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<\/a>Well, the end is in sight\u2026<\/p>\nToday burly guys come and remove stuff that will be recycled or dumped\u2026 Jan will oversee as I slip away to the Newton cemetery for a brief internment service.<\/p>\n
Last night after I picked up Jan we stayed in Boston\u2019s MetroWest and attended the New Rep\u2019s<\/a> production of According to Tip<\/span><\/a>, a one man production featuring Ken Howard telling the story of the late Speaker of the House Tip O\u2019Neill<\/a>. Like a fair number of folk attending the play we had dinner at Pedro\u2019s<\/a> just across from the Rep\u2019s home at the Arsenal Center for the Arts<\/a> in Watertown. (A great place if you ever find yourself in the neighborhood\u2026)<\/p>\n We arrived with Jan in her work clothes and me in my standard Summer uniform, Hawaiian print shirt, shorts and tevas. While there were a few Hawaiian print shirts, there were no other guys in shorts. And there were lots of guys in ties and a fair number of suits. Ladies were all comparably nicely attired\u2026 I began to seriously suspect I may have under dressed for the occasion when I saw Representative Barney Frank<\/a> standing around. Then Representative Jim McGovern<\/a>. Then Tip\u2019s eldest and namesake, former Lieutenant Governor, Thomas O\u2019Neill<\/a>. There were more politicians and high fliers there than one could shake the proverbial stick at, not to mention various of the great and the good\u2026<\/p>\n I was sure I heard someone whisper \u201cWhose the guy in the shorts?\u201d And the response, \u201cOh, that\u2019s the local Unitarian minister\u2026\u201d But I may have imagined it\u2026<\/p>\n We ended up sitting next to Jan\u2019s bosses\u2019, boss and his family. He was wearing a tie.<\/p>\n Oh, well\u2026<\/p>\n The lights went down.<\/p>\n It was a lovely show. I\u2019ve always been a fan of the former Speaker. And I felt they did him right.<\/p>\n Ken Howard did a great job. He padded his middle, but didn\u2019t appear to feel a need to apply makeup to give him Tip\u2019s trademark schnoz. And once he started talking I felt carried away\u2026<\/p>\n Dick Flavin\u2019s script was great. As he said in an interview for the notes \u201c(A)lthough (Tip\u2019s) public life was actually fifty years, culturally he spanned the entire 20th century. He dated back to the days of the streetcar rallies and the torchlight parades and all that sort of stuff and ended up in the days of computerized politics and the multi-million dollar campaigns for even offices like mayor and congress and everything in between.\u201d And he captured it all\u2026<\/p>\n Some professional sitting in the row behind us didn\u2019t think highly of the set, although I thought they were fine. I admit I felt there were a few rough moments both in script and delivery, but nothing that actually broke the spell. I did come away having the sense they may continue to work it a bit before taking the show on the road.<\/p>\n If it ends up in your neighborhood, I\u2019d strongly recommend taking it in.<\/p>\n Tip\u2019s reflections on the presidents with whom and sometimes against whom he served were worth the price of admission.<\/p>\n