"A Streetcar Named Desire" by Ten Thousand Things at Minnesota Opera Center

Ten Thousand Things does theater like no other company I've seen, and Tennessee Williams wrote some of the best American plays of the 20th Century - full of drama and tragedy and beautifully written characters. Combine these two powerhouses and you have a pretty remarkable experience at the theater. A Streetcar Named Desire is one of Williams' best-known plays and deals with complex issues of family relationships, spousal abuse, rape, poverty, and mental illness. My first introduction to the work was a beautiful production at the Guthrie three years ago, a memory I try to hold on to in an attempt to displace the memory of last year's unfortunate Broadway production, which had audiences laughing at inappropriate moments. It was like Streetcar, the Comedy, and it was not good. The concept was a good one - an ethnically diverse cast - but the tone of the production was much too light. I thought perhaps it was also due to the unsophisticated audience that the TV actors on stage brought in, but I've learned from Ten Thousand Things that it doesn't matter if an audience member has never seen a play before in their life, or has seen hundreds. If you do it right - they'll get it. In addition to performing for the typical theater-goer like myself, TTT takes their shows into prisons, homeless shelter, schools, and community centers in an effort to bring theater to a wider audience. And they have a really wonderful and unique way of stripping the work down to the essentials and presenting it in a way that anyone can relate to, regardless of prior theater experience. They've done that with Streetcar, and the result is a brutally real and emotionally affecting two hours that's at times difficult to endure. Seeing Williams' tragic story so up close and personal is almost too much to bear. In other words - they did it right.

Austene Van as Blanche

This production of Streetcar focuses on the four main characters and removes several minor characters that don't factor into the main plot. The play begins with Blanche visiting her sister Stella and her husband Stanley in New Orleans. Blanche and Stella grew up in a wealthy Southern family, but hard times have caused Blanche to lose the home place, while Stella and Stanley live in two small modest rooms. Blanche is high-strung, to put it mildly. She takes long baths and drinks to calm her nerves, and can't possibly speak about the troubles in her past. She's a woman who's all about appearances; if things look pretty and put together, then everything must be all right. Reality is much too harsh for the world that Blanche lives in. Her young husband died tragically years ago, which, along with her family's financial hardship and the deaths of her parents, sent her on a downward spiral. No where else to go, she lands with her sister, with a trunk full of pretty clothes, fur, and jewelry, mementos of her past. Blanche finds companionship with Stanley's buddy Mitch; they're two lonely people who need someone. It's the beginning of what seems like could be a quiet, simple love, as opposed to Stella and Stanley's passionate but abusive love. Stanley is suspicious of Blanche and thinks that she's holding something back. He learns some gossip about her and uses it against her. In the end, Stella must choose between her husband and her sister. It's a tragic story with no happy endings.

Stella (Elizabeth Grullon) and
Stanley (Kris Nelson)

This fantastic four-person cast is directed by the equally fantastic Randy Reyes. All of these characters are interesting and complex, but none more so than Blanche, and Austene Van plays every layer. Blanche becomes more and more unhinged as the play goes on, and by the end, her eyes are just vacant; she's gone. Elizabeth Grullon is also great as Stella, always hot and frazzled and wanting to believe in her husband and sister both, until she has to make the terrible choice. Kris Nelson may not look like the Stanley Kowalski type, but he's got that sinister attitude in every word and look. He's one of my favorite local actors and usually has this great positive energy, but in this case he's turned that energy much darker in an almost scarily realistic way. Rounding out the cast is Kurt Kwan as the sweet and charming Mitch. All four of these actors have great chemistry with each other and play well together.

This is a fairly elaborate set by Ten Thousand Things standards. In case you've never seen a TTT show before, they create a "stage" by placing a few rows of chairs in a square. The space in the middle is where the story takes place, but it also spills outside the square as the fully lit room allows you to follow the actors as they leave the space. Dean Holzman has effectively transformed this empty square into the two rooms, with an imaginary curtain separating the tiny bed in one corner from the kitchen table in the other. Peter Vitale adds a soundtrack to the play, adding in jazz music playing on the radio or creepy carnival music when Blanche remembers her difficult past.

