A local station is nonstop Christmas music for the season. This particular song (I believe sung by Alison Krauss) has been coming up. It just makes me cry. I can't even sing along...
The Gift
A poor orphan girl named Maria
Was walking to market one day
She stopped for to rest by the roadside
Where a bird with a broken wing lay
A few moments passed till she saw it
For its feathers were covered with sand
But soon clean and wrapped it was travelling
In the warmth of Maria's small hand
She happily gave her last peso
On a cage made of rushes and twine
She fed it loose corn from the market
And watched it grow stronger with time
Now the Christmas Eve service was coming
And the church shone with tinsel and light
And all of the townfolks brought presents
To lay by the manger that night
There were diamonds and incense
And perfumes
In packages fit for a king
But for one ragged bird in a small cage
Maria had nothing to bring
She waited till just before midnight
So no one would see her go in
And crying she knelt by the manger
For her gift was unworthy of Him
Then a voice spoke to her through the darkness
Maria, what brings you to me
If the bird in the cage is your offering
Open the door and let me see
Though she trembled, she did as He asked her
And out of the cage the bird flew
Soaring up into the rafters
On a wing that had healed good as new
Just then the midnight bells rang out
And the little bird started to sing
A song that no words could recapture
Whose beauty was fit for a king
Now Maria felt blessed just to listen
To that cascade of notes sweet and long
As her offering was lifted to heaven
By the very first nightingale's song
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Mr. Pim Passes By
Who knew it would take to nearly 40 to dashing?
MST's amusing Mr. Pim shows audiences another side of Winnie-the-Pooh creator A.A. Milne
By EVERETT EVANS
Houston Chronicle
Winnie-the-Playwright?
Yes, Christopher Robin, A.A. Milne wrote more than just those beloved stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and the rest.
In fact, the children's tales and poems Milne created in the 1920s to amuse his son (the real-life Christopher Robin) were but a small part of his overall output, which included more than 25 plays and 17 books, both novels and non-fiction.
For much of his life, Milne (1882-1956) rather resented the fact that the silly old bear had eclipsed all his other work in the public eye.
So Milne would no doubt relish Main Street Theater's engaging revival of his 1920 comedy of manners Mr. Pim Passes By, his most successful and best-known play. Playgoers who appreciate gentle humor, quaint charm and amusingly drawn characters will enjoy it, too.
The simple plot unfolds at the country estate of bossy judge George Marden and his patient wife, Olivia. Living with them is George's sweetly impertinent niece, and ward, Dinah, eager to marry her dashing artist boyfriend, Brian Strange. George, naturally disapproves of their union, while Olivia encourages it.
Into the staid household comes Carraway Pim, a meek and forgetful little man with a letter of introduction. When he casually mentions meeting one Mr. Telworthy on the boat from Australia, he throws the Mardens into a tizzy. For Telworthy was Olivia's first husband, long thought dead. And if he is alive, they have committed bigamy and their marriage is nullified.
This pleasant trifle boasts some solid laughs amid its droll conversations, as when George decries Brian's modern painting with its ``triangular clouds and square sheep.'' Things get a bit thick with George's fretting over what the law and the church will say about the breach of propriety. But the play is never out of sorts for long. It peaks in the scene of wily Olivia using the confusion to get the better of George, extracting his consent both to Dinah's marriage and the new drapes he detests. In a play of this sort, the wife always gets the better of the husband.
Director Steve Garfinkel, MST's go-to guy for period charmers, achieves crispness and the requisite light touch. With a play this slight, push too hard for laughs and it collapses. Garfinkel and his team seem to understand, easy does it.
Carolyn Johnson exerts sly style and worldliness as the quietly knowing Olivia. Rutherford Cravens blusters and fumes as irascible George. But when he fears he may lose his "old girl,'' Cravens conveys genuine tenderness.
Morgan McCarthy makes an ideal ingenue as Dinah, a delightfully pert minx aglow with dewy freshness and a touch of mischief. Andrew Ruthven's solid Brian nicely balances her vivacity; he's ardent with her, but tongue-tied pleading his case to her guardian.
As Mr. Pim, Fritz Dickmann wanders in and out absent-mindedly, vague and primly fussy, unaware of the havoc he's unleashed. Melinda deKay is stern and sour-faced as the inevitable disapproving aunt, while Lyndsay Sweeney scutters about obligingly as the housemaid.
