Lucky

Such huge auditoriums make for a lesser experience. At least compared to New York or London theaters. The Pantages in LA is the worst, or so I think.

@MikeBiDude I'd love to see your report on meeting him. Maybe I'll have to go to Vegas soon. He'll be there the 11-14th.

Well, my bank did fail and is now operated by Chase. On day one, my direct deposit pension check went right through. My balance is correct, so it seems the switch went off well.

A flight schedule I am looking at offers the cheapest fares from the above airlines, but baggage is not included, nor is seat selection. Anyone have any experience with these companies?

The Washington Post today has a great article on London shows. It's behind a paywall, but here are some excerpts: Crowd control takes on a whole new meaning in the teeming New York conjured by director Nicholas Hytner’s gangbusters revival of “Guys and Dolls.” In the theater that Hytner co-founded on the banks of the Thames, audiences fill the space as if they’re milling excitedly around Times Square. The musical’s gamblers and chorus girls make their way through the throngs via moving, interlocking runways, infusing the 1950 show with the urban energy of 2023. The production is immersive to the max; a team of scenery movers dressed as New York’s Finest parts the Bridge Theatre spectators — who can also be seated along the multitiered perimeter — for the timeless Frank Loesser numbers. Miss Adelaide (Marisha Wallace) and the Hot Box Girls shimmy through “A Bushel and a Peck” on one platform; Sarah Brown (Celinde Schoenmaker) and Sky Masterson (Andrew Richardson) rumba in “Havana” on another; and the full cast, which includes Daniel Mays’s irresistible Nathan Detroit, assembles on a third, for the socko second-act climax of “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.” Hytner’s production has a musical theater lover floating, too — on air. The freshness of approach is emblematic of what is happening to classic pieces these days on London stages, where dazzling revivals rethink locales as diverse as Euripides’s Greece and Tennessee Williams’s New Orleans. In the city’s newest West End theater, @sohoplace, Sophie Okonedo and Ben Daniels perform a “Medea” that bears down on you with the force of a bullet train. Just across Charing Cross Road, the Phoenix Theatre hosts a blistering “Streetcar Named Desire,” with Patsy Ferran as a deeply damaged Blanche and recent Oscar nominee Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”) as her feral adversary, Stanley. And at the National Theatre, Janet McTeer recently ended a run in director-adapter Simon Stone’s heart-stopping, contemporary take on “Phaedra,” performed in a revolving box that puts sex and horror sensationally under glass. Any of these — heck, all of these — deserve a life beyond the limits of their London runs. Not that a journey to the colonies is the be-all or end-all, but it sure would represent a satisfying distribution of theater riches. Many of my encounters on a London trip this month were with great works reconsidered greatly. That attests to the pieces’ timeless strengths. But it also suggests that a vital reacquaintance is occurring with some of the sturdiest pillars of an art form that the pandemic denied to audiences for so long. The only disappointing evening was a new play at the Harold Pinter Theatre: director Ivo van Hove’s English-language version of “A Little Life” (originally in Dutch), a nearly four-hour orgy of pain and suffering adapted from Hanya Yanagihara’s popular 2015 American novel. Contextualizing the ordeals of the main character (played with impressive energy by James Norton) is wholly admirable, but the extreme length and the repetitious plot work against the play’s sensitizing mission. More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/theater-dance/2023/04/18/guys-dolls-london-streetcar-mcteer/

https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre

Happy Birthday @Jamie21

I admit that the headline in an article above impressed me. It reads in part "Inside Shawn Mendes..."

Today is the last performance for the very long-running show The Phantom of the Opera. Sigh. I liked that show. I doubt a Broadway show will ever have such a big production again. https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/broadway/ny-20230416-qk24agzc3jdefaoq5i5d2u6lne-story.html

Reading theater posts today I noticed that @edjames has not posted for three years. I always liked his theater comments.

I started liking Gio Urshela when he played for the Yankees. He spent a year with the Twins and is now with the Angels, for whom he hit a grand slam yesterday. Gio Urshela's grand slam (1) | 04/15/2023 | Los Angeles Angels WWW.MLB.COM Gio Urshela crushes a grand slam over the Monster in left field to give the Angels an early 4-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning

So, @Jamie21, if a British person offers me tea, do I have to drink it? I hate tea.

As helpful as the tutorial might be, rimming is also fun when it is spontaneous and driven by desire. No other ingredients necessary!

Thanks, @Cooper. Yes, I take two other drugs. Perhaps the dosage will be cut once I see the doctor this week.

You like these grand statements, but this one is simply not true. I'm an example.

Speaking of Best Buy they are laying off thousands of store employees. But how will the customer even know since the employees were never around when needed anyway?

My first test result after starting Ozempic was quite good.

Who, who, who? Spill! 😀

The WJS today takes a look at the chat groups that Airman Jack participated in: "The people in the online spaces where Airman First Class Jack Teixeira spent his time and allegedly leaked highly classified documents had many things in common. In obscure game forums and private online chat rooms, his friends posted slurs against minority communities, Ukrainians and pretty much everyone else. Everyone, that is, except Russians. Members of that small community, hosted on the social-media app Discord, admired President Vladimir Putin’s regime and its war on Ukraine. .. ...Handles associated with Airman Teixeira also had accounts on websites dedicated to collecting weapons and swapping tactical gear. From a young age, he nursed a fascination with history, especially the minutiae of weapons and armaments used in famous battles, a classmate recalled. “He was just really into the whole, like, gun and war thing, more than, like, normal people were,” said Brooke Cleathero, 21, who said she attended history class with Airman Teixeira at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School. “He just wore a lot of camo.” ... The original Discord channel inside Thug Shaker Central where Airman Teixeira allegedly leaked hundreds of classified documents was called “Bears vs Pigs,” a name that echoes Russian memes that depict Ukrainians as hapless pigs mauled by the mighty Russian bear. Airman Teixeira appears to have scrubbed his social media clean in the anticipation of his arrest. The affinity for Mr. Putin, displayed by members of Airman Teixeira’s community, echoes the sympathies for Russia sometimes found in the populist strain of American conservatism, where Mr. Teixeira is now being viewed with sympathy. In full: https://www.wsj.com/articles/airman-arrested-for-leaks-chatted-in-groups-fascinated-by-weapons-and-war-68a9503a

Like 8 months!

I was thinking to finally try this place today but changed my mind. Should have read the latest posts here earlier.

OMG! Is it this weekend already? Kudos to @Oliver for (again) providing this opportunity to his fellow posters!

I saw nothing in the WP to indicate that he might be gay. His mom does own a flower shop...

Almost 50 years ago an "admirer" gave me a gold bracelet. I didn't want it and have never worn it. But I did get an appraisal. It is 24k gold and weighs one ounce. At the time, the value was established at $225. Gold is now over $2000 an ounce. My inquiry is this: If I go to a gold buyer, how much of the value will be eaten up by her profit? Would I get even half of the value? Does shopping around pay off? Thanks.

When you are paying someone to perform a satisfactory service for you, it's important that they feel the service is valued by you. The provider sets the price, you can take it or leave it, but why should the provider have to spend uncompensated time haggling with you?