Pudgy Hamlet & N0 Blueberry Stoli

Saw the Michigan Shakespeare Festival's Hamlet last night with Garth&Kassia. *beam*

We ate at Azalea's in Jackson-nummy steaks but, what was interesting was I was actually worried that it was going to be uberposh. Their webpage didn't list prices. It turned out they were pretty good with reasonable steak & seafood prices. The building resembled a bowling alley. Which tinted the whole evening with a Big Lebowski flair. Speaking of the dude-- I have a mission this summer that remains unfulfilled. I desperately want to try Stoli's new blueberry flavored vodka. I am pleased by the image of a frosty martini glass with beautiful clear vodka (is it blueish?? Je ne sais pais!) and a big fat blueberry bopping around.

The dinner was yum. The conversation was fun. It was esp. entertaining to watch the guys try to steer Kassia and I away from anaylzing TinnTinn and onto sports! Then we realized we had about five minutes till curtain. EEEP!! Off we go. Once again the GPS in Pete's Escape performed brilliantly and we got to JCC in about seven minutes.

We shouldn't have rushed. I am pretty sure the director was using Cliff Notes. All the big speeches were there, but it seemed rushed and smashed together. The lines were chosen so there was no doubt in the mind that Hamlet was indeed faking his madness. Ophelia stole the show. Hamlet should NEVER wear a clown's nose or let his notebook follow him around on a elastic string-- ruins the sense of disbelief. The costumes, especially Gertrude's were horrible. Kate would have been apalled. Maybe I have gotten spoiled from seeing the RSC marathons but...in my mind Hamlet should be played by a lean poet type--nota swishy pudgy clown type. EH--It was a much better evening than watching The Daily Show on DVR. Though we do need to spend more time with Garth & Kassia. Kassia had the best line of the night--during the sword fight when Laertes shouted out "A hit a palabale hit!" She leans over and whispers--
"Tis but a flesh wound." Then seconds later..."He's not dead yet." Big Fun. Maybe we should go see Midsummer and get buzzed on Oberon!