Christmas Wishes and Some Random Thoughts From Suko, If Anyone Cares

Thought this very busy week before Christmas that I would just blog about nothing in particular. I was going to talk about my favorite Christmas movies but when I was picking my daughter up from school I saw a sign on a bus advertising "Finding Nemo on Ice". Disney just can't get their fingers out of the pie. Anything for a buck. How many axels, and camels and schmamels can one endure? Okay, I was suckered into "High School Musical on Ice" and really enjoyed it but it had all that familiar music, albeit bubblegum, that is very catchy and high-spirited. We've seen "Disney Princesses on Ice", "The Jungle Book, Lion King and Tarzan on Ice" show and I remember one with Mickey and Minnie at camp, and some others that are not so memorable. Thankfully, my very mature 12 year old has outgrown them. We are looking forward to seeing some Broadway shows that I will report on on The Matinee. Two of them will be surprises for me, but I know that we will be going to see "A Year with Frog and Toad" again which I really, really loved. It is not, as James has mentioned, for kids only. It is so cleverly staged with minimal costumes and scenery which handily suggest the animals and their habitats. The music is lyrical, the lyrics witty. Jade and I liked it enough to want to see it again and this time we're bringing Daddy because we know he'll love it.

I've seen a lot of Broadway and off-Broadway musicals, A Chorus Line, Grease, Les Miz, Phantom, Lion King, Mama Mia, Fosse, Victor Victoria, Gypsy, Annie, Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, Pippin, Miss Saigon, Riverdance, Sweeney Todd, Cats, 42nd Street, Pirates of Penzance, The Producers, Evita, La Cage Aux Folle, Bombay Dreams, Forbidden Broadway, Godspell, The Fantasticks, Sweet Charity, Oklahoma, Hello Dolly, The Wiz, Company, Mame, Starlight Express, On the Twentieth Century, The Boy From Oz and more. But my favorite, favorite show was Bob Fosse's Dancin' and I'm happy to say it is being revived and projected to open in the spring of 2009. It's a long way off but I look forward to sharing it with my daughter who has great potential as a dancer. I, too, was a dancer and I loved this show. I must have seen it 10 times. I remember everytime a friend came from out of town I would get tickets for it because I wanted to share it with everyone. Bob Fosse was a genius, my very favorite choreographer (also did Sweet Charity, Pippin, Chicago, Damn Yankees and The Pajama Game, to name a few). My brother produced a tribute to him with Fosse's former wife, Gwen Verdon, now deceased. It was one of the most memorable nights of my life. I will write about it in a future blog. Ann Reinking, his protege and girlfriend, was in the original production and will be the artistic consultant of the revival. I met her at the tribute and she was so friendly and down to earth. More about the tribute another time.

So what are my favorite Christmas movies. The best are "Miracle on 34th Street", "White Christmas", "Holiday Inn", "A Christmas Story" and "Polar Express" (I saw it in 3D Imax, amazing). Some fun ones are "Elf", "Scrooged" and "Christmas with the Kranks" (there's a sidesplitting scene involving botox and believe it or not, this movie is a hilarious adaptation of the book "Skipping Christmas" by John Grisham, the novelist best known for his legal dramas such as "The Firm" and "The Pelican Briefs"). One day this week, drop the shopping, the baking, the wrapping, the decorating, and writing cards, and get yourself a couple of hot toddies or some rum-laced eggnog and relax with one or four of the above. Any one of them will put you in the holiday spirit of which I am not yet in. So do as I say, not as I do because I haven't afforded myself the time to watch any of them yet but I have tivoed "Miracle on 34th Street" and have "Polar Express" and "Christmas with the Kranks" on DVD. Maybe tonight, no, tomorrow night, no. Oh well, I'll fit one in somehow. Now where did I put the rum and the remote?

I wish James and Madame Aries, Bengarrion, Ocean, the Tameside management and staff and all the listeners and readers of The Matinee's blog a very happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.

Love, Suko