On Sunday, Tony and I went to North Jersey to catch the 'phews in an Off-Off-Off-Off-Broadway production of Once Upon a Mattress at their middle school. Mike and Matt—and the whole show, really—were great. I'm so very proud of them.
When an 8th grader dropped out, Mike nabbed the larger role of Sir Harold. (He's on the right in the photo at left, which was on a bulletin board Tracey put together. She also was responsible for props. Good job, Bug!) He had a short singing solo, and when nasty Queen Aggravain asked whether anyone knew how to do the Spanish Panic, Sir Harold and Lady Beatrice (played by Samantha Aboody) said they did and demonstrated the dance, before everyone else joined in. Matt was Knight #1—the only knight to get a number btw. I enjoyed watching Matt perform, but without taking anything away from him, I have to say that Mike is a natural on stage; he was completely at ease up there.
Michael Dellapi, the son of David's best man at David and Tracey's wedding, played the Silent King. Princess Winnifred and Prince Dauntless were both played by kids named Jordan. I was particularly impressed with Jordan Roe as Winnifred. And kudos to the wardrobe person who decided to put a crab in her hair during Winnifred's first scene, after she'd swum across the moat. Nicole Christopoul had a really fun moment as Aggravain at the end of the first act when she commanded everyone in the audience to get a snack during the intermission. Ha!
Before the show, Tracey, Granny, Dad, Tony, and I had lunch at the Pizza Fusion in Ridgewood. Tony got an enjoyable gluten- and dairy-free pizza with sundried tomatoes and basil, and I got an enjoyable gluteny and cheesy one with sundried tomatoes and peppers. And Tracey got the biggest (mostly) organic salad ever, for only $9. How on earth does PF think that's a single serving of salad? Tony said it must have had a pound of cheese on it.
After the show, I got to pet on Molly, the sweetest little woofer in Bergen County. And all of us, including David and the actor boys, went to dinner at Janice in Ho-Ho-Kus.
The food at this bistro-style restaurant was rather good, but I was annoyed that Tony was given mashed potatoes that contained dairy even though he had told the waiter he couldn't eat either gluten or dairy and the MPs weren't listed on the menu as a side dish for Tony's chicken entree. And the restaurant plays up its gluten-free-friendliness, so you would think everyone would be careful about making sure ingredient requests are respected. The waiter was very young and clearly inexperienced, but I was still pissed off at the casualness with which he informed Tony that the mashed potatoes did indeed include dairy after going to the kitchen to check. Well, maybe those SOBs shouldn't be on my boy's plate then. Mmmmkay?
Tony ate around the potatoes and suffered no ill effects even though he's sure he ate at least traces of them. He had said before that he suspected dairy would bother him less now that he's been faithfully avoiding gluten, and the dinner turned out to be an unexpected test for that theory. Maybe now he'll be able to at least taste some of my delicious homemade ice creams going forward.
Here are some more photos:
M&M are in the background as Princess No. 12 is given a test by the queen's buddy, the wizard.
Mike and Samantha do the Spanish Panic.
Girlfriend Molly
Tracey's bulletin board
The guys' headshots
Matt takes his bow with the knights.
And Mike takes his bow with two of the ladies.
UPDATE later on March 26: A little while ago, after we had settled on eating dinner at the restaurant in Ho-Ho-Kus, I decided that I needed to come up with some more puns of the town's name. Two Saturdays ago, Tony and I had dinner and went to a show with Jack, my buddy from the Game Party. He loves puns and wordplay, so I told him about my earlier Ho-Ho-Kus puns and my determination to come up with more. He was all over it: Don Ho-Ho-Kus is the town's name if you feel like singing "Tiny Bubbles." Heave Ho-Ho-Kus is what I would call the town if Tony broke up with me during dinner. When that Korean comedienne with the big gay following is in town, it's Margaret Cho-Ho-Kus. I came up with Ho-Cro-Cus, which is what you call the town when the spring bulbs are blooming. Steve, a friend of David's who was also in T&D's wedding party, would call it Yo-Bro-Kus (because he uses the expression "Yo, bro" a lot). And if you were to transport the neighborhood south of the one where Tony and I live and add it to Ho-Ho-Kus, it would be SoHo-Ho-Ho-Kus.
It looks like a wonderful production. What a wonderful memory.
Posted by: Mark H. | March 26, 2011 at 10:39 AM
Great title for your post! You're right - Mike is more natural on stage. Sorry again about the restaurant! I'm glad Tony didn't get sick from the potatoes!
Posted by: tracey | March 26, 2011 at 11:23 AM