures in spycraft and larceny, trusting to his patron (and his own sense of self-preservation) to keep him from prison and torture. Young Will is an actor by trade, but would rather disappear within his work and not make any waves. Because the Elizabethan England as conjured by Adams is an authoritarian police state, its oppressions covering for "endless wars and bad harvests" with a continual hunt for foreign agents, traitors, and Catholics. 

The characters are the same age, but Marlowe (Michael Monicatti) is more experienced in the world and its double-dealing. Egotistic, talented, and sure-footed, he plays the mentor and the seducer, seducing both for his world of spycraft and sexually. Young Shakespeare (Ricky Spaulding) is in comparison the country mouse, with the family back in the hinterland that he wants to keep fed. For Shakespeare, writing is a way to support his family, for Marlowe writing is a flashy sideline while proving his true worth for his elite masters.

Recently scholars have done the analysis and determined that Marlowe and Shakespeare did team up on what has been previously credited as Shakespeare's first works - Henry VI (parts 1, 2, and 3). They can track which parts are Marlowe's and which parts are Shakespeare's. And that becomes the frame upon which the twain's relationship is based - Marlowe struts, pouts, and tempts, while Shakespeare tries to keep things on a business level, denying his own interest, and worried about repercussions. 

The stages itself is simple and does not get in the way - a diagonal thrust platform dominated by a single large tavern table where the two are supposedly working. It is both constrained, keeping the actors in the same cage, and open, giving them the ability to range and rage around, across, and onto the table itself. Some sight lines at stage left might be obscured, but it is minimalism in the modern theatric sense, and works perfectly.

And it is all fantastic - the actors fully embrace their parts, every line carries several layers of subtext, and every emotion lands. It is an excellent presentation, and well-worth getting out to the wilds of West Seattle (where, I will note, they've changed the parking procedures behind the theater AGAIN) in order to take it in. It is very much modern theatre, all muscle and sinew, intent on challenging the viewer and demanding they keep up. 

Got see it. More later.

Play: Quixote at the Rep

 Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solia, Directed by Lisa Portes, Seattle Rep, through 11 February.

Let me be honest, I've never read the Cervantes novel, nor have I seen any of the various Quixote movies over the years (though the household has a copy of the cast album of Man of La Mancha). But through cultural osmosis I know the gist of the Quixote story, its origin, and the major plot beats. All of them are covered on the stage here and given a new, updated shine.

The story sounds familiar: Quijano (Herbert Siguenza) is a retired college professor verging on dementia, and about to confined to an old folks home. He rebels and flees into the Cervantes stories he taught, heading for the Mexican border to be reunited with his love Dulcinea, who was a migrant laborer when when they first met in their youth. Quijano/Quixote is aided in his quest by ice cream-vendor Manny, who is his Sancho Panza. 

It is fully an update, Quixote transformed into the modern age. His noble steed Rocinanti is recreated as an adult tricycle with a horse's skull mounted, the castle he visits is a karaoke bar, Sancho's donkey is an ice cream cart. But it also transformed are the underpinnings of the tale, brought into a modern age. Quijano/Quixote has a lot of character development underscoring his actions and his regrets, as opposed to just being a old man who has read too many medieval romances. He is fighting a modern world but is part of it as well. He slips between fantasy and lucid reality easily, living in both worlds.

And he is haunted by the specter of his own mortality. Papa Calaca (Raul Cardona) stalks him as a swaggering Tejano singer, tempting the aged Quijano with his own upcoming death and challenging his fantasy. Raul Cardona is a highpoint (one of several) when when he takes the stage..

The rest of the actors are excellent, most of them from the South Coast Theatre where this work was developed, and many of them proud/honored/delighted to be making their debut on the Seattle Rep stage. They carry their main roles nicely, and as well as other major characters including the day-of-the-dead calacas who dance and taunt Quixote in the darker versions of his fantasy world. In particular, Alicia Coca when when she is portraying Manny/Sancho's wife, a extremely comic turn that serves to strengthen and grounds Sancho's personality, which is often in modern presentation used as comic relief.

