Four-Letter Words

This has been the week plays with four-letter word titles. On Tuesday, Kelly and I saw Fela!, and followed it up today with Race.

Upon glancing at the list directly to the left, I have realized that Fela! is the first show we have seen this semester with an exclamation point in the title - which is tragic, because I love and exclaimed show title. Well, Fela! definitely delivered on its promise of exclamation. The show is about Fela Kuti, a Nigerian musician and composer who pioneered Afrobeat music. The show's choreography is absolutely explosive - and we audience members even got our turn to break it down. The best part of the show: Sting was in attendance. Not to belittle the merits of the show (it really was phenomenal), but everyone loves a good celebrity.

Wednesday was definitely...um...eventful. Kelly and I planned on hanging out at Rockefeller Center for a few hours to see the lighting of the Christmas Tree. Well, we got there around 5:30, and the crowd was out of control...not to mention that it was raining. We were far away from the tree, couldn't hear the performances, and were getting wet, so we decided that the New York Arts lounge would be a much more comfortable place to watch the event. So we did just that - although, sadly, I managed to get distracted during the countdown to the tree lighting, and completely missed it. So I went from expecting to see the tree lit in person to missing it altogether. Oh well, at least I was warm and comfy inside.

And tonight we saw David Mamet's Race. It was definitely a step (or two or three) above the current production of Oleanna. It's about a law firm made up of two black lawyers and one white lawyer who have to decide whether or not to defend a white man who has been accused of raping a black woman. So...do we understand the title yet? The production was great - in classic Mamet style, it was incredibly provocative. James Spader and David Alan Grier were excellent in their parts, Kerry Washington was good but not great, and Richard Thomas was kind of awful. But the best part of the event - it was a press preview, so I was joking that we might see Ben Brantley (chief theatre critic for the New York Times) at the show. After taking our seats, I went down to use the bathroom, and who do I spot...but Mr. Brantley himself. BTW, He is just as frightening in person as he is in the picture to the right. We even stalked him a little at intermission, and found him outside reading an article about the show...making that exact same face. Absolutely frightening. A lovely evening at the theatre.