The great thing about loose threads here at A Matter of Opinion is that you can introduce whatever topics you like. I'll start.

After a day at Silverwood from which I came away with a blistering sunburn, I went to CdA Summer Theatre's opening night of "Les Miserables" Saturday night.

It was spellbinding.

I had seen a traveling Les Miz show before, but I wasn't prepared for this homegrown production to be so professionally and creatively staged. The leads were seasoned professionals of course, and my favorite by far was Geoffrey Blaisdell's hauntingly hardened Javert.

The news of Ella's Supper Club closing down wasn't pleasant; I've enjoyed it several times in my two years in Spokane. But the CdA Summer Theatre and the Spokane Symphony (among others) give me hope that even in these hard times the arts won't die. Like everything else, they may be pruned once in a while. But humans can't live without beauty, and I'm privileged to live in an area where natural and artificial beauty are still accessible in such abundance.

(Photo by S-R's Jesse Tinsley: Douglas Webster stars as Jean Valjean in the CdA Summer Theatre production of "Les Miserables.")

---

---