bostonman

So, you saw Twelve? It's coming to the American Repertory Theatre in Boston (well, Cambridge) in August. Very interested in seeing it.

My brother and his wife live in San Diego. She's a native Californian, my brother has spent most of his life in New England. They're ok, but she did say that he was freaking out a little. Their dog seems to have slept right through it all, lol. All is well for now.

When asked about how he balances this with his personal life, he mentioned that his girlfriend died 4 months prior to the interview. He's 21, so we can be pretty sure she did not die of natural causes. That really struck me. Whoa...

I apologize for this in advance. Really. But - if uber developed a hetero escort wing to their service, they could maybe call it UberAlice... (I'm ducking...)

I just want to clarify that if indeed Impossible's products help in this regard, I'm all for it. My comments on the idea that's it's a fad have all to do with the typical "bandwagon" people jump on to be a part of the "cool new thing," and not at all about the products' benefits. If Impossible burgers become a welcome "norm" - that's absolutely great.

Like you, I've been tempted, but haven't felt comfortable making a move. However, I have met 2 guys online who just happen to be drivers - I had a fun quickie with a really nice Uber driver I met via Doublelist (he occasionally emails me when he's in my area, but as of yet we've only met that one time) and a disappointing time with a Lyft guy I met off of Manhunt (no chemistry in person - plus his pics, although real, looked much better than he did in person lol). We have guys that drive "gypsy cabs" at a local shopping center - often I get rides from them when I have too many things to carry, etc. Mostly Dominican, I think, and other Latin guys, some African Americans. Most of them are "regulars" (some have been there for years lol). I do find a few of them hot, and sometimes I fantasize about asking them - but haven't gone there.

The party was catered in part, and the meatballs were part of that. The restaurant in question does use the "Impossible" company. My point on "fad" is this - it seems to be the newest food "thing." Like gluten free, and pomegranates, and kale, sriracha, and the like. Things that people seem to become obsessed with for a short time before they're replaced with something else even trendier. I didn't know that "Impossible" was actually a specific trademarked company - originally I had just heard about Burger King's Impossible Whopper - but I'm still wondering if this is popular because it's the new "thing" more than anything else. That's an interesting point - thank you.

I stand corrected on the "veggie" part. It's a fad. I've been hearing about "impossible burgers" for a while now, and then at a party this weekend, we had "impossible meatballs." It's the newest curiosity. It's a fad.

Closing August 18, almost exactly a year after its Broadway opening.

I think they can be related, if the subject at hand is being distorted by nostalgia, and it comes out sounding like a false story. Like, "back in the day, there wasn't any of this partisan political fighting - everyone got along just fine." Or, as Stephen Sondheim aptly wrote - "Trouble is, Charley, That's what everyone does -- Blames the way it is on the way it was. On the way it never, ever was."

Most if not all languages do that.

A (very) new guy on RM in Boston. Any thoughts? I've messaged him a little and he sounds very personable - but I haven't taken the plunge yet. Always a little wary of very new/unreviewed guys for understandable reasons - but I don't sense any huge red flags either. Opinions? https://rentmen.eu/James_Bos

Ha! But see, it takes oh-so-clever branding to get more people to try it. Why have a "veggie burger" (ick, say most people) when you can have an "impossible burger" (whoa cool, say more people). I'm amazed they're not also being advertised as being "gluten free." (Oh, but that was SO last year...)

Especially because we can be sure there was no "artisan" involved. No more than "homemade" means anything on a commercial product. It's there to give you a soft fuzzy image, that's it. And ladies and gentlemen, we now have a brand new food fad branding - "impossible." As in the impossible burger, the impossible meatball, etc.

I'm not looking back over the thread, but I wonder if I ever mentioned "robust." Hate that word. (When I was a kid, the only time I think I ever heard it was in a coffee commercial - to describe the fullness of the flavor. Now it seems like everything is "robust.")

It does truly take a unique performer to really play such a huge venue - just as it also takes a very specific kind of performer who can connect to a very small intimate audience (a cabaret setting, for instance). Popular and talented as Jackman is, I'm almost not surprised that this isn't quite the right fit for him. I'm hoping The Music Man works for him. I'm still surprised that somehow it turned out to be a bad fit for Dick Van Dyke, who in my mind, seemed so right for that role. (I didn't see that production, but the reviews were truly bad.) I tended to feel that Craig Bierko in the last revival was stuck in Robert Preston's shadow - understandable if a little disappointing - though he was still very good. I'll be interested to see how Jackman does.