The last several shows that TTT has done have been on the more light-hearted side, which allowed the cast to play with the audience a little. But not so with Streetcar. The actors keep the intensity of the story and reside in the world they create, as if the audience isn't even there. Not since Doubt two years ago (also starring Kris Nelson) have they tackled such a serious drama. As always, I highly recommend that you go see it. I went with a friend who had never seen TTT before, and we're already talking about getting season passes next season (which includes A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Music Man, and a new play by Kira Obolensky). Warning: the kind of real, raw, intimate theater that Ten Thousand Things does can be addictive.

2012 Tony Nominations

The 2012 Tony Award Nominations were announced on May 1. I have a few opinions about who I'd like to see take home the trophies since I've seen five of the eligible shows on my trips to NYC last fall and this spring (plus one right here in Minneapolis!):

• Follies
• End of the Rainbow (at the Guthrie immediately before the current Broadway run)
• Once
• A Streetcar Named Desire
• The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess

Here are the nominations along with a few thoughts about the nominees (update: winners are bolded).


Total Wins:
Once - 8
Peter and the Starcatcher - 5
Newsies - 2
Nice Work If You Can Get It - 2
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman - 2
The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess - 2
Follies - 1
One Man, Two Guvnors - 1
Other Desert Cities - 1
Clybourne Park - 1
Venus in Fur - 1

Best Play 
Clybourne Park (Bruce Norris)

Other Desert Cities (Jon Robin Baitz)
Peter and the Starcatcher (Rick Elice)
Venus in Fur (David Ives)

I almost saw Venis in Fur this spring, but unfortunately I didn't quite get there. So I can't really comment on this category, other than I look forward to seeing the first two shows at the Guthrie next season (I just renewed my subscription).

Best Musical
Leap of Faith
Newsies
Nice Work If You Can Get It
Once

First, let me express my sadness that three of these "new musicals" are movie adaptations, and the fourth is a new story with no original music (Nice Work If You Can Get It features the music of George and Ira Gershwin). Such is the state of Broadway today - very few new original musicals (fortunately they still exist Off-Broadway). That being said, I saw Once and loved it, and would be happy to see it win. Yes it's the dreaded movie adaptation, but it's a quiet, simple movie about music that lends itself well to the stage. They were able to stay true to the spirit of this lovely story and music, while making it an entirely (well, mostly) new creation.

Best Revival of a Play
Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
Master Class
Wit

I was interested in seeing Death of a Salesman because of its star (more about him later), but musicals always call to me more than plays when I have a limited time in NYC. So I can't really comment on this (other than I'm pleased to see that the unintentionally comedic production of A Streetcar Named Desire did not receive a nomination).

Best Revival of a Musical
Evita
Follies
The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Jesus Christ Superstar

I was lucky enough to see both Follies and The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and both are spectacular revivals. Follies, by the great Stephen Sondheim, was first on Broadway in 1971, and this revival is a gorgeous production (after a limited run on Broadway, it's currently playing in L.A.), featuring beautiful music, an amazing cast of Broadway vets, and fantastic costumes.  Porgy and Bess is a new version of the classic 1935 opera, a gripping story about the African-American residents of fictional "Catfish Row" in South Carolina. If I had to choose between these two, I'd choose Porgy and Bess, but possibly only because it's fresher in my mind.

Best Book of a Musical

Lysistrata Jones (Douglas Carter Beane)

Newsies (Harvey Fierstein)

Nice Work If You Can Get It (Joe DiPietro)

Once (Enda Walsh)

Once again I'd vote for Once, the only one I saw. But really, Irish playwright Enda Walsh did a wonderful job of filling in the sparse movie and making it into a full-length musical. While I might have preferred the simplicity and subtlety of the film, I recognize that that kind of silence doesn't translate well to the stage, and I'm not sure it could have been done better.

