WPLongform

Make your appointment with ‘Sweeney Todd’

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Alea Selburn as Mrs. Lovett and Steve Allhoff as Sweeney Todd (Photo Credit: SCP)

By Ande Jacobson

‘Appointments’ are going fast for Sunnyvale Community Player’s (SCP) production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street this fall. This is a show that should not be missed. I was fortunate to be granted an early appointment to catch a little more behind the scenes at the first full dress rehearsal with all of the elements in play. As a music director and player, it’s not often that I have been able to observe this part of the process from quite this vantage point, i.e., from the house without a musical score in front of me, though I had to take a quick peek backstage before the run-through started to see the pit setup (with permission of course). That said, this is not a review. This is partially a continuation of my earlier orchestra chronicle expanded to the production overall. Continue reading →

The Sweeney Todd orchestra adventure

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By Ande Jacobson

While I have no plans to return to performance myself, I recently had the privilege of attending the first orchestra rehearsal for Sunnyvale Community Players’ (SCP) upcoming production of Sweeney Todd, not as a player, not as the music director, but as a very interested observer. I arrived early as the orchestra members trickled into the lobby of the theater to assemble the ensemble. Once everyone was in place, some of the players were noodling a bit or practicing some of the challenging sections of their parts while others were talking quietly. Eventually, the music director arrived carrying an amp for one of the keyboard players. He set up the amp, handed out a revised cut sheet, and then took his place in front of his orchestra to begin the rehearsal at the top of the score. Music director Val Zvinyatskovsky was the youngest person present at the tender age of 17, and yet he had the attention and command of the room. While it was the first time they had come together in this particular ensemble, everyone was ready to work. Continue reading →

‘Democracy Awakening’ puts it all in perspective

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By Ande Jacobson

Heather Cox Richardson’s newest book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, was released on 26 September 2023 and is a must read to understand how we got to where we are, the dangers we face, how Americans have strengthened our democracy in times of yore, and finally, how we can again counter the authoritarian threat and reclaim our democracy from those who would abolish it forever. For those who regularly read Professor Richardson’s nightly newsletter, Letters from an American, there isn’t a lot of new material in this book. What is new is how Richardson has condensed the journey and the solution into this tight volume. This isn’t a big book. In fact, it’s a collection of 30 essays of six to eight pages apiece. Bounding these essays are a Forward introducing the material and discussing how the book came about and a Conclusion at the end tying together the pieces of how we could go about recovering and strengthening our democracy going forward. Richardson is honest that she can’t say it’s a sure thing, but the vast majority of Americans want our democracy to survive. The question is whether the overwhelming majority of people will pull together to make it so. Only time will tell. Continue reading →

‘Children of Time’ expands minds

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By Ande Jacobson

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time trilogy begins with a bang. Or perhaps I should say the first book, Children of Time, originally released in June 2015 spins a mind expanding tale. The premise is one that draws deeply on Tchaikovsky’s roots as a zoologist (with a combination psychology/zoology pedigree). It is thought-provoking science fiction at its finest introducing a world where humans are not the dominant species. Although sparked by human interference, the green planet known as Kern’s World is home to a wide-ranging arachnid and insect population that has developed beyond the wildest human imagination. Marine life as well has surpassed what we know today on Earth. It wasn’t always this way, but humankind had run out of options. In the far future, humankind had finally destroyed the Earth. In their final days they sent out ark ships in hopes that the species could find a new home through advanced terraforming experiments intended to seed potential worlds with the ecosystems necessary to support human life. Alas, the best of the intentions are often usurped by unexpected events. Continue reading →

Wear a raincoat!

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By Ande Jacobson

I recently received a review copy of an upcoming book by Teri Kanefield and illustrator Pat Dorian that’s coming out in February 2024, and it’s a good one. Their new book entitled, A Firehose of Falsehood: The Story of Disinformation, is a graphic novel providing an extremely well-sourced history and use of disinformation and the damage it can do. Many of the scenes depicted are fictionalized accounts to illustrate aspects of how disinformation grew into the powerful, malevolent tool it has become. It’s not new and in fact has its origins in ancient times. The ways in which disinformation is deployed have evolved with our technology to the point where it’s become so ubiquitous, it’s often hard for people to recognize. In the end, the only real protection we have is to wear a figurative raincoat to protect ourselves from its onslaught and be ever vigilant in verifying the information we consume through reputable sources. That raincoat consists of awareness, education, and care. It takes effort, but the alternative is bleak. This upcoming book is considered a crossover YA/Adult work, and as I was reading, it sparked a bit of Rocky and Bullwinkle nostalgia in the sense that it seemed to hit on multiple levels. Continue reading →

