Pygmalion and My Fair Lady

I own I double edition of Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, and I believe that this is the book I have read the most in my life. I have read it at least 100 times, if not more. It was actually the first book I ever bought at Stratford, after viewing my first production there (My Fair Lady). So my last post on Anna and the King of Siam was slightly out of chronological order, but what can you do.

 I think the reason I adore My Fair Lady and Pygmalion is because of Stratford. as mentioned, it was the first production I saw there, and to add to that, it was on the festival stage, which is beyond magical. In Stratford Gold, which I will discuss a few posts from now, many actors talk about their first experiences viewing theatre at Stratford, and how the experience was utterly life changing. And I think that viewing My Fair Lady was similar for me-although Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat already made me fall in love with theatre- it was My Fair Lady that devoted me to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. When I discuss the book Stratford Gold I will share some of those quotes, but for now I will share a quote from a recent newspaper article written my Richard Ouzounian (my favourite theatre critic) in memoriam to Michael Langham: "I had been in modified thrust theatres before, but this was the thing itself, an almost kabbalistic geometric design that Tanya Moiseiwitsch and Tyrone Guthrie had concocted between them. My apologies to the nuns and priests who had tried to turn me into a good Catholic, but that stage seemed like more of a sacred altar to me than any of the countless structures I had knelt before in prayer" (2011).

But back to Pygmalion/My Fair Lady, and I will continue to use both titles, because almost every time I read my edition, I go through all of Pygmalion (sometimes interjecting My Fair Lady's songs in between) but skip to the ending of My Fair Lady-because although it isn't practical and doesn't really work in the traditional sense, I don't like the idea of Eliza and Henry not together.

I have read this book so many times in this fashion that I have a great number of it's lines memorized-this was problematic when I saw My Fair Lady a second time a few years after Stratford at a small community theatre. I knew the lines from Pygmalion so well, that I was sure the actor playing Henry Higgins was forgetting parts of his speech-it was only after the production that I realized I was remembering the lines from Pygmalion and not My Fair Lady.

If you have the chance I highly recommend seeing and reading either My Fair Lady or Pygmalion.

References
Ouzounian, R. (January 21, 2011). Michael Langham made me love Stratford. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/article/926426--michael-langham-made-me-love-stratford

Anna and the King of Siam

Today I have to keep this rather short because I have to move on to other work. Anyways, I am going to talk about Anna and the King of Siam, a book that I would argue (along with Stratford Gold) is one of the less common titles appearing on my list. If you would like to learn more, here is the link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Anna-King-Siam-Margaret-Landon/dp/0060954884 


As a young adult I had a long standing fascination with the story of Anna Leonowens and the time she spent in Siam (modern day Thailand) tutoring the King's children. I believe that my interest began after watching the 1999 movie Anna and the King starring Jodie Foster and Chow-Yun-Fat. Which, is a beautiful but is an overly romanticized and glamourized retelling of the story-as most hollywood productions seem to be. 


It wasn't until four years later in 2003 that I was able to vastly improve my knowledge on this subject viewing the Rodgers and Hammerstein's production of The King and I both on film and in person at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. But honestly, I didn't love The King and I. As much as I love The Stratford Festival and Lucy Peacock (who starred in Stratford's production) I am just not the biggest fan of Rodgers and Hammerstein-I mean I love The Sound of Music and Carousel-but they aren't two of my favourites and I don't know-maybe I will elaborate on my favourite lyricists and composers later but anyways, I just wasn't totally enraptured by this musical. However, what I did fall in love with was the book Anna and the King of Siam, which was bought in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's gift shop.