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

Bonnie & Clyde (Music: Frank Wildhorn, Lyrics: Don Black)

Newsies (Music: Alan Menken, Lyrics: Jack Feldman)

One Man, Two Guvnors (Music & Lyrics: Grant Olding)

Peter and the Starcatcher (Music: Wayne Barker, Lyrics: Rick Elice)

I haven't heard any of these scores so I can't comment, other than it's interesting to note that the latter two are classified as plays with music, rather than musicals. And I'm surprised that Newsies qualifies as "original" score since it features music from the movie, but I guess they included enough original songs to qualify.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
James Corden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
James Earl Jones, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man
Frank Langella, Man and Boy
John Lithgow, The Columnist

Again, I haven't seen any of these performances so I can't comment, other than to say that Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of my favorite movie actors who also happens to be an accomplished theater actor (this is his third Tony nominations), so I wouldn't mind seeing him win.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Nina Arianda, Venus in Fur
Tracie Bennett, End of the Rainbow
Stockard Channing, Other Desert Cities
Linda Lavin, The Lyons
Cynthia Nixon, Wit

I think Tracie Bennett is the surest bet to win a Tony this year. Granted I haven't seen any of the other performances, but her portrayal of the great Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow is genius. And I don't know how the Tony voters could resist giving the award to the woman who brought this icon to life. I heard Tracie speak in a post-show discussion at the Guthrie, and she's been very involved in the creation of this piece and this character for ten years, so it would be nice to see that sort of passion and dedication rewarded.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Follies
Jeremy Jordan, Newsies
Steve Kazee, Once
Norm Lewis, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Ron Raines, Follies

Oh, this is a tough one! I've seen four of these performances, and heard nothing but rave reviews for the one I haven't seen. Ron and Danny were both wonderful in Follies, but of the two Danny is my favorite (I also saw him a few years ago singing "Nothing Like a Dame" in South Pacific at Lincoln Center). Steve is also wonderful, bringing a quietness and depth to his role of that guy in Once (even if, or maybe because, he's so different from my darling Glen). But if forced to choose, I'd give the Tony to Norm Lewis, who so completely embodied (physically and emotionally) the "crippled," big-hearted Porgy.

with Norm Lewis (Porgy in Porgy and Bess)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Jan Maxwell, Follies
Audra McDonald, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Cristin Milioti, Once
Kelli O’Hara, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Laura Osnes, Bonnie & Clyde

First of all - no Bernadette? But aside from that, I have to go with Audra, because she's Audra, and her Bess is so complex and layered, sympathetic while making mistakes. And that voice, come on! Let's just give her her fifth Tony.  (And a big congratulations to Minnesota's own Laura Osnes on her first Tony nomination and her successful Broadway career!)

with Audra McDonald (Bess in Porgy and Bess)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Christian Borle, Peter and the Starcatcher
Michael Cumpsty, End of the Rainbow
Tom Edden, One Man, Two Guvnors
Andrew Garfield, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Jeremy Shamos, Clybourne Park

I've only seen one of these performances, but Michael Cumpsty is sweet and charming as Judy's pianist in End of the Rainbow, who tries to save her from herself, so I'll go with him.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Linda Emond, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Spencer Kayden, Don’t Dress for Dinner
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Peter and the Starcatcher
Judith Light, Other Desert Cities
Condola Rashad, Stick Fly

No comment (but I think Judith is fabulous).

