(no subject)
Sep. 25th, 2015 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsLast night I dragged genarti, jinian and gaudior to go see Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, a musical about the inspirational romantic connection between a down-on-her-luck electric violinist and the legendary turn-of-the-century polar explorer.
Ernest Shackleton Loves Me begins with Our Heroine Kat recording a video for the dating website Cupid's Leftovers, in which she explains that, although her passion is writing avant-garde modern operas, everybody thinks her opera is terrible. However, she has just finished writing a FANTASTIC score for a video game --
KAT: And if I have to write music for space, I will not write BORING music for space!
-- which contains all her FEELINGS about ADVENTURE and EXPLORATION and ELECTRIC VIOLINS! Even if it's just for sad pasty video-game-playing teenage boys (because only pasty teenage boys play video games, right? Though, to be fair, I believe that a person who has hitherto spent their career writing avant-garde modern opera would believe this.)
Alas! Kat's dating video is cut off by a call from her boss informing her that EVEN THOUGH her music is really good, she's very difficult to work with and therefore he is firing her and won't be using any of it.
Also, Kat's apartment is freezing, her baby is crying in the next room, and her deadbeat ex-boyfriend drunk-dials her from his touring Journey cover band. LIFE IS NOT GOOD.
However, just as Kat is spiraling into the depths of despair, she is interrupted by a phone call from -- ERNEST SHACKLETON!
ERNEST SHACKLETON: My darling, it is I -- ERNEST SHACKLETON!
KAT: ???
ERNEST SHACKLETON: I heard your music in your video on Cupid's Leftovers and it was so full of FEELINGS ABOUT EXPLORATION that it has INSPIRED me as I set out for my POLAR EXPEDITION! Anyway, I, ERNEST SHACKLETON, will call again soon!
(ERNEST SHACKLETON always says his name in allcaps. This a thing about ERNEST SHACKLETON which I find 100% plausible. The guy who plays Shackleton is basically channeling a really endearingly hammy mix of Sean Connery and Tim Curry in Muppet Treasure Island and I love every minute of it.)
This is followed up by calls from Ponce de Leon, also inspired by Kat's electric violin of exploration feelings, who sings a brief seductive tango --
PONCE DE LEON: I want to make you my QUEEN de LEON!
-- and Jacques Cousteau, who it turns out just has a wrong number. But anyway, back to ERNEST SHACKLETON! Kat eventually figures out that she can Skype him and video calls into his polar expedition, where he explains cheerily that his ship the Endurance has been trapped in the ice for several months now.
ERNEST SHACKLETON: Anyway, I, ERNEST SHACKLETON, have wonderful news!
KAT: You can break free from the ice?
ERNEST SHACKLETON: No, we're still completely trapped by polar ice, BUT! I'm learning to play the banjo! My darling, LET'S HOOTENANNY.
And hootenanny they do, in a banjo-electric violin duet, with the actor playing Shackleton green-screened in beautifully in front of archival stills of the Endurance.
ETA: I found a demo of the hootenanny! Sans electric violin, but: "I know it's unusual getting a call from a dead explorer, but please, my love, believe in me -- for I, ERNEST SHACKLETON, believe in you!" Which kind of sums up everything that is charming about the show.
(We wondered if the banjo was historically accurate; at this juncture, I am delighted to report that Shackleton DID IN FACT insist on carting his 14-pound banjo with him during the entirety of the two years that his crew were trapped in Antarctica. Bless you, Shackleton.)
Anyway then Shackleton's ship is completely crushed by the ice and sinks, which is pretty astoundingly rendered onstage through the use of archival footage. (Sidenote: the amount of archival footage that actually survived from that expedition blows my mind a little. Just the fact that they actually managed to hang onto the film all that time! Anyway.)
ERNEST SHACKLETON: NEW GOAL! We're going to march ACROSS the ice until we find open water!
KAT, INSPIRED: I'm coming with you!
At this point Shackleton decides to be no longer bound by the limitations of Skype and emerges from Kat's fridge, and the entire stage breaks out in blizzarding because Kat is on this journey for REAL.
So the next approximate hour of theater is basically the story of the Shackleton expedition + Kat, and actually turns out to be quite a really well-done and moving evocation of heroic struggle against all odds, serving double duty as a metaphor for how incredibly hard it is to a.) be a single mom b.) have a career in the arts c.) do both at the same time WAUGH.
