The Drowsy Chaperone: A Review Wednesday, Jul 18 2007 

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While we were in London last week, PJ and I saw two musicals and a play: The Drowsy Chaperone, Mary Poppins, and In Celebration. Last year, we saw three really great productions in London: A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Regent’s Park, The Seagull at the National, and Billy Elliot the Musical. So we had high hopes for this year’s trip. Unfortunately, we were mostly disappointed.

Let’s start with the good: The Drowsy Chaperone was excellent. The musical centers on the Man in the Chair, a middle aged theater queen (yes, he’s a theater queen regardless of whether he’s gay or straight) who plays the cast album of his favorite musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, a fictional musical that comes to life as he listens to the album.

The production stars one of its creators, Bob Martin, who won a Tony Award for its book. He fills the part perfectly. He imbues the Man in the Chair with both humor and pathos, a difficult task to pull off. As the production progresses, we learn more about the Man, who serves as both leading man and narrator. What distinguishes this musical is its postmodern crossovers between the Man in the Chair and the inner musical. He both narrates the action and, because it is taking place in his little apartment, takes part in it (to a degree). Rather than being gimmicky, this back and forth really works.

Here’s a brief glimpse of the musical and a discussion about it from London t.v.:

As this clip points out, the show is ironic and depicts the characteristics of 1920s musicals in both a loving and satiric way. We see their sexism, racism, and (to a degree) homophobia at the same time that we see why someone might love them. This is a musical that loves musicals even while it can point out some of their flaws.

The London star of the show is Elaine Paige, famous (in part) for originating such roles as Grisabella the Glamor Cat in Cats, Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, and Eva Peron in Evita on the London stage. She is a hoot in the title role, the chaperone who is tasked with keeping the bride away from the groom until their wedding ceremony, a task made all the more difficult by the fact that she gets drowsy when she drinks and she drinks like she’s Karen Walker‘s best drinking buddy.

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Skip, Skip, Skip through the Louvre Monday, Jul 16 2007 

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It goes without saying that the Louvre is one of the great museums of the world. We therefore put it high on our list of sights to see while we were in Paris. Somewhat surprisingly to us, this was against the advice and comments made by some of our friends and acquaintances. One told us that the lines were too long and that we’d have to wait six hours to get in. Another told us that it was too big a collection to really see any of it and that we’d better use our time if we went to other museums. And our friend and traveling companion James informed us that he’d already seen the Louvre and therefore wasn’t particularly interested in seeing it this time. (He’d been in Paris before, of course, though he was a little confused about whether that had been in the mid-1980s or in 1912!)

Tossing all advice out the proverbial window, we insisted on going. I’m certainly glad we did.

The Louvre holds some 35,000 works of art, everything from “Oriental antiquities” to European paintings to sculptures and objets d’art. Originally a palace, the museum opened in 1793, just a year after the first Republic was established, and its exhibits were taken from the royal collections. Over time, the collections have expanded to take over the entire palace, and in 1989 it acquired the now distinctive glass pyramid designed by I. M. Pei. Here’s a picture of the museum that I took as we were leaving:

 

louvre

This isn’t a great view, but it’s the best of the ones I took. If you right click to view the image in its own window, it looks a little better. I took this picture with the outdoor light lens on, which allows you to see the buildings as more than just shadows against the bright sky. Even so, you can see how cloudy it was that day. It was actually starting to sprinkle as I took this picture, though the rain never lasted long.

Mona LisaThe Louvre houses many famous paintings, perhaps most famously the “Mona Lisa” (right). This painting is the star attraction and practically has its own room. Being the ignorant American that I am, I had no idea that “Mona Lisa” is not actually this painting’s name. Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece is actually titled Portrait of Lisa Gherardini del Giocondo. It is believed that this woman is the subject of the painting, though no one knows why or by whom the work was commissioned. Historians do know that Da Vinci brought the completed portrait to France rather than to the subject herself. If you click on the image, it will open a window to the Louvre’s discussion of the work.

This portrait is one of the works from the Louvre’s original collection. If you click here, you can learn more about this painting through the Louvre’s “closer look” feature. When you find the room in which the Mona Lisa hangs, you can stand in line to get a closer look at the painting. Or, like me, you can just stand to one side and get a fair enough view. It’s a beautiful painting, but my main reaction to it was that it’s much smaller than I had imagined it being.

Man with a GloveMy favorite painting that I saw in the Louvre was Titian’s Man with a Glove, painted sometime around 1520-1523 (left). If you click on the image, it will open a window to the Louvre’s discussion of the work.

