The Weekend

Weekends are killing me!

Saturday's schedule:

*10-11:15a Soccer clinic
*Race back on train, pick up 1) library book on reserve, 2) medicine and special diet for Tatia
*Shower
*2-3:34p Softball game
*Carrying softball equipment, go to Jersey City on various trains to visit the cemetery where we're staging Pirates next weekend
*Spend about 45 minutes at cemetery, going over staging
*Take PATH to Hoboken to attend penultimate Pirates
*Go out with everyone who attended Saturday Pirates (Jason, Paua, Ken, my friend Dave et al.)

Sunday's schedule:

*12:15p Soccer game
*Race back on train, switch out soccer equipment for softball equipment
*3-4:30 Softball game
*Race back on train, drop off softball stuff, get changed for show
*Meet Anya at PATH station
*Final show!


FYI--Awesome news--I hit VERY well on Sunday, .666! And my two hits were SOLID hits, well over the third baseman's head. VERY happy.

Last night was our final performance of Pirates in Hoboken--we had to cancel Friday's performance because of the rain but we had a runthrough anyway since we'd canceled our brushup rehearsal on Wednesday (again, because of the storm). I couldn't get there until 7:30 but I'd emailed my notes to Susan and our SM, and got there about halfway through. What I saw of the runthrough looked fairly tight--energy was high, etc.

Last night after the final show the girl who plays Ruth wanted to talk to me. It took her awhile to get it out but basically after the Friday rehearsal she felt....as though she was horrible and a terrible performer, because of the notes I'd given her (which I presume Susan had read to the cast). She said she tended to internalize criticism and take it very much to heart which then makes her spacy, fearful, etc. I was wondering where she was going with this, and finally I said "well....you do realize I won't stop giving you notes, right? That is my job, and I said from the start how perfectionist I am as a director." She immediately said "oh no! I don't want you to coddle me or anything like that just...." After having this halting conversation with her for a good half-hour, I'm still not sure why she told me! And these are the notes I gave her:

*Ruth--Paradox steps are sloppy, she needs to go over that.

*Ruth--when you react to the news of Frederic's betrayal you MUST commit to that scream, it's the only way you're going to get a laugh. SCREAM, like you did in rehearsal--it's hilarious that way. You've started pulling back and it doesn't get a reaction. If you're worried about your voice, pitch it high (I did Something's Afoot for 3 months, 6 shows a week and I had to scream in that--you just put it at the top of your range and you're fine) but you MUST commit. It's the instant overreaction that makes it funny.

*Ruth--I KNOW she knows the choreography for "With Cat-like Tread," we have certainly run it enough. But she's always a little behind and she doesn't look as though she knows it--she must be on top of it, and know where she's going. Please go over that.

That's it! I'm not even going to ask "was that so bad?" because I know it's not. And I'm certainly not going to hold back. She did try to say over and over that she wasn't asking me to be easier on her but I still have no idea why she wanted me to hear this, unless it was to explain her flakiness on stage (whch, YES, she is incredibly unreliable onstage). I did tell her that if we've gone over something a lot in rehearsal and I have to give the note again, I'm going to be harder on the actor. I HAAAAAAATE giving notes more than once. And I explained to her (which, yes, I'd already talked about in rehearsal) that we don't have the time to run and run and run numbers, especially not numbers which involve only a couple of people (as Paradox does). We teach them to you, run them a few times and then it's on you to go home and drill them a million times. We're not your babysitter, you have to take responsibility to get these steps into your bones--that's what makes a professional. And I said this very gently--this mindset of yours, this internalization of criticism, such to the point that it affects your performance--is definitely a handicap as a performer. You're going to have to find a way to process criticism effectively. I am not a mean director, I do not insult my actors or belittle them. But I do have high expectations, and I do everything possible to help my actors meet them, because I care so much about how my shows look.

Oy gevalt. She has a lovely voice and can be funny on stage but this ain't worth it. I HAAAAAATE high-maintenance actors. It's annoying enough to deal with a headcase who's really, really GOOD--she is not, she's good in some aspects but her stagecraft is...well, lacking. I doubt it would've helped our conversation if she knew that running through my mind was a note from last night's performance--"Ruth, stop following Frederic all over the stage! Stop MOVING. I didn't block you to do that."

Gymnastics at the Olympics

So, I am a huge gymnastics fan and The Olympics is my happy time. (Although World's is fun too.) Most Olympics fans are what we call four-year fans--nothing wrong with that, BTW!  But I thought I might give you a little bit of background on the American team and the likely contenders.

