Weekend Update

Here's a recap of highlights from the weekend. The entertainment got more entertaining each day, so feel free to skip ahead to Sunday. (G-San, these are reviews of two plays and a short Belgian film; I don't think you're about to run out and see them, but this is just a word to the wise.)

Friday - "Festen" (Broadway play). It's Dad's 60th birthday. His three children have come to visit. One of them, Michael, wasn't invited because he was out of control last year and couldn't be bothered to attend his other sister's funeral. Doesn't matter - he comes bickering with his trashy wife and their angelic child, Dad's first and only grandchild. Turns out that the dead sister had a twin, Christian, who is still alive. Christian, it turns out, has suddenly developed an itch to tell The Truth. Which to him means denouncing Dad at the dinner table on his birthday as an incestuous rapist. The play is more interesting in the first half, when you are trying to figure out if the denunciation is true. Once you figure that out, the rest is a bit tedious. Mom has been in denial for 20+ years (she actually witnessed at least one incident but did her best to ignore/cover up). The twin sister killed herself and left notes for her siblings all over the house. Christian is no longer willing to have sex with the female servant who is his usual plaything when he is at home - one assumes for a while that he is on the verge of declaring his affection for one of the male servants, but it turns out that he was just a little uptight until he finished denouncing Dad. The family has an elaborate way of celebrating Dad's birthday, bizarre rituals and enforced pointless gaiety. There is a subplot with the sole purpose of demonstrating that the family is not only complicit in Dad's sexual deviance, but also a bunch of racists -- in a heartbeat, they switch from their pathetic birthday songs to "Little Black Sambo". Despite the apparent attempt to generate controversy by flaunting "taboo" subjects, it is all considerably less engrossing than it may sound, unfortunately.

April Fool's Day - "Ring of Fire" (Broadway Johnny Cash tribute). What can I say? I'd never heard any of the songs before, but it was much better than I expected. The performance was good, although there was no discernable story, and a few of the songs made me think (for a moment) that maybe it would be worth buying the album. It isn't enough to make me watch "Walk the Line" though....

Sunday - "Asbury Shorts New York" (film festival at the Brooklyn Lyceum, supposedly a former bath house). They showed 11 short films. One of the best was a Belgian film (both of the Belgian films were in Flemish, interestingly, and both were particularly good). This one, "Fait D'Hiver" (oddly, a French title), was about a guy who decides to call home while stuck in traffic on a gray winter day. His 5-year-old daughter answers, and tells him Mommy isn't available because she's upstairs with Uncle Wif. He says, "But we don't have an Uncle Wif!" The little girl is adamant, Mommy and Uncle Wif are in the bedroom with the door locked. So he sends the girl to knock on the bedroom door and tell Mommy (falsely) that Daddy is home, and report back. Still stuck in traffic, he waits.... The camera reports to us for her: Sure enough, Mommy comes out of the room naked and distraught - Mommy runs to the bathroom, while Uncle Wif is putting on his pants. There is a thud from the bathroom as Mommy commits suicide. Uncle Wif panics and runs out the back door and inadvertently crashes through the ice on the swimming pool and drowns. At this point, Daddy interrupts the narrative: "But honey, we don't have a swimming pool!" As the truth sinks in, he hangs up the phone in horror. Oops, wrong number.