Steel Magnolias + Global Fest
Sep. 26th, 2025 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWe've hit the busy season at work, so I haven't been posting much, but a student just canceled at the last minute and I have a couple of recent shows I want to write about!
1. The local Civic Theater put on Steel Magnolias. I've seen the movie (in a packed cinema full of women about twenty years older than I am; this must have been a formative film for a generation) and although I didn't love it, I was curious about the stage play because I heard that it all took place in one room, the hair-dresser's salon.
So of course when I had a chance to see the stage play I jumped at it, and of course Civic Theater was ALSO full of women about twenty years older than I am, because once again this film was apparently formative for a generation. I thought the first act dragged a bit, but overall I quite liked it. The single set and limited cast (you hear about but never see the men) heightens the emotion, I think. M'Lynn knocked it out of the park in the last act, and of course grumpy Eeyore-ish Ouiser is always a good time.
2. I also went to Global Fest, which is not a show per se but a festival with food booths, craft booths, a stage with mostly dance and singing shows, etc. When I was a kid we went every year (my mom helped with the food booths for years) and I always liked to hit up the bonsai room, watch the bobbin lace makers, stop in the pottery workshop... The pottery was not exactly global-themed, but the pottery workshop lived in the building where most of Global Fest took place, so why not?
In the intervening years, Global Fest has changed management, and I was distrait to discover that the only free attraction remaining is the stage show. Which is not negligible! Who doesn't love a lion dance! But there's no more bonsai room, no more craft demonstrations, no more pottery, just a bunch of booths selling stuff. I enjoy buying a pastry as much as the next person, but it felt like a lot of the soul had gone out of the event.
1. The local Civic Theater put on Steel Magnolias. I've seen the movie (in a packed cinema full of women about twenty years older than I am; this must have been a formative film for a generation) and although I didn't love it, I was curious about the stage play because I heard that it all took place in one room, the hair-dresser's salon.
So of course when I had a chance to see the stage play I jumped at it, and of course Civic Theater was ALSO full of women about twenty years older than I am, because once again this film was apparently formative for a generation. I thought the first act dragged a bit, but overall I quite liked it. The single set and limited cast (you hear about but never see the men) heightens the emotion, I think. M'Lynn knocked it out of the park in the last act, and of course grumpy Eeyore-ish Ouiser is always a good time.
2. I also went to Global Fest, which is not a show per se but a festival with food booths, craft booths, a stage with mostly dance and singing shows, etc. When I was a kid we went every year (my mom helped with the food booths for years) and I always liked to hit up the bonsai room, watch the bobbin lace makers, stop in the pottery workshop... The pottery was not exactly global-themed, but the pottery workshop lived in the building where most of Global Fest took place, so why not?
In the intervening years, Global Fest has changed management, and I was distrait to discover that the only free attraction remaining is the stage show. Which is not negligible! Who doesn't love a lion dance! But there's no more bonsai room, no more craft demonstrations, no more pottery, just a bunch of booths selling stuff. I enjoy buying a pastry as much as the next person, but it felt like a lot of the soul had gone out of the event.
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