(Sidenote 2: So for about the first half of the show I had the Shackleton expedition confused with Scott's Terra Nova expedition, which meant I was convinced everyone was going to die tragically and FEELING SORT OF CONFLICTED about the use of this as a metaphor for noble artistic struggle. Historical record spoiler: Shackleton's expedition is the one where everything went wrong but everyone performed extraordinary feats and miraculously survived anyway! JUST FYI. IN CASE YOU WERE CONCERNED. AS I WAS CONCERNED.)
Anyway: a lot of desperate struggle against near-impossible odds, some mutual inspiration via music, and a few polar makeouts later, the Shackleton expedition is rescued at last!
ERNEST SHACKLETON bids Kat a fond temporary farewell, Kat sits down to ponder the valuable lessons she's learned about life, and! then! Ponce de Leon jumps out of Kat's oven and rips his shirt open in a reprise of ATTEMPTED TANGO OF SEDUCTION!
KAT: Um, I'm sorry, but me and Ernest Shackleton are kind of a thing now ....
PONCE DE LEON: ERNEST SHACKLETON has LIED to you! He's a womanizer! And! He's MARRIED!
KAT: You're lying!
PONCE DE LEON: Check his WIKIPEDIA PAGE! -- no, scroll down.
KAT: Oh my God, he IS married!
Then ERNEST SHACKLETON shows up on Skype to defend himself, and he and Ponce de Leon get in a FIGHT over KAT'S LOVE, and they DUEL, and then Ponce de Leon shoots ERNEST SHACKLETON dead!
...and while Kat is still reeling from all this, her douchebag ex-boyfriend shows up and tries to move back into her life!
HOWEVER, Kat has achieved enough personal growth through her adventures to tell him that she is in love with ERNEST SHACKLETON, who MAY OR MAY NOT EXIST, and throw her douchebag ex out of the apartment and face the hard road that she must walk alone but will walk with pride and self-respect! But without a job, apparently, that plot thread is just totally dropped.
And then she and ERNEST SHACKLETON climb triumphantly into the fridge together, AND CURTAIN. (In an I think accidentally unfortunate piece of symbolism, they leave Kat's baby behind on the floor. Oops.)
As we sat around at a bakery at the end of the show, I asked my companions what their most important takeaways from the show were that I should make sure to note down in this write-up.
gaudior: I really appreciated that Kat's struggle to get through the challenges of her life was treated like as much of a heroic quest as Shackleton's polar expedition!
jinian: I was a little confused structurally by the fact that the plot thread about her job was completely dropped?
genarti: It was really good for a while but WHY PONCE DE LEON
genarti, jinian and gaudior to go see Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, a musical about the inspirational romantic connection between a down-on-her-luck electric violinist and the legendary turn-of-the-century polar explorer.Ernest Shackleton Loves Me begins with Our Heroine Kat recording a video for the dating website Cupid's Leftovers, in which she explains that, although her passion is writing avant-garde modern operas, everybody thinks her opera is terrible. However, she has just finished writing a FANTASTIC score for a video game --
KAT: And if I have to write music for space, I will not write BORING music for space!
-- which contains all her FEELINGS about ADVENTURE and EXPLORATION and ELECTRIC VIOLINS! Even if it's just for sad pasty video-game-playing teenage boys (because only pasty teenage boys play video games, right? Though, to be fair, I believe that a person who has hitherto spent their career writing avant-garde modern opera would believe this.)
Alas! Kat's dating video is cut off by a call from her boss informing her that EVEN THOUGH her music is really good, she's very difficult to work with and therefore he is firing her and won't be using any of it.
Also, Kat's apartment is freezing, her baby is crying in the next room, and her deadbeat ex-boyfriend drunk-dials her from his touring Journey cover band. LIFE IS NOT GOOD.
However, just as Kat is spiraling into the depths of despair, she is interrupted by a phone call from -- ERNEST SHACKLETON!
ERNEST SHACKLETON: My darling, it is I -- ERNEST SHACKLETON!
KAT: ???