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Phillip Boykin, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Michael Cerveris, Evita
David Alan Grier, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Michael McGrath, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Josh Young, Jesus Christ Superstar

Can I write in Joshua Henry in Porgy and Bess? No? Then I'll vote for David Alan Grier, who is pretty spectacular too. Oh wait, Phillip Boykin is so imposing as the evil Crown that he received a few boos at the curtain call, which prompted him to smile and curtsy. He was super sweet and friendly at the stage door, so unlike his character. I change my vote to Phillip.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Elizabeth A. Davis, Once
Jayne Houdyshell, Follies
Judy Kaye, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Jessie Mueller, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Ghost the Musical

The Follies cast included so many amazing veteran Broadway actresses in featured roles, each getting the chance to sing one fabulous song, that I'd give the award to Jayne Houdyshell's "Broadway Baby" as a representative of them all.

Best Scenic Design of a Play
John Lee Beatty, Other Desert Cities
Daniel Ostling, Clybourne Park
Mark Thompson, One Man, Two Guvnors
Donyale Werle, Peter and the Starcatcher

No comment.

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Bob Crowley, Once
Rob Howell and Jon Driscoll, Ghost the Musical
Tobin Ost and Sven Ortel, Newsies
George Tsypin, Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark

Let's give it to Once's Irish pub. Other than the fact that they don't serve Guinness, it feels like an inviting place to have a pint, listen to some music, and watch this lovely story unfold.

Best Costume Design of a Play
William Ivey Long, Don’t Dress for Dinner
Paul Tazewell, A Streetcar Named Desire
Mark Thompson, One Man, Two Guvnors
Paloma Young, Peter and the Starcatcher

No comment.

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Gregg Barnes, Follies
ESosa, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Eiko Ishioka, Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark
Martin Pakledinaz, Nice Work If You Can Get It

For the amazing headdresses alone, Follies deserves the Tony. Not to mention the costumes of the Follies girls, the party-goers, and the slightly faded clothing of the past versions of the characters that haunt the place.

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Jeff Croiter, Peter and the Starcatcher
Peter Kaczorowski, The Road to Mecca
Brian MacDevitt, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Kenneth Posner, Other Desert Cities

No comment.

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Christopher Akerlind, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Natasha Katz, Follies
Natasha Katz, Once
Hugh Vanstone, Ghost the Musical

I usually don't really notice lighting, but in this case, I think the lighting in Follies plays a pivotal role in differentiating the past and present, both of which appear onstage at the same time. It's like you're watching a living memory, in addition to the very real present.

Best Sound Design of a Play
Paul Arditti, One Man, Two Guvnors
Scott Lehrer, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Gareth Owen, End of the Rainbow
Darron L. West, Peter and the Starcatcher

No comment.

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Acme Sound Partners, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Clive Goodwin, Once
Kai Harada, Follies
Brian Ronan, Nice Work If You Can Get It

Again, not something I usually pay attention to (maybe this is one of those things one only notices when it's bad, not when it's good), but the sound design of Follies also helped differentiate the past from the present characters. Just a slightly muffled quality that hinted you were hearing echos of the past.

Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, Evita
Christopher Gattelli, Newsies
Steven Hoggett, Once
Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It

I realize this isn't really fair because I only saw one of the nominees (again), but the choreography in Once is so different from a typical musical: graceful, organic movements, rather than show-stopping numbers, that incorporate even the scene changes.

Best Direction of a Play
Nicholas Hytner, One Man, Two Guvnors
Pam MacKinnon, Clybourne Park
Mike Nichols, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman
Roger Rees and Alex Timbers, Peter and the Starcatcher

No comment.

Best Direction of a Musical
Jeff Calhoun, Newsies
Kathleen Marshall, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Diane Paulus, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
John Tiffany, Once

I'm going to give my vote to Diane Paulus for Porgy and Bess; she brought this classic to life in a fresh way. It's unbelievable to think that this piece was written over 75 years ago, and is still so real and moving.

Best Orchestrations
William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess
Bill Elliott, Nice Work If You Can Get It
Martin Lowe, Once
Danny Troob, Newsies

I was lucky enough to sit three rows behind the pit orchestra at Porgy and Bess (thanks TKTS!), and the sound was so lush and gorgeous, full and rich. Everything musical theater music should be.

