Sondheim musical at Bagley High School this weekend, “The Mystery of Edwin Drood at the Firehall Theater in Grand Forks and the last weekend to see “Midsummer Night’s Dream” at BSU and eaglets on upstream tv webcam.

 

Last Saturday afternoon, I drove to Grand Forks to see a performance by the Greater Grand Forks Community Theater of “Drood.” If possible, I would go back to see it again this weekend, all to prompt you to make the trip yourself. The only bridge open into Grand Forks is the Kennedy Bridge on Gateway (US 2 West) and then you can wind yourself around to downtown by turning left at Washington Ave. Just returned from ND last night and that’s a story in itself. The unfinished novel by Charles Dickens has been turned into a play where the audience gets to pick the villain and the end of the story. We are never disappointed with the productions of GGFCT and this is the last one for this season and then Crimson Creek takes over for the summer months. The staging, costumes, make-up, soloists, ensemble singers and staging are fantastic! Never been known for hyperbole (at least in the column and preview articles!), but in this case I don’t know where or how to begin to convince you to take the trip; it’s that good. The final performances are this coming weekend. Look at the Grand Forks Herald Website for times and ticket information. There is a new middle-eastern restaurant in GF, Babylon which serves a buffet on Saturday night. It is owned by Persians (I would guess from garb and hospitality) and the food was excellent and authentic.

Marilyn Hood and her students are in a production of “Into the Woods” with lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine which opens tomorrow at Bagley High School. The story, in a fairy tale setting, and with the help of a narrator on and off-stage, we meet familiar characters: Cinderella and her step-sisters, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack in the Beanstalk, Rapunzle and the Baker and his wife and find out what really happens after the fairytales end. It is considered a family friendly musical and the lyrics are the familiar Sondheim philosophical musing on living and human motivations for we hear the consequences of wishes and drives. In other words, be careful what you wish for, you might get it. I am going to drive back west again to pick up the grands (Melanie and Michael) to see this production. Again, anything that Hood directs is worth the trip! Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door 30 minutes prior to each performance. Prices are $7 for adults, $5 for students, and $4 for children under age 12.

This weekend will be the final performances of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at BSU. For more detail about the show, please see the preview on Bemidji Pioneer on-line or blog from last week.

Back to North Dakota: if you check out the Grand Forks Herald today, you will see an article about the flooding on I-29 this past Sunday. My daughter and I set out for Fargo to see an opera by the Fargo Opera Company because all the checking on-line gave us the “go ahead.” After almost five hours on the road, we made it back to Grand Forks just before I-29 was closed for flooding. Were we glad that we followed our own instincts, and not the advice of the police and transportation officials, and turned around in Fargo and headed back north! Driving through a lake with drowned cattle floating by was not the most pleasant experience. We saw large National Guard convoys traveling south as we headed north. The stories are interesting, take a look.

Thanks to Evan Hazard for the link to the Decorah bald eagle nest. Even if just for a moment, take a peek at the eaglets and their parents high in a next above a busy highway. Check it out—http://www.upstream.tv/decoraheagles. One can always count on Evan for the latest and greatest in nature sightings.