Happy birthday Mom!

Hey all! 

It's that time again - the yearly ode to my mother. Today is her birthday so naturally I am thinking about her a lot. I've also been sick for the last couple weeks (a nasty, lingering wheezy cough that resulted in me getting antibiotics AND an inhaler) which always makes me miss her. Because she was really amazing when I was sick. And when I was little I was kind of sick a lot.

By the time I was 6, I had broken an arm and a leg. I think these are the ones that were most annoying to her because I had old school plaster casts that would probably mold and disintegrate in water. She had to cover them in plastic to bathe me. When I broke my leg, my cast was all the way to my hip so I wasn't mobile, which is the kiss of death for a 3 or 4 year old. I remember one instance where she was doing laundry or something at the back of the house and I was bored so I dragged this massive cast down the long hallway to her (which could have probably broken the cast and/or hindered my healing). She had to carry me back to the family room and was not pleased. Poor Mom.

I'm pretty sure that's a fake smile.

I also got Mono when I was in Kindergarten (my dad was like WTF??) which kept me bedridden for a month. Also, apparently one of the "prescriptions" was for me to eat a chocolate bar a day (thank you 1960's medicine!!). I am still not the biggest fan of chocolate (I like it but it's not a necessity) but back then I didn't like it at all so she had a hard time shoveling this into me on a daily basis. I think it was also irritating to her because she was forever dieting and likely would have preferred to just have eaten it herself.

When I was 8ish I had pneumonia. I remember some assignment for school (maybe like "writing my autobiography") where I mentioned it and she was both amused and proud that I could spell pneumonia correctly at such a young age.

I also had the regular assortment of kid issues. One time, when I had the stomach flu in the middle of the night, she hopped up to help me and broke her pinky toe on her bed frame. That is some serious dedication. 

Athena Erokan nursemaid staples:

• The number one remedy in any Greek household is Avgolemono soup. OMG, it's the nectar of the Gods. She made a kick ass soup, using vermicelli instead or rice or orzo, allowing for maximum spaghetti-slurping. Divine! I have only just recently learned to make it properly - which according to my cousin Cynthia requires some kissing noises over the pot as you are pouring the eggs in. It's what our Yiayia did so it's SCIENCE.
• Whenever anyone had stomach issues, my mom would go out to the side yard of our San Jose home which was completely overgrown with a ton of weeds (in fact, my dad wouldn't even let the grandchildren play in that part of the yard cuz it was kind of hazardous). She’d  zero in on the one weedy plant she needed and pick fresh mint. Then she'd make us the best mint tea ever which always settled my stomach.
• When I had to stay home from school, particularly during the Mono month, my mom would set up the sofa bed in the family room, which faced the TV. She'd prop me up with a bunch of pillows, water, a barf bowl if that was required and turn on the cartoons. Or whatever was on in the middle of the day back then (talk shows, Guiding Light). This is very possibly how I cultivated my love of cop shows...Mannix was my favorite when I was little.

So let's raise a Manhattan (or mint tea if you are on my antibiotics regimen) to my mom on her birthday. I miss her every day of the year and maybe just a little bit more today.

xoxo...hashtagSueslife

HBD, Mom!

Amadeus Hamilton...wait, what?

OMG gang!  I finally saw Hamilton last week and I loved it. 

Wow the music!

Wow the staging!

Wow the everything!

So much good.

Many of you may know that I'm a MASSIVE fan of Les Miserables, I've seen it multiple times in multiple venues (once in London!). This show didn't displace Les Miz from its #1 spot, but I will say it nestled right up there next to it.

There is no way I'd "revue" the show. I'm not a theatre critic, nor am I a music critic. All I can say is the entire spectacle affected me profoundly. I'm sure I learned a fair amount of this is grade school, right? I'm embarrassed to say not much of Hamilton's influence on our country stuck with me post 5th grade, though. After the performance, I mentioned that for the new generation this is like a much longer, much more intense SchoolHouse Rock. Now it's gonna stick, like Conjunction Junction and I'm Just a Bill. (Or if you're still feeling patriotic after the 4th, watch this!)

