u/BlueSneeze7x

My memories tend to be colored by emotion, but in my hazy recollection the Gulutzan hire was based on three things...

1. The need for a more physical Stars - not just in the playoffs, but from Day One. This lasted about 2 weeks last season...?

2. The need for a better power play - which sorta happened last season, despite it not feeling that way at the moment.

3. DeBoer wasn't getting us over that final hump from Conference Finals to Finals Finals - which we solved by losing in the first round.

I know, I know - it's not that black and white and there are other factors, but that's why I'm here - remind me why I'm taking the wrong approach to this, please :-)

I worry this may be old news to many, but it was completely unexpected for me.

We just saw the "movie theater" version of SIX! and it was wonderful. I'm not going to do a detailed review here, but the positives vastly outweighed whatever minor quibbles I might have had. It's a great show and a good pro-shot.

What was unexpected was that after a single extended Coke commercial ("Coke is Jesus. Coke is America. Coke is Adamantium. Coke is for astronauts. Coke is for 8-year olds. Coke is for you." etc.) we went straight into a 12-15 minute vignette about the history of the show and the cast filmed for this pro-shot, then right into the show itself.

The mini-documentary was a nice surprise and I don't remember the last time anything on the big screen actually started so close to the official time. Normally I try to get aisle seats and arrive about 20 minutes after the scheduled start time, even for special events. (The Hadestown movie didn't actually begin until 35 minutes after the announced start time, and that was before all the extensions and buzz.) I'm glad we were in the middle of the row this time and felt compelled to be seated before the lights dimmed.

Anyway, highly recommended - no idea if it's this way everywhere or just this particular theater, but it made a good experience even better.

We attended a somewhat local production of Dear Evan Hansen recently. Overall, it was fine - a bit of a tough show vocally, but it held together.

Mostly.

Unlike the tours we've seen, or one other semi-local production, however, there was an ensemble - a half-dozen players not named in what's typically about an 8-person show. That made sense in terms of adding some punch to the group numbers, but they seemed to haul these folks out even in songs not requiring their help, and had them... not dance, exactly, but do choreographed walking and weird interpretive motions and just generally be distracting and awkward and bizarre.

I'm under the impression groups licensing shows like this have to stay relatively loyal to the script and do their best to recreate important set elements and such, but is this sort of thing up to the director, or does it vary from show to show, or...?

I should say I admire and appreciate anyone willing to get up in front of the world and go for it. I don't knock the individuals. But it was a terrible choice by someone in charge.