The middle school production was the all consuming theme of our weekend, Cassy in the thick of it as I merely played a supporting role on the periphery. It was a runaway train, a rollicking trip of good vibes and a tour de force, if critics are to be believed. Cassy's team of girls did a magnificent job under her direction as you can see not only from the "Big Four" characters above, but from the cast of thousands who needed three costume and makeup changes through the course of the show. Despite the cast swelling beyond any before witnessed limits, Cass had an even smaller team than usual, so the 11 girls did a fantastic job in the production line of Munchkins and Jitterbugs along with the intricate hour long jobs on the Lion, Tinman and Scarecrow.
"Dorothy" was the star of the show and her performance was mature and talented. As it happens, the girl who played Dorothy is the oldest daughter of Cassy's great friend, Kristin! This young girl has done incredibly well after transferring from local school just two years ago at the start of Grade 5. Imagine that....a young Aussie girl, fluent in Mandarin and transferring to an English speaking school before becoming the lead in a middle school production while still in Grade 6? I'm thinking there are great deeds ahead for this kid!
Cass was desperate for distractions during her minor breaks from the action this week yet a series of unexpected and unwelcome distractions rocked us during the week. A series of earthquakes of quite significant proportions rocked the east coast not 40 kilometres from where we are, a little closer than the usual epicentres. The school buildings, despite their monolithic bulk, were jolted and rocked and quite the queasy feeling ensued. I wrote a poem about this last time and felt like writing another one!
With Richter readings in the mid to late 5s, we'd be quite happy without them. On Friday evening, as we snacked on paninis down at Letitia before the performance, there was yet another 5+ shudder...it's all very unsettling!
We distracted ourselves with a delicious Thai lunch/dinner on the weekend, sneaking down to SOGO in the afternoon before the dinner rush began and before Cass was on duty in the late afternoon to get ready for the big Saturday night show. We couldn't tear ourselves away from our usual signature dishes: they really are terrific and authentic. If you close your eyes and imagine yourself beachside in Chon Buri or Hua Hin, scrunching sand between your toes and listening to gentle waves crashing on the shoreline, it really is a beautiful experience!
We celebrated the last show, the Sunday matinee, with a similar early dinner, this time at the peerless Din Tai Feng. Extending the them of the weekend, we resorted to the familiar chicken Xiao long bao for me and Cassy's mushroom dumplings along with shrimp and egg fried rice, stir fried cabbage and pickled cucumber....oh, heavenly!
Mr. Lee, our landlord who live downstairs, had lent his car to be part of a wedding party so there was a little commotion in our laneway at one point over the weekend. The cute insignia was still on the car sometime later, so Cass posed with it!
I finished "Go Set a Watchman" and despite it needing a good edit (which can happen when the author dies on you!), I hail it a worthy companion piece to "...Mockingbird" despite the fact it will always live in its elder, more sophisticated sister's shadow. I also sat through every one of the 62 unanswered points inflicted on the poor, outclassed Knights on the weekend....how devastating for those young boys! Photos: some production shots, the makeup team in action, cute cars, earthquakes and the first signs of real Spring....baby birds hatching under shop awnings on our walk to school!
Video: Christmas time in a very crowded Duomo Piazza in Milan up top, or here later.