Category: Entertainment

Come From Away just opened at the Paramount Theatre, and it is, as expected, fabulous. It does, however, need warning labels if you are unfamiliar with the plot, and in some cases, even if you are familiar with the story they’re unfolding on stage, particularly if you’re of an age to remember the foundational event: September 11th, 2001. In that case, it’s likely to bring up memories, shared these so many years, of near misses, such as the friend who was late for work that day or family members who flew out of New York the day before, or of the ones who weren’t so lucky.

Come From Away is not fundamentally about the disaster that occurred. Rather, it approaches this historic event from the town of Gander, on an island which is part of Newfoundland in Canada. If you can’t immediately place that on a map without help, don’t worry, neither could I. Or most of the people whose flights were stranded there – 38 planes were rerouted to Gander when US air space closed because of the terrorist attacks.

The story told is primarily about how Gander rallied to host these stranded travelers whose presence almost doubled Gander’s population, and the friendships that were formed in those handful of days. Instead of replaying the disaster details themselves, the horrors of that day are portrayed in the cast members’ reactions, particularly the desperate attempts by the travelers to reach family and friends back in a time when most of us weren’t carrying cell phones everywhere. The creators made a good effort to break up the serious moments with odd bits of appropriate humor, so rest assured, you won’t be crying the entire time.

There is a brief glimpse of the beginnings of the Islamophobia that spawned from September 11th, but the story ends before reaching the infringements on our constitutional rights from the Patriot Act and the blatant imperialism of the wars the United States launched in revenge. Instead, the story manages to end on a high note celebrating the friendships forged in Gander.

Yes, I’m late to this game, primarily because we don’t have a Netflix subscription. I’m a bit too young to have been original audience for the first Addams Family TV show in the 1960s and far too young for the debut of the standalone single-panel comics – started in the late 1930s – that inspired that show. My introduction to The Addams Family came through the movie in the early 1990s, when a group of friends walked from campus to a nearby movie theatre in that day or two between the ending of finals and everyone heading home for the holidays. Based on IMDB’s search results, I’ve apparently missed some iterations since then. But I heard of Wednesday when it aired and recently checked the library to see if the DVDs were available.

Wednesday Addams is the quintessential macabre goth girl, both in appearance and her general approach to life, clearly highlighted in the opening scenes where she walks into a normal school in her usual attire and through a quick sequence of events, proceeds to drop piranhas in a pool where the boys who were bullying her brother are swimming. As she proceeds with her family to Nevermore, the boarding school her parents attended, her regret regarding the piranhas is that she will be seen as a failure, having been expelled for attempted murder. (Rumors, of course, are flying regarding the new student, and nobody there realizes she failed in her murder attempt.)

While that sets the mood, Wednesday is about more than just some macabre goth jokes. Clearly intelligent and curious, she immediately becomes embroiled investigating what appear to be serial killings in the area, as well as a long-dormant murder accusation against her father. She notices minute details overlooked by others, assembling the pieces together while adjusting to her new school and the possibility of actual friendships. Ultimately, the first season is just as much about found family as it is about the mysteries she is trying to solve.

I look forward to Season 2… you know, some day, when it reaches DVD or we pick up a Netflix subscription.

It’s summer, and that means it’s Renaissance Faire season in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. We made our annual trek up to Kenosha last weekend, following a similar approach to last year – stopping for lunch on the way up to avoid both the parking and food lines at Bristol. When we arrived, a couple hours after opening, we easily parked (now $15 for “preferred parking”), stopped at security for the bag check (with our normal stash of bubble wrap and catnip to drop off with our friends), and handed off our tickets at the entrance.

We did a little shopping and a lot of shows this year, enjoying Dan the Bard, Adam Crack, the Brothers Blackquill, Dirk & Guido, Dungeons & Shakespeare, Don Juan & Esmeralda, and PlayWrecked. Wow, now that I’ve written that out, it sounds like a lot.

PlayWrecked is a musical improv show, combining the talents of the Brothers Blackquill with Ship Shape, developing into a hilarious musical, in this case about time travel using a pickle. And somehow, I had never seen Don Juan and Esmeralda’s show, so I was delighted to catch their final show at Bristol – Don Juan is retiring after 48 years of performing at Bristol.