And as a side note, one other reason that I love the Stratford Festival so much is because, not only have many of my favourite theatrical productions been performed there, but I have also acquired many of my favourite books from their bookstore or in the town of Stratford. Including: Anna and the King of Siam, Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, Stratford Gold, Cyrano de Bergerac and Peter Pan. Because as much as I love Shakespeare, and I truly do, it annoys me to no end that most libraries and bookstores have theatre sections (if they even have theatre sections at all) that are completely and only filled with the works of Shakespeare. And yes, Shakespeare is unbelievably great and easily arguably the best playwright of all time- but really there is so much out there-and I have found that The Stratford Festival is really the only place out there that has presented those options to me. Now, it is true that anything can be found online these days, but without Stratford I would never have known to search for books like Pygmalion, Anna and the King or Cyrano. 


But getting back on track, and summing up. Anna and the King of Siam is a wonderful book-it was one of those books that succeeded in fully transporting me to another place while reading, and I find that few books are able to fully and completely do this. There is more I could say, but I will leave it to you to check it out for yourself. 

The Pearl

So today I am going to talk about John Steinbeck's The Pearl. The Pearl is actually the first I book I clearly remember being read to me as a child, which is why I believe it has become one of my favourites.
I think that my favourite part of this book is the beginning, because from the first sentence it completely draws you in and takes hold: "In the town they tell the story of the great pearl-how it was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino, the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby Coyotito. And because the story has been told so often, it has taken root in every man's mind". It's just brilliant! I love the sense of mysticism and foreboding that surrounds those first few sentences. And although the end of the story is given away in the first line of the book, you still have no ideal how the great pearl will be lost- or for that matter how it will be found.
The plot is rather simplistic-as it is meant to be, since the book is a self described parable. And it is beautifully crafted-I mean what am I saying, it was written by John Steinbeck on of America's greatest and most recognizable authors. It is a classic and one of the most memorable books I have ever read. However, again, that could be because I was first read it as a child. I have spent the past 30 minutes or so unsuccessfully searching for a quote I had heard stating something along the lines of: all the best theatre you see when you are young. And in someways I think that this is true of both theatre and of books. Since, they are the things that can mould your view of the world around you and affect how you see what it is you are seeing. When you are older everything you see if affected by what you have seen in the past. And when you are young you are free of many of the biases that accumulate with age, and are able to see something more for what it truly is. Anyways moving away from all that philosophy I will end by saying simply, The Pearl is one of my favourite books, I love it's simplicity and timeless relevance.

My Favourite Things: Books Edition

This week I am going to list my favourite books and then over the next few posts-throughout the next 2 weeks or so- I will discuss each of the books on my list.  I decided to talk about each one individually because that way I can really spend time discussing why I love a certain book and not worry about making this post insanely long.


 So, the order of this list will be based on when I first read the book since that seems to make some logical sense


My Favourite Books:
-The Pearl, John Steinbeck
-Anna and the King of Siam, Margaret Landon
-Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, George Bernard Shaw and Alan Jay Lerner
-Stratford Gold, Richard Ouzounian
-The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
-Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand
-The Tempest, William Shakespeare
-Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie


Oh, and by the way some of my favourite authors aren't on this list, which is kind of interesting...The books on the above list are my favourites but I also really enjoy reading books that are relaxing and easy-or fast and thrilling by authors like: Emily Giffin, Jeffery Deaver, and Kathy Reichs among others, just because they are really nice escapes...but the books on my list are almost like old friends, I like to have them with me where ever I am so I can read them whenever I want. Getting a kindle for Christmas was really great, because now I can really can have them with me (and just to clarify I don't mean ALWAYS have them with me like a security blanket or anything, but just having them while I am away at school to read from if I feel like it).

My Favourite Things: Theatre Edition

To get started I am going to discuss my favourite things. First I am going to talk about my favourite theatrical productions as a whole, and my next post will focus on my favourite books. Later I will narrow down these categories and discuss topics such as my favourite musical theatre productions, Shakespeare productions, Theatres (as in the buildings themselves), children and young adult books, theatre books, classic fiction, nonfiction books, etc.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, was the musical that got me completely hooked on theatre. Although I had seen a few productions before Joseph, including The Sound of Music and The Fiddler on the Roof (and today love both of these musicals), when I saw Joseph in the Elgin Wintergarden Theatre, one week after Donny Osmond left the production, when I was nine years old, something clicked. I became completely obsessed, to the point where I actually memorized the entire musical from the prologue all the way through to any dream will do. Even today I can still recite almost all the lyrics to every song. So this was the first musical I ever loved, and because of this reason it still remains one of my favourites.

