So I’ve been thinking all day about the news that the downtown City Market is closing. It’s just not financially feasible for King Soopers/Kroger to keep it open anymore. I understand their need to close. That’s how the free market works. But still, it saddens me, because it’s just another punch in the gut of my plan to make Pagosa my home forever.
I decided to buy my home in old Pagosa, not new uptown Pagosa. I didn’t build new; I bought a cabin that was 20+ years old. I was proud I didn’t have to cut down one tree to lay down my stake in Pagosa. I liked being out in the middle of nowhere, but only a mile and half from main street, and just a stone’s throw further from the hot springs and the City Market. I had the best of both worlds, I thought.
But nothing lasts forever, does it? And so it goes with the downtown City Market, and downtown Pagosa.
 Feeling sad about the whole thing — sad for me and sad for old town Pagosa, I turned to the flat screen for solace. And lo and behold, PBS was showing a performance of South Pacific, live from the Lincoln Center.
South Pacific is one of my favorite musicals ever. There isn’t one bad song. We cued the 1958 movie up every Christmas. I’ve walked on the beach where it was filmed. I watched my daughter’s voice teacher, triple threat Alexandra Auckland, play Nellie Forbush in a production at Moonlight Theatre, Vista CA. She was just as wonderful as Mitzi Gaynor. It was a perfect stage production of South Pacific.
So tonight I sit down to watch the flat screen viewing of South Pacific, live from the Lincoln Center, so it may be my escape vehicle from my sadness for the loss of our downtown City Market.
Unfortunately, I’ve been a critic for San Diego theatre, and — I can’t help myself — I start critiquing.
I don’t like it. It’s not as good as the movie or Moonlight Theatre. Nellie is too old. She sings with way too much vibrato. And she has a fake drawled-out southern accent that is wretched.
Emile is not Rossano Brazzi. He is more a cross between Clark Gable and Howard Kiel. I love Howard Kiel, and I really love his voice, but he isn’t right for Emile.
The actor who plays Bloody Mary is not seasoned enough, and not round enough.
Lt. Cable, he is adequate. He has the appropriate swagger for a fly-boy. His Liat is irresistible. They draw me in.
Then back to the not-right Emile and Nellie. But I settle in, anyhow, and try to enjoy it for what it is, a new rendition of my beloved old South Pacific.
And so I must do with Pagosa — settle in, and try to enjoy it for what it is, a new rendition of Pagosa. |