The Big G
More nostalgia today as we attended a matinee of Pride and Prejudice at the Guthrie (thanks to a great program called PlayDates, parents can attend certain matinees at reduced prices while the kids are entertained upstairs — win/win!)
I couldn't even count the number of years I worked, off and on, in the Guthrie Box Office. Long enough for it to be a seminal part of my life. Long enough ago that the Dram was still in existence, you could smoke indoors, and Dodie still reigned supreme. Long enough I still live in mild terror of printscreens and of Lendre catching a typo. If the phones were not ringing we assembled mailings for Sue McClean's concerts or, in the ultimate make-work, assembled scratch pads. The ticketing software was tetchy and it was ALWAYS better to go in and find your patron the best seats from what you knew, rather than choosing a "best available" option. Theatre-lovers from all over the world would place their own calls to reserve seats, and it was not unusual to suddenly realize you were on the line with a TV or movie star who wanted to see a good show when they were in Minneapolis. The Guthrie had always been known for that.
Which is why, despite all the buzz of "OMG, a real TV star from Mad Men is in the show!" — I really appreciated the ensemble work of the cast. It's true, Vincent Kartheiser has excellent stage presence (he would not be where he is today without it). But he wasn't any better than anyone else in the cast, and I greatly enjoyed the performance (I'll also say I greatly enjoyed Clybourne Park last month on another PlayDate).
It's easy, when you are in theatre, to rail against the Guthrie. it's so much bigger than the other places in town, and just takes up so much bandwidth. But I have to say, it was a wonderful afternoon out.
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After the show, we grabbed some ice cream at the new Izzy's store/factory just down the street. In stark contrast to the hot, crowded Izzy's on Marshall that generally means "summer" to me, this was almost deserted, cold, clinical, and rather soul-less. But the ice cream was still good.
I couldn't even count the number of years I worked, off and on, in the Guthrie Box Office. Long enough for it to be a seminal part of my life. Long enough ago that the Dram was still in existence, you could smoke indoors, and Dodie still reigned supreme. Long enough I still live in mild terror of printscreens and of Lendre catching a typo. If the phones were not ringing we assembled mailings for Sue McClean's concerts or, in the ultimate make-work, assembled scratch pads. The ticketing software was tetchy and it was ALWAYS better to go in and find your patron the best seats from what you knew, rather than choosing a "best available" option. Theatre-lovers from all over the world would place their own calls to reserve seats, and it was not unusual to suddenly realize you were on the line with a TV or movie star who wanted to see a good show when they were in Minneapolis. The Guthrie had always been known for that.
Which is why, despite all the buzz of "OMG, a real TV star from Mad Men is in the show!" — I really appreciated the ensemble work of the cast. It's true, Vincent Kartheiser has excellent stage presence (he would not be where he is today without it). But he wasn't any better than anyone else in the cast, and I greatly enjoyed the performance (I'll also say I greatly enjoyed Clybourne Park last month on another PlayDate).
It's easy, when you are in theatre, to rail against the Guthrie. it's so much bigger than the other places in town, and just takes up so much bandwidth. But I have to say, it was a wonderful afternoon out.
---
After the show, we grabbed some ice cream at the new Izzy's store/factory just down the street. In stark contrast to the hot, crowded Izzy's on Marshall that generally means "summer" to me, this was almost deserted, cold, clinical, and rather soul-less. But the ice cream was still good.
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