On a drive back from Devil's Tower in Wyoming, we noticed the town of Sundance on our map. With so many of the surrounding towns playing up their wild west history, it was on a whim that we decided to stop and see if the location had any relation to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Sure enough when we pulled into town, right along main street, there was a small monument depicting Harry A. Longabaugh, AKA the "Sundance Kid" behind bars. As the plaque noted, it was the time he spent in jail in Sundance, Wyoming that inspired Mr. Longabaugh's nickname.
Here we go again. It doesn't seem like very long ago that I took my first shot at creating a separate portfolio site to highlight all of my online ventures. I launched a site at the beginning of 2010 and after months of upkeep and rearranging, the project fizzled out by the end of the year. So what's changed?
Even though the portfolio didn't quite work out the first time, it didn't stop this blog or my ambitions from growing. My online video views have continued to increase, I launched Jeeves and the Jaguar this year, and my content has become more diverse as Editing Luke evolved largely on whims. The challenge for me then has been about how do I sum all of this up? Where do I send people? How do I promote myself? How do I take this to the next step?
When I considered all of these things I realized that what I really wanted was a portfolio again. Editing Luke or my YouTube channel seem like obvious places to direct to, but if I'm honest, there's so much content on both that they're not always focused enough to be strategic. A portfolio has that luxury and I can feature content with goals in mind. I can also work business cards into the mix to then direct contacts and friends to my portfolio as a hub. The plan therefore is simplicity.
The new site has already been designed so this project isn't far from completion. More updates will be available shortly.
Over the weekend my family and I went to Esplanade Theatre in downtown Medicine Hat to see Dracula. My friend Paul had a role in the production and we were all happy to see him on stage again. He's always been interested in theatre so he was the really the reason we all decided to go.
The show had its moments, but if I'm honest, it was a bit hit and miss. I was very impressed with the range of vocal talent in the show, and there were several stand out solos from the female leads that were expertly delivered. There was a lot of inconsistency however, and some of the performers were either off-key or marginalized by an orchestra that occasionally hit a few sour notes.
Whenever the ensemble performed together the show was at its best. These were scenes that were clearly rehearsed the most thoroughly and they didn't disappoint. I just wished there was more of them. The problem with Dracula being a dramatic musical is that without more aggressive direction the show falls into familiar stereotypes that have been played to death. It felt a bit slow and redundant at times and I think a lot of us were hoping for some parody or moments of levity to break up the relatively straightforward plot arch.
The role of Dracula seemed to be cast based on the vocal talents of the gentleman who played him, but he really didn't look the part. The costumes also seemed like painful knock-offs from the nineties movie of the same title. I felt the other leads were much more suited to their roles.
Paul did a great job and his scenes were some of the most entertaining. He was funny, which the audience really seemed to enjoy, and he sounded great.
In the end, Dracula had some obvious weaknesses, but it wasn't because the production was lacking talent. It just seems the concept had no new or original ideas to bring to the stage and it's tough to pull off a familiar story when you're trying to make it resemble the ones that were already largely successful. It's also the problem with local productions being that they just don't have the budget to allow their actors to rehearse as freely as other professional shows do.
But hey, I don't want to be too harsh, it was a good enough reason for the family to spend time together and get into the spirit of Halloween. I just know this theatre company is capable of better.