When I was younger I used to try and maintain a list of my top three favourite productions, which usually changed slightly every time I would see something new (well for the most part, but productions like The Lion King and The Wizard of OZ didn't really do anything for me). Today creating such a list would be impossible however, I do currently have one production that I consider to be the best I have ever seen. This is the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's 2009 production of West Side Story staring Chilina Kennedy and Paul Nolan. The Stratford Festival has produced a number of my favourite productions, is in fact my favourite theatre company, I absolutely adore the town of Stratford, and love everything to do with the Festival- actually it is my goal to one day work for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (just putting that out there). But this production was absolutely amazing. The acting, singing and dancing of the entire cast was spectacular, and I was completely engrossed in every second of the performance. Paul Nolan's rendition of Maria was the best I have ever heard, Chilina Kennedy completely embodies Maria and breaks your heart, Kolton Stewart's Somewhere accompanied with Sergio Trujillo choreography was unforgettable...And I could go on and on. I truly hope that the Stratford Festival will remount this production in the near future, because although I was able to see it twice, it was not nearly enough.

My other favourite Stratford productions include: My Fair Lady (the first production I ever saw at Stratford, starting my obsession with this theatre festival), Cabaret, Cyrano de Bergerac, Peter Pan, The Tempest, and Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. The last three productions on this list are all from Stratford's 2010 season-but they were all amazing and truly Stratford's 2010 season as a whole was remarkably good. I am also very excited for Stratford's 2011 season since it is lining up to be just as good. I am very excited to be seeing: Jesus Christ Superstar (starring Paul Nolan, this will be his 3rd time in this role, which he has stated to be his favourite during a webcast discussing West Side Story with Chilina Kennedy and General Director Antoni Cimolino), The Grapes of Wrath, Richard III (starring Seana McKenna one of Stratford's lead actresses in the title role of this production, which also opened the Festival in their inaugural season back in 1953), Camelot, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Twelfth Night. But now I am throughly off topic, and will return to discussing the best productions I have already seen.

Narrowing things down, the two other best productions I have seen in Toronto are Spring Awakening and Wicked. I went into both these performances with no expectations and left amazed. Now I am sure I am leaving a bunch out, but right now anyways, Spring Awakening, Wicked and Joseph and the three best Mirvish productions I have seen. (And I know above I was saying how I can't narrow performances down to a top three...but I'm really not since I have a list of seven other performances also listed above).

Lastly, this past May I was able to visit New York for the first time, and saw two production: American Idiot and A Little Night Music. Both of these were wonderful, but through retrospection it is American Idiot that makes my list of favourite theatre productions. The entire cast was remarkable, and I was so lucky to be able to view a complete Original Broadway Cast.

So to sum it up, in no particular order (with the exception of West Side Story) my favourite theatre production of all time are:
-West Side Story
-Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
-My Fair Lady
-Cabaret
-Cyrano de Bergerac
-The Tempest
-Peter Pan
-Jaques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
-Spring Awakening
-Wicked
-American Idiot

So there you have it, my top eleven!

Hello!

Hi, my name is Amanda and I am a current library school student. There seems to be a wide array of wonderful MLIS blogs out there already, but that is not what my blog will be about. The focus of this blog will be a combination of the two things that interest me most, which also are highly connected to one another. These are: theatre and books. Unsurprisingly, many of my favourite books happen to also be plays including: Cyrano de Bergerac, Pygmalion, and Peter Pan.

So, what will my blog posts be about? Mainly, I will post on books that I love, as well as review new releases, and I will discuss theatrical performances I have seen, want to see, and will review performances that I will see in the future.

Alright, so here we go.