Saturday, December 15, 2007

Joc and the Grinch

My friend Jocelyn was coming out to New York for a meeting on Thursday and then Friday we were going to go see the play How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Well, Thursday flights weren't great. But Joc ("joss") got to the airport at 10:30 AM to ge the early flight, in before the storm. Cancelled. So she got ont he 1:50 flight to land at 3:05 (Rochester New York to New York city is short). It left the gate at 2:10 and fianlly took off a 1/2 hour later. AT 4:15 Ed and I looked at flight tracker and she was circling Albany. At 5:15 - still circling. At 5:30, the plane was head back to Rochester. At 6:15 the plane had landed.. in Philadelphia!!!

She tried to get a ticket back to Rochester, but the nice counter person told her she never left Rochester, so she couldn't get a ticket back - because, despite her physical presence in Philadelphia, the computer said she was in Rochester. You can't argue with the computer.

She finally got home at 10:45. Twelve hours and 15 minutes after she left and having never really gone anywhere. But she wanted a report of the Grinch. So here it is.

How the Grinch Stole Scooter's Sense of Christmas

The book was a 5 minute read, 10 minutes tops
TV show was half hour, well done – mad props

But the play plays ninety minutes,
much too long to stretch it out
So they added songs and stage business,
kids that scream and kids that shout

You see the Grinch, the big green wonder, doesn’t enter til scene five
And the audience is restless, “The plays not alive!”

They pick a line from the story to make into a song
But the line they pick from the book is wrong, wrong…
"Oh the noise, noise NOISE!"

The noise in the book is music, made from toys and from dreams
The noise in the play is just those kids and those extra loud screams
Yes they scream at the Grinch, who covers in fright
They scream and they scream and I think that I might
Have to go into hiding, as yelling starts in the throng
Just the thing that I need, an audience scream sing-along

The Grinch finally stops them, I cheer for the Grinch
They’re stopped with a bop, it’s easy, a cinch

Of course the “song” is reprised, three times, maybe four
Am I lucky and sit in seat 20, I would head for the door
But no such luck
I am stuck
Another hour or more

Other things happen, not much, but a few
Some Singing,
Some Dancing,
A song from Cindy Lou Who
Snow comes from the roof (cannons go off too)

It finally comes to an end, it staggers to a stop
Grinchy green bows, and all the kids applaud for the flop

And our Scooter? He’s trying to get to the door
He thinks of Joc in the air, 5 hours or more
And he thinks, "Would I have traded places with her?"
"Yes", in an instant, of that he is sure

He slips on his i-pod
hurries to his door
He thinks of the play.
One word.
Nevermore.