2007.11.20. St. Petersburg Philharmonic.

Yuri Temirkanov, conductor
Nelson Freire, piano

Schubert: Entr'acte III from Rosamunde
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54
Prokofiev: Selections from Romeo and Juliet

Two encores.

2007.11.15. Whistle Down the Wind at The 5th Ave. Theatre. Nice melodies. Simple and efficient stage.

2007.11.10. I Feel Fine at Annex Theatre. A new collaborative performance collage by local amateurs, using found objects, dance, music, and food to knit together four New Year's Eve parties, at the end of each one person is picked to die, and each condemned plays a song before execution.
It's interesting, the stage is through a back door, up on a narrow & dilapidated staircase, lit by actor-pedaled bicycle generators. However, I don't understand what's the gist of this play, nor do I appreciate the changing of costume on stage. Most importantly, I don't think I want to sit in another audience-engaging play. At one point, one actor wearing just underpants and socks stood facing me, with one leg popped up on the armrest of the seat in front of me. I was praying all that minute while he stood there, doing whatever I didn't dare to look at.

2007.11.8. Billy Joel at Key Arena. Started with "entertainer" ended with "Piano Man". Still the same voice. Simple rhythm in today's standard. Nice arrangements and lighting. Very loud (I had my ear buds on throughout the concert).
Billy Joel mostly on piano which sat on a rotating platform. Took up guitar for a couple of songs. Talked in front of almost every piece. Referred to his songs as old shit and older shit. One electrical guitar, one base guitar, one on trumpet (and on sunglasses in the dark arena), one on drums, one on saxophone, one on electric keyboard, and one woman who took up percussion, saxophone, or microphone whenever she likes.
Most of the audience is older than me: teenagers in the 70s.

2007.11.7. Bravo Club event at Columbia Tower Club. Great performance: five young artists sang and acted Trouble in Tahiti, a 1-act opera by Bernstein. A present to his new wife, about a troubled young married couple, named after his parents.
My invitation pronounced food and performance, just as last year. But no food. After half an hour of back and forth between the Seattle Opera organizers and the club staff, 5~6 small trays were sent out. My guests and I waited by the kitchen door, and managed to snatch some bits before they were brought out. Still my promise of dinner came terribly short and we went out to eat afterwards.

2007.11.6. In to the woods at The 5th Ave Theatre. Another musical by Sondheim. Chaotic plots, involving a witch, a giant, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella and their princes. One set of stage. Good acting, so-so music. Hard to believe it won 1988's Tony Award for Best Original Score (over Phantom of the Opera).

2007.11.5. The Cook at Seattle Repertory Theatre by Eduardo Machado. One stage setting: the kitchen in a wealthy Cuban house. Three acts: New Year's Eve 1958-9 -- the owner of the house fled; 1972 -- the cook fights with her husband and a gay cousin, trying to keep the house intact as she promised to her mistress; lunch time 1997 -- the daughter of the owner visits from US, and the house has turned into a restaurant.
The main actress for the cook is wonderful. The character of the owner's daughter is harsh and cold, too much of a stereotype. This is surprising, as the author is about her generation. The program notes lists 3 lengthy pages of Cuban history outlines starting with the revolution, very helpful to ignorant audience like me.
This very evening, the playwright was giving a talk at Elliot Bay Book Company about his new memoir: Tastes Like Cuba: An Exile's Hunger for Home.

2007.11.1. SAM

2007.11.1. First Thursday. Free admission to Seattle Art Museum. Currently a special exhibition titled "Japan Envisions the West": 16th–19th Century Japanese Art from Kobe City Museum, is $3/2 for the day. It explores how the Japanese saw Westerners and how Japanese artists responded to and interpreted Western art and culture. So quite a few Dutch works, as for the longest time, only Chinese and Dutch were allowed to trade, and only in Nagasaki. Total 140 pieces. Part is displayed in November, and part in December. Not a whole lot interesting. Quite some objects were crude exports that Dutch merchants foresaw that would sell well in the west.

2007.10.31. The Women at ACT. Highly enjoyable. Fabulous costumes, witty dialogs. A group of women surrounding the event of a wife discovered that her faithful husband was cheating on her.