The Royale was absolutely amazing! They did it 90mins straight through without intermission, but between the play itself and all of the actors and the directorial choices, I'm calling it now that it's the best play APT will put on this season. At a tug the heart strings let's talk about the realities of being Black in America and the realities of the history as it was sort of way.  Absolutely fucking phenomenal!!! Would definitely go see it again.

Merry Wives of Windsor was... vapid and overacted and farcical but that's what the play is. They did a good job with it and it was fun, but there was no substance to it and I wouldn't want to come back for it any more than I'd want to drink leftover champagne the next morning if you don't drink it up when you first open the bottle -- without the bubbles, even if it's chilled it's not an enjoyable experience. It's one of my least favorite Shakespeare plays or as I describe it, "The story is that Merry Wives is the OG fan fic because Queen Elizabeth basically loved Falstaff so much In Kin Henry IV Part 1 she ordered he be made undead again or she would revoke the patent for the players/theatre." I also feel quite strongly that even though the history plays are rarely staged, Merry wives should always be staged alongside King Henry IV part 1 and King Henry IV Part 2. Not just because they are superior plays, but so that you can have a proper understanding of who Falstaff is/was and why the Queen loved him so much that merry Wives of Windsor was written so countermand his death. You could do the two history plays short runs, but alongside the comedy they would sell to ll the English/history nerds and for those whose interest is piqued by learning the story of how/why Merry Wives of Windsor supposedly came to be.Also though, mostly because King Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 are brilliant and have some incredible soliloquies and lines... Prince Hal is quite delightfully real in a way that you don't expect of a king to be. 

But The Royale was incredibly fucking amazing and I HIGHLY recommend that if you have a chance to come up to Spring Green to see it, you ABSOLUTELY should!!!  If I can, I intend to see it again while it's running because it really is that phenomenally done.

Current plan is to Art Fair tomorrow (well, today now; Saturday) and then I'll be coming in over the weekend to get hours in to try to get enough in since next Saturday I'll be in the twin cities for a Nickel Creek show (I think it's St. Paul, not Minne) and then I'll have Sunday through Tuesday to try to get as many hours or work in before my sister's family come into town for a visit (19-24; my sister has a color coded excel spreadsheet itinerary. And yes that's what I mean by she's a Type A Virgo planner, lol.) I will probably have to figure out watering plants at some point if it doesn't rain, either early mornings or after they go back to their hotel so the kiddos can swim, and I might have some evening/night time blocks to get hours in, but I also will need to sleep and spend time with my cat and take care of my at home plants around the timing of my sister's itinerary. There's likely some flexibility, but like she has every meal planned where it is and when it should be and any flexibility will be around her family's needs/timelines and not anybody else's... because that's how my sister is, lol.  Very stark contrast to my wandering meandering go with the flow "what do we fell like now" way that I navigate around the things that have non-negotiable start times not to be late for 9such as tickets and travel; I'd rather be early than late when you have a hard finite time for things. And yes, I treat plans with my sister the way I treat theatre/concert tickets and flight times....because it's not worth the battle and passive-aggressiveness and her never forgetting a slight of being late to her plans unless you have a damn good reason for it. My policy with her is to try to articulate needs/desires ahead of time so she can incorporate them into her plans if possible and to prioritize her plans once they are made. Because she over plans to try to optimize efficiency and happiness, so in my experience letting her and/or her husband know given parameters is way better than springing things on them or being late to what they already planned.)

Anyway. What I'm saying is that other than the Nickel Creek concert next Saturday and working, including watering my plants, this week I will likely be very much a hermit to make up for my over planned no introvert recharge week after that. And then after they fly back home to Seattle area, I'll have one weekend and a handful of days before seeing Six on Thursday and then first weekend of Aug is Iowa Irishfest and starts my three weekends in a row of Irish festing (and then probably Bristol Ren Faire the weekend afterward) and then September I have a whole slew of APT dates right away, lol. My hermit introvert recharge time is actually rather limited after this coming week until like mid-September.... Oy vey, non?

but anyway. The Royale. See it anywhere if you can, but genuinely if you have the means to travel to the upper midwest and see it at APT in Spring Green, you absolutely should! Because this cast and director, their choices were all INCREDIBLE!!! Just phenomenally, powerfully, incredible!

P. S. 2:22am addendum: 

This Three French Hens wine is my current favorite inexpensive red wine for drinking in pretty much any outdoor summer/early autumnal situation when you don't want anything too heavy but still want a good dry French red. (And yes, we were drinking wine out of Starbucks small water cups -- we forgot to grab cups and were stopping there anyway for road caffeine so I suggested asking for two small waters as well to get free cups. They work remarkably well for impromptu drink pouring and have measures on them to help you get even pours for everyone at different quantities.)

It doesn't taste or drink like a cheap wine, but it's currently a $9.99 bottle of French wine at Barriques  and when you buy 6 bottles of the same kind of wine you get 10% off. (Or on Tues it's 10% off of 2 or more of any bottles of wine.) Which was a ridiculously good price for any French wine, but especially a merlot/mourvèdre blend! We tried it at ATP last night while holding the table waiting for the rest of the party of 8 and our order from Freska to arrive. And then today on the way back to APT I insisted on preordering the coffee drinks and then getting a half case of the Three French Hens while they had it at that price point for Concerts on the Square and/or APT across the next several months.

 The wine is from Languedoc (which their wines are often hit or miss, but more often than not are very pleasantly drinkable to my very snooty French and ancient Greek palette and past life opinions on wine) and is a blend of 70% merlot with 30% mourvèdre (an ancient Mediterranean grape used in a lot of wines I love from ancient Greco-Roman colonies in the Mediterranean, also popular in some new world bad Australian wines, but I tend to consistently think of it as a Provençal and Rhône and Valencia wine. Mourvèdre is the M in the Côtes de Rhône désignation GSM blend as a table wine. The other two being grenache and syrah. And yes, if you see an inexpensive GSM blend, that's usually a safe and nicely balanced table wine at 50% grenache, 40% syrah, and 10% mourvèdre. And yes, I have very strong opinions about wine and yes they are very French and ancient Mediterranean Greco-Roman opinions and no you can't change my mind.... Red wines should be dry and well balanced smooth with flavor profiles based on the season it is and what you're eating (I drink very different reds in hot summer days than I drink on cold winter days; but the tannic dry well balanced is the non-negotiable of a red wine) and white wines should be dry and bright crisp and never ever ever oaked because if you want to drink clarified butter you can have some ghee but butter doesn't belong in white wines dangit. Rosé has a bit more room for play in flavor profiles as it flirts with combining aspects of reds and whites, but the greatest sin against a rosé is making it cloyingly Moscato/American Riesling sweet. Any wine described as tasting like honeysuckle in the notes is going to be cloyingly sweet... I also loathe every type of port and sherry wines I have ever tried for the treacly texture, cough syrup texture molasses with sediment is NOT what I consider a good or enjoyable wine.) Three French Hens is light bodied, fruity, but dry slightly tannic finish. And the wine lady at Barriques who came over to help us was delighted when I asked for a box and pointed it out as being an amazing summer red and unbelievable deal for that price point, she told me this one is also quite good chilled down to 56F, brings out the berry notes in it. Which, if we get back over 90F days and I want red wine is something I will definitely do!

And damn skippy I tell everyone that it's my 12 Days of Christmas wine and if they can't remember the name of it than to start singing the song and they'll figure it out. (Also, if you ever want to do an epic romantic slightly askew because nobody needs that many fowl in the modern world version of gifting your true love the twelve days of Christmas, I have now found you the stand in for three French hens in a bottle of wine. You're welcome.)