Sketching in the Dark -

- or at least, the dim (it was *really* dark once the lights were all the way off). My daughter and I went to see a live production of Beauty and the Beast this evening. We had front-row balcony seats so I had this great view of the stage, which I attempted to sketch, on my knee, in barely any light, during the 15 minute intermission. (Straight lines and perspective on your knee? not so much...)

I *wished* I could have drawn more in the dark - I'm afraid I wasn't terribly captivated by the production. The costumes and sets were wonderful (and I would have happily sketched those if I could have seen my pencil) but we watched the Disney video of B&B 20 bazillion times when the kids were little, and most of these performances were not an improvement on the versions seared into my memory. They were adequate (with a few notable exceptions*) and pleasant enough I suppose. The additional songs felt mostly unnecessary. I think I fell asleep at one point. Not the most notable play I've attended recently.

(*Exceptions - the actor playing Lumiere was fabulous. I loved pretty much any second he was on the stage. (As much as I adored Jerry Orbach's incarnation of him in the Disney version, this *still* worked.) Also, the Wardrobe was played to great effect by Ellen McLain - she, who is the voice of GlaDOS, the computer from the wildly popular game Portal. My son kept trying to get me into Portal (I'm afraid it made me nauseous), but I must say that I adore the theme song - also sung by Ellen McLain, and written by Jonathan Coulton - which I will leave you with. Probably the more clever and enjoyable entertainment of the evening. I'm suddenly feeling a strange and compelling craving for cake):



(Or you can watch Jonathan sing it himself here).