Before I went to Nashville, TN for a conference for work I checked the website for Rachael Ray’s $40 a Day and Tasty Travels TV shows to see whether she recommended any places in Nashville.  She only recommended one place in one location: Provence Breads and Café in the Downtown Nashville public library.  They’re a local bakery that makes French-style breads and sandwiches.  I felt that place was too far away from my hotel for lunch and it wasn’t open for dinner.  I kind of knew it was a chain because there was one in a building near the hotel where I stayed when I went to Nashville for the first time back in November 2007 but I didn’t know all the locations.  They aren’t given on the website so I figured I wouldn’t get to eat at Provence.

On February 12 I was at Nashville Airport waiting to depart for Ontario, CA within a few hours.  I had gone through the long slow, line for security.  Right before the line an airport employee was giving away plastic Ziploc bags.  They were a bit larger than sandwich-size so they could hold all the 3-oz contains of liquids that were allowed.  I was looking for a place where I could pick up something to eat on the plane.  It wasn’t dinner time yet, but it would be during my nonstop flight home on Southwest Airlines and they do not serve in-flight meals.  They serve some free snacks but it’s mostly stuff I can’t eat such as Oreos, Chips Ahoy, and crackers with cheese.  At the airport there are many big chain eateries such as Quiznos and Burger King, along with some lesser-known sandwich and barbecue places.  Nothing caught my eye until I saw a Provence Breads and Café.  It was a counter with a large menu on the wall above listing a few sandwiches and many different types of coffees.  All the sandwiches had cheese in them and my experience is that most airport food is pre-made.  They had some pre-made sandwiches on the counter.  I asked the person behind the counter if I could get the roast beef sandwich without cheese and she said, “Sure, we can make it that way for you.”  “Wow,” I thought to myself, “they actually make sandwiches to order in the airport.”  I ordered the roast beef sandwich that came on a toasted baguette.  It came warm and the meat looked juicy and tender.  Included with it was a small disposable plastic container of au jus.  I had to wait a few minutes for it and while I waited the customer behind me expressed surprise at the size of his coffee.  He said, “This is a small?  It looks more like a large.”

My order came in a square Styrofoam container.  I put it in a plastic bag and made sure to carry it so it wouldn’t spill.  I waited in the area near my gate.  There were other flights leaving from nearby gates.  One was overbooked and they were offering people free tickets, stays a nice hotel, and spending money if they volunteered to get bumped.  Another flight (or maybe it was the same one) was bound for New Orleans and the airline employee announcing the flight played some silly-sounding New Orleans jazz music over the PA system in honor of it.  She said she was from New Orleans.  Finally it was time for my flight to board and it was full, as all flights seem to be these days.  Even thought I had checked in online around 24 hours prior to departure I was still in one of the mid to later groups.  Southwest Airlines does not have assigned seating and passengers board in order of group number.  When I boarded it seemed all the seats were full.  I got about halfway down the aisle when a passenger moved from the aisle to the middle seat and asked if I wanted the aisle seat.  It was like he was saving it for me.  I found some space in the overhead bin for my suitcase and sat down.

During the flight I talked to that passenger a bit.  He asked me about the book I was reading (The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson, see later review).  The book has a drawing of a “Welcome to Iowa” sign and the passenger said he was originally from Iowa.  He attended Vanderbilt University and now lives in Nashville with his family.  He was flying to Socal with his teenage son to look at colleges: primarily USC and UCLA.  His son was interesting in studying film and/or music.  The passenger asked whether the area around USC was safe.  He also mentioned that he had read one of Bill Bryson’s books, A Walk Through the Woods.  That’s a book I’d like to read sometime.

There was no in-flight movie but the passenger in front of me was watching Into the Wild on his laptop and I sometimes stole a glance at it.  At around 6:30 pm central time I decided to have dinner.  Just before I unpacked the passenger asked me to retrieve his bag from the overhead bin because he decided to have dinner, too.  After helping him I unpacked my dinner.  My sandwich was no longer warm but, luckily, nothing had spilled.  It still tasted very good, though I had to be careful when I dipped it into the au jus sauce in such close quarters.  It made a good French dip sandwich.  I supplemented it with some peanut butter-filled pretzels that we bought at Trader Joes before I left for Nashville.

My long nonstop flight finally arrived at Ontario Airport.  I said good luck to the passenger and his son and we all deplaned.  When I got to the ground transport pickup area I called my wife who was waiting in the cell lot.  In all it had been a long trip to Nashville.  Later I heard from my coworker who flew to LAX that they hit bad turbulence and had a very bumpy flight.  My flight was smoother, but then I left an hour earlier.  During my trip I ate at seven different places that included all kinds of food: local barbecue and meat-and-three and the more surprising Mexican, Seafood, and French.  I don’t know when I’ll return to Nashville, it could be sooner than expected.  At least I know they have a good variety of places to eat.