And the set contributes to pulling everything off, both having a lot of space for rock walls, bars, and canyons, while at the same time giving room for the dances, a herd of sheep, a trike with a horse's skull mounted on it, and an ice cream cart. There can be a lot on the stage at once, and the stage decor handles it well. 

There are some downsides to the presentation. Parts of the show, in particular the dancing and singing of the spirits, were over-miked, such that the words were blurred and slurred electronically, and were hard to hear. Also, puppets. The Lovely Bride hates puppets in the theatre, but their presence helps strengthen the nature of Quijano's memory in the face of both fantasy and reality. So I can give a pass on the puppets.

All in all, this was an excellent show, and gives the full feeling of what theatre can do. It is worth striking out in our wet season and taking it in. Go see it.

One last thing - as I noted, the show is an honest-to-gosh long piece of theatre,  Running over two and half hours with an intermission and everything. It makes good use of all its time, never lags and captures the heart of the novel. But in our case, we outran our time for parking, and as a result found a ticket with a hefty fee on the windshield (issued ten minutes after the timer ran out - there was little in the way of a grace period, apparently). So, thinking "hung for a lamb, hung for a sheep" the Lovely Bride adjourned to a nearby Mexican restaurant for burritos, tacos, and very strong drinks, since we were already paying the premium price for the parking spot.

More later, 

Recent Arrivals: After the Holidays

 It's been a couple months, so let's do an update.

 While I haven't gone that far from home, I have collected up a bunch of new gaming material Some are gifts, some are Kickstarters from various sources, and some are things that I picked up from local brick and mortars. 

I had a flurry of fulfilled Kickstarters this time, as a lot of people tried to get everything shipped before the start of a new year. In addition, I'm seeing a lot of new announcements of coming Kickstarters. The entire Kickstarter process may have settled into a annual rhythm, probably because of tax requirements, for launching and delivering new projects. 

One other thing I've noticed is the lack of signatures in some of these, while others adhere to some multiple of 16 pages. Back in the day at TSR, we were pretty strict on doing printed pages in groups of 16 (the printing press would print large sheets of 8 final pages, front and back, which would be folded into a sixteen page signature). These days I'm seeing all manner of  oddly-numbered sheets. The thing is, so far as I know, the presses still run in 16-page increments, so any additional paper is paid for, then lost. But then, I've been out of the biz for years now. 

Anyway, let's see what we have this time.

Lex Arcana: Mysteries of the Empire II by Giacomo Marchi, Claudio Vergati, Bruno Gattolin, Mauro Longo, Luca Scoz, Steffan Kuppers, and Marzio Morganti, 184-page hardbound, Acheron Games, Kickstarter. I've played Lex Arcana previously, and like what they've done with the subject and the era (X-files in the Roman Empire). This volume is a collection of adventures, including an updating of the Intro adventure that we played earlier, along with a conclusion to the adventures in the core rulebook. Otherwise, it roams through the Empire, from Italy to Ireland to Malta to Syracuse to Greece. The production values are on par with their previous work, and it is nice to have a collection of adventures in my back pocket. 

The Eye of Chentoufi, The Heart of Chentoufi, and The Fate of Chentoufi, for Luke Gygax's World of Okkorim, by Luke Gygax and Matt Everhart, 40-page saddle-stitched book, 48-page saddle-stitched book, and 64- page squarebound book, Gaxx Worx Games, Kickstarter. I'm not a big believer in genetic talent, though the profession of one's parents has a definite influence on one's exposure to a particular business and its workings. So, nurture as opposed to nature. Luke Gygax is Gary's son, and I'll admit there's a little excitement is seeing what he's brought to the table. The adventures grew out of a four-hour one-shot for GaryCon XIII, and had that old-school, self-contained nature to them. It does have tech updates for the modern era - glossy paper, four-color through-out, nice maps, but has that vibe of old-school adventuring. I could run this, and may yet.

