Flying V's Crystal Creek Motel [SPOILERS]

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I had seen a Flying V production years ago when a friend of a friend was performing at the Writer's Center in Bethesda. I remembered that their shows are really creative and original works, so that's pretty cool. When I saw that they had a show at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre, I figured that's close to me, and I've never been to that venue before. I didn't know much about the play, but I thought I'd take a gamble and buy two tickets, without even having a date in mind.

I did end up finding someone to go with, and I'm glad he was up for the random adventure. The main idea behind this play is that you're looking in on a motel room as different guests stay there throughout the year. When we first got to the box office, we were given room keys to the motel (the guy even said, "Have a nice stay"), so that was really cool and interactive. I wish that had continued into the lobby as we were waiting for doors to open. Once we could go into the theater, we handed in our room keys, and we settled in for the show.

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The show was broken up into two acts with six scenes each, representing every month of the year. Through the context of the music played as well as images projected onto the motel room's walls, I figured out that the year is supposed to be 2003. So you see pictures of George Bush and different news headlines, and the songs were reminiscent of my freshman year of high school (think Jewel's Intuition, the Dixie Chicks' Landslide, and Trapt's Headstrong). The technology the characters use is also older, like a Walkman and flip phones. I thought the team did a great job of making the audience feel like we really were back in time.

There were several directors for the scenes, so each director handled a couple of the "months" for the scenes. And in between each scene, a cleaning crew (played by Julieta Gonzalo and Erin Denman) would come into the room and straighten things up. Although they didn't have a lot of time on stage, it was cool to see them transform and change over time throughout the year.

I don't want to give too much away (since you should totally see the show for yourself!), but here are the synopses of each scene:

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January: Natalie Cutcher plays a woman on a business trip who clearly hates her job and her boss. She seems to go into a panic attack, but listening to music and losing herself inside the depressing songs seem to calm her down. There is a lighter part of the scene when she's dancing and someone outside the window sees her, and they both start dancing. I was glad there was a little bit of fun in the heavy scene.

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February: Quincy Vicks' character has paid a man (played by James Finley) to role play with him as WWE wrestlers. They play fight with each other, and at the end hold each other in their arms. Sometimes you just need an outlet, and this was theirs.

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March: This is probably one of the saddest parts of the play. Madeline Key plays an androgynous young woman who is addicted to cocaine. She spends the entire night snorting it, ignoring phone calls from her family members as they leave messages wondering where she is. We never learn what she's trying to escape from or why, but it was hard to watch a junkie going down a path of despair.

April: I really liked this scene! A woman (Momo Nakamura) is meeting a man at the motel for their anniversary. She gets there first, and while she waits, she daydreams about when they were younger. Linda Bard as the woman's younger self and Quincy Vicks as her lover as a young man magically appear from beneath the bed, and they start dancing around the room with each other (very ballet-inspired). The grown woman begins to dance with them as well, remembering the love and romance she shared with the man back then. But the memories upset her, and she calls the man telling him not to come, just as he knocks on the door. Then everything went black. So we didn't get to see how it ended!

May: This part was two scenes in one. Natalie Cutcher as a stewardess only has a short layover to fit in a quicky with James Finley's character. They fool around, he goes down on her, and then she rushes out of the room. Then they break the fourth wall, asking for a re-do on the scene. The second time around, they are more romantic with each other and end up just holding each other in bed before she has to leave; she comes back to give him her phone number so they can meet up another time. I think the characters (and the audience!) were more satisfied with the second go-around.

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June: This scene is almost entirely in Spanish. I was wondering why the program had a random folktale about a coyote printed in it, but that was the translation of the story. Thank goodness I read it ahead of time so I actually knew what was going on! A woman and a young girl have been kidnapped by a man, and the girl is very scared. So the woman starts telling her this story about the coyote running as fast as he can to escape evil. The story is simply a poetic way of telling her: RUN!

July: Quincy Vicks' character wants to draw graffiti on the walls, and then many other people emerge from inside the room (the armoire, the paintings on the wall, behind the curtains) seeming to egg him on. We never know who these people are: are they spirits, or maybe characters he has drawn? In the end he does draw something on the wall...I'm sure you can guess what it is.