On Monday, May 18 we saw the film 17 Again to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of our first date.  For the previous Christmas, friends had given us gift certificates for two free movie tickets at Pacific Theaters, two free drinks, and a free large popcorn.  We decided to use them at the Pacific Theaters at the Americana on Brand shopping destination in Glendale.  It’s an outdoor mall developed by the same group that developed the Grove in West L.A.  The Americana has only been around since May of last year.  Going there was appropriate because my wife lived in Glendale ten years ago.  We decided to see 17 Again because we liked the synopsis given in the Regency Theaters brochure we picked up when we saw The Soloist in April.  My wife also wanted to see the genuine “Shaggy Zac.”  She had played MANGO during a girl’s night out and one of the profiles was “Shaggy Zac.”

To get to the Americana we drove west on the 210 to the 134.  There wasn’t much traffic just after 11 am.  We exited at Brand in Glendale and drove south past Gaucho’s Village restaurant, Porto’s Bakery, the Mann movie theaters, Borders, and the Glendale Galleria, a large indoor mall.  The Americana is just south of the Galleria across the street from what used to be a Tower Records.  We turned right into the parking garage that’s free on Monday through Thursday and is similar to the garage at the Grove with its circular ramps for ascending and descending.  We parked on the third level and walked to the escalators.  Just like the Grove there are comfortable chairs at each landing and a large lounge with a player piano at the street level.  We arrived around two hours before the movie start time at 1:55 pm so we explored the Americana.  Like the Grove it has tracks for a trolley (that we did not see) and a large fountain that has choreographed “shows”.  The lamp posts along the sidewalk have large bases from which music plays.  There were very few people around given it was Monday.  The only places with many people were the restaurants such as the Cheesecake Factory.

We walked around and visited stores that weren’t at malls or shopping destinations closer to us such as Victoria Gardens.  Kitson L.A. sells trendy women’s and men’s clothing that’s fairly high end: men’s jeans cost $190-$230 per pair.  They also sell books, toys, and gifts such as “Schticks” that are little signs that commuters can use to communicate with other drivers.  The signs said things such as “Settle Down” and “My Fault”.  We bought a set of Cinema Sweets-flavored chap sticks.  My wife had read about the next store we visited, Vera Bradley, in Rachael Ray Magazine.  The company is based in Indiana and makes dyed quilted pattern handbags, purses, quilts, rugs, ties, and many other items.  They even make furniture though they don’t yet sell it at the Americana store.  It’s one of the only Socal stores and it has been there since the Americana opened in May 2008.  We bought a wallet colored similarly to the Seattle Seahawks logo and some decorative binder clips.  Paperchase sells trendy stationery with various cartoon characters, pencils, frames, and toys.  At Sony Style we played around with the VAIO P Series Lifestyle PC, a tiny but very expensive laptop ($1,500) and the Sony Reader.  J. Crew had slightly less expensive jeans ($96-$150) but you can only get the relaxed-fit jeans by ordering from the catalog.

We walked to the southeast corner of the Americana where the Pacific Theaters Glendale 18 is located.  The theater lobby is much more elegant than most with decorative carpeting, high ceilings, and a large mural of classic movie-style images.  They traded our passes for two $8.75 tickets.  Once inside we used gift certificates for a medium drink (normally $4.25) and medium popcorn ($6.00).  The film was showing in a small to medium-sized theater down the hall and to the left of the concession stand.  There were six trailers: Fame, Paper Heart, My Sister’s Keeper, I Love You Beth Cooper, Shorts, and Land of the Lost.

The feature presentation is pretty good.  It’s a modern-day fairly tale about second chances.  The plot is similar to many earlier films, though this one tends to be more comedic and offers a present-day take on the story.  The film never takes itself very seriously and I believe this makes it better.

Most of the film takes place in the fictional Hayden High School in the L.A. area and the characters’ homes.  I thought the film portrayed a modern-day high school very well.  There’s a great scene where the main character tries to walk through a crowded hall of students for the first time in 20 years.  The students are constantly using their cell phones for calling, texting, taking photos, and shooting video for YouTube.  Actually, the portrayal of an L.A. area high school isn’t completely accurate because they don’t show any outdoor “halls”.  That’s probably because most moviegoers outside of L.A. can relate better to indoor halls.  I like how the film contrasted the cheerleader routines from 20 years ago and today.

Though the film portrays some reality, there’s also a lot of unreality.  Some characters seem a bit too well off given their assumed education level.  How could someone afford a house in the L.A. area without a college degree?  Also some things just seem to work out too well such as the main character having a rich best friend.  Some of the minor characters seem one-dimensional such as the bully boyfriend.  I also had some difficulty getting a sense of the story’s time span.  It’s best to keep in mind that this is a fairly tale, a fantasy set in a present day, real setting.

