Wit, Laughter, Music

This was supposed to be two separate posts - Wit, Laughter from last weekend and Music from last night. The week proved to be too busy, however, so here I am, once again playing catch-up. (Plus, it's been raining all weekend, which calls for contemplation and written thoughts, unlike sunny days, when it's far more fun to be outside with the mutts.)

Last Sunday afternoon and evening, Bruce and I spent several hours with our friends, the Jacksons. Sarah, their older daughter (they have two), was in a play in Atlanta and we went to watch the matinee performance with Amy, John and Nikki (their younger dauthger). The play was called Wit (by Margaret Edson - I found out after the fact that it won the Pulitzer prize in 1999.) It was a little intense but extremely well-written and wonderfully performed (except for the ending, where a doctor's reaction to a DNR order seemed a little over-the-top). The lead actress was so good!

The play was about a literature professor diagnosed with cancer, ruminating about her condition and John Donne's poetry (which she taught). If you're interested, you can read more about it here: http://faculty.smu.edu/tmayo/donne_essay.htm
http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/wit-margaret-edson
http://www.onstageatlanta.com/b_currentproduction.htm

It has been too long since I've seen a play on stage and this made me realize how much I've missed it. So Bruce is probably going to have to put up with attending more plays in the future.

The laughter part of the evening came at dinner. Dawn, another friend of the Jacksons, and her children were with us at the play and we all went out to dinner. There was a lot of fun conversation and laughter, especially when John (whose birthday was on March 7th, so this was a belated celebration) started singing a really funny version of the "Old MacDonald had a farm" song (Old MacDonald's Dysfunctional Farm), including parts about a dyslexic cow (that went oom/ohm instead of moo) and a sheep with narcolepsy that started snoring instead of baa-ing. I wish I could remember more, because it was hilarious (partly because of John's presentation). I tried looking for the lyrics but they aren't online, so I'll have to get them from John some time in the future.

There were lots of other funny conversations and exchanges - I started laughing so much my stomach hurt! Sarah's laughter is very contagious. So that was a lovely, memorable day. We always have a good time with the Jacksons, and I'm glad they are our friends.

Yesterday, we went to watch one of my favourite musicians/songwriters in concert. Billy Joel was in Atlanta again, so of course I had to be there. This time, he was performing with Elton John. It was a superb concert! I'm not so familiar with Elton John's earlier albums, but he was still fun to watch. Billy Joel was the highlight of the evening for me, though, and the two of them playing together on their pianos was the icing on the cake. (They played about ten songs together but each also peformed separately for about an hour, so it was actually three concerts in one.) That was such a fun night!