I spent most of the weekend in a lethargic haze, mostly due, I suppose, to my longstanding lack of sleep. It’s strange. Lately on weekend mornings I naturally wake up sometime between 9 and 11 a.m. My mind is awake and alert (though my body isn’t), but since I can’t get back to sleep, I just get up and groggily start the day, usually taking a nap in the afternoon. Anyway.
On Saturday we finished watching The Apartment on DVD, a classic romantic comedy from 1960 directed by Billy Wilder and starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray. Really great stuff. In the reading department, I am close to finishing The Master by Colm Tóibín, and have concurrently started on Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. A three-part TV program based on that book premieres this week on PBS.
On Sunday night we had dinner at Aladdin’s in Shirlington, and then saw Pacific Overtures at Signature Theatre. I think Thom and I had many of the same reactions (see his review). The show, which takes as a central moment Commodore Perry’s arrival in Japan in the 1800s, made me think a lot — which I assume is the point — and want to know more about the history of that period. (In college I took a handful of courses in Japanese history and language, but alas, much of it has faded from memory.) The show’s music is lovely, and the performances strong. However, something we found interesting, even unsettling: I’m all for color-blind casting, but as Thom notes, having a completely Caucasian cast (in white Kabuki-style makeup, no less) playing Japanese roles added a complicating layer to the already complicated issues presented in the show (isolationism, colonialism, culture clash, etc.). It’s difficult to sort through what I think about that. As I say, it’s interesting, at the very least.