Dear Glenn Disney

So today I went and saw the movie version of the hit musical Dear Evan Hansen. It was probably folly to do something so emotionally charged on a day already tainted by the emotion of having to release Connor to his mother for the week. But it is what it is.

The movie has been taking all sorts of hits by critics, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Bottom line: it was pretty amazing.

The movie offers, by the nature of cinematography, an opportunity to develop characters as well as present locations and scenery to enhance to story experience. And, really, I think it delivered. The music from the original musical was presented in a clever way through moving scenes of high school life and flashbacks to character's pasts, all things the musical simply cannot effectively do on stage. The vocal performances of the actors were just as stellar as in the musical.

And yeah, Ben Platt is a 27 year old playing a high school senior. One of the big criticisms of the movie. But Platt still has a boyish charm about him which at least makes it within the outskirts of plausibility. Certainly we've been treated to far worse examples on television of people in their later years playing teenagers on screen. 

The movie gives us two brand new songs as well. Which - frankly - weren't particularly necessary. I suppose they exist to further the development of characters which otherwise have little stage/screen time in comparison to the stars of the show. The song performed by Connor, presented as a video file found from someone who had been in rehab with him, at least provides some redemption of the character, who is otherwise presented as someone completely estranged from his family and devoid of all sense of emotional responsibility to his family.

The other song, performed by the girl who is president of the senior class and helps start and run the Connor Project movement after being inspired by Hansen, does give her some vulnerability and commonality with Hansen, as they both apparently suffer from depression and share a moment of spiritual bonding. But, really, it wasn't particularly necessary for development and progress of the story. 

The emotion was definitely there - even, I daresay, more so than in the musical. And that, I think, is the backbone of the musical that fueled its amazing reception on the stage. It's certainly what fueled the experience for me, when I saw it live in San Francisco at the end of 2018. Granted, I was in an emotional place back then and ripe for harvesting in that regard. So, yes, it made me cry then. It did so today too. The biggest song for me was and is So Big/So Small. It's very relatable for me. Granted, in a reversed role. I think I've mentioned before on this blog that I've tended to be the wife/mother figure in previous relationships. But anyways. Moving on.

The end of the movie - which in the musical version is quite short by musical finale standards - feels even more truncated than the stage version. The musical uses a reprise of For Forever. The movie uses a reprise of one of the newly composed songs. Honestly...I didn't care for it that much. Too short and not as meaningful, in my opinion. But to each his own. I maybe I just missed this from my one viewing of the musical, but it seems like more time was supposed to have passed before the final scene. In the movie, it's just the end of summer following high school graduation. But maybe I misread that in 2018. Guess I'll have to go see the musical again.

So again, the movie is great, in my opinion. I wouldn't mind seeing it again. And this post ended up being more of a review than I had originally intended. But I don't feel the need to write Dear Glenn Disney letters to myself, as Evan a did as an assignment from his therapist (that set up the whole plot of the show). I mean sure, I've felt alone, and depressed, and so on. Who hasn't at one time or another? But I've never been in need of being found as much as Evan Hansen was. He even admits that he didn't fall from the tree (causing his signature broken arm), but rather he "let go". Was that in the musical? I might have missed that part too...

So. Anyways. Go see the movie.

Fall! Fall?

So, it's officially Fall now, with the first day of the autumnal equinox being, well, yesterday. Not that you'd know it. Because here in Sacramento, it's hot. Like, 98 degrees. And no, that's not a 1990's-era boy band reference.

So instead of sweltering away in the the valley dust bowl, I went last Friday afternoon to (where else) San Francisco. What a change! As it always is. It was cool. No, cold. I actually put on pants at one point. Um...in place of shorts. I swear I wasn't wandering around in my underwear. Not that that would seem much out of place there. It shouldn't be out of place here, it's so hot. 

But as usual, it was a lovely day by the bay enjoying the fresh coastal air. I hit Ghirardelli Square for my usual Nob Hill Chill, hit the Sports Bar on Columbus Avenue for a $4 happy-hour beer, and generally just tottered around the city trying not to look like a tourist. I shouldn't be, after all the time I've spent there. I'm practically a local. In my mind anyway. I could get used to that weather, anyway.

It was even so cold that on the way back towards my car, after dinner at a sit down pizzeria, I stopped and got a hot chocolate at Starbucks. A large hot chocolate. Quite a step up from my normal medium-sized order. Starbucks, incidentally, has moved into one of the little container shops that have been erected a little ways down from Pier 39. I'm not sure if anyone is aware of it, as there was no one in the store but me.

Unfortunately just a little while later, I spilled almost the entire hot chocolate while trying to get a nice photograph of the antique fishing boats. There's a small window at dusk where the light just pops on your photos, turning things otherwise commonplace in something almost ethereal. And you just have to stop what you're doing and take advantage of it. Even if at great expense. But I blame the wind for my mishap, in all honesty. 

So, the hot chocolate was a loss. I drank maybe a quarter of it before The Accident. A seagull made off with the lid. I have no idea what he intended to do with it. One man's trash is another bird's treasure, apparently. The cup, I salvaged for the nearest trash can.

And the walk of shame back to my car was otherwise uneventful. Actually, I don't think anyone actually saw me spill it. Except for a homeless man camped out on the boardwalk. He muttered something incomprehensible to me. I didn't stop to try and interpret. 

It was dark by the time I started for home - the downside of the fall season is its increasingly shortening days. It's now dark when I get up at 6pm, and dark long before Connor's bedtime at 8:30pm. And hot in-between. But we did get some rain at the beginning of last week. Yes! Actual moisture from the sky! It does in fact exist, and has not fallen into the realm of legend. At least that is a sign, of sorts, that the Fall is nigh. Hopefully, just around the corner. 

If nothing else, I'm so ready for the daytime temperatures to drop below 90. Where are you Fall!