February Symphonic Series with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra

FWSO program

The Travelling Toe and several Dear Friends attended the February symphonic concert presented by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Musical Director, conducted the concert.

Miguel Harth-Bedoya

Following "The Star Spangled Banner", the orchestra performed music written by Franz Schubert.  The selection was the overture to "Alfonso and Estrella".  The score was completed in February, 1822.  The opera was never performed in Schubert's lifetime but the overture was performed numerous times before he passed

Franz Schubert
1797-1828

After a short pause, Maestro Harth-Bedoya returned to the stage accompanied by guest cello soloist Raphaela Gromes. The cello Ms. Gromes played is a 1855 Jean-Batiste Vuillaume instrument. She performed Robert Schumann's "Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in A Minor".  Wow!!  Raphaela was so impressive and the sounds that flowed from the cello were enchanting. The audience was most appreciative of her performance with prolonged applause.  Raphaela returned to the stage to play an encore for the audience with Alan Steele, FWSO Cello Principal. Oh wow...what an amazing duet! The title of the selection was not announced...rats!

Robert Schumann
1810-1856

Raphaela Gromes
cello soloist

After a short intermission, orchestra members returned to the stage for the last selection, "Pictures At An Exhibition".  Modest Mussorgsky composed this music first for solo piano. It was later scored for a full orchestra and was premiered in Paris May,1923 to great acclaim. Ken Meltzer wrote on the program notes about the piece, "Mussorgsky's "pictures At An Exhibition" was the Russian composers' heartfelt memorial tribute to his friend, the visual artist, Viktor Hartmann".

Modest Mussorgsky
1839-1881

Life Is Better With Music and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra!

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra

"Chicago" presented at Bass Hall

CHICAGO
play program

The touring show of "Chicago" recently made a stop at Bass Hall.  The Travelling Toe has seen this musical several times, as well as the award winning movie, and could not pass up seeing it yet again.  The story and music never get old.

"Chicago" was first performed on June 3, 1975.  Fred Ebb and John Lander wrote the music and lyrics for the musical.  The renowned choreographer Bob Fosse, created the dance numbers.

Fred Ebb - lyrist
192 -2004

John Kander - composer
1927-

Bob Fosse - choreographer
1927-1987

The action takes place in 1920's Chicago, during the Jazz Age.  Velma Kelly, who works in vaudeville, murdered her husband and her sister....after all they deserved it as they were in bed together. Well, what else was a girl to do???  Velma is arrested and thrown into jail.  Then along comes Roxie Hart, married to a boring mechanic, Amos Hart, and dating a nightclub hustler.  When she finds him cheating on her...bam, bam...he's dead!  So Roxie is thrown into jail too. There Velma and Roxie make the acquaintance of the jail matron, "Mama" Morton.  As she tells it to the girls, "if you are good to Mama, Mama is good to you".  Both Velma and Roxie try to get hot-shot attorney Billy Flynn to take their cases. As Billy says about the newspapers and jurors, "give'em the old Razzle Dazzle".

Once again this fun and entertaining musical continues to capture all the excitement of the Roaring 20's before the Big Crash!

Bass Hall

"Peter Rabbit" (movie critique)

PETER RABBIT
movie poster

Normally The Travelling Toe by-passes animated movies, but having seen the previews for "Peter Rabbit" it looked interesting and funny. The movie combined animated creatures interacting with real people. Additionally, the animals were based of those beloved characters created by Beatrix Potter.

Beatrix Potter
1866-1943

The internet provides this overview of the movie:

Peter Rabbit and his three sisters -- Flopsy, Mopsy and Cotton-Tail -- enjoy spending their days in Mr. McGregor's vegetable garden. When one of McGregor's relatives suddenly moves in, he's less than thrilled to discover a family of rabbits in his new home. A battle of wills soon breaks out as the new owner hatches scheme after scheme to get rid of Peter -- a resourceful rabbit who proves to be a worthy and wily opponent.

The movie was indeed funny as the animals tried to get the best of the new Mr. McGregor.  Additionally, the excellent animation of the rabbits and other animals made them appear to be real!

CAST:

Rose Byrne
Bea

Domhall Gleeson
Thomas McGregor

voices for featured animals:

James Corden                

                                    Peter Rabbit

Elizabeth Debicki

                                    Mopsy

Margot Robbie

                                   Flopsy

Daisy Ridley

                                  Cotton-Tail

Sia

                                  Mrs Tiggy-Winkle

This was indeed a fun and silly movie.  But we needed a break from all the dark movies we had seen lately.

