supererogatory.......

I am directing a production of the Sound Of Music (continue to pray for me) and I have a wonderful cast both young and old. I am having fun working with some of our more experienced actors as we talk about scenes and go a bit deeper into what might be happening right under the surface. This is why I love rehearsal. The fellow playing Max is an absolute delight and in his research he said that he discovered that the man the character is based on was gay. I laughed because as I was reading the script I said to myself Max is obviously gay and most likely  Jewish. So without making too big a deal of it, don't want to scare the subscribers ,we have planted this idea in the show. It makes for a fun little tingle in a short scene that Max has with Rolf the 17 year old Nazi boy. Nothing big, but if you are watching you might think---"Oh, of course"

Tonight we rehearsed the scene where it is revealed that Max has been receiving calls from Berlin, and he makes the point that in case something happens (an Austrian Invasion) he wants to make sure he has some high placed German friends. This gay, Jewish, impresario wants to be pals with the Nazis.

We sat and had a conversation about that. Of course now, looking back, the very thought is horrifying. No way! Nazi bastards! well, okay, but  maybe in the thick of it, it wasn't so obvious, maybe he felt that he had to deal with the devil. I would never do that of course, my moral compass is set on a fixed point, no wrong, only right.

During the opening scene of the Woody Allen movie, Manhattan, Allens character is leading a dinner conversation , at Elaine's,about heroism," Someone is drowning, do you jump in the river and save them?" Of course. Remember a few years back, a guy fell on the subway tracks with a train approaching? Another guy on the platform jumped down and covered him while the train passed over head, with inches to spare.  You would have done that, right?

Happens everyday, people do astounding things, put themselves at risk for people they don't even know. If something like that happened right in front of us, we would do the same thing, right?

I was reading an  article in the paper today about the 50 or so Japanese workers who are at the nuclear power plant trying to stave off disaster. A spokesman for the workers said they refused to let themselves be called heroes- that they were simply workers at the plant who were doing there job. When I was a kid I worked at a fast food joint and beside the fact that I smelled like french fries for a year, I would do everything in my power not to be around when it was time to drain and clean the deep fryer, so odds are I wouldn't be heading into the steaming nuclear reactor, wading thru the radioactive water in my jumpsuit.

I enjoy when random thoughts float thru my head." Everything that rises must converge"