By popular request, I am changing (slightly) the intro line of this blog, so that anyone who does a Google search on me can find their way to Toad Hall. (All right: "popular request" means Bill-the-Honeybear said "Why the hell don't you put your name somewhere in your blog so I can find you on Google?")

I don't understand some Kerry supporters. The man ran a tough campaign. He made, from what I've heard, a gracious and, I don't know, noble concession speech, along with a civilized phone call to Bush (which was received with just as much civility). He's said, in effect, "It's over," and he's now turning back to his work in the Senate (where, God knows, there's more than enough things to do). But the die-hard supporters are still fighting the election results, claiming massive voter fraud. I'll admit I've heard of irregularities all across the country, but most people (including the Democratic party) are saying that they're too small in terms of vote count to make any difference in the outcome. If the candidate is saying it's over, and the party is saying it's over, then what possible motive can there be for insisting that it's not over?

Well, there are people who voted for Kerry because they thought he would be the better man in the office at this time. There are people (and I'm one of them) who voted for Kerry because Bush's mishandling of the War on Terror has been atrocious, earning Bush removal from the office. But there are some people who voted for Kerry because they hate Bush-the-man so much that nothing will shake their belief that their candidate lost. These are the people who said (and the many more hiding in the shadows who only thought but did not say) "Anyone But Bush". These are the people who would have voted for the village idiot if he/she was the candidate of the Democratic party. And, incredibly, these are the people who are turning on Kerry for conceding the election when he did.

Is this believable? Is this rational behavior? The man in whose policies and decisions they put their trust is now the man whose decisions are those of -- oh, I don't know; just fill in the blank yourself. I can't bring myself to look at them with anything but disgust.

I wonder if these are the people the Founders thought of when they created the Electoral College.

So the Honeybear and I went to The City yesterday. We had tickets for Cinderella at the New York City Opera, with an all-star cast: Lea DeLaria and Ana Gasteyer as the stepsisters, John "Lypsinka" Epperson as the stepmother, Dick Van Patten as the King, Renee Taylor as the Queen, and Eartha Kitt as the Fairy Godmother. The leads were unknowns (except for those of you readers who are musical buffs): Sarah Uriarte Berry as Cinderella, and Christopher Siebert as the Prince. All this plus a Rodgers and Hammerstein score. How could it fail? How about, with wooden -- no, leaden performances, about 30-45 minutes of padding to fill out a two-hour time slot, and choreography that should have been more lively but instead turned into "the villagers performing for the tourists on market day". Blame from me goes directly to director/choreographer Baayork Lee, an alumna of many shows (including being in the original cast of A Chorus Line).

Fortunately, we saw Cinderella at a matinee performance. We walked downtown to the TKTS booth and got tickets for Golda's Balcony. Roughly ninety minutes, but including the entire history of Israel as seen from the point of view of its former Prime Minister, Golda Meir (the former Goldie Meyerson from Milwaukee), focusing especially on the Yom Kippur War and the desperate decisions that had to be made. The entire cast was Tovah Feldshuh, one of those actresses who, in a more just world, would be hailed for the talent she is. Not only was she Golda as young girl, new wife, emigrant to Palestine, mother, activist, and PM; she was all the members of her cabinet (including Moshe Dayan and Ariel Sharon), David Ben-Gurion, Henry Kissinger, King Abdullah of Jordan, both her parents and her husband. It was performed without intermission. That was the right choice. Golda's story, and that of her beloved country, requires your full attention without interruption until it reaches its end. Ms. Feldshuh announced from the stage that as of last month Golda's Balcony was the longest-running one-woman Broadway show in history. It should run forever. It will be closing after New Year's. Go see it.

Cinderella again. Not the stage show -- the TV show. The original, broadcast only once and never taped. But someone, thank the theatre gods, made a kinescope. It's going to be broadcast on PBS on my birthday, December 13 (at least, it will in the NYC area). Julie Andrews, fresh from My Fair Lady, is Cinderella. Ilka Chase, Kaye Ballard, and Alice Ghostley are the stepmother and stepsisters. Jon Cypher (you should recall him from the TV show Major Dad) was the Prince, with Howard Lindsay and Dorothy Stickney as the King and Queen. And, as a young and sophisticated Fairy Godmother, a young and talented Edie Adams. Kindly do not invite me to do anything for the night of my birthday -- I'm staying home with Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. (ps.: Julie Andrews will be the announcer for the PBS broadcast.)