The Travelling Toe

Monday, August 7, 2017

"The Bodyguard" presented by Broadway at the Bass

THE BODYGUARD
play program

A Dear Friend and The Travelling Toe attended the Sunday matinee performance at Bass Hall of "The Bodyguard". The musical is a touring show with Fort Worth being one of many stops along the way.

The stage show is based on the 1992 hit movie of the same name stating Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.

movie poster

The stage version of the musical premiered in London's West End in 2012.

original London poster

The USA tour began in the Fall of 2016.

Pop sensation Rachel Marron has a problem - she has attracted a stalker. But she tries to go on with her shows and activities. When the threats become even more personal, along with concerns about her young son and also at the insistence of her manager, a personal security specialist is hired. Former Secret Service agent, Frank Farmer, is requested for this duty but he is reluctant to take the job as he dislikes guarding celebrities. He eventually decides to take the job with the stipulation that Rachel follow his rules. Rachel is not happy with the restrictions placed on her and she treats Frank accordingly. However as the threats increase, Rachel realizes that Frank does have her best interest, and that of her son, at heart.

The actress who played Rachel Marron, Deborah Cox, did a fantastic job. Am sure that any actress who plays Rachel will always be judged by the job Whitney Houston did in the movie. But Deborah wowed the entire audience with her singing, dancing and acting.

All the actors and actresses in the troupe were excellent singers and the dancing was phenomenal. What a super cast!

Just a few of the well known songs included in the musical were:

Greatest Love Of All

One Moment In Time

I Wanna Dance With Somebody

I Will Always Love You

Where Do Broken Hearts Go
What a wonderful show - we both enjoyed it so much!

Bass Hall

Saturday, August 5, 2017

"On The Town" presented by Stolen Shakespeare Guild

ON THE TOWN
play program

The Travelling Toe and 3 Dear Friends attended the Saturday matinee production of "On The Town". The play presented by SSG, was performed on the Sanders Theatre stage.

Perhaps you might remember the 1949 movie that is sometimes played on movie channels. It starred Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Ann Miller and Betty Garrett.

On The Town
movie poster

The story is about 3 young sailors, Gabey, Chip and Ozzie, who have a 24 hour liberty pass from their ship in NYC. Since they only have a short time in the Big Apple they want to make every second count - and they do!!

Ozzie, Gabey and Chip

Along with all the sightseeing they each meet the girl of their dreams. But not with out some singing and dancing and a lot of fun.

Sailors and Gals

The opening and closing song, "New York, New York" is now considered a classic.

The entire cast in this production were awesome in both singing and dancing. The stage area is rather small but they always do an excellent job of stage setting and design.

What a fun time we had. We were able to see the "sites' of NYC with the sailors and did not have to board a plane to join them!!

Stolen Shakespeare Guild

"Sex With Strangers" presented by Stage West

SEX WITH STRANGERS
play program

It was a hot Texas Sunday afternoon when Dear Friend and The Travelling Toe attended the matinee production of "Sex With Strangers" at Stage West

The play was written by Laura Eason who is an Emmy award winner for writing on the popular cable show, "House of Cards".

Laura Eason
playwright

An overview of the play as provided in promotional material by the theater is as follows:

When twenty-something star-sex blogger and memoirist Ethan tracks down his idol, the gifted but obscure forty-ish novelist Olivia in the middle of a blizzard, they find each carve what the other possesses. As attraction turns to sex, and they inch closer to getting what they want, the truth comes out and both must confront the dark side of ambition and the trouble of reinventing oneself when the past is only a click away.

One incident in this play that was so funny is when Ethan becomes so distraught in not being to connect with WiFI and losing touch with the world. Whereas Olivia found solace in reading actual books. At first he could not see the attraction of having a real book to read when the world was just a keystrokes away...that is if you have access to the web.

The two actors in this play were exceptional:

Dana Schultes played Olivia

Jake Buchanan played Ethan

Dear Readers, inquiring minds want to know - was there sex with strangers on stage?? Well, The travelling Toe never kisses and tells!!

Stage West scored another winner with this production!

Stage West

Friday, August 4, 2017

The Phillips Collection at the Kimbell Art Museum

Paul Cezanne
Ginger Pot with Pomegranate Ceramic Tile

Recently The Travelling Toe and 3 other Dear Friends visited the Kimbell Art Museum to view the latest exhibit, "A Modern Vision of European Masterworks from The Phillips Collection". Duncan Phillips amassed a vast number of artworks ranging from Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Expressionist. In 1921, Mr. Phillips opened the Phillips Collection in his family home and it is considered to be the first American museum dedicated to modern art.