August: I've never seen American Psycho before, but my date said he thought this scene was inspired by the movie. Paz Lopez' character Patty is planning to murder her friend at the motel, and she tricks her friend (played by Linda Bard) into coming over for milk shakes and apple pie with french fries. And then she does the deed, leaving the bathroom a bloody mess for the cleaning crew the next day.

September: Four cousins (played by James Finley, Jordan Clark Halsey, Madeline Key, and Momo Nakamura) all come to the motel room after receiving letters from their grandmother saying their inheritance could be found there. At first they fight over the money they might find, but in the end they realize that they're all there to have stronger relationships with each other.

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October: Linda Bard and Madeline Key play a lesbian couple, and one of them just outed the other in front of her family. They have a discussion about where their relationship stands and such, and in the end they romantically decide to run away to Canada to get married. Although random, my favorite part was when Bard started to play the cello. She can act, dance, and play the cello?!

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November: James Finley is mourning the loss of  his brother (I assume that's who it was) after the funeral. His brother's spirit (played by Jordan Clark Halsey) comes into the room and they dance together. It was touching but sad.

December: This is a New Year's Eve celebration including the entire cast. Everyone is having a good time, but one girl had planned to kill herself that night. She left a note for the cleaning crew telling them that they essentially saved her life; she didn't want to leave them with the horrible experience of finding her dead body. So while this is dark, it is a happy ending...?

I REALLY enjoyed this show and I highly recommend it. Very unique, one of a kind for sure! Purchase tickets here.

Here are some other reviews if you're interested:
DC Metro Theater Arts
The Sentinel
Washington City Paper
DC Theatre Scene

Recipe: Apple Peanut Butter Cookies

As white ladies in the fall are wont to do, a friend and I went apple picking at Homestead Farm. Even though I have done this before, every time I seem to forget that I do not need 10+ pounds of apples. But you get into the groove of picking (or simply keeping the unbruised ones from the ground), and you realize you've paid $20 for fruit. We finished off our day with a tour and wine tasting at Rocklands Farm Winery, where we enjoyed vegan dogs and cheese before heading home.

After a much needed nap (picking and carrying apples is hard work), I figured I should bake something with all my apples. Unfortunately, I picked a recipe from Taste of Home that only calls for one apple. So I might need to make these again. Twenty times.

Ingredients

•          1/2 cup shortening
•          1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
•         1/2 cup sugar
•          1/2 cup packed brown sugar
•          1 egg
•          1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
•          1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
•          1/2 teaspoon baking soda
•          1/2 teaspoon salt
•          1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•          1/2 cup grated peeled apple

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream the shortening, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in apple.
• Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375°F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks.

And you know me: I couldn't follow the recipe to a T. I've never used shortening in my life, and when I read online that I could replace it with applesauce, I thought that would taste better anyway, especially for this recipe. I also used creamy instead of chunky peanut butter (The recipe specifically warns that using reduced-fat peanut butter won't work. Who eats that anyway?). My cookies don't look quite like the pictures on the website, but they do taste pretty good. Some comments online said that the peanut butter flavor wasn't that strong. I disagree, but I will admit mine have a somewhat rubbery texture. So not the best thing I've ever made, but not the worst. I think I'd be just as happy eating apple slices with peanut butter in their original forms.

Broadway's Footloose

I was able to get my hands on some discounted tickets to see the Broadway show Footloose at the Kennedy Center. Of course I had seen the movie starring Kevin Bacon; it's a classic, which is why I refused to watch the remake. But seeing it live is a whole other story.

While the show was billed as "Broadway Center Stage," it isn't actually a Broadway cast, or at least not the pros. Most of the performers were pretty young, which makes me think this is an amateur or "minor-league" company of sorts. The dancing was better than the singing, but of course the show had its moments.

The orchestra was on stage the whole time on risers, so they were above the actors. The rest of the set was easily transformed by metal benches which could be seats, tables, lockers, pews, etc. as the cast moved them about from scene to scene. The image in the background would change depending on the setting, but because of the metal risers, you could only see the top part of the picture. But I'm a fan of minimalist sets, and this one did the trick.