ERNEST SHACKLETON: I heard your music in your video on Cupid's Leftovers and it was so full of FEELINGS ABOUT EXPLORATION that it has INSPIRED me as I set out for my POLAR EXPEDITION! Anyway, I, ERNEST SHACKLETON, will call again soon!
(ERNEST SHACKLETON always says his name in allcaps. This a thing about ERNEST SHACKLETON which I find 100% plausible. The guy who plays Shackleton is basically channeling a really endearingly hammy mix of Sean Connery and Tim Curry in Muppet Treasure Island and I love every minute of it.)
This is followed up by calls from Ponce de Leon, also inspired by Kat's electric violin of exploration feelings, who sings a brief seductive tango --
PONCE DE LEON: I want to make you my QUEEN de LEON!
-- and Jacques Cousteau, who it turns out just has a wrong number. But anyway, back to ERNEST SHACKLETON! Kat eventually figures out that she can Skype him and video calls into his polar expedition, where he explains cheerily that his ship the Endurance has been trapped in the ice for several months now.
ERNEST SHACKLETON: Anyway, I, ERNEST SHACKLETON, have wonderful news!
KAT: You can break free from the ice?
ERNEST SHACKLETON: No, we're still completely trapped by polar ice, BUT! I'm learning to play the banjo! My darling, LET'S HOOTENANNY.
And hootenanny they do, in a banjo-electric violin duet, with the actor playing Shackleton green-screened in beautifully in front of archival stills of the Endurance.
ETA: I found a demo of the hootenanny! Sans electric violin, but: "I know it's unusual getting a call from a dead explorer, but please, my love, believe in me -- for I, ERNEST SHACKLETON, believe in you!" Which kind of sums up everything that is charming about the show.
(We wondered if the banjo was historically accurate; at this juncture, I am delighted to report that Shackleton DID IN FACT insist on carting his 14-pound banjo with him during the entirety of the two years that his crew were trapped in Antarctica. Bless you, Shackleton.)
Anyway then Shackleton's ship is completely crushed by the ice and sinks, which is pretty astoundingly rendered onstage through the use of archival footage. (Sidenote: the amount of archival footage that actually survived from that expedition blows my mind a little. Just the fact that they actually managed to hang onto the film all that time! Anyway.)
ERNEST SHACKLETON: NEW GOAL! We're going to march ACROSS the ice until we find open water!
KAT, INSPIRED: I'm coming with you!
At this point Shackleton decides to be no longer bound by the limitations of Skype and emerges from Kat's fridge, and the entire stage breaks out in blizzarding because Kat is on this journey for REAL.
So the next approximate hour of theater is basically the story of the Shackleton expedition + Kat, and actually turns out to be quite a really well-done and moving evocation of heroic struggle against all odds, serving double duty as a metaphor for how incredibly hard it is to a.) be a single mom b.) have a career in the arts c.) do both at the same time WAUGH.
(Sidenote 2: So for about the first half of the show I had the Shackleton expedition confused with Scott's Terra Nova expedition, which meant I was convinced everyone was going to die tragically and FEELING SORT OF CONFLICTED about the use of this as a metaphor for noble artistic struggle. Historical record spoiler: Shackleton's expedition is the one where everything went wrong but everyone performed extraordinary feats and miraculously survived anyway! JUST FYI. IN CASE YOU WERE CONCERNED. AS I WAS CONCERNED.)
Anyway: a lot of desperate struggle against near-impossible odds, some mutual inspiration via music, and a few polar makeouts later, the Shackleton expedition is rescued at last!
ERNEST SHACKLETON bids Kat a fond temporary farewell, Kat sits down to ponder the valuable lessons she's learned about life, and! then! Ponce de Leon jumps out of Kat's oven and rips his shirt open in a reprise of ATTEMPTED TANGO OF SEDUCTION!
KAT: Um, I'm sorry, but me and Ernest Shackleton are kind of a thing now ....
PONCE DE LEON: ERNEST SHACKLETON has LIED to you! He's a womanizer! And! He's MARRIED!
KAT: You're lying!
PONCE DE LEON: Check his WIKIPEDIA PAGE! -- no, scroll down.
KAT: Oh my God, he IS married!
Then ERNEST SHACKLETON shows up on Skype to defend himself, and he and Ponce de Leon get in a FIGHT over KAT'S LOVE, and they DUEL, and then Ponce de Leon shoots ERNEST SHACKLETON dead!
