Oh what a beautiful morning!

The weather has really changed this morning.  There's a refreshing breeze, the humidity is reasonably low and the temperature is about 74F.  Lovely!

Ella is off to Maine on the Downeaster, Kim is in New Orleans, Miranda is at work, the dogs are happy/quiet and I have some time to myself.  I've been a little too busy for blog posts lately.  All five of my blogs are experiencing the dog days of journalism, although I did just post something for Letters to Europa.

Gastronomically, we've been having a wonderful time.  Fresh vegetables from the CSA, a new pot of Ella's marmalade, a visit to Vincenzo's, brunch at Tryst in Beverly before going to see Gypsy at the North Shore Music Theatre.  Five of us, including Will and Nilo, went to brunch and the show.  We all enjoyed it, the production was actually very good (I particularly liked the theatre-in-the-round format), including a truly excellent orchestra with three fantastic trumpeters.

I have to admit a blind spot of total ignorance in respect of Gypsy, its history, background and its composer (Jule Styne).  To be perfectly honest, I had never even heard of Gypsy, despite there being a Broadway revival as recently as 2008.  Turns out that I did know a few of the musical numbers (Everything's coming up roses, for instance).  At the intermission, after a somewhat tedious and over-long first act, I wasn't totally surprised that Gypsy hadn't been much of a success on Broadway.  How wrong I was.  The second act is totally different and much more entertaining and interesting as we now realize that it's Louise, the one with no talent, who is going to go on to stardom as Gypsy Rose Lee.  And now, having researched it a little, I had misjudged it entirely: Gypsy has been a great Broadway (and West End) success over the years, having won boatloads of awards.

And I'm interested to learn more about Gypsy Rose Lee herself, someone I had only the vaguest notion of previously.  The name was something of an accident as she had always been known as Louise before that first fateful Burlesque appearance and she was certainly no gypsy.  Next year will be her centenary.  And, as the nation remembers the McCarthy era (which ended more or less 50 years ago, see Truth, justice and the law), her name comes up as one of the celebrities who successfully challenged the reds-under-the-bed brigade.