Dream in High Park

Last night Sheryl and I packed a picnic dinner and headed over to High Park for CanStage's open-air production of The Comedy of Errors. It was a very entertaining and professional performance, and we enjoyed it under the stars of a warm summer evening. Perfect! The stage was at the foot of a hillside that has been shaped into an amphitheatre. Excellent acoustics and sight lines, but a bit hard on the backside unless you'd brought a cushion (we didn't). It always takes me about ten minutes to adjust my "ear" to Shakespearean dialog, but then it's amazing how well it flows.

As darkness fell the bats came out to protect us from flying insects. I took delight in pointing them out to Sheryl, making sure to note that they had tiny furry bodies and leathery wings with tiny claws...

Today has been a whirl of activity. The day really started with a birthday lunch with Mom at Allen's on the Danforth followed by a quick gym workout and then another Project Freeride cycling workout (hills again...). After that it was back down to the Danforth, this time to the Fox and Fiddle, for dinner and drinks with my triathlon club as we bid several of our members good luck in next week's Ironman Canada out in British Columbia.

Now I'm pretty pooped and thinking nervously about my next race this Sunday. There are apparently 1,200 athletes registered! By far the "biggest" race I've ever participated in.

Listening to: Walking With a Ghost by Tegan and Sara from So Jealous.

The Life of... Kevin

Sheryl's job with the Lord of the Rings producers (Kevin and his partner William) has come to an end. They're returning to London today to start preparing for the West End production. Andrew Lloyd Webber is going to present it in his premier theatre. Now we're both looking for jobs...

I celebrated her "job well done" by taking her out to Yamato, a Japanese restaurant in Yorkville, where we had a fun teppanyaki dinner.

It's kind of a sad milestone for Sheryl though because she had become very fond of "her boys". For me, there's an up side. Now she'll have the energy and the interest to do more interesting cooking at her place. Today I woke up to a lovely three-cheese omelet with a side dish of papaya slices.

Listening to: Anything by Kinnie Starr from Anything.

Thank You for...

Chris and I saw Thank You For Smoking this evening. Chris wanted to see it and I was happy to inoculate him against smoking a little bit. Talk about a biting satire! The plot, as much about lobbying as it was about Big Tobacco, kept twisting in delicious ways right up to the final frame. Aaron Eckhart (who?) had the smarmy lobbyist down pat - "If you argue right, you are right." Great performances too by William H. Macy as a crusading anti-tobacco Senator and Rob Lowe as an amoral Hollywood agent (as opposed to?).

I went on another crazy 40 km bike ride along the Don again this afternoon. I rode down to have a coffee with Sheryl while Chris vegetated in front of the computer and the weather was so nice that I just couldn't help myself. I still need to get my bike's chain cleaned and some better pants... Chris got his exercise, such as it was, walking to and from the theatre with me. That was about 20 blocks each way.

Coming out of the film I noticed that Sheryl had texted me. I called her and she gave me mysterious directions to look in today's National Post. Her daughter's photo was on their society page belatedly covering the Lord of the Rings gala party! "Hobbits and hotties get it on after Mirvish's LOTR premiere." I don't dispute that she's a "hottie" but her husband is no Hobbit, standing 6'4".

Listening to: In Between Days by The Cure from The Head on the Door.

Lord of the Rings

Finally I turn my keyboard to the Lord of the Rings Gala. In spite of an early start a rented stretch limo (booked by the Mirvishes for after the performance) we only arrived moments before the lights went down. I think we managed to snag a single flute of champagne. There were too many stops to pick up companions (we waited twenty minutes for Ferris...) and traffic was backed up eight blocks away. I redirected the driver north so we could come from a quiet direction and we arrived just in time. There was a huge lineup, but luckily the producer's partner William was there to wave us through. We were mostly seated together, and in the end Sheryl's daughter Tamara and her husband were given tickets too. She'd been to the preview with my son a week ago, and her husband unsuccessfully floated the idea of "just joining us at the after-party". They came down separately and beat us there in spite of a late start, so they had their proper share of champagne.

The stage was an immediate presence. It was encrusted by branches that reached out along the theatre walls, and was full of Hobbit cast members dancing to folk songs while the audience arrived. So you could say that the performance was even longer than the listed 3 1/2 hours. The stage floor itself was an amazing component, with circular sections frequently rotating and rising or falling to enhance stage movement. Fantastic.

Knowing the books and films I detected a few plot lurches, but they were unavoidable given the compression the story had to undergo. Early previews were almost an hour longer. James Loye and Peter Howe as Frodo and Samwise showed their character's bond and determination well, but the most captivating performance was unquestionably Michael Therriault's Gollum. What a juicy role! The Orcs, Dark Riders and Ents were powerful presences on stage. The Orcs were suitably gruesome and some leapt around the stage on spring-loaded boots. The Dark Riders and Ents towered above everyone on long stilts to great dramatic effect.

