Ashland, OR, 23-Jul
A short drive north got us into Oregon and our destination, Ashland. We walked around the town a bit and saw a musical at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
We knew that we would have a very short drive between Mt. Shasta and Ashland, so we took our time in the morning with breakfast and loading the car. When we got to Ashland, it was a long time before we could check into our motel, so we did things in the late morning and early afternoon first.
Parking in Ashland seemed tricky when looking at the websites, so we went to the south end of Lithia Park where we knew there would be unregulated spots (or at worst, 4-hour spots). We had a short walking tour of some of the items around town which started down there, so that worked out well.
Immediately when we started walking in the park we started following the Ashland Creek. There were several bridges crossing the creek, including one that was a steep arch, almost like a Japanese moon bridge but not with the steep slope at the shores. There was also the Butler-Perozzi Fountain which looked like some of the spouts were clogged. We saw a sign next to it that said funds were being raised to restore the fountain.
When we left the park, we came to two drinking fountains. One had eight porcelain fountains which were the kind that bubbled straight up instead of spurting into an arc. It is not recommended to drink from the fountain daily, however, since its water contains elevated levels of barium. Presumably the other fountain of Iron Mike contains the same water. We saw a kid take a taste of the water, and he didn't look too happy.
We then started walking down Main Street, and near the Oregon Shakespeare Festival venues was a statue which had representations of many characters in Shakespeare plays.
We quickly looked at the lobby of the Ashland Springs Hotel and Bloomsbury Books, and just like that our walking tour was done.
We needed to plan out the rest of our day. The downtown parking seemed to be for 2 hours, but it is enforced only until 5:30. We decided that we could eat lunch, do some shopping, then drive by our motel to see if we could check in early. If not, there were cafés nearby we could hang out until then. Then, we would try to get back at about 3:30 to park on the street near the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and we should be fine until our musical let out that night.
Plan in hand, we found a place to eat, but after we walked in, there seemed to be no motion towards seating any of us. Eventually, the host seated some people who apparently already had their names on in the queue, but the rest of us didn't have the opportunity to add our names. More people came in behind us, and at that point, we decided to find somewhere else, and that place had very quick service. Almost next door was an ice cream shop, so we figured it would be worth checking out.
We walked back to the other end of Lithia Park, this time by a different path than we walked up. Just before we got to the car, a deer crossed our path. It didn't seem especially scared of us.
The grocery store had a pretty good selection of things, so it didn't take us long to get our groceries, and we started going to our motel.
Fortunately, we were able to check in early, so we unpacked and hung out until it was time to head back to downtown Ashland, where we scored a parking spot less than two blocks from the theater we would be at. We then headed back to Bloomsbury Books and went upstairs to the café to hang out for a while. They also had a piano, so we played that for a little bit.
The café closed at 5 p.m., which was a little early for us, but we were able to sit next to it in the bookstore until it was time to get dinner, dropping off some of our bags on the way. We got a quick dessert at the grocery store, then walked back to the theater.
We were still pretty early, but there was a show going on at the Green Stage, which is open to the public. The band was playing a song where they wanted everyone to jump during the chorus, and several audience members did so. Soon after they were done, the theater gate opened, and we went in.
We were there to see Into the Woods at the Allen Elizabethan Theater. Like the Globe Theatre, it's open-air but didn't get cold at all. It was also interesting to have the musical start with daylight but end in the dark, which probably makes the lighting cues change during the run as the sunset times change. There were several lighting cues with spotlights, but they all happened after sunset. There was also a video component (a performance by a beloved Oregon Shakespeare Festival actor who passed away a while ago) which was done when the sky was completely dark.
The stage itself is designed for Shakespearean works, so there is no orchestra pit. The backdrop looks like what you would think houses look like in Shakespeare's time, dark exposed timbers with plastered-over bricks in between. In the middle of the backdrop was a large open area, where most of the orchestra sat. The rest was above on a second level, also open. The conductor was in the audience, somewhat off to the side opposite of where we were sitting.
Several of the actors were singing while reading the libretto from books, which seemed a bit odd. However, as the musical proceeded, they stopped doing so. Not sure if there was a specific reason for doing that. Also, some of the cast was a bit difficult to understand at first, but the sound did improve over time.
The musical itself was done really well, both the acting/singing and the orchestra. Some of the funnier gags were a box with a cow drawn on it to represent a cow (which later became a person holding the box, then a person holding what looked like a large head of a stuffed cow), streamers being thrown at people to represent magic, and extended tricycles with horse heads on the front to represent horses.
After the show was over, we figured it would take us a while to drive through the crowds, but once we got to the car, the crowds had mostly thinned. It was a late, but fun night.
