Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

The Gryphon and I had a busy weekend, as this was the first weekend of the Philadelphia Film Festival and we also had tickets to see the matinee showing of Spamalot at the Academy of Music.

So on Saturday, we got up, had breakfast and ran a few errands then got spiffed up for the matinee. Frankly, I'm sick of this cold, cold weather which feels more like winter than spring.

I'd picked out an outfit, a red patterned V-neck dress with three-quarter length sleeves, fitted top and A-line skirt falling just below the knee. I'd been planning on wearing it with a nice pair of ivory and brown slingbacks I just bought, but it was too cold, so I paired it with knee-high black stiletto boots. I also added a black suit jacket.

I must admit, it worked rather well, even if it wasn't what I'd been planning.

The Gryphon wore a Persian blue shirt, no tie, with his charcoal suit and black shoes. He also wore his navy wool overcoat but forgot a scarf, glove and hat, which he regretted later.

We had arranged to see Spamalot with The Dormouse and The White Rabbit, at The Dormouse's suggestion. When he originally sent out a group e-mail about it, one couple requested a matinee showing, but oddly enough, they didn't attend!

Since we didn't want to have to move around to multiple parking garages and pay for parking, we took the light rail into the city.

We arrived at the theater about a half hour early and saw a line already stretching around the corner. Turns out it was a line to sign up for a raffle to win a Cadillac. I wonder if they all knew what they were waiting for.

After The Gryphon picked up our tickets, we did a little browsing in the nearby Williams Sonoma store. When we returned, the doors were open, so we entered and found our seats, in the first balcony near the back. While a column partially obstructed our view, it wasn't too distracting. You could lean left or right to see around it if you had to. I do think we had better tickets, though, when we saw Les Miserables.

The musical was better than I'd expected. I'd thought it would be like a greatest hits collection: dusting off old jokes from Holy Grail and elsewhere and connecting them with new songs. But the musical was inventive and playful, with new elements added to old favorites, such as an extended version of "Knights of the Round Table", with over-the-top Vegas style choreography.

Unlike the movie, there was a more cohesive plot, as the production became a send-up of the Broadway musical, with musical and visual nods to other plays, such as Fiddler on the Roof or Les Miserables. They were the sort of details that are fun to pick out if you get them but just add an interesting texture if you're not.

I thought the touring cast did a terrific job. They got into the spirit of the production and performed with great glee and enthusiasm. Pia Glenn as the Lady of the Lake proved she has not only great vocal chops but a knack for comedy. Comic singing is difficult to do well, but she pulled it off.

I also loved Michael Siberry as King Arthur. The Dormouse, who saw the production on Broadway, said that he was channeling the Tim Curry performance. I saw a lot of Graham Chapman, especially his body language, such as his broad stance in triumph and his slumped shoulders in defeat.

The Dormouse said the production compared favorably to the Broadway production, although he did rave about how David Hyde Pierce had done as Gallahad. I thought that Anthony Holds in this performance did a great job, too. And Patrick Heusinger was hilarious as Lancelot. In fact, the entire cast handled their multiple roles seamlessly.

Afterwards, we were all in high spirits, so we walked to Amici Noi on Market Street in Old City, a distance of about 10 or 11 blocks. Even though it was brisk out, we walked at a good clip and our good humor kept us warm. As we walked, we talked about what we'd just seen and about other pop culture, as well.

We were seated right away at a table in the back and placed our orders. I had a pasta and vegetable dish, which was tasty. We amused our waitress with our conversation, as she tended to come by just as we were saying something interesting, such as when I said that David Hasselhoff never did it for me. I had a crush on the car.

Or when The White Rabbit claimed that not flossing your teeth is one of the greatest health sins and can leave to severe consequences, such as spontaneous decapitations This, of course, made us laugh our heads off.

We enjoyed dinner, had some dessert and coffee, then walked them to the Fifth Street stop for the Market-Frankford line of the El.

Our next scheduled event was a showing of Hula Girls at the Ritz East movie theater at 9:30, so The Gryphon and I had some time to kill. We did a little window shopping, but few stores were open and those that were tended to be geared towards tourists.

We did check out a clothing store on Market Street where they were clearly celebrating someone's birthday with cotton candy and sodas. The clothing was all hand made and very hip. I saw a great Kelly green halter dress that would have looked great on me, but I didn't even try it because it was above my price range. I could have bought a pair of oversized plastic sunglasses The Gryphon said made me look like Jackie O, but I resisted the temptation.

The stores exhausted, we looked for a store to grab some drinks, and ended up in Rotten Ralph's. I'd never gone in there, because the name turned me off, but I'm glad we entered. A group of people were seated at the bar, talking and laughing. I thought they knew each other, but it turned out that they were drawn together by one outgoing guy, a tour guide who wants to be an actor and comedian, who kept the room laughing.

He ripped on everything, from tourists to Philly in general to politics and religion, as well as self-deprecating jokes about himself and his ex-wife, who he says was a Bulgarian prostitute. ("Though heartbreaking, it gave me a lot of material.")

I encouraged him to check out one of the open mic nights at one of the city's comedy clubs. He said he's only been in town six months and is currently an understudy for a production at the Walnut Street Theater.

He also claims to be buddies with John Shea, who played Lex Luther on Lois and Clark. I suggested he propose a series about a wisecracking, cynical tour guide in Philadelphia.

One of his things was that if a joke didn't work, he called it a joke grenade, and he'd throw an invisible grenade at someone. I chimed in, "You count to three and if it nothing happens, it's a dud." So throughout the rest of our time there, if one of his jokes didn't get a laugh, I tossed him an invisible grenade across the oval-shaped bar.

I promised to e-mail him the name of some of the clubs where I know they have open mic nights. With everything he was doing on the fly, I'm sure he could put together a solid five minutes.

We arrived at the theater in plenty of time to stand outside in the cold for half an hour. I was still in good spirits and had imbibed two Amstel Lights, so The Gryphon and I joked around. I told him it was an interactive movie and that they'd be giving us grass skirts and having us dance in the aisles. This actually made the guy ahead of me snicker.

To keep warm, I stamped my feet on the pavement. It made a loud clicking sort of noise, so I tapped out the song "America" from West Side Story and was rewarded with a bemused look from The Gryphon.

Hula Girls, as the woman who introduced it said, is a guilty pleasure. I wasn't sure what she meant until I watched it. The movie is very saccharine and sentimental, telling the tale of a mining town hit by rough economic times.

They decide to open a Hawaiian cultural center with palm trees, exhibits and hula dancers.

Of course, none of the local girls know how to hula dance, so in comes a mercurial, mysterious teacher, played by Yasuko Matsuyuki, who wins over their hearts ("O captain, my captain") if not those of the townspeople.

At some points, the movie was very weepy and obviously pulling on the heartstrings. The next moment was about empowerment and smiling through tragedy. But it was great in the sense that the dancing was fantastic, speaking for the actors, at times, much better than the dialogue. For me, that made the movie worthwhile. Guilty pleasure indeed.

More Musings on the 2007 Philadelphia Film Fest:

April 13, 2007 - Short Stories

April 16, 2007 - Getting Animated

April 17, 2007 - Laughter and Tears

Musings on the 2006 Philadelphia Film Fest:

April 4, 2006 - Sweet Masterpieces

Musings on the 2005 Philadelphia Film Fest:

April 11, 2005 - Film Style 5+

Musings on the 2004 Philadelphia Film Fest:

April 12, 2004 - Indulging in Film

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

April 2007 Index

Musings Index

What do you think? Share your thoughts
at Alyce's message board (left button):