That's it! Please let me know your thoughts. I'll be back to update once the awards are presented on June 10. But I won't be watching live as I have theater tickets that night. What better way to celebrate theater than to go to a show?!

"A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway

Tennessee Williams’ classic play A Streetcar Named Desire with a non-traditional (i.e., non-white) cast sounds like a great idea. And it is, but unfortunately for the production opening April 22 on Broadway, the execution is a little lacking. I saw the show in previews, so they still have time to make changes. And really the basics are all there – the cast (despite being filled with TV actors) is really quite good, and you can’t ask for much better material than Tennessee Williams. It’s the tone of the piece that’s off. This is a great American tragedy, and the audience was laughing and hooting like it was a romantic comedy. Perhaps part of the problem is that the TV actors draw an unsophisticated audience, but the fact is, if it’s done well, any audience should get it regardless of their background (see: Ten Thousand Things). I think the problem is that they play up the humor (which is supposed to be a dark, ironic humor) so that the audience is fooled into thinking this is a comedy. I heard laughs as Stanley was desperately and infamously calling “Stellaaaaaaa!” This is a moment that should not play for laughs. I even heard a few chuckles as poor Blanche was struggling on the floor as she was being hauled off to the loony bin. Somehow the audience missed the fact that this is a tragic and desperate situation – spousal abuse, rape, mental illness, poverty. I really don’t know how this cannot be apparent in any Tennessee Williams play, but somehow, to this preview audience, it was not. Perhaps in rehearsals the director and cast didn’t realize how this would play to an audience, and now that they’ve heard audiences laughing as the actors pour their hearts out, they’ll make some changes to remedy the situation. Or maybe I just was part of a weird audience that night. I think I would have enjoyed the play a lot more if there were no audience. Every time they laughed it took me right out of that deliciously tortured and poignant world of Tennessee Williams.

Blair Underwood, famous for playing smooth, sophisticated, beautiful characters on TV, is surprisingly good as the rough and violent Stanley, who passionately loves his wife even though he beats and belittles her. But he’s still beautiful, which may be part of the problem; some people may come to the show just to see him, and want him to be the romantic hero, which Stanley most definitely is not. It's not his fault that he can't get away from being Blair Underwood.  Daphne Rubin-Vega (who so wonderfully created the role of Mimi in RENT), is also good as Stella, especially as she grows more desperate in the second act. But this play is really about Blanche, and Nicole Ari Parker (in what appears to her stage debut) does a good job with this tough but fragile Southern woman whose way of life is disappearing as she tries to hold on by her fingernails. (It dawned on me that Blanch is Maggie from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, if Brick had killed himself.) The last of the four main characters is Mitch, who should be a sad, lonely man who’s willing to settle for Blanche, a damaged woman who doesn’t really love him (at least judging by the excellent Guthrie production a few years ago). Wood Harris is miscast in this role. As much as I love my favorite drug dealer Avon Barksdale from The Wire (OK maybe second favorite, after Stringer Bell), he just doesn’t seem right as the guy who never gets the girl. There’s no way Wood Harris’ Mitch would be an aging, lonely, single man living with his mother.

I truly hope that they’re able to fix the tone of the play before the opening. Because I do love the non-traditional casting, and the good news is that a few minutes into the play you forget that there’s anything different about this Streetcar cast, and the implausibility of an African American family having owned a southern plantation for 100 years in the 1950s. That doesn’t matter anymore once you get into the story. Unfortunately with this production, there are other obstacles that get in the way of this classic.

"A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Guthrie

STELLAAAAAAAAAAA! Before last night, that’s pretty much all I knew about Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire. But now I know what a fascinating, entertaining, tortured tale it is. I saw it last night as the final show of the 2009-2010 season in the Wurtele Thrust Stage at the Guthrie Theater (the final show in the McGuire Proscenium Stage is Scottsboro Boys, which I’ll see in a few weeks). As usual at the Guthrie, it was an amazing production.