I did a bit more "prep" for this Broadway musical than normal. I had listened to the soundtrack before seeing it and I also read (okay, listened to - don't judge) a book called Hamilton: A Revolution, which is about the making of the show. It's fun and informative if you like that sort of thing.

I was driving from LA to the Bay Area with my niece the weekend before I saw Hamilton and as we were talking about her experience seeing it, I started to think that what she was saying about the show was reminding me a lot of the film (originally a play) Amadeus. So I thought I'd re-watch that old classic and see if my thoughts are completely unfounded.

Amadeus (released in 1984)

I loved this movie when it came out. Tom Hulce was a total nut in his portrayal of the pink-wigged Mozart and F. Murray Abraham was wonderful as the pious yet extremely jealous Salieri. Milos Forman's vision of this story captured audience's imaginations immediately and it was a huge hit. Not unlike Hamilton.

Here are a few of the things that struck me as interestingly similar (at least interesting to me).

Similarity #1:

To a different degree, both pieces represented their historical time period with a distinctly modern feeling. Mozart and Hamilton were born right around the same year (Mozart was born in 1756 and Hamilton was either '55 or '57 - both in January). Everyone knows how Lin-Manuel Miranda modernized Hamilton - adding all sorts of different musical styles to represent different characters and time periods. Amadeus' modernization was far subtler but still stood out to me. Typically, in period films, everyone dons an English accent - even in the movie Troy which took place in 12th Century BC Greece, for crying out loud (Brad Pitt should be ashamed of himself for that accent). In Amadeus, everyone spoke with their native accent. It was SO refreshing to hear Emperor Joseph ll, ruler of the Austrian dominions sound just like Mr. Rooney from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  

Similarity #2:

Both Mozart and Hamilton were absolute geniuses. 

Hamilton rose from the humblest beginnings (born out of wedlock, orphaned very young) by his extreme intelligence and scrappiness. He was running a business by his early teenage years.

Mozart never had to work that hard (plus it seemed like he chose not to). He was a musical prodigy, composing his first pieces when he was 5. I mean, Mozart's full name was Johannes Chrysostomos Wolfgangus Theophilius Mozart.  He chose the cut down version Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Amadeus being the Latin translation of Theophilius - both translate to Love of God. I imagine he knew he was pretty cool.

Neither backed down from their convictions or from how they envisioned their world to be and both clearly made their mark on history.

Similarity #3:

Awards!  Amadeus was up for 53 awards that year and won 40. The film won 8 of the 11 Oscars it was up for including Best Picture, Actor (Abraham) and Director. Hamilton was nominated for over 50 awards on the Broadway production (also nominated for a bunch as an off-Broadway production) and won 10 of the 16 Tonys it was up for, including Best Musical, Actor, Original Score and Choreographer. Wow!

 

Similarity #4:

This is the similarity that struck me most strongly - the reason I even thought about this post.

Both of these stories are narrated by the protagonist's biggest rival. 

I know Amadeus is HIGHLY fictionalized (in fact, there is no real proof that Salieri hated Mozart or thought he killed him but it makes a dang good story) but I find this a really compelling story-telling tool. It allows the audience to see the protagonist with a critical eye as well as giving a sympathetic depiction of the rival. It gives us more nuance.

It is almost heartbreaking to watch both Salieri and Burr know that they excel in their fields and are good men, yet are consistently thwarted (at least that is how they perceive it) by these other men; feeling deep down that they can never ascend to the heights that Mozart and Hamilton can.

This is especially clear with Salieri. He laments that he has devoted his life to God in payment for the music God has given him. Yet Mozart (or "the Creature" as he calls him) continually creates beautiful, heavenly music while being a crass and lazy man. How can that possibly be fair?

(My drink pairing for both of these is a double Gin and Tonic. They are both super long so you want to be fortified.)

My takeaways:

#1 - I would have liked to have seen Amadeus the play. While I love the way they treat the musical soundtrack in the film - like we are listening in to Mozart's thoughts - it would be cool to see this live, I think.

#2 - Both pieces ended with a small sound. Amadeus ended with Tom Hulce's signature Amadeus laugh and Hamilton ended with Eliza's gasp. Both endings were extremely effective to me. It's like that one small sound gathered everything that happened and put a period on the end of it.

xoxo....hashtagSueslife