Accordingly, here from yesteryear is comedian Anna Russell singing "O How I Love the Spring" (an English folk song of the nymphs and shepherds style), plus a Russian song, "Da, Nyet, Da, Nyet" thrown in for good measure (6:37). She continued her musical journey through the vocal genres with a German lied ("Schlumpf") and a French art song ("Je N'ai Pas La Plume de ma Tante") (5:50).
...which phrase from French I class brings us at last to Belle et la bête, or how I spent my birthday.
Belle et la bête, you know, Beauty and the Beast.
Not the new motion picture that has certain sections of the population upset over the introduction of homosexual attraction into the world of children's fairy tales. No, indeed. I'm speaking instead of the stage musical based on the Disney cartoon version of a few years back as performed by the school my granddaughter attends.
My granddaughter had the role of Babette the Feather Duster. Here she is with Lumiere:
...and after the show with her biggest fans:
In other news of note, our older Alabama grandson attended his senior prom and also played a French horn solo at the All-District Band concert. Not at the same time. On consecutive days.
...and our younger Alabama grandson, his brother, who is ranked first on his school's golf team, won his first match of the season. That's him, er, he second from the right in the group photo:
...and our oldest grandson of all helped his college baseball team, currently ranked #5 in the nation among Division III schools, beat the #3 school, Emory University, by a score of 9 to 4:
Here he is with his proud brother:
Finally, Babette's older brother flew in from North Carolina (and boy, are his arms tired) just to see his sister on stage but since we managed to attend different performances we don't have a photograph of him except for this one from a couple of years back:
A bientôt.
My. Your family has had an exciting time of it. I was particularly impressed at the quality of the costumes for Beauty and the Beast. A belated Happy Birthday.
ReplyDeleteEveryone seems to be posting about grandchildren these days. As I don't have any I shall just sit here and admire everyone else's.
ReplyDeleteEmma, the production was stunning visually, technically, and vocally (note use of the Oxford comma) and I hope it garners all kinds of awards because it was better than many professional things I have seen. And of course I am not biased in any way! I do thank you for both your early and belated birthday greetings.
ReplyDeleteGraham, I know I shouldn't push them front and center on my readers, but I am just so darned proud of all of them. I shall try to remember that pride goeth before a fall (something my mother used to say, along with a soft answer turneth away wrath, faint heart ne'er won fair maid, lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds, and so on. It was like living with Bartlett's Familiar Quotations). Thanks for continuing to drop by.
"I know I shouldn't push them front and center on my readers, but I am just so darned proud of all of them." - Nonsense, you should be proud, they are all doing so wonderfully, and people post pictures of all manner of things they're proud of, like cars, and jam and pies; I think your pictures are rather more impressive as they're part of the Brague dynasty! And it's a big one! I really enjoyed them all, and I'm glad you all had such a good time. x
ReplyDeleteClearly the Brague gene pool is brimming with talent! You are a very lucky grandfather...dashing and handsome too but not in a modern Beauty & Beast kind of way!
ReplyDeleteMerci beaucoup to both All Consuming and Yorkshire Pudding, for adding your very kind comments.
ReplyDelete