The Will Rogers Follies?

Summerstock shows, at least in traditional rep-style companies, usually get at least a week of solid full day rehearsals. (Typically rehearsals are during the day, with other shows performed at night. Most often the ensemble is doing all or many of the shows, while the stars and lead roles are jobbed in separately.) Not comparable to the one or few days the concert shows get. And if you're doing a show at a summerstock theatre it doesn't necessarily peg you as a "summerstock performer." But if the folks you mentioned were in the shows, they were indeed performing at summerstock venues. Tomorrow night I'm seeing Andrew Keenan-Bolger in Little Shop of Horrors at a (non-repertory) summerstock theatre on the Cape. They had 2 weeks of rehearsal plus tech. Plenty of time if you're a focused group of performers. The regional shows I do in Boston generally get 3 weeks plus tech. Back to concert musicals...perhaps Working in particular. Or perhaps we should start a new thread?

Kinda off topic, my friend...we're talking about concert musicals, not summerstock.

In any case, I think this production of Working might have benefitted from really being a real concert. The true action of the show is the storytelling - very few of the monologues or songs really depend on specific movement. ("Millwork" may be the only one, actually, given the miming of the purposely repetitive "40 seconds" of factory work that's built into the scene and the song.) There could have been more musical rehearsal time, more time to finesse the monologues, etc. Unfortunately we're in an era where a "concert performance" and a full-scale staging are not all that far apart. There's way too much effort to stage everything, when really, the music and text should be the featured elements of the evening. There used to be a group that did concert musicals in Boston - they did a series of 3, of which I was able to see the first two - The Baker's Wife and Follies. The former starred Judy Kuhn and a cast of Boston professionals; the latter starred Len Cariou with another wonderful cast of Boston performers. (The producer had connections, lol.) And both had complete full orchestras. These were honest to god stand-and-sing CONCERTS - actors would stand together for scenework or musical ensembles, but there was very little actual "staging" as you'd expect now. Occasionally dance numbers would feature choreography, but often the attention would be given to the orchestra and we would just hear them play the dance arrangements. And you know what? They were fabulous evenings. (I remember the miking for the latter was not good, but otherwise it was a very memorable night). No big staging/costuming/wigging/makeup/sets needed. The focus was solely on the performers and the material, and it worked. I'd love to see that style come back.

https://rentmen.eu/Kraken_Kid It's funny, I was just remarking in another thread how excessive tats and "scribbling" can be a turn off, but regardless, sometimes a guy like that gets my interest. Anyone have any info or feelers on this guy? Thanks in advance.

Honestly, I find that a guy with one or two small tats can be a lot sexier than guys that look like they've been scribbled all over lol. In particular, I don't like the literal "scribbling" - the words in cursive writing across the chest and all that. But - some guys I still find hot regardless of that. This being one of them. But if @Hung_Cody found him rude, that's not a good sign. Any other info on him?

@Angel - you've done this before on a previous thread. Please don't start again. Thank you. I think all of us are free to try out the site and see if we like it or not - for ourselves. But please don't sell/defend the site to us, or create any defensiveness or competition. We don't need that.

I enjoy roleplay, but I know that many people find it too complicated or demanding, etc. But if I do have a guy into it, one thing I always suggest is either using a "safe word" or another way of being able to momentarily step out of the fantasy in case it veers into a place that either of us don't want. Often I like using "character names" for the roleplay, and then we can use our real names (or, of course, for the escort, his chosen escort name) if we need that moment "out." So, if I was in your place, when he was demanding I lick his boot, I could have non-judgementally referred to him by his name, telling him that's going a little far for me, and then we could have gone right back into the fantasy and skipped the boot licking. After all, he didn't know that was something you wouldn't want to do. I was once doing a roleplay scenario where I was getting to admire/service a certain studly pro athlete - very fun and very sexy until he started using words like "faggot" etc which I didn't like. So I momentarily stopped sucking him lol, used his regular name and politely and simply asked that he not do that - he genuinely apologized - and we went right back where we left off. No harm done, and aside from that one moment, it was a great and very hot time. (And I give him credit for fairly assuming that such abusive talk might be realistic in such a scene - again, he simply didn't know I wouldn't want that.)

There are always mistakes. But there are mistakes caused by any number of human nature-ish things in the heat of the moment, and there are mistakes made due to lack of preparation. The 2nd kind, which often happens in these concerts, is unfortunate, because better prep could prevent them.