If I Were a Lich, Man, Three Jewish games by Lucian Kahn, Small Box containing 36-page saddle-stitched booklet, Deck of 44 cards, and 4 Dreidels, Hit Point Press, Kickstarter. This one is a curiosity, in that it is three Jewish themed RPG adventures involving things like Jewish Liches and vampires at a  Bat Mitsvan. The D&D lich first showed up in the original Monster Manual, storing its soul in an otherwise undefined phylactery. Fine, that trope's been done (1963's Captain Sinbad had the evil wizard keeping his heart in a gem, making him immortal). But phylactery has a wider use as a term for as a telfin of in the Jewish faith, a box worn on the body containing scripture. so that's a little problematic. Kahn, a non-binary Jewish designer, has taken used this as a springboard for one of the adventures involving Jewish liches dealing with a paladin pogrom. That's a good subject and a good exploration, but I don't know if I would run this, if only because, well, I'm not Jewish (see "Thirsty Sword Lesbians" for a similar situation) and it feels a little appropriative. But this is one of those games where I'm glad SOMEONE has done, though. Also, it has a dreidel-based resolution system, which is also cool.

Wingspan European Edition Designed by Elizabeth Hargrace, Stonemaier Games, Boxed Game, Purchased from The Wizard's Keep as a Gift for Kate, purchased from The Wizard's Keep. The original Wingspan was great, and in the tradition of successful board games, inspires expansions. This one adds a bunch of new cards to the mix and few rules tweaks. The Lovely Bride took it out for a spin on our last game day, and seemed to like the result. Want to play it myself, now.

Empire of the Ghouls, by Richard Green, with Wolfgang Baur, Jeff Lee, Chris Lockey, Kelly Pawlik, and Mike Welham, 352-page hardbound book, Kobold Press, Gift from Wolf. I've been rabbit-holing on Midgard for a little while now, and Wolf had an extra deluxe copy in his garage and passed it along to me. I really respect the depth of designer that Richard went to in this, detailing the effective Underdark of Midgard, and going into depth on the society of its ghouls. Sets up a lot of ghoul politics and factions. Nice presentation, with a lot to it. Yeah, hunt it down.

Brindlewood Bay by Jason Cordova, 168-page hardbound book, and Nephews in Peril, by over a dozen talented writers, 200-page hardbound book, The Gauntlet, Kickstarter. I've been waiting for this one for a while, but haven't had the chance to get into it with any depth. It is a "Cozy" RPG where you play little old ladies who are members of the Brindlewood Bay Mystery Book Club, who find themselves involved in solving mysteries. This is Scooby Doo with the Golden Girls, the arcane version of Murder She Wrote, and the old Ms. Marples films starring Margaret Rutherford. Oh, yeah, and there are Cthuloid cultists as well. The mechanics are descended from Powered by the Apocalypse, which means it tends to be rules-light with a lot a player/GM negotiation.. 

All Souls Lost, An Expansion to The Seas are Dreaming of my Death, By Derek Sotake with Jo Kreil 108-page squarebound book,  Derek Sotak, Kickstarter. Another continuation of a game I've played (but not run) and reviewed. I really liked the original version, and this feels a bit like one of the early supplements to the D&D little brown books - some corrections, some new inclusions, and experiments with new rules and classes (like Ship's Dogs, which I think would be a niche market on its own). Plus, we get a visit from one of William Hope Hodgson's other creations - the Great Carnecki. Fun.

Basic Roleplaying Universal Game Engine by Jason Furall and Steve Perrin, 264-page hardback book, Chaosium, Purchase from The Game Shelf. The history for the Chaosium house game system is almost as convoluted and branching at that of D&D. Originally showing up as the system for the original Runequest, it was spun off as an independent system, then as a multigenre Worlds of Wonder box, then expanded for other games like Call of Cthulhu and Pendragon, then used for a bundle of licenses (including Elfquest and Ringworld), then compiled into a master book, and so on (and I'm probably missing a couple steps). This version hews close to its original form of RPGs, and deals with the main problem of such universal systems - handling everything from fantasy to SF to super heroes. So it feels very old-school, all the more so because of the two-color interiors and thick, tan paper stock - it FEELS like a rulebook as opposed to an introduction to a new world. It keeps the Resistance table, which I have some issues with, but that takes us back to the original game as well. The stuff that makes CoC and Pendragon unique (sanity, for the former, and passions, for the latter) are relegated to truncated optional rules. Still, I'm hoping to see this used in the eventual Lords of the Middle Sea. 