The Travelling Toe awards this movie 1 second toe up with a carrot to munch on while you watch the movie...or not!!

    

         

January FWSO Pops Concert

JANUARY FWSO PROGRAM

The January, 2018 Pops program with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra was titled, "Let's Dance".  Guest Conductor, William Waldrop, lead the orchestra throughout the program.

The program began with a musical number played by the orchestra which was written by Leonard Bernstein, "Mambo" from "West Side Story".

Then the "Blue Danube Waltz" was played next and featured graceful dancers waltzing across the stage.  

Guest vocalist , Michel Lynche, sang "Sway" as a couple danced the tango. This pair of dancers were fabulous doing all those intricate moves that are part of a tango and not injuring each other. To close the first half, it was time for 1950's bop with a dance medley starting with  "Blue Suede Shoes" and ending with "Twistin' The Night Away". A couple bopped on stage and made all the dance moves look easy and a lot of fun.

After a short intermission, the orchestra opened the second half of the program with 
"Can-Can" from Offenbach's "Orpheus In The Underworld".

The audience was treated to more tango and swing dancing. Also, Ted Louis Levy, tap dancer extraordinaire, was a delight to watch as those happy feet of his tapped across the stage!

For the last number, Mr. Waldrop said, that the only dancing missing so far was Dirty Dancing and the orchestra started playing "I've Had The Time Of My Life".  All three pairs of dancers came on stage and danced to this famous song ending with amazing lifts similar to the one shown in the movie.

This was one of the best Pop concerts that The Travelling Toe has seen in a long time.  Beautiful music played by a world class symphony, excellent singers and exceptional dancers.  It was like being at "Dancing With The Stars" and "American Idol" all at one time!

Guest Vocalists:

Michael Lynche
Mamie Parris

Dancers:

Chandrae Roettig and Stephen Sayer
                                (waltz and shag dancers)

Forrest Walsh and Melissa Shahin
                                 (bop dancers)


Patricio Touceda and Sonya Tsekanovsky
                               (tango dancers)

Tap Dancer

Ted Louis Levy

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra

Lisa Gardner, Author Reception presented by Friends of North Richland Hills Library

NORTH RICHLAND HILLS
LIBRARY

North Richland Hills Library

Recently, The Travelling Toe and a Dear Friend attended a reception for renowned author, Lisa Gardner. The reception was sponsored by The Friends of the North Richland Hills Library.

LISA GARDNER
author

Lisa Gardner

After checking in at the library, each guest received a bag with Ms Gardner's latest book inside, "Look For Me".  A queue was formed and guests were delighted to meet 
Ms.Gardner as she autographed their book.  Additionally guests were allowed to have photos made with her during the signing.  


Photos of Your's Truly and Lisa Gardner!  (she's the cute one)

A light snack of sandwiches, fruit, salad and desserts were served to all the guests.

After the snack, guests then preceded to the second floor where Ms.Gardner was introduced and came to the podium.  She talked about her many books, her writing process and other fun facts about being an author.  After the presentation, Lisa answered questions from the audience.  

Lisa at the poduim

Lisa Gardner has written over 30 books with 2.2 million in print. They have been translated into 30 languages.  She said she has always been an avid reader and as a child spent many hours in her local library. She called it a "candy story".  Growing up in a small community, books opened the world to her.  (Nancy Drew was a favorite)  

Her normal routine while writing a book is that she writes Monday - Friday early in the morning. Her dogs love that she gets up early as they like to have breakfast at 4:30 am.  Often she and a dog will go hiking near her home in New Hampshire  and while hiking she is always thinking about murder, how to solve it and who did it. She said she was not good  writing about sex but she was excellent in writing about violence.  (Should we be worried?)

In the latest edition of the New York Times Book Review page, "Look For Me" is #2 under Fiction Combined and #2 for Fiction E-Books.

What a wonderful evening and it was so delightful to meet Lisa Gardner!  

Met Live presents "Tosca"

1900 Tosca poster

The Travelling Toe and 2 Dear Friends attended the Saturday noon performance of "Tosca", which was beamed live from The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, to movie theaters around the world.  We saw the opera at a local Cine-mark Theater in Fort Worth.