I like this painting for four reasons. First, the subject is kind of cute. Second, it utilizes a similar color pallet to that used two centuries later by my favorite painter, Velazquez. I like the browns of this style of portraiture and its dark shadings. Third, I like the detail of the man’s gloves and that he has one glove on and one off. This gives the painting the feeling of a snapshot taken just after he’s removed one glove and just before he can remove the other. For me, this detail emphasizes both time — the momentary feeling — and the nonchalance of the sitter. Which leads me to my fourth item: the painting’s psychological quality. The subject of this painting seems simultaneously confident and casual. He appears to be a man of position but also a man of independence. I think it’s a fascinating portrait.

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Americans Home from Abroad Saturday, Jul 14 2007 

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PJ and I got home from London and Paris early Friday morning. We had a great time during our trip, and I have lots to blog about. I’ll start with some general impressions and will write individual posts about my favorite parts of our trip over the next week or so.

We left on July 3rd and arrived in Paris on the 4th. I’m extremely proud of the fact that we were able to find and take the train into Gare du Nord and then take the Metro to our hotel. This seemed like quite an accomplishment for our first time in France (and considering the fact that we don’t really speak French!).

Our hotel was on the edge (actually just over the edge) of the Marais, a neighborhood that has a large gay population. Our hotel was fine, nothing fancy or especially nice but relatively cheap. We arrived around noon. After checking in, we showered and then went in search of lunch. We walked to the Place de la Bastille, where we ate in a cafe. We then went for a walk along the Seine. By the time we made it over to Notre Dame, it started to pour with rain. We hadn’t brought our umbrellas with us on our walk, so we both got soaked.

After ducking under some trees and large bushes, we made our way over to the Memorial de la Deportation, a monument to the French victims of German concentration camps during World War II. We had first learned about the memorial by watching the movie A Love to Hide, which ends at the memorial. Because of the rain, we didn’t stand in line to go into the memorial — they only allow a small number of people in at a time. Even so, just being there after seeing the movie was very moving.

We were supposed to be back at the hotel by 4 pm to meet our friend James. As we walked back through the Marais, it started to rain again, so we decided to visit the Musee National Picasso (just to stay dry, of course). If you’re into Picasso, it’s a great museum.

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Paris and London Tuesday, Jul 3 2007 

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Eiffel TowerPJ and I are flying to Paris this evening. We’ll have about 4 days in Paris before taking the train to London, where I’ll be giving a paper at the conference on Antisemitism and English Culture.

This is my first time in France. While I’m always (more than) a little nervous about trying new things — especially in languages other than English — I’m looking forward to the trip.

Hopefully I’ll have lots to write about when we get back. Of course, everything in Paris will be new to me (Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, etc.), and I’m hoping to have time to do a few new things London too (Victoria and Albert Museum, Tate Britain). I’m also planning on visiting Versailles.

Au revoir, mes amis!

 

Hottie of the Month: Maria Edgeworth Saturday, Jun 30 2007 

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Maria EdgeworthToday I finished writing my paper for the conference at which I’ll be presenting on July 10th in London. The conference is on Antisemitism and English Culture and is hosted by the University of London. My paper is about Maria Edgeworth’s 1817 novel Harrington, a work that I’m increasingly in love with. So Maria Edgeworth is my hottie of the month.

Edgeworth was born in 1767 and died in 1849. She was definitely a daddy’s girl, living with her father until his death in 1817. She penned several important novels of the Romantic period, including Castle Rackrent (1800), Belinda (1801), and, of course, Harrington. She was also the author of several books for children and young adults. At some point in the near future, I want to start working my way through her major works, since I need to put Harrington in a larger authorial context — I shamefacedly confess that this novel is the only work by Edgeworth that I’ve read. I taught it last year in my graduate class. I would love the opportunity to teach it again sometime, perhaps in a Women & Literature or Major Authors course.

In her Broadview edition of the novel, Susan Manly sums up its plot like this:

Harrington is the personal narrative of a recovering anti-Semite, a young man whose phobia of Jews is instilled in early childhood and who must unlearn his irrational prejudice when he falls in love with the daughter of a Spanish Jew.

Harrington has quickly reemerged from obscurity to assume a central place in studies of Romanticism and antisemitism. Scholars have largely studied the novel’s plot line of education and its depiction of its Jewish characters (though these are all in supporting roles). One thing I like about the novel is that it pulls together just about everything eighteenth-century writers had used in their depictions of Jews and shows how/why they were all so antisemitic.

My paper looks at the novel in slightly different terms. I am interested in it mostly as a representative text from the Romantic period, one that contradicts some scholars’ arguments that Romantic literature depoliticized representations of Jews. I am also more interested in the novel’s depiction of gender and sexuality than most other scholars have been.

