Tango on!!

November 19/11.

Back in June, (during the midst of my wildest "Intensity Entity" takeover), I wrote about Al Pacino and Scent of a Woman - (1992). - You know, that unforgettable tango scene in the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel in New York City?



Have always related to the scene and Pacino's famous line leading up to the hot dance. Lt. Colonel Frank Slade asks a young woman, Donna (Gabrielle Anwar) to take a spin with him. She's scared. She's never done this before, doesn't know how, and fears saying yes because she might make a mistake. (can relate!) I love Pacino's response. He tells her, "NO mistakes in the tango. Not like life. Simple! That’s what makes the tango so great. You make a mistake, get all tangled up? - just tango on!" The Colonel is blind. She is afraid. The dance captures their mutual excitement & passion, as well as the fun, spontaneity and even breathlessness of the moment.

I was reminded of that movie dance when I saw the new musical theatre version of The Addams Family at the Toronto Centre for the Arts this afternoon.

Douglas Sills (Gomez) & Sara Gettelfinger (Morticia) in the Toronto show.

As a diehard fan of the old TV series (1964-'66), when I was a kid,

(who ADORED the tango scenes between John Astin and Carolyn Jones),

I was pretty darn sure the tango would be part of this production.

Was thrilled to see Sills and Gettelfinger re-create a tango which captures every bit of the vim, vitality and sexy playfulness of Astin & Jones. Tango on!


Someone put together this great montage of Addams Family dances, including the tango. A kick to watch.

My good friend, Pam Pickard, surprised me by travelling downtown on the subway a few days ago, solely to give me a pair of Addams Family tickets as an early Christmas gift. Thank you Pam! You are seriously too generous!

Took my son, Max to see it.

We went for lunch together at Tim Horton's on Yonge Street and then, to the matinee. - Da da da DUM, (snap, snap!)

Inside, Lurch greeted us!

And I remembered descending this same stunning staircase, 16 years ago, at the grand opening of Sunset Boulevard, (in the same way Gloria Swanson, as the creepy Norma Desmond did it on screen back in 1950).

"I'm ready for my closeup Mr. DeMille"!

Since The Addams Family is a musical comedy,

decided to leave home without packing Kleenex, (something I generally do for EVERY show, due to my insane ability to cry at anything). Never even OCCURRED to me the production might be emotional! - WRONG!! The show spoke to me on a deeper level than I ever expected and I was hit by tears at least five times during the two-act show. Yikes. (note to my sister, Carrie: I felt a couple of these songs had ideas and lyrics almost up to Sondheim standard)!

Blake Hammond (as Uncle Fester) had me going with his phenomenally funny, yet tender and touching number, "The Moon and Me," in which he somehow floats through the night sky in slow-mo, gracefully dancing with the moon. A truly fabulous visual.

Would love to see the show a second time,

if only for Blake Hammond's moon dancing scene!

And when Gomez sings to his daughter, Wednesday (Cortney Wolfson), about his memories of her as a child and the mixed emotions of happiness/sadness he feels about her impending marriage, yep, I was a goner.

Later, young Pugsley (Patrick D. Kennedy, seen here with the very funny Pippa Pearthree as Grandma), expresses his fear about being left all alone by his sister, Wednesday, (and missing out on her daily torture)!! -

in "What If." (I was really wishing I brought that Kleenex)!

And the song "Full Disclosure?" - LOOK OUT! The Addams Family members like to play this revealing game. They drink from a sacred chalice and then spill their deepest, darkest secrets to one another.

This dangerous game results in a surprising song from the amazing Crista Moore (as Alice Beineke, mother of Wednesday's groom-to-be). She hits nerves with her over-the-top, drug-induced number, "Waiting," all about the memories of her youthful passion and the way she somehow morphed into a strait-laced Stepford Wife-like lady, looking, waiting & hoping for the spark to return to her life. Brilliant performance from this Broadway star - (and two-time Tony nominee).

The show talks about the risks we take for love, how to feel inner joy in your own way, no matter WHAT anybody else thinks, embracing the darkness of your despair and facing your blackest demons. "Move towards the darkness, and smile"! (not exactly thoughts you hear every day)!

Brian Justin Crum (Lucas) and Cortney Wolfson (Wednesday)
Among my fave lines? Wednesday, when she says, "Don't psycho-analyze me! It's a deep, dark hole and you don't wanna GO there"!

Lucas, (Wednesday's boyfriend), who declares, "I can be impulsive. - I just have to THINK about it first"!

And when Pugsley is frightened and begs, "Make me feel better Mum". Gulp. Morticia responds, "Life is a tightrope my child. And at the other end is your coffin". The show teaches us, - To each his own! I love that message.

Rent-a-wreck!

September 21/11.

Anyone need to rent-a-wreck? Have wreck, will travel! It's all here - all the time.

How to explain? Let's see. I think my husband is ready to walk, as I am a prime candidate for Hoarders! Don't believe it? Hmmmmmm. Lemme SHOW you!

Here's an attempted peek at my "office".

Would show you MORE, (if I could get in the door). Hardly a path to crawl from one side to the other. All comes from 25 years as a diehard entertainment reporter and refusing to part with ANYTHING! (no, there are NO empty food take-out containers like you see on Hoarders!!!) - just TONS of movie/TV star files, articles, letters, photos, VHS video tapes, DVDs, books, gift bags/wrapping/tissue paper/greeting cards galore, (as I LOVE giving prezzies to friends and family), and on & on. Has been a big dream of mine to get this office cleared out and one day, maybe make it look "organized"! Will it EVER happen? Stay tuned to upcoming episodes of "Trials and Tribulations" for updates!

Have lived in this amazing house for 20 years. GREAT, incredibly weird, wild, creaky, old, Riverdale home - (built exactly 100 years ago - in 1911!)

But the longer we stay, the more interests we have (all four of us here), and the crazier it gets! Add to it, the death of my Mum and breast cancer for me, and the house is, uh, - take it Reege!

"OUTTA con-TROL!!!"

Our place is kinda like The Addams Family mansion.

The den? - Yep, you got it, outta control!

Diningroom table?

The same!

Kitchen?

Yikes! Egad!

MY side of the bedroom?

Ai Carumba!!

A Rogers cable TV guy arrived the other night, (an hour before the season premiere of Two and a Half Men),

to ATTEMPT to find a basement cable outlet so we could FINALLY hook up a television set for the kids down there. (insert goofy music here!)

I predicted (bet?) Sam, it would NOT be "findable." It wasn't. We have NO basement lights, so the Rogers man had only one option left to him, which was to wear a miner's light embedded in a helmet! I SO wanted a blog op, but it was not to be. In the end, the Rogers man just gave up and created a NEW cable outlet!!

Hilarious. (I THINK I won the bet, whatever it was).

Well, my HOUSE may look a mess, but I WON'T leave the place without super- clean hair, lots of makeup and some kind of outfit I like. House score? Zero. My own? Up for debate. Went off to visit Kevio at Bridgepoint, bring him some sparkly Henkell for his rehab dinner, ran into him in the courtyard.

Today? I saw him wearing the "moon boots" for the first time. Are they massive, or what?? He hates them.

And yet, there is he, smiling, easy-going as ever.

I guess he knows, (or maybe not), that every night, when I leave, say goodbye and see him there, I shed a tear. I don't WANT him to have to stay at this place! (cut out my tears in the pic here!)

See ya soon Kev! Hang in there!

(my HOUSE is a friggin' disastrous mess, but my feelings for YOU are crystal clear! And maybe, in the long run, that's all that really counts).