Boris Kaplun has designed an attractive English parlor with its cozy nooks, and Sarajane Milligan has costumed its people handsomely.
With Mr Pim, MST lets Houston playgoers experience what Milne's writing was like outside the nursery. Given that J.M. Barrie has suffered a similar fate, with an even more significant playwriting career overshadowed by his children's classic (Peter Pan), how long before one of Barrie's neglected plays pops up at MST? Anyone for Dear Brutus or What Every Woman Knows?
everett.evans@chron.com
Mr. Pim Passes By
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 23. No performance Thanksgiving Day. On Nov. 29, Thursday show at 8 p.m.
Where: Main Street Theater, 2540 Times
Tickets:$20-$35; 713-524-6706.
MST's amusing Mr. Pim shows audiences another side of Winnie-the-Pooh creator A.A. Milne
By EVERETT EVANS
Houston Chronicle
Winnie-the-Playwright?
Yes, Christopher Robin, A.A. Milne wrote more than just those beloved stories about Winnie-the-Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and the rest.
In fact, the children's tales and poems Milne created in the 1920s to amuse his son (the real-life Christopher Robin) were but a small part of his overall output, which included more than 25 plays and 17 books, both novels and non-fiction.
For much of his life, Milne (1882-1956) rather resented the fact that the silly old bear had eclipsed all his other work in the public eye.
So Milne would no doubt relish Main Street Theater's engaging revival of his 1920 comedy of manners Mr. Pim Passes By, his most successful and best-known play. Playgoers who appreciate gentle humor, quaint charm and amusingly drawn characters will enjoy it, too.
The simple plot unfolds at the country estate of bossy judge George Marden and his patient wife, Olivia. Living with them is George's sweetly impertinent niece, and ward, Dinah, eager to marry her dashing artist boyfriend, Brian Strange. George, naturally disapproves of their union, while Olivia encourages it.
Into the staid household comes Carraway Pim, a meek and forgetful little man with a letter of introduction. When he casually mentions meeting one Mr. Telworthy on the boat from Australia, he throws the Mardens into a tizzy. For Telworthy was Olivia's first husband, long thought dead. And if he is alive, they have committed bigamy and their marriage is nullified.
This pleasant trifle boasts some solid laughs amid its droll conversations, as when George decries Brian's modern painting with its ``triangular clouds and square sheep.'' Things get a bit thick with George's fretting over what the law and the church will say about the breach of propriety. But the play is never out of sorts for long. It peaks in the scene of wily Olivia using the confusion to get the better of George, extracting his consent both to Dinah's marriage and the new drapes he detests. In a play of this sort, the wife always gets the better of the husband.
Director Steve Garfinkel, MST's go-to guy for period charmers, achieves crispness and the requisite light touch. With a play this slight, push too hard for laughs and it collapses. Garfinkel and his team seem to understand, easy does it.
Carolyn Johnson exerts sly style and worldliness as the quietly knowing Olivia. Rutherford Cravens blusters and fumes as irascible George. But when he fears he may lose his "old girl,'' Cravens conveys genuine tenderness.
Morgan McCarthy makes an ideal ingenue as Dinah, a delightfully pert minx aglow with dewy freshness and a touch of mischief. Andrew Ruthven's solid Brian nicely balances her vivacity; he's ardent with her, but tongue-tied pleading his case to her guardian.
As Mr. Pim, Fritz Dickmann wanders in and out absent-mindedly, vague and primly fussy, unaware of the havoc he's unleashed. Melinda deKay is stern and sour-faced as the inevitable disapproving aunt, while Lyndsay Sweeney scutters about obligingly as the housemaid.
Boris Kaplun has designed an attractive English parlor with its cozy nooks, and Sarajane Milligan has costumed its people handsomely.
With Mr Pim, MST lets Houston playgoers experience what Milne's writing was like outside the nursery. Given that J.M. Barrie has suffered a similar fate, with an even more significant playwriting career overshadowed by his children's classic (Peter Pan), how long before one of Barrie's neglected plays pops up at MST? Anyone for Dear Brutus or What Every Woman Knows?
everett.evans@chron.com
Mr. Pim Passes By
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 23. No performance Thanksgiving Day. On Nov. 29, Thursday show at 8 p.m.
Where: Main Street Theater, 2540 Times
Tickets:$20-$35; 713-524-6706.
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