Cowboy Bebop Roleplaying Game by Michele Paroli (Game Director) and Davide Milano (Game Design), 272 page hardbound book. Don't Panic Games, Kickstarter. Enjoyed the original anime (which had the best theme music this side of Jonny Quest) and much of the Netflix live action series (which I faded on, not because it wasn't good, I'm just horrible at binging shows). You play as bounty hunters in a futuristic solar system with a cool vibe. Mechanics look like they again, descend from Powered by the Apocalypse, along with the use of "clocks" from Blades in the Dark that track ability/skill/trait checks over time. Nice production values, with most of the art coming from the anime itself. Worth digging into.

Not shown (because of lack of room on the table) is a HEAP of early Pendragon Supplements from noted Tolkien scholar Sacnoth. Sacnoth has been cleaning out his library, game collection, and personal papers with the help of another colleague in the business, and the Good Doctor has been kind enough to pass along some of his material to me. I've always thought that the original Pendragon material was a landmark for handling a very specific genre (Authurian knights) in its era, and these books expand out that universe nicely. Hoping to adapt some them for the upcoming Pendragon revision.

So, yeah. a lot of stuff to work through, and notes from other Kickstarters that they are en route. And when I get another table-full, you'll see them here. 

More later, 

Happy Holidays

 Yes, I know, I'm tempting fate, but I miss snow in this season. May everyone have a safe, sane, and healthy holiday from Grubb Street.

 More later.

Book: Shaggy Dog

 A Night In The Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny, Illustrations by Gahan Wilson, Avon Books, 1993.

Provenance: My company has a book club that meets every month or two, and we vote on a book to read next. I often don't get a chance to read the assigned work, but A Night In the Lonesome October was an option  this time, and I voted for it, figuring that I had a copy on the paperback shelf downstairs, so there would be no excuse not to reread it.

And then I didn't have a copy downstairs. I had given it away or donated it somewhere in the past thirty years. So I went to my local used bookstore, The Page Turner, where I had last donated some books during COVID, and THEY didn't have a copy (though I picked up a couple China Mieville books I didn't know existed while I was there). Finally, I turned to my colleague Sacnoth, who rose from his chair, went to HIS bookshelf, and immediately plucked off a copy. So I had no reason not to read the book.

Review: I loved Zelazny's Nine Princes In Amber series (the first five), and feel he was a master at the novella format. This one was OK and amusing, a bit of lighter fare. Its chapters stretch out over the month of October, reaching Halloween Night itself. On those occasions when a full moon occurs on Halloween, there is a battle between the Openers and Closers. The Openers wish to bring down the gates of reality and bring the Lovecraftian Old Ones into the world, while the Closers want to keep that from happening. So far, the Closers have won.

Our narrator is Snuff, an enchanted dog who calculates the location of the rite based on where all the Players are based. His master is Jack, as in Jack the Ripper. Spring-heeled Jack is a favorite of SF/Fantasy authors, and such luminaries as Philip Jose Farmer, Fritz Lieber, and Harlan Ellison have used him in the past. This Jack is a Good Guy, a Closer, who keeps various Things in his house, that Snuff carefully guards and keeps contained (the Thing in the Steamer Trunk, the Thing in the Circle, and the Things in the Mirror). Snuff, as the calculating companion of the pair, tries to figure out where the rite is going to be, based on the locations of the the other players, which is made difficult by not knowing who exactly the players are, and if any of them die over the course of the month.

And there are plethora of other players and potential players. Zelazny reaches back to old Universal Horror films than by original source material. There is the Good Doctor and his animated creation, the Great Detective and his assistant, the coffin-sleeping Count, a witch, a Rasputin-like monk, a pair of grave robbers invoking Burke and Hare, and an evil Cthulhu-worshiping clergyman. Each (or most) of the players have their own companions, who Snuff communicates with. The horde of players, potential players, and companions is a bit overwhelming, but I was fortunate in Sacnoth left a bookmark with all the information noted down.

