Cars and plays

We came home with a new car on Sunday. The lease on E’s previous Lexus was running out and it was time to trade. The old car was the sporty Lexus IS. This time we decided to switch to a roomier Lexus Sedan ES. This change also supports us becoming a one car family. The sports car didn’t have enough room to comfortably haul everyone and everything around. A couple months ago we discussed the possibility of getting rid of my old Ford Taurus and just having one car between us. My work is very close and I don’t drive to it. It is very rarely we need to have two cars. Then fate stepped in. Our oldest daughter’s car was totaled at the beginning of the month when she was forced into the center divide by an uninsured motorist. (She is OK, thank heavens.) I gave her my old 1996 Taurus to have.

Saturday was opening night of New Conservatory Theatre Center’s production of “Valhalla”. This hilarious play is by Paul Rudnick (Jeffrey, I Hate Hamlet). This comedy has two overlapping and intertwining stories. One is about the mad 19th century King Ludwig of Bavaria; the other is two buddies coming of age in rural Texas in the late ‘30s. The play explores the connections between beauty and passion and the cost involved in the wild pursuit of either. We enjoyed the show immensely. Mr. Rudnick was there for the opening but he must have had a lot on his mind as he was not very friendly.

Earlier in the week we went to see a modern dress version of “Iphigenia at Aulis” by Euripides at San Jose Repertory Theatre. It had a great cast of actors and excellent production values but all this good work was undone by an amateur chorus. The chorus was a women’s modern dance troupe (San Francisco Dance Brigade). Their choreography was appropriate but they did not have trained stage voices. And the chorus had a lot of lines. When they spoke it was like listening to a half dozen people trying to recite the pledge of allegiance in unison and failing.