J. Quinton Johnson was a funnier, less brooding Ren compared to Kevin Bacon's. Image found here.

I was impressed with the main actors. J. Quinton Johnson as Ren had great energy and charisma, and Isabelle McCalla as Ariel was definitely a firecracker. I also thought Nicole Vanessa Ortiz as Rusty was fun, too (I just realized she was an American Idol finalist.).

During the song "Somebody's Eyes," the cast held tiny lights to mimic eyes, which I thought was unique.

I particularly enjoyed the "I Need a Hero" number, although this video doesn't do it justice:

I had forgotten that song was in this show, as well as "Almost Paradise" and "The Girl Gets Around." Such good music! Some songs were added to the show which were sub-par, but the classics made up for it.

The show was well-paced and it held my attention the whole time (which is hard for me at nighttime). I definitely enjoyed it, but I'm glad I could get some discounted tickets, since these performers aren't quite the real deal (yet!).

Here's the review from DC Theatre Scene in case you're interested!

Mariinsky Ballet's "Paquita"

This year I treated myself to a ballet subscription at the Kennedy Center. I feel like such a grown-up lady! My first show for this season was the Mariinsky Ballet* dancing Paquita. I didn't know the story, but the program included a nice summary. Essentially, gypsies steal treasure as well as a baby girl from this high-powered Spanish official, and 16-20 years later, the baby Paquita (performed by Viktoria Tereshkina) has grown up and dances with the gypsies to make money. An officer named Andrés (performed by Timur Askerov) falls in love with her, but she says he has to give up that life and join the gypsies if he wants to be with her; he does so, and they fall for each other. At some point they are accused of stealing, they're arrested, and her true identity is revealed. She is returned to her parents, and her father releases her lover from prison, so everyone is happy in the end.

Before I get into my thoughts, here's the preview video from the Kennedy Center:

Pros

• The dancing: This is a classic ballet. The third act is everything you would want from a ballet, jetés and pirouettes and all. I also enjoyed the scene when the two lovers are in prison, and even though they are separated, they are mirroring each other's movements as they dance. This dance company has so much talent!

• The sets: You can see in the video how beautiful the set is for the final act. The background landscapes are amazing throughout, and for the prison scenes, the 3-D effects of the prison walls really made you feel like you were looking at stone archways.

At the end, sheer curtains with roses came down. It was so pretty! Image found here.

• The music: Most of the music was written for the original production by Édouard Deldevez in 1846. But some things have been added to it or rearranged. Either way, the harp, flute, and of course castanets make a big appearance. The music was happy and fun, and I would listen to the score on its own.
• The costumes: As you can see from the photos, the costumes were gorgeous, especially the sparkly tutus in the final act (the "Grand Pas Variations"). But the outfits throughout the show are very pretty and colorful.

These are the gypsies dancing. You can see that Viktoria Tereshkina, the prima ballerina, is the only one in pointe shoes. Image found here.

These were their fancier performing outfits as gypsies. Image found here.

Cons

• The length: This performance includes three acts, which means there are also two intermissions. I was there for more than THREE hours! I love the ballet, but...enough is enough. There were so many scenes that just went on and on. I was actually falling asleep throughout the production because it was getting so late. Wrap it up! 
• The wigs: I can't be certain that many of the male dancers were wearing wigs, but either way, their hair looked so bad. It was shaggy and scruffy and too long...they looked like ragamuffins.

Do you see that messy flop of hair? Is that for real? Original image found here.

• The miming: In general, I prefer dance that is simply dance. A full-on story like this makes the dancers into actors, and since they cannot speak, they have to mime everything. The vigorous, obvious movements of mime are so clunky, the very opposite of the grace that ballet should be. Miming is the slapstick version of dance. Ew.
• The timing: I've never seen a ballet with so many awkward silences. I am not sure if this was done intentionally or if the orchestra was off-beat of the dancers (or vice versa). When Paquita and Andrés are taken to prison, there was absolutely NO music, so you could hear the talking and movement of the other dancers behind the scenes. There were many silent transitions, waiting for dancers to take the stage for the music to finally begin. It seemed unprofessional, honestly.

I did enjoy the show, but I would have loved it even more if it were half as long. Too much of a good thing!

*I have seen the Mariinsky Ballet perform before, so click here for the blogs posts related to Swan Lake and Le Corsaire.