‘The Trespasser’ is a gripping murder mystery

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By Ande Jacobson

Tana French is an American-Irish author who writes gripping mysteries. Her Dublin Murder Squad Mysteries series is taut and guaranteed to keep her readers up at night flipping pages to see what happens next. While Tana French aficionados sometimes recommend reading the series in order to fully appreciate the tempo of the squad, it’s not necessary. Although some characters are occasionally seen in multiple books, the books themselves don’t lose any of their appeal or tension if read standalone in any order. Continue reading →

The stories we will tell

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By Ande Jacobson

It started on 30 March 2023 when a former president was indicted on criminal charges for the first time. Now in early August 2023, we’ve seen this happen four times so far this year. Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the U.S. is now defendant Trump. He tried to conspire to end democracy as we know it and take away our crucial rights as citizens to vote and have our votes counted, defraud the country, steal critical classified documents when he finally, grudgingly left office, and attempt to defraud his business to pay off an accuser. He’s also been shown to be guilty of sexual abuse in a civil trial. What a guy. To hear him tell it, he’s the victim of persecution by his enemies. Of course he defines his enemies as anybody who disagrees with him, stands up to him, or challenges him in any way under any circumstance, so he clearly has a lot of enemies. Continue reading →

Is a single world order possible?

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By Ande Jacobson

Every so often, particularly when things get very chaotic around me, I think about the world I want to live in. In my recent short story, Humans are Weird, I explored how the Earth, and specifically how humankind might appear to an intelligent extraterrestrial species studying us. Humankind is a single species. Over time, largely because of our tribal nature, we’ve developed multifarious cultures that often put us at odds with one another and more importantly at odds with our continued survival as a species. As Yuval Noah Harari discusses in his book, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, we’ve built our societies based on fictional common myths that we all buy into at some level. These myths allow cooperation on a large scale, but they also form the basis for significant exclusion. I see the moves toward exclusion in the news, on social media, even in conversations among my friends as we collectively think about the world around us. Continue reading →

The Morrows and a murder

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By Ande Jacobson

A Rule Against Murder is the fourth Chief Inspector Armand Gamache (of the Sûreté du Quebec) story by Canadian author Louise Penny first released in 2009. In Canada, the title was originally The Murder Stone which gives more away about the mystery from the outset. This time Armand and Reine-Marie are enjoying an anniversary trip to the luxurious Manoir Bellechasse, an inn in a lovely forested location not far from Three Pines. They had planned to enjoy the scenery and each other’s uninterrupted company in the peaceful old-world setting. The only other guests are the Finneys – a large, wealthy, multigenerational family there for their own celebration of sorts. Early on Irene Finney, the matriarch of the Finney family, and her adult children get the entirely wrong idea about the Gamaches thinking that Armand is a lowly shopkeeper, and Reine-Marie is a cleaning women when they misinterpret something that the Gamaches say in casual conversation. The Finneys are awaiting the wayward sibling and his wife, who surprisingly turn out to be Peter and Clara Morrow from Three Pines. Peter and Clara arrive the night before a statue of Irene’s first husband, Charles Morrow, is to be unveiled. It turns out that Bert Finney is Irene’s second husband, but her children (Thomas, Julia, Peter, and Marianna) are all Morrows. Continue reading →

Sensitive ears? Watch out!

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By Ande Jacobson

Two times of the year are tricky for those of us with sensitive ears, at least in the United States. July 4th and year end pose a particular conundrum. Why? Fireworks abound, and when that happens sudden loud noises are inescapable. While most of my friends and family love fireworks displays, I have tried hard to avoid them throughout my life. I have memories of childhood Fourth of July celebrations where I spent most of my time with my fingers in my ears trying to find a quiet place to avoid the cascading booms from the almost continuous array of firecrackers, “safe and sane” family fireworks, and of course professional fireworks displays. No matter the source, those sudden loud noises caused me pain. In an odd turn of events, our family dog was nonplussed and would often curl up and sleep in the midst of it all despite her keen hearing. She was an odd dog. Continue reading →