Blanche DuBois has got to be one of the greatest characters in the history of American theater. Think Scarlet O’Hara, only without the “I’ll never go hungry again” strength. Blanche and her sister Stella were raised on a beautiful old Southern plantation to live a certain kind of lifestyle. That lifestyle has fallen apart, and Stella is now married to the abusive Stanley, living in a run-down house in New Orleans, and Blanche has gone from man to man, looking for someone to take care of her. She was raised to be the wife of a gentleman and mistress of a household, and doesn’t know how else to get through life. She’s still haunted by the tragic ending of her early marriage, which is beautifully illustrated by the sound and lighting in the play. At times you feel like you’re inside Blanche’s head, and it’s not a comfortable place to be!

The story begins when Blanche comes to New Orleans to visit her sister (and takes a streetcar named, yes, Desire, to get there). She meets Stella’s husband Stanley, a brute of a man, verbally and physically abusive toward his wife. But he has that charm and passion (e.g., “Stellaaaa!”) that, like most abusive relationships, keeps Stella coming back to him. Stanley and Blanche do not get along, and when Blanche overstays her welcome and Stanley discovers the truth about her past and why she’s there, he uses it against her. Her fragile world comes tumbling down.

The all-around solid cast features Guthrie regular Stacia Rice as Stella Kowalski, Guthrie newcomer Gretchen Egolf as Blanche DuBois, and 1999 graduate from A Guthrie Experience for Actors in Training, Ricardo Antonio Chavira (Carlos from Desperate Housewives), as Stanley Kowalski. Gretchen beautifully portrays Blanche’s charm and wit that's covering for a person on the edge of falling apart, and who eventually steps over that edge. I felt the most sympathy for Blanche in this play. Sure she’s made some poor choices in her life, but she’s just doing what she knows and trying to find someone who will love her and take care of her. As her suitor Mitch (Brian Keane) tells her at one point, “You need somebody. And I need somebody, too. Could it be - you and me, Blanche?” I really wanted that to happen for her, for both of them, even as I knew it wouldn’t.

Stacia and Ricardo have a believable passion and ease with each other as Stella and Stanley. Ricardo is so good I wanted to boo him when he came out for the curtain call! Stanley is not a likeable character. In a way, Blanche is the lucky one, because she hit bottom and might now get some help to rebuild her life. Stella is stuck with abusive Stanley, and you know it’s only going to get worse. To quote Wicked (I mentioned I’m a theater geek, didn’t I), “If that’s love it comes at much too high a cost.”

Other notable members of the cast are frequent musical theater performer Ann Michels, and my “costar” and one of my favorite local actors, Raye Birk. For those of you who don’t know, I also have a burgeoning career as a movie extra – catch me at minute 56 of the Coen Brothers’ 2009 film A Serious Man. Raye plays the doctor in the film, and even though my scene was not with him, I consider him my costar. ;-).

Another digression: several weeks ago I saw Stacia and Ann in the audience of Circle Mirror Transformation in the Dowling Studio at the Guthrie; I think they were just beginning rehearsals at the time. The play was a really funny and touching look at a community acting class and the lives and relationships of the participants. A show about actors must draw actors, because I also saw Randy Reyes (Song in the Guthrie’s recent production of M Butterfly) in the audience.

I’ll close this first “review” on Cherry and Spoon with some memorable quotes from the show. Even though I’ve never seen the play before, some of them were familiar to me because it’s become a part of our culture.

“I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic. I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell truths. I tell what ought to be truth.”

“I never met a dame yet that didn't know if she was good-looking or not without being told, and there's some of them that give themselves credit for more than they've got.”

“Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

Thanks for reading, and check out this production if you get a chance. It's haunting and tragic and at times, funny. Even though it was 3+ hours long, it didn't feel that long. It was another wonderful night at the Guthrie, my favorite place on earth. :)