I suddenly find myself very interested in Romanticism and its authors’ depictions of Jews. I’m still not sure if this is working toward a chapter in one book project or a whole other book, but it’s fascinating to return to this period after years of relative disinterest. I feel like such a cliche — the eighteenth-century scholar who intellectually migrates to Romantic lit. Before long I’m going to be teaching major authors classes on Jane Austen instead of Aphra Behn!

Or maybe I’ll teach one on Edgeworth ….

 

What I’m Listening To: Mika Wednesday, Jun 27 2007 

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MikaIn preparation for our upcoming trip to London, I thought I would check out Mika‘s debut album. I’ve been reading a lot about him lately (and seeing an interview with him on Logo), partly because his album just came out and partly because he refused to identify his sexual orientation, which is a little weird since his music is more than a little campy. He also has a track on the album, “Mr. Brown,” about a married man who has an affair with another man.

Mika is a 24-year-old London-based singer-songwriter who was born in Lebanon. His family fled the war-torn Beirut and moved to Paris before settling in London. One might hypothesize that his reticence to come out might be because of his Middle Eastern heritage. More likely, it’s a business decision — until he’s established as a major pop star (if he ever establishes himself as such) he can’t afford to be labeled a “gay artist.” While we all like to think America is less and less homophobic, I think it’s nevertheless true that it’s difficult for an artist to move beyond the gay label once it’s attached.

Here’s a sample of his music, “Grace Kelly,” which illustrates nicely his campy style:

After seeing what Youtube and his own webpage had to offer, I decided I liked his album, Life in Cartoon Motion, enough to download it. Now that I’ve listened to it, I have to admit that I really like it. It helps that he’s totally cute, but even apart from that I like his work. He’s a more enjoyable version of Elton John, whose music I’ve rarely liked (the musical Billy Elliott being the main exception). I like the camp, the several dance tracks, and his overall aesthetic. It’s a fun pop album with a queer sensibility, regardless of Mika’s own closetedness (gay, straight, or bi).

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Boston Museum of Fine Art Saturday, Jun 23 2007 

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In the past month, I’ve been to three museums that I haven’t posted about yet, so I’m trying to catch up. Over Memorial Day weekend, PJ and I were in Boston for the conference of the American Literature Association. While we were there we visited the Museum of Fine Arts. Our visit was a little hurried, since PJ had to get back to the conference and we also wanted to fit in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which I’ve already blogged about. As we rushed through the museum, I kept track of which works I liked the best. Here’s a few of the highlights:

Dead Christ with AngelsI’m not usually into Renaissance religious paintings, but I really liked Rosso Fiorentino’s The Dead Christ with Angels from the mid-1520s. I really like this painting’s color pallet, the contrast between the two most visible angels’ robes with the skin tones of the dead Christ, which helps to contrast his fleshiness with their alabaster skin. The whiteness of their skin reflects their heavenly purity and innocence, while his humanity is represented in the almost sepia tones of his body (rather than in the deathly pallor of whites).

I also couldn’t help but notice that this Christ has pubic hair. This touch reinforces Christ’s humanity: he is a man, in contrast to the cherubs around him, an important quality in Christian myth. Without Christ’s full humanity, his being made of carnal flesh, the salvation story doesn’t work. For me, this painting captures that duality: Christ’s divinity within his humanity. It’s a wonderful illustration of the myth.

PanniniAnother painting I admired was Giovanni Paolo Pannini’s Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome, painted in 1757. Perhaps because I’m a literature professor, I like works of art about being works of art. This painting’s dazzling array of paintings- within-a-painting is gorgeous when seen in person. The level of detail in the painting is remarkable. The words that stand out in the description of the painting on the museum’s website are “extravagant” and “meticulous.” If you go to the website, you can click on the image of the painting to enlarge it; you can then zoom in one individual portions of the work to see just how meticulous it is.

Slave ShipAnother amazing work, but in a completely different way, is Joseph Turner’s Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On), painted in 1840. In contrast to Pannini’s work, Turner eschews meticulous detail for broad impressionistic blurs and colors. One certainly can’t help but see the emotional content of this work, which depicts a scene from a poem about a slave ship caught in a typhoon. As the museum’s website explains, the poem is about a real event, in which “the slave ship Zong whose captain, in 1783, had thrown overboard sick and dying slaves so that he could collect insurance money available only for slaves ‘lost at sea.'” The painting definitely captures the horror of this inhuman act.

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What I’m Listening To: The Magic Flute Wednesday, Jun 20 2007 

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While PJ and I were on our driving trip last week, we listened to “The Operas of Mozart” Part III, a CD course from The Teaching Company. This “course,” taught by Robert Greenberg, analyzed Mozart’s The Magic Flute. We had seen the OU School of Music’s partial production of The Magic Flute last year, so we were interested in learning what the opera is really about.