"Tosca", was written by Giacomo Puccini.  The opera, a tragedy, is 3 acts and is sung in Italian. It premiered on January 14,1900, at Teatro Costanzi in Rome. In 1901, "Tosca" premiered at the Met.

The Metropolitan Opera web site provided this short overview of the opera:

Puccini’s melodrama about a volatile diva, a sadistic police chief, and an idealistic artist has offended and thrilled audiences for more than a century. Critics, for their part, have often had problems with Tosca’s rather grungy subject matter, the directness and intensity of its score, and the crowd-pleasing dramatic opportunities it provides for its lead roles. But these same aspects have also made Toscaone of a handful of iconic works that seem to represent opera in the public imagination.

Additionally, there is a more expanded overview of each of the opera's three acts on The Met's web site.

Metropolitan Opera

What a wonderful performance!  All the performers were excellent in their roles as well as the support cast.  What makes seeing an opera beamed live from The Met, is that audience members are treated to interviews with the cast, the conductor, and the chorus master.  Plus one gets to see all the intrigue with the back stage crew as sets are being changed and 

set-up.

"Call Me By Your Name" (movie critique)

Another movie that has been nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, is "Call Me By Your Name".  A Dear Friend and The Travelling Toe went to an afternoon showing of this movie.  Must admit there were a couple of times we were tempted to leave but we persevered so we could see how this unusual movie ended. Was it worth our time to stay?  Well Dear Readers you will just have to find that out for yourself!

A synopsis of the story line from the internet is as follows:

It's the summer of 1983, and precocious 17-year-old Elio Perlman is spending the days with his family at their 17th-century villa in Lombardy, Italy. He soon meets Oliver, a handsome doctoral student who's working as an intern for Elio's father. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of their surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.

CAST:

Timothee Chalamet
Elio Perlman

Armie Hammer
Oliver

The Travelling Toe awards this movie 1 second toe up with a peach...and if you see the movie then you will know why!

"Phantom Thread" (movie critique)

PHANTOM THREAD
movie poster

In pursuit of seeing as many of the Oscar nominated movies as possible, The Travelling Toe and the Movie Mavens went to the local multiplex to see "Phantom Thread". The star of this movie, Daniel Day-Lewis, has announced he is retiring from making movies. That is sad to hear as he is such an excellent actor and also somewhat sad that this quirky movie would be his swan song.  

The internet provided this plot overview:

Set in the glamour of 1950’s post-war London, renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) are at the center of British fashion, dressing royalty, movie stars, heiresses, socialites, debutantes and dames with the distinct style of The House of Woodcock. Women come and go through Woodcock’s life, providing the confirmed bachelor with inspiration and companionship, until he comes across a young, strong-willed woman, Alma (Vicky Krieps), who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover. Once controlled and planned, he finds his carefully tailored life disrupted by love. With his latest film, Paul Thomas Anderson paints an illuminating portrait both of an artist on a creative journey, and the women who keep his world running. Phantom Thread is Paul Thomas Anderson’s eighth movie, and his second collaboration with Daniel Day-Lewis.

Must admit we found this movie to be a tad of a let down. Some of the best things about the movie was a look at the 1950's fashion styles, the vintage cars, and music. After the movie, when the group was sitting around the lunch table, the plot line was heavily discussed in trying to figure how it all comes together - or if in fact it did!!!

  
CAST:

Daniel Day-Lewis
Reynolds Woodcock

Vicky Krieps
Alma

Lesley Manville
Cyril

Should this movie be nominated for Best Picture?  Only you Dear Readers can answer that question!!

The Travelling Toe gives this movie 1 second toe up and 1 pinky toe up with your very own sewing kit so you too can be a couturier to socialites and movie stars!t!

"Star Wars:The Last Jedi" (movie critique)

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI
movie poster

In between bouts of bronchitis, The Travelling Toe was able to see "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" before it left the movie theaters.  So Dear Readers, if you are a Star Wars fan you have seen it and if you are not a Star Wars fan you won't be seeing it!!!  

So here is an overview of the plot from the internet:

Luke Skywalker's peaceful and solitary existence gets upended when he encounters Rey, a young woman who shows strong signs of the Force. Her desire to learn the ways of the Jedi forces Luke to make a decision that changes their lives forever. Meanwhile, Kylo Ren and General Hux lead the First Order in an all-out assault against Leia and the Resistance for supremacy of the galaxy.