The pacing is interesting in that each chapter is a day in October, leading up the fateful rite at the end of the month. Each night Snuff goes out, gathers information, walks the area (outside London, presumably Victorian-era) and makes his calculations. His frequent frenemy in his travels is Graymalk, the cat familiar of the witch, Jill, who are definitely Openers. A less-hospitable Opener is the Cultist Curate, a worshipper of the old ones (Nyarlathotep gets name-checked), whose companion is a white raven named Tekela (invoking the cries of the albino penguins from Lovecraft's At The Mountains of Madness).

Openers and Closers get along well early on, leading to a graveyard scene where all are gathering materials for the ceremony, and trading body parts they dig up with each other ("Who needs a femur?"). After that, things get darker fast, with bodies falling and trust failing, ending in the rite itself. There is a long evening where cat and dog are sucked into Lovecraft's Dreamlands, with a tour of the entire area. With such a large crew of characters, Zelazny keeps a lot of balls in the air at once, and the finale wraps up all the loose ends.

The book is accented with illustrations by Gahan Wilson, A cartoonist whose blobby, lumpy characters have been found in SF magazines, Playboy, and National Lampoon. Wilson also created the first map of Arkham, Massachusetts, so he has the proper Lovecraftian chops.

Ultimately, this is a shaggy dog story about Snuff, a literal shaggy dog. There is light humor and puns throughout. I know more about old movies and the Cthulhu Mythos now than I did back when I first read it, nearly thirty years ago, and part of the Game for the reader is recognizing who the players are in the greater horror canon. It is a good book to read, a chapter a day, through October, preferably with a cup of hot tea laced with whiskey. 

More later, 

Holiday Play 2

Snowed In, A New Holiday Musical, Created by Corinne Park-Buffelen and Mathew Wright, Directed  by Kelly Kitchens, Arts West, through December 23.

I talked previously about Little Women being a "Holiday Play", in that it a relatively family-safe classic that invokes the holidays, in a similar manner to "Die Hard" or "The Thin Man". Neither of those two movies are ABOUT the holidays, but it provides part of the spine and connectivity of the presentation.

Snowed In, on the other hand is VERY much the holiday play in that it seizes the season by the throat and grapples it into submission. Four performers their piano accompanist decamp to a well-appointed mountain cabin with a killer deadline to come up with a Christmas show. And by Christmas Eve's eve they still got nuthin'. And then they are snowed in. So they are frantically working on producing something while unsure if it is going to see the light of day.

And that's about it for the plot. The Lovely Bride mentioned that it is more of a musical revue than a musical, and she's right - there are a lot of sketches and bits strung through the evening, all tied into the holiday season. There's not a lot of character evolution or overwhelming moral, and the ending is more than just a bit meta. But still, its a really good show, because of the performers.

And I've seen most of these actors before on-stage, which is something that I've mentioned as being a plus for local theatre. Sarah Russell starred in Lydia and the Troll at the Rep. Rachel Guyer-Mafune was in The Last World Octopus Wrestling Champion here at Arts West, and Feathers and Teeth at the 12th Avenue. Christian Quinto was ALSO in The Last World Octopus Wrestling Champion. Nik Hagen was the new kid for me, and had incredible dance moves. And Riley Brule was the pianist of the group and thematically the most grounded and rock-solid of the characters. All the actors had incredible voices and passionate deliveries (If I had to rank them, Quinto was probably the weakest, but that's just by comparison).  There were a lot of topical references (GPTChat, Tindr) and local touches (count the localities given a nod). The original songs were cool and there were several show-stoppers in the collection. 

But it is a holiday revue. The stakes are not high, and it deals with the whole back-stage musical that actors have loved since Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. It is one of those shows which benefit from an engaged, amused audience, and our Friday night had both, in particular a trio of patrons right ahead of us who were Friends of the Performers AND/OR Drinking Before the Show, since they were loudly enthusiastic about every song. 

In the end, this is a sugared gumdrop of a show, heavy on the sweetness and light, millennial in its sensibilities. It was a fine time had by all. Ho, ho, ho.

