Welcome to the second written in school edition of Wise Madness. I hate not blogging every day. The problem is that I have only four hours a day to get everything other than sleeping, commuting, and working, to live my life. I am living like most of the world for the first time in ages. At least my body is starting to adjust to waking up at 5:40 in the morning. I have made a few adjustments at school. I am back to having lower leg edema. I had that years ago and my doctor said to wear compression stockings. I bought a pair and discovered that I hate compression stockings. That is when I started walking to build up vascularization. I elevated my feet whenever possible. I am now trying to take a walk during my break at school and I’m lying on a couch in the teacher’s lounge. My left leg is only slightly swollen.
Enough of being an old person, I’ll write about something fun. On Tuesday I went to the latest version of Cynthia Kaplan’s Cindy of Arc. Cindy is a comic singer/songwriter and author. Introducing Cindy and the show is one of my life missions. I tend to not give up on my missions but I am resigned to never marrying Winona Ryder. I was talking to a friend on Saturday at the Hudson West Folk Festival, I should probably write about the Festival too, and she was complaining about Lea Michelle playing Fanny Bryce in Funny Girl on Broadway. She feels that she is better suited to play an annoying Jewish woman. That led me to realize that Cindy of Arc is the epic tale of an annoyed Jewish woman. The source of the annoyment lies in the lot of Jews and women. This is a sweet spot for me. I’m Jewish and though I’m not a woman, but my mother was. If someone told me that there was a show that humorously deconstructs the place of women and Jews in society I’d suspect that I wouldn’t like it. That’s because so many artists, including comedians and songwriters, think that all you have to do is repeat applause lines that the audience agrees with to succeed. Sadly they are too often right, but that’s now how to succeed with me. I want to be made to think. I want to laugh because something hits me from an unexpected angle. Cindy is not just annoyed, not just angry, but clever and as funny as all hell. She’s not thinking outside the box, she denies the existence of the box.
The show was a fundraiser for a reproductive rights organization. I should know which one, I made a donation, but I don’t. Perhaps that’s the reason the audience was heavily female. I suspect not, and that’s a shame. I never even thought of Cindy appealing more to women than men until I noticed audience skew. You shouldn’t like Cindy out of gender or ethnic solidarity but because she’s brilliant. I have played her music on my show and will play more as she writes more.
As I said this is a new production of a show she has done before. This production was tightened up. It is now more focused on the female and Jewish annoyance. That meant leaving out some of my favorite songs, that’s fine. This is not a revue but a self-contained one-woman show.
It was a bit of an adventure getting there. When I got to the theater the door was closed and there was no sign that even mentioned the show. The box office was empty. I walked around for a while looking for another entrance to no avail. Then I called the number I found on the website and the woman on the phone buzzed me in. I was supposed to ring the bell but nothing said to do that. When I got back to the door there was someone else there as confused as me. I asked if he was there for Cindy of Arc. He said he was. He was amazed when I opened the door. “How did you do that?” He had found it locked too but he didn’t know that I had just called and had it unlocked. He was one of the few other men in the audience. Maybe they only let women know how to get in. I don’t think so. I missed part of the first song but it is one I know well so I was fine. After the show I talked to Cindy. That’s always a pleasure, then I headed home. It was an early evening which is nice as I have to get up so early.
Now let’s see if I can get this posted from school.
Wise Madness 