Day 19.208: Hadestown: The Musical

In the end, three of us traveled to South Portland to see the proshot of Hadestown. We weren’t sure we were in the right place as this looked very much like a shutdown movie theater.

This was coming out - we were less-confident on the way in

The signs saying it was open were very much needed.

This version was filmed in the West End theatre where E5N1 saw it last year with the original principal cast. E5N1 missed it today to help his friend out with a camp. None of us who saw it today had seen the musical before although Exile #3 knew the soundtrack and therefore the story very well. It was excellent in every way. 

The inside of the building was rather more convincing that the outside with some fun vintage movie posters. 

We wondered what sign had been roughly obscured here. The wrong answers we came up with were more fun than what we decided it probably really said. 

All in all, a 10/10 experience. 

Day 19.200: Tori Amos

Exile #2 and I went to see Tori Amos on her In Times of Dragons tour this evening at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland. I remembered writing the story of how she played a part in our origin story after a previous concert but was surprised to discover it was nearly 19 years ago during the first year of the Exile!

In any case she was on great form tonight with a drummer and bass player and a trio of backing singers that really transformed the vibe compared with last time we saw her a couple of years ago. She seemed relaxed and like she was having fun again as she wandered through some hits and deep cuts from every phase of her career. 

Day 19.121: Silversun Pickups

Exile #2 and I had a lovely evening at the State Theatre to see Silversun Pickups. Our main connection point with them (apart from Lazy Eye - perhaps their biggest hit and the last song tonight) was the album Neck of the Woods which we listened to a lot around the time of its release. We have spent some time reacquainting ourselves of these and other parts of their back catalogue as well as their new album in preparation for tonight and I’m very glad we did. The songs are great and they were wonderful to see and hear live.

Day 19.092: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #549

Exile #2 writes...

It’s been a fun having E5N1 around for the weekend. We got to spend a little extra time with him today and finish up his birthday leftovers.

It was also nice to go back to the high school yesterday and see a few old friends. The show was the musical version of 9 to 5 and, as ever, it was performed to a very high standard. For once, however, they had decided not to edit at all for language or content. This meant the Dad behind us had quite a busy time of it answering his children’s questions, my favorite being “Dad, what is blackmail?” 

Day 19.091: Birthday (observed)

After lunch, I collected E5N1 from his college dorm to bring him to the high school for the Saturday matinee of the musical. Exile #2 and Exile #3 met us there. Afterward, we had takeout and birthday cake and did gifts etc. 

Day 19.060: Stereophonic

Exile #2 and I drove down to Boston, to the Emerson Colonial Theatre yesterday evening to see Sterephonic - a play about a fictional rock band making an album in 1976 - which is on currently on tour after a Broadway run. The play has some strong parallels with Fleetwood Mac around the making of the album Rumours but without the weight of representing the real people and relationships and with excellent original songs to work with.

Here's a picture of the theater:

And here's the excellent set:

The music was excellent, and the cast really shone during the musical parts. The whole stress of the process of making and recording music in the studio was represented very convincingly - honestly as people who have experienced that (albeit in small and relatively low-stress ways) it was a bit too real at times! The play as a whole has some odd pacing and at times intermittently loses its emotional weight. We also struggled at times with the patchy British accents, but overall, it was a great experience and well worth the trip.

Day 19.059: Mid-semester concert

On Sunday evening, we went to E5N1's mid-semester choral concert. It had been delayed by snow storms, but they eventually managed to find a window when it could happen. You can find it here if you want to see (or perhaps more-so hear) it. E5N1 is in the first section as part of the University Chorale, but the second part is also excellent - especially the modern pieces at the end. The Chamber Singers have been working with the composer of those pieces and - we discovered afterward - E5N1 had also attended a composition masterclass with her while she was on site.

Day 18.315: The Crane Wives

Last time The Crane Wives visited the State Theater, we dropped off Exile #3 and Exile #4 so they could go and see them. This time Exile #2 and I joined Exile #3 and Exile #4 caught them yesterday down in Massachusetts. 