...and while Kat is still reeling from all this, her douchebag ex-boyfriend shows up and tries to move back into her life!
HOWEVER, Kat has achieved enough personal growth through her adventures to tell him that she is in love with ERNEST SHACKLETON, who MAY OR MAY NOT EXIST, and throw her douchebag ex out of the apartment and face the hard road that she must walk alone but will walk with pride and self-respect! But without a job, apparently, that plot thread is just totally dropped.
And then she and ERNEST SHACKLETON climb triumphantly into the fridge together, AND CURTAIN. (In an I think accidentally unfortunate piece of symbolism, they leave Kat's baby behind on the floor. Oops.)
As we sat around at a bakery at the end of the show, I asked my companions what their most important takeaways from the show were that I should make sure to note down in this write-up.
gaudior: I really appreciated that Kat's struggle to get through the challenges of her life was treated like as much of a heroic quest as Shackleton's polar expedition!jinian: I was a little confused structurally by the fact that the plot thread about her job was completely dropped?genarti: It was really good for a while but WHY PONCE DE LEON
no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 04:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 03:32 pm (UTC)...OK I actually got free tickets from work, but it would have been worth the ticket price I would have paid!
no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 04:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 05:01 am (UTC)It's really the Journey cover band that puts the tragic cherry on the sundae.
(I was gonna say, "how does Kat's baby feel about having ERNEST SHACKLETON for a new stepdad" but apparently it doesn't feel . . . anything . . . because it's still on the floor in her apartment . . .)
(I have to ask, do they ever explain how ERNEST SHACKLETON managed to get on Cupid's Leftovers and then call Kat in a different time period and probably long-distance?)
no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 02:23 pm (UTC)(I am now also curious if she was fired because she was actually difficult to work with -- in which case, good boss move, I approve -- or if she was fired because she was "difficult to work with" in which case, not so great boss move, I disapprove.)
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 03:35 pm (UTC)(Who wouldn't want ERNEST SHACKLETON as a stepdad though??)
The explanation at heart is "Kat has been up for 36 hours and it's all PROBABLY a time-traveling hallucination," but, I mean, the alternate explanation could easily be "THE POWER OF DETERMINATION AND RELENTLESS OPTIMISM!"
What impressed us more is how she was able to get from talking to him on the phone to Skype with one push of a button and with NO dropped connection.)
no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 05:29 am (UTC)+1.
his 14-pound banjo
What was Shackleton's banjo made out of?
I hope eventually one of them remembers to go back for Kat's baby. I realize they'd be raising the kid in a complicated frozen metaphor, but it has to be better than an empty apartment.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 01:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 03:44 pm (UTC)Besides, if they raise the kid in a complicated frozen metaphor, they have twenty-two earnest surviving sailor babysitters!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 06:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 11:17 am (UTC)You have kindly not mentioned that this was 100% my fault, but it totally was. POLAR EXPLORER MASHUP.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 04:03 pm (UTC)Fun fact from Wikipedia: apparently Scott died because his teammates decided to save the dogs?? Sorry, Shackleton's puppies...
no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 11:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 01:01 pm (UTC)2. I love that we live in a world where a thing like this not only occurred as an idea to someone, but that that someone was able to bring it to life.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 04:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 03:25 pm (UTC)...do I accurately read this recap to indicate that the script literally fridges the heroine in the finale?
[exits rapidly stage right, dodging thrown objects all the way]
no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 04:29 pm (UTC)...and the hero fridges himself many, many times first. :D
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 07:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 08:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2015-09-26 10:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-27 01:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-27 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-27 01:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2015-09-27 05:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-27 01:21 pm (UTC)Key question: in addition to being a puppet show (?), was it ALSO a musical?
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2015-09-27 01:58 pm (UTC)I recommend Shackleton's diary about that expedition, btw.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-27 02:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2015-09-28 05:08 pm (UTC)An entirely valid take on the man.
---L.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-29 03:11 am (UTC)I was saying to Gen tonight that now I just want that guy to read the audiobook of all of Shackleton's diaries.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-29 09:12 pm (UTC)it's hard to have it all!
no it sounds amazing.