Friday, April 26, 2013

Did Pippin send joy flowing fresh and strong as new wine gushing?

www.visibleink.com

The Simile sDictionary  in Action:  
  Pippin, the   last Broadway musical  of  the season has opened .    The  renvisioned shows   mix  of  circus  feats and Fosse dancing didn't   send  joy flowing  fresh and strong  as new wine gushing from   every audience member and critic.   All   agreed that Patina Miller,,  the  show's  ringmaster,    is a terrific dancer and singer, but some  found  her  smile  too fixed  -- like a mousetrap  and  stretched across her face like a rubber band.

think  this  Pippin  is  imaginative   and enormously  entertaining.  You can read my   Curtainup review   by clicking  on this  link:  www.curtainup.com/pippin13.html

 Watch for more   sample  entries  from  Similes Dictionaries used to  blog abou my    theater going and reading.  



 

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

www.visibleink.com
Here's the cover of the new, 2nd edition of Similes Dictionary, published by Visible Ink Press. (Available at   www.vwww.visibleinkpress.com)

Simile of the Day:  I/m as corny as Kansas in August, I'm as normal as blueberry pie.— One of the many similes from songs in the new edition by the musical theater's one and only Oscar Hammerstein. This one from  "A Wonderful Guy" in   South Pacific

Monday, April 8, 2013

Failure clings to your life history, like a black hole. . .

Seeing  Nora Ephron's   last play  Lucky Guy   was  a wonderful  theatrical  experience.   It was  tinged with sadness that    Ephron  no longer is no loger with us.
(my review: www.curtainup.com/luckyguy.html)

 But  we're lucky  in that  Ephron    left  a   rich legacy that includes  her last  collection  of witty  essays,  I Can't Remember Anything.    
 
While  I read most of  the pieces  before, re-visiting   them  less than  a year  after  her  death,   clearly   reveals  her  awareness   not just  of  old  age  but  the likelihood  that  she would not   live to  be really old  (she  was 71  years  young when she died). 

In  a  piece  called  "Flops"   Ephron   reflects  on   failure  and  how   her films  that flopped    will   stubbornly  remain part  of  her  history   along  with  hits  like  When  Sally Meets Harry  and  Sleepless in Seattle  (in which Tom Hanks the  star of  Lucky Guy also starred).

She capsulizes  this with -- what else--   simile. ..

But that flop sits there, in the history of your life, like a black hole with a wildly powerful magnetic field

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Billy Porter sports Kinky Boots & arms hard as steel. . .

Even  before my own  "ünbooting" from 6 weeks in  a surgical boot  I couldn't  have  worn  those amazing  high heeled  boots  sported  by   the  cast  of  the  lively new musical  Kinky Boots,  the li first  two  Broadway shows  I saw  after my   enforced  hiatus.


Billy  Porter   is amazing  as  the show's    drag queen-turned   showy  shoe  designer.  But for all  his sexy   attire  and   bouffant  har--  his Lola   is   strong and muscular enough to   be  a champion boxer with  arms   he  similistically  describes  as   "hard as steel."