All the main and supported actors are very good and have some very funny lines.  Thomas Lennon of Reno 911 fame, who plays the main character’s best friend, provides a lot of comedy.  He plays this overgrown sci-fi geek who has the same Darth Vader pillow that we got at the Star Wars Episode III costume exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) nearly four years ago.  The actor who really carries the film is Zac Efron who plays the main character at 17.  I felt convince that he really was a 37-year-old trapped in a 17-year-old body.  His personality matched that of his older self played by Matthew Perry.  Efron’s character has some great exchanges with Thomas Lennon’s character.  The rest of the cast including Leslie Mann as the main character’s wife, Michelle Trachtenberg as his daughter, and Margaret Cho, in a cameo role as a teacher, are all very enjoyable.

The story is interesting and not as obvious and the premise makes it seem.  It is well-paced and I never felt things were dragging.  The soundtrack is very good including hits from the 80’s such as “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins and songs from today such as “Naïve” by The Kooks.  It’s a family friendly movie with a heartwarming story and lots of humor.  As stated, it never takes itself too seriously.  Though its unreality is hard to relate to we can all identify with wanting a second chance.  Catch it while it’s still in theaters.

Following “Marry Me a Little” (see earlier review) and a 20-minute intermission, “The Last Five Years” was the second show of East West Players’ “An Evening of Two One-Act Musicals”.  We saw the preview performance on Saturday, May 9 at the David Henry Hwang Theater in the Little Tokyo district of Downtown Los Angeles.  Our cousin, Marc Macalintal, is the musical director of both shows that run as a double feature from May 13 to June 21 (extended from June 7).

During the intermission the crew turned around and removed the apartment set from “Marry Me a Little”.  They moved the piano out to center stage so we could see Marc play throughout the second show.  They also set up a chair for the guitarist.  Other than the musicians the set is fairly minimal.  Sometimes they have chairs out for the characters.  In the background and sides are large rectangular backdrops with different colored lights shining on them.  They occasionally project silhouettes of a tree (dead or alive depending on the state of relations?).  Since the musical consists of the two characters Jamie and Cathy singing about their failed five-year relationship, elaborate sets aren’t really needed.  They use an interesting concept with the costumes changing from black to gray to white or vice versa again depending on the state of relations described.  They have a costume change for nearly every song they sing and they go through just about every possible outfit in black, gray, white including a black blanket and black pants for Jamie during one song.

The musical has both characters playing out in song the details of a five year relationship, one from start to finish and the other in reverse.   In some scenes they sing to the other character that is unseen.  They only really share a scene in the middle.  It’s interesting to see their transformation in both directions.  They completely reverse their states by the end.  As part of the audience we feel the full brunt of the emotional swings perhaps even more so than the characters since they have five years to do so.  Each character has his or her own incomplete and possibly unreliable side of the story, though things make more sense by the end.  It’s like the beginning and end aren’t surprises but what’s interesting is what happens in between.  Still, they sing about more than just the relationship.  They mention the careers they both pursue with varying degrees of success and there’s something about moving to or living in Ohio.  I found some of these references confusing and a bit distracting.  However, I liked how one song had Marc and the guitarist as characters.

The lead actors do a great job portraying the characters as they change one way or the other.  We feel excited along with Jamie as he sings about first meeting Cathy and sympathetic as Cathy tries to patch things up towards the end.  They both sing well, very expressively, encompassing many different moods and situations.  Jamie even sings what seems to be a Jewish folktale for one song.  They make their characters’ complexities shine though the moods and situations, though.  They both have strong, though different, personalities; and then there’re the changes they go through.

The music differs from “Marry Me a Little” in that it sounds more pop and more modern.  In addition to Marc’s piano there’s the guitarist and what sounds like additional instrumentation that’s either pre-recorded or played in the background.  This gives the music a fuller sound that makes the sad songs more serious and the happier songs more celebratory.  For at least one song the music has to include both moods and does so adeptly.  It almost seems like an 80’s pop sound.  The songs sound a bit different from the usual “musical” sounding songs.  As always, Marc did a great job with the arranging.

My first thought at the end of the show was that it did seem like five years had gone by.  This is either a testament to the characters’ transformations or perhaps it’s the show’s intent.  The mood goes from bipolar to happy and back to bipolar.  This can get emotionally exhausting.  Still, they do a great job presenting it all through the acting, music, costume changes, and set.  In retrospect it is well placed with “Marry Me a Little”, that one being about two independent lives and “The Last Five Years” about two lives intertwined.  We get two versions of the story underlying the “Two for One” theme of the evening.  Most of my relatives who saw the shows either with us or before us preferred “The Last Five Years” to “Marry Me a Little” citing the more defined story line and preference for the music as reasons.  I still prefer “Marry Me a Little”.  These days we prefer lighter, more ordinary things to climactic drama.  But both have their merits.  Relationships, whether thriving, failing, or not existing at all are complicated and therefore make for great musicals.