The Travelling Toe and Dear Friend enjoyed the movie as we have seen almost all the Star Wars flicks.  We were delighted to see after the end of the movie with the credits,  a special acknowledgement for Carrie Fisher.  Very well done!

Will there be more Star Wars movies?  You betcha!!


The Travelling Toe gives this movie 1 big toe up with your very own Death Star!!

January 2018 FWSO Symphony Program FWSO

JAN 2018 FWSO
program

The January Symphony program was titled "Nights In The Gardens Of Spain".  

Conductor, Miguel Harth-Bedoya

Miguel Harth-Bedoya was at the podium to conduct the FWSO. The first selection of the program was, "Nights In The Gardens Of Spain".  The composition was written by
Manuel de Falla. Program notes written by Ken Meltzer, provide an insight to this musical selection:

As with many of Falla's greatest compositions, "Night In The Gardens Of Spain" is a masterful, captivating synthesis of classical music and Spanish Folk culture.

Manuel de Falla
1876-1946

This was a wonderful and dramatic piece of music.  Manuel de Falla has written many exciting pieces of music and it is always delightful to hear them. With Joaquin Achucarro featured at the piano, he added that extra magical component.  As a side note,
Mr. Achucarro was celebrating his 85th birthday!  He has an astounding touch with those piano keys!

Joaquin Achucarro

After extended applause, the second piece of music began, once again featuring pianist Joaquin Achucarro.

This composition, "Raposdia Espanola" was written Issac Albeniz.  He was a gifted composer writing operas, as well as orchestra and chamber works. T he program notes describe this piece of music as follows:

The "Spanish Rhapsody" includes several Spanish dances concluding with the brilliant Esudiantina.

Issac Albeniz
1860-1909

After a standing ovation and extended applause, Mr. Achucarro, returned to the piano for an encore.  He chose a lovely piece of music, "Nocturne For The Left Hand:, written by Alexander Scriabin. This was such a lovely piece and he played it gloriously.

Alexander Scriabin
1871-1915
(he certainly sports a stylish mustache)

After the intermission the musicians and Maestro Harth-Bedoya returned to the stage for the closing numbers. It was "Intermezzo From Goyescas" and Iberia from "Images".

Due to left over issues with the bronchitis attack, The Travelling Toe had to leave at intermission and was unable to hear these lovely pieces of work.

Another awesome day with the FWSO! 

www.fwsymphony.org

"The Commuter" "Den Of Thieves" (movie critique)

Dear Readers, The Travelling Toe is so behind on posting about recent movies, this post will have 2...yes 2...movie critiques in it.  Both are action flicks so that works well together!!

THE COMMUTER
movie poster

The new action flick staring Liam Neeson was showing at the local multiplex and the Movie Mavens went to see it recently.

Liam Neeson

The internet provided the following synopsis of the movie:

Insurance salesman Michael is on his daily commute home, which quickly becomes anything but routine. After being contacted by a mysterious stranger, Michael is forced to uncover the identity of a hidden passenger on the train before the last stop. As he works against the clock to solve the puzzle, he realizes a deadly plan is unfolding, and he is unwittingly caught up in a criminal conspiracy that carries life and death stakes for everyone on the train.

Once the premise was set up, the action was nonstop.  However, the plot was a tad like another of Liam's movies, "Nonstop".  That movie takes place on an airplane. If you take into account the movies of the "Taken" series, he has been facing bad guys on planes, trains and automobiles..oh my!!

The Travelling Toe gives this movie 1 second toe up due to Liam being in it, (sigh) and all the action scenes.  

The second action movie was "Den of Thieves".  This action packed movie stars Gerald Butler.  

Gerald Butler

Here is the overview of the movie from the internet:

Nick O'Brien is the hard-drinking leader of the Regulators, an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Ray Merrimen is the recently paroled leader of the Outlaws, a gang of ex-military men who use their expertise and tactical skills to evade the law. O'Brien, Merrimen and their crews soon find themselves on a direct collision course as the criminals hatch an elaborate plan for a seemingly impossible heist -- the city's Federal Reserve Bank.

Since Gerald has saved the President's life twice as a good guy in previous movies, he took on a different role as a not so nice detective.  Once again the action was well done with a few twists and turns along the way.  Language is pretty raw!

The Travelling Toe also awards this movie 1 second toe up due to Gerald being the main character and all the action scenes.


Dear Readers hope you enjoyed reading about these 2 movies...more on the way!