This is me in a cab on my way home from the airport. The flight landed right on time and amazingly, my suitcase was on it. Southwest, you have partially redeemed yourself. I may use that travel voucher yet.
Let the record show that at 12:34 PM, I took what may have been a last look at my suitcase, wished it Godspeed and handed it over to a skycap for Southwest Airlines. With the slight voice tremor of a parent surrendering a child for adoption, I told him to "Take good care of it, please" and handed him a tip. Then without looking back, I headed bravely for the C-Gates.
And note that I made sure to tip the guy. If my suitcase doesn't make it to Los Angeles, I'm going to find that skycap and get my dime back.
My flight takes off at (allegedly) 2:20 and gets in at 3:25. You might want to check back later and see what time, if any, my bag arrives. I'm sure you have nothing better to do today.
I'm still in Vegas but unlike what happens in Vegas, I'm not going to stay in Vegas. Later today, I'm going to give Southwest Airlines yet another chance to lose my luggage.
Last night, I was wandering through a downtown casino, ably resisting the urge to resume a Blackjack habit I gave up years ago. (Quit while I was ahead and am determined to stay that way the rest of my life.) This was about 2 AM and I strolled near the Sports Book, where ordinarily one sees banks of TV monitors showing football games, horse races, jai alai tournaments from South America, stuff like that. The desk was closed but for some reason, every screen in the place was on and tuned to a replay of the Republican Debate.
About eight people were sitting there, not wagering. Two were asleep. One was eating a McDonald's McSomething. One was yelling at someone on a cell phone. (It's against the law to use a cell phone in a Sports Book area but maybe that's only when it's open for betting.) One was reading and the other three were watching the debate with minimal interest. A cocktail waitress who could have stunt-doubled Rhea Pearlman asked me if I wanted something. Fred Thompson was on the screen so I said, "Is there still time to get a bet down on him?"
She said, "To be President? Don't waste your money, hon. If it were me, I'd bet against all those guys. And all those damn Democrats, too."
Smartest thing I've heard about this election so far.
According to our indisputably accurate poll, 3.6% of you (currently) thought Skidoo was a fine motion picture and 20.9% found it so bizarre as to be enjoyable. If you haven't voted yet, there's still time.
In the meantime, here's about as strong a defense of it as you're likely to find.
Last Thanksgiving, I had a very good time watching the National Touring Company of Spamalot at a theater in Columbus, Ohio. In fact, looking back at what I posted that evening, I don't think I was quite lavish enough with the praise, both for that troupe and for the show itself, cleverly (at times, brilliantly) adapted by Eric Idle and John DuPrez from You-Know-What. The show was funny from start to end and there was that wonderful energy you sometimes get in the theater when the whole audience is loving what's on the stage and laughing not only non-stop but in unison.
Last evening, I went to see the Las Vegas production of Spamalot, which is at the new Wynn hotel in its Grail Theater, built (well, extensively refurbished) especially for this show. If I'd seen this production and not the other, I'd be sitting here now writing a blog post about the colossal disappointment that is Spamalot; of how Idle and DuPrez only managed to turn one of the funniest movies ever done into a mildly, intermittently entertaining musical. Obviously, that's not the case. It was hilarious in Columbus, Ohio and I'll bet it's wonderful in New York. So why was it so diminished here?
It wasn't because the show's been trimmed a bit. One song — "All for One" — is out, as is most of "Run Away" and a few choruses of others. The whole back-and-forth with the guards guarding Herbert is cut and the Knights Who Say "Ni" had their part reduced, which must have pissed them off. A few scenes have been reordered, and some lines and lyrics have been changed, including all the references to Act One and Act Two, since they also removed the Intermission. But I didn't particularly mind any of the omissions and one — a big trim in "All Alone" — actually made the song funnier.
Some of what went wrong was that theater. It's cold and dank and those of us with mezzanine seats were viewing the action as if from one of those helicopter rides over the Strip. But a greater problem was the production, itself. I'd say about half the cast was fine...as good as the folks I saw in Ohio, one or two maybe even better. But the other half sure wasn't. The show is larger than life so the actors have to be, and some of them just lacked the personality and flair, which slowed the whole momentum and, I suspect, handicapped the strong performers. In one scene, I thought to myself, "This is what Spamalot will be like when they release the rights to perform it at the Community College level." (Seinfeld star John O'Hurley opened the production here and that's him in the photo above playing King Arthur. He's not in the show these days, though I heard a Wynn employee tell someone that they'd heard he's coming back.)
The other problem, I'm almost embarrassed to suggest, was the audience. They didn't seem very into it even though they seemed to be familiar with Python and the movie. In Columbus, there was a huge roar of recognition when The Knights Who Say "Ni" or the French Taunter or the Black Knight appeared. Here...nothing. Or at best, a slight giggle as if to say, "Oh, this part." There was applause and a bit of cheering at the end but nothing like I witnessed in Ohio.
I've written here in the past about attempts that have been made to mount full Broadway imports (or even original musicals) in Las Vegas. They haven't had too good a track record and I've suggested, first of all, that some of the wrong shows have been brought in — like Avenue Q, which flopped in (I think) the same showroom that Spamalot now occupies. I still think Avenue Q didn't belong in Vegas and certainly not in an auditorium that size. I've also suggested that the trimming which is usually done has hurt some of these shows.
Last time I discussed this, someone — I'm outta town and laptopping it so I don't have the message here — wrote to suggest that I was overlooking the biggest problem. Vegas, he said, is just not a theater town. There are too many other things to do, and good theatergoing requires the committment of an evening in both time and attention. You can't just squeeze a play in among the eighteen other activities you want to accomplish before it's time to leave. I didn't think there was anything to that when I read his message...but now I'm not sure.
I still recommend you see Spamalot. Just don't see it in Vegas.
Still, the trip wasn't a total loss. I had ten minutes to kill before it was time to truck into the theater so I sat down at a Video Poker machine — first time I've played one for money in...must be fifteen, eighteen years. I resolved not to lose more than ten bucks and third hand in, I hit a straight flush...and went into Spamalot somewhat happier than I was on the way out.
Today, we're embedding a video with two commercials for stage productions of Fiddler on the Roof — one with Zero Mostel, one with Topol. I think the Mostel one is from a revival production he did at the Shubert in Los Angeles in the early seventies. The Topol one, I'm guessing, is the New York revival he did around the end of 1990. L'chaim!
January 8, 2008