Check it out at www.eastwestplayers.com.  We look forward to Marc’s next show.

On Saturday, May 9 we saw preview performances of two musicals, “Marry Me a Little” and “The Last Five Years” at the David Henry Hwang Theater in the Little Tokyo district of Downtown Los Angeles.  The performances are produced by East West Players, an Asian-American Theater company.  Our cousin, Marc Macalintal, is the musical director for both shows.  Before driving to the theater my wife read online about another musical we had seen nearly three years ago.  She read that “Rock of Ages” got five Tony nominations.  We had seen it at the Vanguard in Hollywood and it features many 80’s pop songs and Hair Metal hits such as Europe’s “The Final Countdown” and Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie”.  On the drive to the theater we listened to “When I’m with You” by Sheriff on KOST, one of the NOW Classic Power Ballads. (See later review)

We went with my mother-in-law and her friend and arrived at the theater fifteen minutes before the 8 pm start time.  The expansive parking lot was more crowded than usual, perhaps due to a party going on at a nearby building.  Our tickets were for seats in the front row of the balcony.  Unfortunately the balcony rail was a bit too high for my mother-in-law and her friend and they had to go back a row to see the entire stage.  Getting to the balcony requires climbing two flights of stairs: one to get to the regular theater level and another to get to the balcony.  It’s also good to remember that there are restrooms on the balcony level in addition to the ground level.  Before the first show began, producing artistic director Tim Dang spoke.  He said that since this was a preview performance they were still working out the artistic elements of the shows.

Both shows together are billed as “An Evening of Two One-Act Musicals.”  The idea of two for one is a common theme throughout the evening.  “Marry Me a Little” is an off-Broadway musical consisting of songs by Stephen Sondheim that were cut from other musicals.  Our first impression was the set: a one-room apartment with high ceilings and high bay windows with a “view” of other buildings on Manhattan’s upper west side.  It’s a very thorough set with all the furniture, shelves, cupboards, a chest, and hooks for storage.  It really looks “lived in”.  The furniture, especially the TV set, appears to be a couple of decades old, though other technology shown later indicates the time period to be modern day.  The kitchen is very small with no dishwasher or microwave though it has a large island counter that doubles as a dining surface.  It had two doors: the entrance on the left and the door to the (mostly unseen) bathroom on the other side.

The plot is fairly minimal, portraying two single people alone on a Saturday night.  They do many ordinary things such as put away groceries, eat dinner, get ready for bed, etc.  At one point the male lead even unclogs the sink with a plunger.   Their activities are infused with songs about fantasies, past relationships, desires for companionship, and hopes for the future.  Like “Rock of Ages” the music wasn’t originally written for the musical.  The songs were cut from other Sondheim musicals such as “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, “Follies”, and “Company”.  My wife felt they sounded better than most other Sondheim songs she’s heard.  Many are humorous and involve fun dance numbers.  Others are more serious possibly indicating a past heartache or deep longing.  There are no spoken lines and the show doesn’t seem like it has much of a plot.  Still, they do a great job mixing choreography with the ordinary chores.  The actions of the two independent single lives are well coordinated.  Often they sing separately but sometimes they sing together.

The actors/singers do a great job, both of them singing well.  They both seem like regular people but when they sing they seem like the charismatic stars of their imagined fairy tales.  The male lead is especially good at this transformation, seeming to flip a switch from aloof to expressive, even silly.  I could sense that they felt their lives were incomplete, yet they didn’t seem unhappy either.  We could really relate to them.  My wife lived in a single room apartment on her own for one year and I lived in three different apartments on my own, two of them being single room places.  We could relate to the characters putting away groceries and not having plans on a Saturday night.  What’s ironic is that on that Saturday we did have plans: to watch a show about two characters that didn’t have plans.  So many musicals are about fantastic adventures, dramatic conflicts, and characters that do or experience more in two hours that any of us will in a lifetime.  It was refreshing to see a show scale back the drama and celebrate the ordinary.

The musical consisted of the characters singing with Marc accompanying them on the piano behind the set.  We couldn’t see him.  He plays well enough that additional instrumentation is not needed.  Sometimes there are short pauses between songs and other times the songs flow seamlessly from one to the other.  As stated, they sounded better than your average Sondheim.

The two for one is that we get to see two people’s single evenings in one apartment set.  The show didn’t seem too long or too short.  Most of my relatives who also saw both shows preferred the second to the first one because the first didn’t have much of a story.  But its relatability struck a chord with us.  Why not spend an evening singing a little, dancing a little, or marrying a little?