Duncan Phillips
1886 - 1966

Photographs were not allowed in the museum but The Travelling Toe purchased several postcards with some of the paintings we saw on display - needless to say these postcards do not do justice to the real paintings

Vincent Van Gogh
The Road Menders

Edgar Degas
Dancers at the Barre

Edouard Manet
Ballet Espagnol

Alfred Sisley
Snow at Louveciennes

We all thoroughly enjoyed viewing these works of art that we might never have had the opportunity too see them if not being on loan to the Kimbell. What a wonderful way to spend about an hour viewing these beautiful pieces of art! Then having lunch afterwards of course!

Kimbell Art Museum

Kimbell Art Museum

Spider-Man: Homecoming (movie critique)

SPIDER-MAN:HOMECOMING
movie poster

On the Friday morning of opening weekend for "Spider-Man:Homecoming", the Movie Mavens and The Travelling Toe were at the multiplex for the first showing of this superhero movie. We did see it in the regular digital format not the XD or 3-D format.

According to the internet, the following is a short synopsis of the storyline of the movie:

Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, young Peter Parker returns home to live with his Aunt May. Under the watchful eye of mentor Tony Stark, Parker starts to embrace his newfound identity as Spider-Man. He also tries to return to his normal daily routine -- distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just a friendly neighborhood superhero. Peter must soon put his powers to the test when the evil Vulture emerges to threaten everything that he holds dear.

We all enjoyed the movie and of course Stan Lee made his usual brief cameo appearance during the movie. Also, when the movie is finished do not leave right away as there are a couple of nuggets shown and the last one at the end of all the credits is funny...so be "pat" for that one.

CAST:

Tom Holland
Peter Parker
AKA: Spider:Man

Robert Downey Jr
Tony Stark
AKA: Iron Man

Marisa Tomel
Aunt Mary

Michael Keaton
Adrian Toomes
AKA Vulture

Bokeem Woodbine
Shocker

The Travelling Toe awards this movie 1 big toe up with your own can of Raid just in case you are not a spider fan!

Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Texas History - Revolutionary War

The Travelling Toe can not believe it but this current post is #400! How did we get here? Just not sure. Dear Readers hopefully we have had lots of fun together on this blog and certainly hope you enjoy reading about the adventures and stories of The Travelling Toe.

There is a thank you that needs to be acknowledged to my friend Ann who helped this inept person start a blog. So thanks Ann!!! Could not have done it without you!!

And now to the subject at hand - Something completely different!

When you think of the Revolutionary War, you think of the Boston Tea Party, Washington crossing the Delaware or the Battle of Bunker Hill.

But would you think that Texas played a big part in the winning of the Revolutionary War? No...not really!

At that time Texas was still a part of Spain. But Spain came to the aid of the rebellious American colonists and King Carlos II declared war against Great Britain. King Carlos II, placed Bernardo De Galvez in charge of the Spanish troops and ordered him to strike British forces along the Mississippi River.

Bernardo de Galvez

In order to feed his troops, Galvez, requested Texas Governor Robles to provide Texas cattle to his Spanish troops heading to Louisiana. It seems that over 10,000 head of cattle were rounded up in and around the Bexar area. Vaqueros and rancheros then trailed the cattle to Nacogdoches in East Texas then on to Natchitoches and Opelousas in Louisiana where they were delivered to Galvez. This allowed his fighting troops access to fresh meat. It has been said that an army marches on it stomach so having something to eat helps a lot! One wonders did they have BBQ Texas style while camping out????

Galvez and his troops were able to defeat the British in several battles along the Mississippi. Then in 1781, Galvez defeated the British at the Siege of Pensacola.

The city of Galveston is named for Galvez.

Information on Galvez

So see, Texas did play a very important part of a successful outcome of the Revolutionary War.

*Source - Texas Historical Society

Texas Historical Societ

"Atomic Blonde" (movie critique)

ATOMIC BLONDE
movie poster

The Movie Mavens and The Travelling Toe saw the latest "spy" flick, "Atomic Blonde" at the neighborhood multiplex. The movie features Charlize Theron as a female super spy, rather like a James Bond. But she is just as ruthless and tough as he might be. She can dish it out and take it too. Who is a spy, who is a double agent and who is a triple agent? Can anyone be trusted? That would be a resounding NO!! The movie is based on a 2012 graphic novel by Antony Johnston and Sam Hart. The novel was titled "The Coldest City".

Here is a quick overview of the movie from the internet:

Sensual and savage, Lorraine Broughton is the most elite spy in MI6, an agent who's willing to use all of her lethal skills to stay alive during an impossible mission. With the Berlin Wall about to fall, she travels into the heart of the city to retrieve a priceless dossier and take down a ruthless espionage ring. Once there, she teams up with an embedded station chief to navigate her way through the deadliest game of spies.

Since the movie is set during the time that events are taking place in East Berlin that ultimately result in the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the movie has a rather dark overwash to it. So that makes it seem even more sinister and deadly and cold.

CAST: