Watching the news on any given day is an exercise in masochism. We have to know what is going on, but it is usually not good.
Therefore I conclude that we must take long walks, listen to music, see plays, go to museums, do whatever we can to keep our souls nourished.
Last night, I went to see a parody of “Hamilton,” called “Shamilton.” It is playing at the Triad on West 72 Street in Manhattan. It was fun and hilarious. Christine Pedi, who is a host of the Sirius Broadway Channel, was producer and a member of the cast. I spoke to her afterwards and learned that her sister is an art teacher in a Yonkers middle school. Beforehand, I had oysters with my son and partner at the amazing Mermaid Inn on Amsterdam Avenue and 88 Street.
Go, if you can.
If you can’t, visit your community theater, support the arts, go to a museum, sing, dance, watch others singing and dancing, and re-invigorate your soul with the joy of the arts.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
And get out in nature, I would add! I’ve always loved this quote from Dead Poets Society,
“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” 🙂
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Carpe diem!
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Or if you live near Austin, Texas, and have kids, see ImprovED Shakespeare’s production of COMEDY OF ERRORS. April 22& 23; April 29-20, may 5 -8 ImprovEd Arts is a sponsored project of Austin Creative Alliance.
“We embolden kids of all ages in the development of life skills through an unconventional and wildly fun approach to the creative arts using Shakespeare.”
This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department. This project is supported in part by the Austin Scottish Rite Theater.
But it began when Andee Kinzy, filmmaker/director (and my daughter-in-law) decided to create a children’s theater in order to bring language skills to the home-school group where her own children were involved. Now this opportunity to experience theater arts and learn language while having fun ,is available to all of Austin!
Andee (and the kids) explains how the plays are adapted
Subsequently, something magical happened: without the sense of ‘you’re doing it wrong,’ we found that ‘we could do it right.’
YOU bet, its RIGHT! Here is a look back.
MY grandson Brant, at age 8, in Taming of the Shrew”. as Grumio (that little ham).
Here is his 12 year old sister, my Zia, acting the male role of Petrruchio.
In the fall of 2011, sixteen elementary-aged kids and one adult gathered together to bring an abridged version of “The Tempest” to the Texas Renaissance Festival School Days performance competition. We had no expectations; after all, Shakespeare is complex and difficult for many adults to grasp. Neither did we have an abbreviated text; we had to create our own kid-friendly adaptation. We even lacked basic theatre skills, as many of the kids were acting for their first time. Still, we did have something in common with the immortal bard: we shared a love for story. Thus, with a sense of playful abandon, and with nothing to lose, we began to explore Shakespeare.
and do these kids have fun together?
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In my central-NJ corner of the universe, my winter choral-group just did its part to divert its classical-choral-loving audience from the daily news-drudge from DC. Our 4/2/17 concert was dubbed Bach-2-Bach, sung by long-time choristers, accompanied by NJ Symphony-members’ chamber orchestra. 1st 1/2: 2 Bach motets & a Bach cantata– 2nd 1/2 a Bach spoof by “PDQ Bach”. Broad musical humor! The same soloists you just heard delivering ultra-serious recitatifs on a religious theme, now delivering the silliest ever rendition of the Oedipus tale [as “OedipusTex”], w/minor-key string intros & conclusions followed absurdly by recognizable Bach motifs suddenly devolving into country-Western solos w/Mariachi-brass choruses!
You never know whether the satire will go over w/serious Bach-lovers, but luckily this audience had a sense of humor!
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And for those of us that live far from culture, we can relax while we play Goan across the sea on the banjo.
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Go fishing! There is some great fishing in and around New York City, Bluefish, striped bass, fluke, tuna, etc., even bass fishing in Central Park, a great way to really enjoy nature.
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In Chicago, we have “Spamilton.” I will have to visit HotTix (cheap!), then go. I’ve heard it’s great, too. (Lord knows we need some laughs in Chi-town.)
I can take Spam, but can’t bring myself to eat even one oyster (our daughter just slurped ’em down when we visited her in S.F. while my husband & I made faces at each other).
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I hope Shamilton was better than Hamilton—it was the worst theatre experience of my life!
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