A day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
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Lesson # 14490 CD
Dear Journal,
Yesterday was the first day of my Mid-summer vacation.  I have planned to do a couple of things. First of which I did last night; Alma joined me in going to see the Broadway musical "Aida" by Tim Rice and Elton John.  This is the story told in the famous opera, of the same name,  of a Nubian princess captured by an Egyptian nobleman and made into a slave handmaiden to the royal princess of Egypt, his betrothed. He subsequently falls in love w/ the Nubian and the story of their love unfolds.  The new musical is true to the story as it is told in the opera; but the music, costuming and some of the scenes have been changed. This is the only performance at Starlight Theatre here in KC that I wanted to see this year. Starlight is a beautiful outdoor theatre here in town that brings in shows from New York every year. They bring in about four shows a year filling out the season with musical groups. Most years I only want to see about one of the shows and therefore getting season tickets would be a waste. On the other hand all of the good seats are taken by season ticket holders so I am never able to see the show from a good vantage point.  In the past I have borrowed binoculars from my friend John but last year he ended up giving them to me. A gift I am grateful for as now I can use them for all sorts of events here in town. Alma as is often the case, with those I go with, was unable to get a hold of any and ended up using mine for much of the show. Something I didn't mind this time, as my view was mostly blocked by the guy sitting in front of me, but which can sometimes be an inconvenience. I have been contemplating buying a second set just to have on hand and if I get the chance this summer I will do just that.
Alma and I both really enjoyed the show.  At first I was disappointed because it began as any other musical. That really isn't a negative but I guess that though I knew it was to be a musical and not an opera I was somehow expecting something closer to an opera. Silly of my I know, but I didn't precisely know that that was what I was expecting until I felt the disappointment at the beginning of the show. As soon as I got over it I began to enjoy the show for what it was. All three of the lead actors were very good. The lead male role was played by Patrick Cassidy the brother of Shaun Cassidy and the son of Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy both of whom were well known Broadway actors in their own right. Though he is about my age he played the roll of a twenty something nobleman very well. I must say also that I may have been a bit influenced by the fact that I have always thought that he was quite handsome, and by the fact that he is build like a brick shithouse. The actor who played the title role of Aida is the daughter of the renowned jazz singer Nina Simone. She goes by the single name of Simone, and has a wonderful full voice that she made very good use of. This ended up being a wonderful way to start my vacation.

I waited until the next morning to start getting ready for the next part of my vacation plans, which I will fill you in on in the next entry.



That's it for now
ciao
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