An Ideal Husband

Friday was a good day. Work was slow so I gave myself a mental break and dreamed of all the places we could go with the one week we have in August before John starts teaching again. I think I am settling on Guatemala; the fare is reasonable and we have never been to central America.

John had gone to *$$ earlier to get us some lunch and was out and about which left me to daydream in peace. He called about4pm to say he was on his way home and would I like to see the showing of the play "An Ideal Husband" in which his friend Elizabeth was acting. Of course!

A quick shower, dress, and a touch of lipstick later I was ready to go at 5pm. I had called the Long Beach Playhouse (http://www.lbph.com/) to find out if I could buy tickets -- the lady who answered said they still had 70 seats free in a 200 seat theatre so I could just walk in and buy the tickets an not incur the $2 per ticket fee -- fine with me!

We headed to our favorite sushi restaurant Mimi's Sushi on Brookhurst where we decided to try out our new plan: only have sushi at a Japanese restaurant. By the time were were done with 6 sushi orders we were full and the bill was only $33 and that included a beer for him -- plan worked. If you have seen some of our dinner bills you would understand why this is a triumph.

We go to the theatre in plenty time even after a row over Maude, the GPS, and my being direction challenged. What can I say, I was not paying attention, Lord Briginshaw was chauffeuring I was feeling pretty good -- who cares about a small thing like directions?

Anyway we had great seats -- all the seats in the theatre had a good view of the stage. The set was very very quaint and well done -- the costumes were just fantastic. Elizabeth appeared in the first and third acts as Countess of Baildon she was great. Lady Markby and Viscount Goring stole the show but to be honest all of the actors were quite good they did a good job with the British accents (Elizabeth and Teri-- Lady Markby are both English).

I would have sworn that Viscount Goring took his direction from the Rupert Everett role in the film portrayal because I kept on getting flashbacks. In all it was a great show and the dresses were just mahvelous mahvelous!

An Ideal Husband Cast Cast Photography—Robert Craig Photography

Not the best cast picture but our friend Elizabeth is lady standing on the right.

Elizabeth Livingston Wallner (Countess of Basildon)Elizabeth was born and grew up in England. She is happy to be making her first appearance at the LBPH. She has trained with Acting Express and the Performers Academy. Her previous roles have been with the Newport Repertory Theatre and include Mother Gearth in Till Death Do Us Part, Ma Bailey in It´s A Wonderful Life, and most recently a bay lady in ER. She is also playing in the film, Outworld, written and directed by Robert Michael Conrad.

Elizabeth and John met in one of Robert Michael Conrad's acting classes and were in ER together and are both in Outworld.