Sunday, October 26, 2003


It finally happened--I have offended some of my readership with the Siegfried and Roy photo, who question its taste. Yes, it's in bad taste--but that's how S&R dress, darlings. I can't fix that.

Last night's preview was exhilaratingly fun, and JM has really kicked ass today with Greg, the lighting designer, on kicking out the last of the tweaks. It's a world of difference from where the show was just a few days ago, and it's hard to believe how much has happened so quickly. Had some great conversations during tech today with the gang--everyone here is so bright, and I love the way we can talk about all sorts of topics while lights are getting focused. It's a lot more fun now, since things have begun to work cleanly, and that's reflected in the amount of fun people are having.

Another preview tonight, and then mercifully there is a day off, which means I can start catching up. I owe The Stranger a 3000+ word article for an upcoming issue, and I need to really dig into that, as well as domestic issues (laundry, banking) and even more writing in advance of the end of the month. It'll be nice to rest the theater muscles and switch to other forms, though.

Point of clarification: in a recent interview I am quoted as saying:

...the Daisey plan for the cultural enrichment of the United States. "Get rid of all the subsidies for the arts," he says. "Just institute universal health and dental care. It would be a great boon to the arts and artists. When you're young -- sure, I can sleep on the floor, I can write or rehearse at night and temp during the day, I don't need benefits, I'm healthy. But that doesn't last. People want to get married. They want to have kids."

I stand by those words, but that's not really all I said on the subject--I emphatically qualified that it's obvious that this is not an if/then equation--arts funding is a miniscule amount of the federal budget, whereas universal health coverage would be a huge program. This quote out of context has been spiced up so I sound more gonzo-esque, which I can appreciate, but I don't like looking like I support cutting arts programs--they're so damn small already that they aren't going to make a goddamn difference on any budget, anywhere, and the richness they bring out far outweighs the cost.

Blah blah blah. Maybe I'm just being sensitive, and it doesn't read that way, but when I read that I thought I sounded like a moron.

Enough of that. Back to the theater, and then a day off.