The most intense scene was the end of the first act when Gandalf confronts the Balrog. Talk about immersive... The scene that worked best for me though was the first part of the second act, when the Fellowship arrives in Lothlorien. Very magical and lyrical staging. I guess it's all about Elven queens with me. There was a great buzz in the crowd after the show, although the critics have apparently given mixed reviews.

The after-party was held at the Royal York hotel. 2000+ guests, all dressed in "black tie", enjoyed dozens of buffet stations (salmon loaves, oysters on a shell, arctic char, roast beef, cheese and dessert trays everywhere...) Kevin introduced his cast and then Värttinä, the Finnish pop group that collaborated on the music, gave a short concert. We stayed until about 2:00 AM, which is when we finally managed to track down Kevin and offer our congratulations.

Listening to: Glamour Profession by Steely Dan from Gaucho.

Lord of the... Race Track

Yes, I was at the Opening Night gala for the Lord of the Rings stage show. Yes, it was a great evening. But I still haven't been home for more than a few minutes so I haven't been able to download the photos from my camera. I'll blog about it tomorrow. What am I ready to report on? The Formula One races that I finally managed to watch on the PVR with my friend. Well, one of them. The first race in Bahrain was recorded but somehow got deleted. Grrr... I don't know what went wrong there.

What I read about the Bahrain race was that Ferrari were at the front of the starting grid, so they appear to be back in the game. Honda, Renault and McLaren were all right behind. The big technical changes have been the return of tire changes during the race and smaller V8 engines. There's also a new qualifying system that cuts down the field after certain intervals during qualifying. Kimi Raikkonen fell afoul of this as a crash during qualifying kept him off the course before the first interval expired.

In the actual race the story was Kimi's charge from the very back of the field to finish third. He'll be in contention this year. Fernando Alonso got his Renault past Michael Schumacher's Ferarri just as he exited the pit lane from his second stop for the win (pictured here). That must have been an exciting moment! Jenson Button struggled to recover from a bad start and finished fourth. Newcomer Nico Rosberg drove well in his Williams, finishing seventh. It will be interesting to see how he performs. The new teams, Super Aguri, Midland and Toro Rosso were at the back of the field, but they've got a lot of development work to do. Torro Rosso is running last year's Red Bull car with special allowance to use a detuned V10 engine. Super Aguri is even running a four-year-old Arrows car!

So what about the race I did get to watch? That would be the Malaysian Grand Prix. Giancarlo Fisichella was on the pole in his Renault, with Jenson Button along side. The two Williams cars, driven by rookie Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber filled row two. Row three was also occupied by teammates, with Juan Pablo Montoya ahead of McLaren-Mercedes partner Kimi Raikkonen. Last race's winner, Fernando Alonso, couldn't qualify better than eighth because of an accidental over-fuelling of his Renault (he had to carry that excess fuel into the race too). Michael Schumacher qualified fourth, but started fourteenth because he had to replace his engine before the required two races.

The race itself was pretty straight-forward. Giancarlo Fisichella started on the pole and stayed there. His teammate Fernando Alonso got a great start, moving from seventh to third by the first corner and then managed to keep pace in his over-fuelled Renault, with the result that he was able to finish second. Jenson Button held his starting position until Fernando passed him, but kept ahead of McLaren's Juan Pablo Montoya. Filipe Massa out-drove his Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher, leaving them fifth and sixth at the end of the race. Jacques Villeneuve (go Canada!) drove well in his BMW, earning his team its first points. He might do well this year. Poor Kimi (see picture) was knocked out of the race on the first lap after being bumped by Christian Klien's Red Bull. Both Williams cars left the race early, due to an engine fire and a hydraulic problem. Jacques' teammate Nick Heidfeld also suffered an engine failure late in the race.

Listening to: Tired Of Getting Pushed Around by Two Men, A Drum Machine, And A Trumpet from Tired Of Getting Pushed Around (EP). (A Fine Young Cannibals side-project.)

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Tomorrow morning is the first Formula One race of the 2006 season!

Yes, I'm looking forward to it. As this picture shows my favourite driver, Kimi Raikkonen, had a tough time in qualifying. He'll be starting at the back of the grid as a result. The hated Ferrari cars will be at the front, which suggests that they've overcome last season's performance problems.

Lots of changes this year. Two brand-new teams, lots of drivers switching teams, and new rules. Qualifying is now a form of elimination, engines are 2.4 L V8's instead of 3.0 L V10's, and tire changes are allowed again. I think it will all lead to more interesting races.

Tomorrow Chris will be going to a preview performance of the Lord of the Rings stage production thanks to free VIP tickets Sheryl got from her boss (the executive producer). She and I will not be going along, as we have invitations to the black tie Opening Night Gala performance and reception in two weeks. Yes, the tux has been rented. No, it's not purple.

Listening to: Where It's At by Beck from Odelay.