"A play there is, my lord, some ten words long, Which is as brief as I have known a play; But by ten words, my lord, it is too long." (MSND)

...Last nite, we went to see this year's version of an "in-house" show in our clubhouse theatre entitled "A Slice of Life." It was written by friends who have appeared with me in various shows down through the years. An "in-house" , in my experience, refers to one that has been conceived and written by our residents rather than a professional musical that has once appeared on Broadway, and which is produced and directed--also by residents. For example, I have performed in shows here as varied as "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Mikado," as well as several others. In fact, two years ago, I appeared in and directed "My Fair Lady." Rhoda and Sally Forman were the Producers and were instrumental in putting that show together in a labor of love.

...The in-house shows are much like "reviews." They usually feature several popular songs wrapped around a very thin plot, wrapped around a minimum of dialog-- but which, nevertheless, allow many more people to participate Or if it has no plot at all, it generally has a number of skits that provide an opportunity for a large cast to entertain with popular and familiar songs they enjoy singing, and which the audience enjoys hearing, and which do not require a great deal of memory work with dialog. I prefer not to audition for one of the in-house shows unless it offers a song that I, too, enjoy singing--like "Master of the House" (from Les Mis) or one of the numbers from "The Producers." Otherwise, I enjoy performing in a musical having a plotfull of dialog that would allow me to do more acting than is normally provided in a resident-written show. As an English teacher I did a helluva lot of acting in the classroom for 30 years. And that is one of the reasons I was able to succeed at teaching Shakespeare--not only to high schoolers, but also to our senior residents here at Huntington Lakes. If you want to learn to be a good actor, my feeling is that you must be able to sight read Shakespeare's dialog very well. So far, truthfully, in my 26 years here, I have not found anyone in my classes who could do that. If there is someone out there who can, I'd be very pleased to hear it.

...We have an excellent "Theatre of the Performing Arts", and the shows that are produced yearly are for residents who enjoy performing, no matter their skill, and who enjoy the camaraderie of visiting with colleagues every morning at rehearsals for two months. Nothing wrong with that. They don't audition because they have a burning desire to entertain an audience. They want to entertain themselves--they're retired. Now, once a show is over, what is the protocol if one asks "How did you like the show?" The answer is-- the question ought never to be asked. If one didn't enjoy the show, such a question puts the ticket holder at a severe disadvantage--mainly because there are only three responses to it: 1) Pretend you didn't hear the question; 2) Lie--and say you liked it, and 3) Say you thought it stunk, and lose a friend forever! Of course, if you really and truly enjoyed it, you ought to say so without being asked. But don't damn it with faint praise.

...As a critique--I believe last nite's show produced one performer who had the talent both to act and sing extremely well. I guess I can safely say that with the protection of the First Amendment, but at dinner, or any other social situation, I'd say the show had pap but was lacking in meat. However, at the performance I saw, some portion of the audience appeared to enjoy it--except for a few (we saw) who never returned after the intermission. Rhoda and I enjoyed it and remained right through the credits.