War Horse

I wrote two days ago about how Mom and I went to see the Emmylou Harris concert the Sunday night that she was here.  What I had originally planned to do that night was go see War Horse at the Fox, but I had only bought a single ticket. I gave it to my cousin A instead, but Mom very generously bought me another ticket for Wednesday night instead!

The show was awesome, but so, so intense.  I saw the movie some time ago, so I knew how it was going to end, but the action takes you right up until the last minute.  And I suppose it's a good thing that the show was never dull, because it was long - almost 2 hours and 45 minutes.

During that time, it's amazing to see what the crew can do with the mechanical horses (and the smaller animals too).  It was easy to forget they weren't real, and I didn't find the crew members who were controlling them to be distracting at all; they did a great job of staying out of the sight line between the horse and the audience.

Perhaps the most notable thing about this play (and the movie) is its poignancy.  The human protagonist is pure of heart and mission, a stark contrast to all the conflicted, often-hard-to-like main characters that are popular today.  It's a simple story - a boy and his horse trying to find their way back to each other - but a good, classic one.