Well, almost March, but, damn, we’ve been short on snow and warm on temps. Up in the 60s today, short-sleeves and sandles weather, and I actually watered out front since all the bulbs are coming up.
Supposed to be in the 70s by mid-week.
On a related musical note, fascinating NPR story here about a new production of Porgy & Bess — but a version that hasn’t been heard in 70 years. Seems that Gershwin, as was his wont, published the music and book for his musical when he was initially done with them, then directed the premiere version on stage, making extensive edits. Gershwin died a year after the show closed, and his notes and scores from that version have been stuffed in a box since 1937.
They were rediscovered in the mid-80s, and someone is finally putting together a “new” staging of the show from those notes and scores. It’s shorter (by about 30 minutes) and both drops a song and adds a new one.
That sort of tweaking by composers of their works isn’t all that unusual (Handel did stuff to Messiah every time he put it on), though often it’s driven by accomodating the available talent and the space the performance is in. But it’s still a nifty bit of theater trivia to see how Gershwin’s performance differs from his original published version. A soundtrack will be released in the winter.
Yep…
Can’t wait to see it if it comes out on DVD. It should be interesting to hear the changes.
Also…
Other signs of spring:
The Finches have been singing in the morning for about a week now.
I saw a small flock of Goldfinches over lunch two weeks ago.
The Robin’s have been back since the beginning of Febuary.
And I saw my first Redwing today.