It was really great. Almost certainly the youngest crowd we’ve joined there and the most obviously LGBTQ. The support act was Spencer LaJoye who got a great reception for their vocal-looping and guitar set ending with the massive anthem Plowshare Prayer. 

The Crane Wives were coming to the end of a big tour and were in great form. The opening number was Scars which was one of my favorites of the night.

Here are some pictures:

Spencer LaJoye

No caption needed really: The Crane Wives!

Day 18.270: David Byrne

This was originally planned as a birthday gift for Exile #2, but as she’s currently in the UK, that didn’t work out so well. Her loss was E5N1’s gain as the two of us went to the Merrill Auditorium in Portland to see David Byrne’s new stage show Who is the Sky?

Early as usual. The seats were full by show time 

Similar to his American Utopia show, it had a full band with instruments that could be carried and included new songs and Talking Heads classics. The stage technology has been significantly upgraded however and it was a stunning spectacle as well as a great rock concert. 

An understated start - a quartet on the moon

A constellation of musicians. Their names following their every movement

David introduced us to his apartment and talked and sung about living in it alone during the pandemic

A highlight for me was hearing And She Was live - the song that first got me hooked on Talking Heads in my teenage years. For E5N1 it was probably Psycho Killer for similar reasons. The night came to an end with Burning Down the House which - as you might expect - brought down the house. It was a spectacular evening. 

Day 18.182: Five go to the symphony

Part of Exile #2’s birthday celebration was a trip to the last concert of the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s 100th anniversary season. It was at the Seaside Pavilion in Old Orchard Beach in which is a partially open-air venue with amazing acoustics. 

The concert was music from science fiction and fantasy movies. It started with the theme from 2001 and ended with ET, and visited Star Trek, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings along the way. It was great. 

Day 18.161: Show day

Finally - a dry, sunny, not too hot Saturday. How did I spend it? Inside a dark auditorium for the most part. It was the end-of-year dance recital, and I am still videographer of choice. I kind of fell into it and I'm never quite sure how we got here, but it's a challenge I mostly enjoy twice a year (a small winter show and the big summer show).

It seems I have successfully done my task for today by capturing and then backing-up the video files. The majority of the work lies ahead with the editing, but the stressful part (there is really no way to recover if I fail to get the footage) is over.

Day 18.159: Returned

E5N1 has safely returned from a fantastic trip to London with a side-trip to Stratford. The tour was the school theater kids (and a few recent graduates) and they were able to see five shows - two at the Globe and three in the West End and do several backstage tours and other theater-related activities as well as visiting some London markets and landmarks - honestly it was exhausting just keeping up with the reports of their activities. 

I failed to get a photo of him before he retired to bed but here is the impressive Father’s Day card he brought back with him. 

Day 18.151: And off they go

This group of drama and music kids and teachers gathered briefly at the high school this afternoon. 

Then a few of us drove them to Boston and they will shortly be flying to London for a busy week of sightseeing and shows. 

Day 18.147: Baccalaureate

Tonight was the penultimate official event for this graduation season - the senior awards night known as Baccalaureate. After being honored at the arts department awards and senior assembly, we didn’t really know what to expect, but he had quite the list of honors this evening as well. You can perhaps tell that he sharpened his focus on the arts this year. 

Day 18.141: Pride; proud

Around lunchtime four of us - including these two:

Visited the local “Pride in the Park” event under slightly drizzly skies. It was a fun event and only marginally subdued by the weather. 

This evening it was E5N1’s turn - his last school drama event - the directing class showcase. He introduced the short play that he had directed as part of the class - written by his friend and fellow student as part of an earlier script-writing class. He also was in the cast for three other plays. 

The plays were very varied - a mix of serious and comic and it made for a great show. 

Combined curtain-call for all the plays

E5N1 and the script-writer for his play