More later, 

Play: Holiday Play 1

Little Women by Kate Hamill, adapted from the novel by Louisa May Alcott, Directed by Marti Lyons, Seattle Rep, through December 17

Hey, a real play at the Rep! Not a performance, not an exhibition, not a looping  musical, not a dance troupe. With real actors portraying distinct roles, a couple of whom I've actually seen in other stuff (which is part of what a Repertory is -  while delighted to see actors making their "Seattle Rep Debut" I could stand to see a few other dependables). And an intermission. I don't know how long it has been since I've seen an intermission!

OK, I never read Louise May Alcott's Little Women back in the day. The Lovely Bride did, but her memory has faded in the half-century-plus since. But a lot of other women had read it back in the day, as I noticed that the audience had a lot of women in it, young and old. So call it an American Classic. Me? I'm relying on Wikipedia for what happens in the original text.

So for those of you who missed that part of English class, here's the skinny. Little Women is the story of four March sisters during the Civil war - Would-be author Jo (Ameilio Garcia), studious Meg (Cy Paolantonio), delicate Beth (Katie Peabody), and bratty youngest Amy (Rebecca Cort). Their father is away at the war, and they are trying to make ends meet. The young women squabble, argue, laugh, relax, put on theatrical productions, and press on through life. Jo is traditionally presented as a "tomboy", but in casting a transmasc actor (Garcia), director Lyons pushes the envelope further - Jo presents male in a lot of the scenes, and when forced into traditional female garb of the era, is a fish out of water.

Traditional gender roles are a big part of the first act. Meg is very much a feminine icon of the times, while baby of the family Amy (Cort plays the role to the hilt) is obsessed with growing into societal expectations. Jo, for her part, encounters the visiting neighbor Laurie (an excellent Austin Winter), a sensitive young man unsure about his own expected role in society as well. He and Jo hit it off as a nice duo.

But actually Peabody's Beth is the secret protagonist of the play - the character that drives the action forward. She's the one that takes action. Jo has announcements and pronouncements, but it is quiet Beth that takes action with the neighbors, that engages in helping the poor, and, when she takes to her sickbed, rallies the family together. She's also the one that, at the start and finish of the play, encourages Jo to not write potboiler action romances, but to instead write about the family, closing the loop on the work itself. 

The play's pacing is a bit weird, in part because the original work has its own odd pacing (here comes the Wikipedia notes). The text version most folk are familiar with is really two works mushed together. Little Women was the original work, and Alcott expanded on it with a second volume that was published in the States as a combined work (In Britain it was published as a separate story and titled Good Wives - Alcott's coffin would be strapped to the rotisserie and set spinning on "high" for that one). In any event, the play's first act is that first story, and everything resolves by the intermission - father returns home, Jo sells her first story. Meg starts courting Laurie's tutor. A delayed Christmas happens. Jo and Laurie kiss under the mistletoe. Happy resolutions. When act two kicks off, it's a couple years later - Meg is now a stressed-out mother, Amy has become the unpleasant society woman that Jo disdains, Jo is still dreaming, and Beth is still the fragile secret protagonist. The theme has changed as well, stressing now the demands of adulthood on the quartet. There is a lot of "Oh, grow up" among the character discussions here, and a question of what that really means.

The second act also takes some liberties with the original text. Characters and actions from the additional volume don't appear, and there feels like a disconnect as JoLaurie becomes AmyLaurie (the two hook up in Europe in the book, which is not covered here). It is a weird sort of denouement that resolves with Jo choosing to become the writer we know Alcott as. It feels like a bit of a change-up a sequel to the first act as opposed to a continuation..

Hamill did Pride and Prejudice at the Rep a few years back, and took some amusing swings at the original text. She feels more grounded in this one, more traditional to the written text, more fitting into the period. The sets have that suitable, open feel that suits the Rep well, with pianos, dinner tables and sickbeds wheeled on and off. It does have that cozy feel suitable for a a traditional Holiday Play, something you can take the kids or the visiting relatives to. I still have no great desire to engage with the original source material, or even the half-dozen film adaptations over the years, but it was a good afternoon in another place, another era. 

More later,