Since the School of Music’s production was abbreviated and presented only select scenes with a narrator filling in the blanks between, it was really difficult to get a handle on what was actually happening in this opera. Greenberg emphasizes the opera’s connections to eighteenth-century freemasonry. He also places the work in its historical context and within Mozart’s biography. And finally, he includes excerpts from a production of the opera, translating the German into English (for those of us whose German is a little rusty!).

As an eighteenth centuryist, I was really interested by the course’s discussion of freemasonry, a subject that I hadn’t ever paid any attention to previously. Many of the most prominent men of the period were freemasons, including Alexander Pope, David Garrick, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, William Hogarth, and Laurence Sterne. I’ll have to do more reading about masons and the Enlightenment when I get a chance.

Once we got back, I started cruising YouTube to see what clips of productions it had. I found several that I’d like to share. My favorite so far is of the Queen of the Night’s aria from Act Two, in which she commands her daughter to murder Sarastro, the Priest of the Sun. Here’s the clip:

I love this clip, which is from the 2003 Royal Opera production. As this clip shows, the sets, the costumes, even the staging are wonderful. I love it so much that I immediately ordered the DVD of the production and am waiting on pins and needles for it to arrive. Diana Damrau plays the Queen. She captures the Queen’s evil magnificence so well, but there are many other divas who have played the part to great acclaim:

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The Sixth Floor Museum Tuesday, Jun 19 2007 

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Last Thursday, PJ and I visited three museums in Dallas. We knew beforehand that we were going to visit two of the museums, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center, but we were killing time until our friend Greg got off work so we decided to throw in a third one for good measure.

We started at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, a museum dedicated to remembering the events surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. It’s a fairly simple museum consisting mostly of time-lines and, of course, the actual site of the assassination, which is certainly no small potatoes.

Three things struck me about the museum. First, it’s really weird feeling to be able to stand almost in the same spot that Lee Harvey Oswald stood when he shot the president. I really felt torn about being there. On the one hand, I couldn’t help but imagine looking through a rifle scope and aiming it at the street below. I both can and can’t imagine someone really doing that. On the other hand, I kept thinking about Suzan-Lori Parks’s play Topdog/Underdog and Lincoln’s job letting people pretend to shoot him in a recreated Ford Theater. How would people respond if they set up a rifle scope and let people pretend to shoot the president below? To make sure that people don’t do anything like that, they have the actual spot enclosed behind a clear partition.

Second, I was struck by one part of the museum’s time-lines. One of them shows the hours after the shooting, emphasizing the transition to the new presidency and the swearing in of Lyndon Johnson. The time-line centered on this picture of LBJ being sworn in:

LBJ swearing in

This picture was taken on Air Force One as it was returning to Washington. You might notice that Jackie Kennedy is present. LBJ refused to leave Dallas without her, and she refused to leave without her husband’s body. The secret service therefore took possession of the body before the local authorities could conduct an autopsy, and they all flew back to D.C.

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Being Home in Aggieland Tuesday, Jun 12 2007 

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Today, PJ and I visited the Texas A&M campus, my alma mater. I earned my B.A. and my M.A. at TAMU, and I’ve always looked back fondly at my Aggie days. I now know that I was way too geeky while I was here, but I learned a lot academically and personally too. So, I definitely don’t regret the time I spent here.

First, we toured the offices of the Melborn G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, which my dear friend James directs. The center’s office space is really quite large, and I’m completely jealous of his two — yes, two — offices: one for the center and one for his work as a history professor! I know James does a lot of good work on behalf of the center, and it could not have a better spokesperson and cheerleader. When we were at GEMCS earlier this year, for example, he impressed several of the scholars we met with descriptions of the center’s work and programs. So, while I’m jealous, I certainly don’t begrudge him his immense office space!

After we went to lunch with James and a professor from the English department, PJ went to tour the College Station bookstores while I went to the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives to read a manuscript of a Richard Cumberland play. I’m not sure how or even if this play fits into my current research, but I figured I had to go see it since it’s here. I’m still so giddy to see in person the handwriting of one of the eighteenth-century authors I study and love. I was also impressed with my ability to read his handwriting. I don’t have much archival experience, and I definitely had a lot of trouble reading the texts I looked at for my first book. So, I’m happy that I could fairly easily read at least 85 or 90% of this one. Cumberland’s hand is relatively easy to read, so that certainly helps!

The Cushing Library’s staff was very helpful and friendly and the reading room is spacious, comfortable, and user-friendly. None of these can be assumed in non-circulating libraries and special collections. Librarians can be grouchy, and it can be difficult to gain access to manuscripts. I definitely appreciated the Cushing Library’s accessibility.

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