Here is a little song I have been learning on the piano. It is called “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.” Vince Guaraldi wrote it in the 60’s and put it on his album, “Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus.” They made it a B-side at the time. For you iPod generation a B-side refers to the flip side of a vinyl record or tape cassette. Songs on the B-side were intented to be the lesser songs on the album. In this case, Cast Your Fate was the exception. It actually became very popular and made it high on the pop charts. The song got covered a few times over the years but nothing is better than the original. Vince and his treo created this inspirational piece with a little latin style melody and a jazzy bridge. It is beautiful in its simplicity. I loved this song at first listen. For about 10 years I listened to this song on and off. I never thought I would try to play it. The main reason was that I never knew how to play the piano, or any instrument for that matter. This past year I took up the piano. I wish I could say I picked it up quickly, but I didn’t. This song took me about 6 months to get it down. Now that I think I got the hang of it, take a listen and let me know what you think. Vince, I know you’re up there listening, I hope you like it.
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Before I say anything else, go see this show! Right now you are wasting time reading this review when you could be in line at the Old Lincoln School for standby tickets. You can also try to get tickets at the ART website (http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org/events/show/sleep-no-more) but it is too late. The reputation of this amazing production spread too fast and all remaining shows are sold out. Your best bet is to wait in line like I did this past Saturday night an hour and a half before the show in the freezing cold in hopes that some moron bails out at the last minute and doesn’t show up for his tickets. Lucky me, I was in the top 10 in line and there were 11 tickets left. ART calls the show a mix of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Hitchcock. There definitely was Macbeth, but not like you’ve ever seen it before. Hitchcock? I am sure there were Hitchcock references throughout the show, but the existential vibe seemed more of a Twilight Zone episode than Hitchcock. Ok, so the show is set in a 3 story school and they use every room in the building. There are different scenes going on at once so there is no way you can see “the whole show” in its entirety. What you end up having to do is pick a character and follow the character around to the various scenes that the character is in. Also, there is no talking, only interpretive dance and lots of eerie music. Oh yeah, the audience is wearing these weird masks like from the Kubrick movie “Eyes Wide Shut.” That is creepy all by itself. The audience cannot interact with the characters, but the characters can interact with the audience. Once in a while a character will see an audience member and treat them as if they are a spirit. That was my experience. I was in a scene where Lady Macbeth was hallucinating and washing the blood off her body in a bathtub (she was completely naked). Then she jumped out of the tub, threw on a towel, and ran straight towards me. In an instant she grabbed my arm and whisked me off to another room. As we were walking quickly, she was whispering in my ear, “Are you a spirit? Are you a spirit?”. We ran through 2 rooms and into the hall where she left me and disappeared. Wow. The Boston Herald said something like it’s as if you are trapped in someone else’s dream. I say it is like the audience represents the spirit world. In the spirit world you can see and witness events and emotion, but you cannot hear the living world. The silent audience of “Sleep No More”, with their weird masquerade party masks, can see the crazy events of Macbeth. We can see the emotion of the sex, violence, betrayal and murder through the intense interpretive dance. However, we cannot hear or speak a word; and we can do nothing to stop the horrible acts of the Shakespeare play. You cannot see everything during one visit to “Sleep No More.” During my run, I saw a pregnant Macduff scale a book case and fight with the chambermaid over a glass of milk; I was grabbed by a naked Lady Macbeth and told I was a spirit; I saw a live eel swimming in a bathtub; I walked through a room filled with sand to the ceiling; I saw a beautiful ballroom dance scene. The friends I was with went in a different direction. They saw the 3 witches; they saw more murder; they saw a dance rave scene which involved a goat’s head. I heard some people were pulled into and locked in rooms with the characters. Each person has their own experience. Like I said, there are 3 floors and probably 30-45 different rooms and scenes. You could see this show 5 times and still not see everything. “Sleep No More” is a one of a kind experience. I give it my highest recommendation. See it now before it is too late. |
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