The team format:

This Olympics, we have a different team format. There are only five members per time (plus 2-3 alternates), in contrast to past Games where we had 6 (Sydney in '00, Beijing) or even 7 (Atlanta in '96). Also 3 team members compete on any one apparatus--and most importantly all 3 scores count. It used to be that you could drop the lowest score on an apparatus, so if one member flopped, it wasn't such a big deal. Not any more. This format is known as 5-3-3. Bruno Grandi, the head of FIG (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique, the worldwide governing body of the sport) in an effort to curry favor with less-represented countries that traditionally have not been featured much in gymnastics, devised this system to that countries like the US, Russia, Romania et al. have less of an advantage--you need fewer good gymnasts to win. I personally hate the system, as do many fans, because I think it's crappy to make the teams smaller and allow fewer gymnasts to become Olympians. Small countries have plenty of opportunities to qualify for event finals or the AA--team finals are supposed to decide the best TEAM, as in plural.

Individual All-Around format:

Only 2 gymnasts per country can qualify, as opposed to the past where 3 could qualify. And I believe the top 24 (not 36) overall qualify.

The Players:

The US team are the current World champions. This is no guarantee of gold, though--in both '04 AND '08, we also came in as world champions. But we are definitely the favorites--I believe our strongest competition is probably the Russian team. However, interestingly, the Romanians beat the Russians in Europeans. China is likely not a threat in team competition. But anything can happen, as Beijing proved!

American Jordyn Wieber is the current World AA champion (and two-time US champion). Jordyn beat out Russian Viktoria Kimova in a controversial finish--Jordyn had had a bad bars routine which seemed to take her out of contention but then came back with flawless beam and floor routines, which were also difficult. Vika made no major errors throughout the meet but her sets weren't as difficult and she gave away a lot of tenths here and there...and they added up. When she saw that she'd ("only") gotten silver she burst into tears, and was...shall we say, not exactly sporting on the medals podium.




BUT. She is a lovely gymnast, and I hope both she and Jordyn hit in London. Vika is definitely out for blood and motivated, but she is a bit of a headcase. We shall see.

Another AA contender is American Gabby Douglas, who actually beat Jordyn Wieber in the Olympic Trials. ("Oooooh, All About Eve drama!")  That dynamic is actually reminiscent of '92--Kim Zmeskal was the current US and World champion, but Shannon Miller won the Trials, and then Kim fell off the beam in the team prelims. Gabby's biiiiig strength is bars--she absolutely flies over them, as high as Dominique Dawes used to, she gets incredible air. Her weakness is that she's a little unreliable--in last year's Nationals she fell off the beam 3 (3? maybe 4) times. In one set. She's also relatively inexperienced, just a few big meets so far. But I think if she hits she has an excellent chance of medaling.

A Romanian AA contender is little Larisa Iordache, who is absolutely darling, a real old-school pixie. I am hoping she will sneak onto the podium, I enjoyed watching her at Europeans. Another Romanian is Catalina Ponor, whom you may remember from the '04 Olympics! That's right, she's making her comeback and doing very well. Catalina's events are the beam and the floor--she and Larisa traded golds and silver on those two events at Europeans.

McKayla Maroney is the current World vault champion, and you will see why when she competes. She has the biggest vault you've ever seen--she gets mad air. Goes up higher, stays up longer, lands further than anyone else. She makes vault exciting.

The vault final at Worlds was interesting--they had gymnasts from EVERYWHERE. Two particular favorites of mine were Yamilet Peña from the Dominican Republic, who tried to throw a very difficult vault and ended up sitting it down. She got up and with a big smile saluted the judges. What a trouper! She gave it her all--gotta love that. Peña has in fact qualified for London at the Olympic test Event, so I can't wait to see her. The other vaulter was a tiny slip of a thing, Phan Thi Ha Thanh from Vietnam who ended up winning the bronze! The joy on her face was incandescent--she was thrilled just to BE there, but to actually medal...!



Since she medaled at Worlds she automatically qualified for the Games but funding for her sport is very low and she's had much difficulty training.  The other gymnast on McKayla's right is Oksana Chusovitina, a fierce HBIC who has been competing FOREVER.  Remember Barcelona in '92?  She was THERE.  She competed as a Soviet, for the Unified team, for Uzbekistan and now for Germany.  Chuso is Da Woman.

He Kexin, one of the age-controversial gymnasts in '08, will be back although just barely.  She actually hasn't done so well since Beijing--a shame as I like her gymnastics.  (Yes, I think she was underage--bitch, please.  No, I don't blame her and would never blame the gymnast--she's part of a totalitarian system, she has no say in this.)  But China needs her bars, so she's back.

Britain might actually medal this year, which I believe would be an Olympic first.  Their big gun is Beth Tweddle, who is a past World champion in both bars and floor.  REALLY pushing for her, I love her work *and* the fact that she's an older gymnast.  I also get a kick out of how very ENGLISH Beth looks.  Case in point:




Those are some CHOPPERS!  But I kid because I love--best of luck, Beth, hope you perform well for the hometown crowd!