As usual, the Bristol Renaissance Faire runs through Labor Day weekend. If you’re lucky, you’ll find yourself at Faire on a day that has as fabulous weather as what we experienced this past weekend. Sunday

I was surprised when the Paramount Theatre announced that Cats was in this Broadway season; Cats was part of the first Paramount season we subscribed to (2014-15?), and we’ve been season ticket holders since then. In fact, it was the first show of the season and the smoke effects set off the fire alarm that fall afternoon. The decision made more sense once they announced that it was a different interpretation – the classic music from Cats combined with a Cirque du Soleil style presentation created “Le Cirque du Chat.”

Your typical Cats performers are already more flexible than the average person, with assorted flips and balancing acts across the stage stretching the imagination as to the trouble cats can get into. Le Cirque du Chat adds gravity-defying acrobatics to the mix, with various characters twisting precariously above the stage, sometimes cavorting in pairs in displays of both trust and skill.

This is, of course, in addition to the singing and dancing on the stage; it is, after all, a Broadway show. As always, the Paramount shines in their selection of talented cast members; this would have been a fabulous show even without the circus re-imagining. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend seeing this distinctive rendition of Cats at the Paramount.

I mean, I’m biased, so you don’t have to take my word for it. So here are few words from less biased sources… some of our Guests of Honor (GoHs):

• Dr. Micaiah Johnson (which includes a comment from…)
• Zeta Jane
• and John Kovalic.

Alas, our fourth GoH, Dr. Tom Barclay, isn’t particularly active on social media. Rest assured, he appears in photos and definitely had a blast. In fact, here’s how it started, with the traditional Meet the GoHs panel Thursday afternoon:

These four guests met at their first panel, an opportunity for them to talk about anything they want before Opening Ceremonies. And here’s how it looked near the end, on Saturday night:

This was an exciting moment for me, as co-chair, when I realized that three of our GoHs were circulating through the parties together. Not pictured is a slightly different combination of GoHs on DJ Scalzi‘s dance floor about an hour later for the traditional midnight rendition of the Time Warp.

I know, you’re probably thinking that sounds like a fabulous photo opportunity. It was! I’ve seen several photos that include the three GoHs… and myself… doing the Time Warp. Obviously, I was too busy… doing the Time Warp… to take photos.

As I mentioned before, this year’s theme for Capricon is Let Your Geek Flag Fly!

Depending on your interests, you probably have one of two questions:
1) What’s a geek flag? or
2) Why only one?

I’ll work through them in order. A geek flag is a flag that represents geek pride or a love of geeky things. Really, there’s no limitation on what you can geek out about. According to Dictionary.com, one definition for geek is “a person who has excessive enthusiasm for and some expertise about a specialized subject or activity”. My father, for example, was a Jerome K. Jerome geek, which can also be presented as Jerome K. Jerome was one of his geek flags.

You may have noticed “one of” in the previous sentence. Most geeks I know fly multiple geek flags. The earliest one I identify with is Star Trek, having been introduced to the original show before elementary school, closely followed by Doctor Who. By college, I was also flying a gamer flag – video, board, and role-playing games – and had realized that reading is its own flag as well. It will surprise nobody that Dork Tower is another geek flags I fly proudly.

Obviously, I fly multiple geek flags, which brings us back to the second question… why is our theme singular? Another one of my geek flags is musicals, and it’s a reference to Shrek: the Musical, specifically the song “Freak Flag.” The theme is singular in order to fly that particular geek flag.

What are your geek flags? Better yet, come find me at Capricon this weekend and tell me in person.

By the time I wrote last year’s post about Capricon 44, I knew was putting in a bid to co-chair Capricon 45 with a friend. It’s less than two weeks away now and I’m super excited about the guests, the events… everything! We are going to have a rockin’ good time, as evidenced by the fabulous items listed in the flyers I’m including below.

But… oh my goodness, there’s so much to choose from and I’ll be chairing and won’t have time for most of it. We have an actual astrophysicist talking about how to design a spaceship, an amazing cosplayer leading some hands-on sewing workshops, an award-winning author discussing automatons, and our friendly neighborhood cartoonist (if you consider Madison in the neighborhood of Chicago) comparing graphic novels and comic books. And that’s just a handful of the programming events, ranging from panels to round tables to make-and-take gatherings and even a cosplay parade.

The room block is open until January 31st, you can still join us and get in on the fun. Even if you can only come for a day – we have day badge rates here – it is absolutely worth the experience!