Are You Armed With Peanut Butter?: Surprising Things That Trigger the Airport Security Alarms

(image: Atlanta Herald)

Budget Travel reports that some surprising things can trigger airport security alarms and what to do about it. These items are harmless but they put security officers on high alert.

Aluminum Foil Wrappers
Caught by the metal detector. Manufacturers of gum, candy and cigarettes have made the transition from metallic to paper but hold-outs can single you out at airport checkpoints.
What to do: Empty your pockets of all foil before walking through the metal detector.

Retractable keys
Some can look like small knives in an X-ray image when extended.
What to do: Retract the keys before placing them on the X-ray conveyor belt.

Headbands
Caught by the metal detector. Metal constitutes the frame of many headbands.
What to do: Send this hair accessory through the X-ray with your carry-on bags.

Snow Globes
The liquid contents of most crystal balls surpass the 3.4-ounce limit and not allowed.
What to do: Pack it carefully in your checked bag.

Inhalers
Aerosol products appears to violate the rules regarding liquids, gels and aerosols. But because these objects are required for medical reasons, they are exempt from restriction.
What to do: To avoid unwanted questioning, inform the officers in advance. It will speed things up if medications are properly labeled.

Jars of Peanut Butter
Caught by screeners. Is it a gel? It can't be a liquid? But if it conforms to the shape of a container like toothpaste, the item will be flagged.
What to do: Check it or make a peanut butter sandwich instead.

(image: Minamoto Kitchoan)

Other objects listed in the report include underwire bras (the article's author says to check it and sport a comfortable model for the flight) and small alcohol bottles. I'm going to add one to this list: Cake. In a recent trip I purchased a small box containing slices of a Japanese cake. It was prepackaged so it was not something that was just bought from the bakery. The security officer scrutinized it short of opening it. But from the squeezing of the box by the officer, I'm surprised it made it out of security undamaged.

The jars of peanut butter would have sounded unusual but when visiting New York I usually bring back a bottle of Peanut Butter & Co Dark Chocolate Dreams sold in their shop and select retailers. Available across the mainland USA, it is currently unavailable in my home state of Hawaii.

Net SAAver Fares should be called Never SAAver Fares

Every week it says the same thing. I receive from American Airlines their weekly Net SAAver Fares email which lists deals for the next weekend. Every week the email is customized to report:

"Weekend Getaway Deals For Next Weekend From Honolulu, HI"

Then it offers the disappointing statement:

"We have selected markets that may interest you since there aren't any Net SAAver fares from Honolulu, HI for travel next weekend."

It's like receiving a box of candy and finding there's nothing inside. Then fares from airports such as Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago O'Hare are listed. So how does American expect passengers from Hawaii to get to those airports? I know, why leave Hawaii to go on vacation.

Click here to find deals for next weekend from your city, if there are any.

The Shower Spa at 43,000 Feet in the Air

(all images: Reuters except where noted)

(photo: Emirates.com)

It was going to happen one day. Emirates has installed showers on their A380 luxury aircrafts. Alas the two showers are for the 14 passengers seated in their first class which is located on the plane's upper deck. The airline provides shower kits and passengers must contact the flight's purser to make an appointment. The catch: given the enormous weight of water, fliers are limited to a five-minute shower. A color coded warning system alerts the passenger that the water is about to run out.

The Emirates A380 flies nonstop from Dubai to New York. Visit emirates.com for more information about their on-board shower spa. Read a review published in the Western Australia's online news site, WAtoday.com.au. Below are more pics of their first class cabin and the double-decker A380 aircraft. The last photo is the Emirates business class seat for comparison.

 

(photo above & below: Emirates.com)

Closing!!! 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' in NYC

Belasco Theatre marquee (image: playbill.com)

Another musical based on a movie closes. The pedigree of the new musical 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown' had hit written all over it. No doubt Lincoln Center thought so and was probably seeking a long run to fill the coffers of the not-for-profit organization. Lincoln Center produces a musical now and then and among them were the hit revivals of 'South Pacific' (2008) and 'Anything Goes' (1987) as well as the dance musical 'Contact' (2007). All three extended well beyond the announced limited engagements.

The company (all production images: Paul Kolnik)

Then there are the creators: composer David Yazbek ('The Full Monty', 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'), writer Jeffrey Lane (also of 'Scoundrels), director Bartlett Sher ('South Pacific', 'Light in the Piazza') and a design team attached to a string of major musicals.

Next the performers have garnered 17 Tony Award nominations and 4 wins: Patti Lupone, Sherie Rene Scott, Brian Stokes Mitchell, De'Adre Aziza, Laura Benanti, Danny Burstein and Mary Beth Peil. Let's not discuss the addition of American Idol first season runner-up Justin Guarini to the cast.

Patti Lupone & Sherie Rene Scott

Finally the source material is one of Spanish director and writer Pedro Aldomovar's first films to gain popularity in America and an Oscar nomination for foreign language film. The breakout star of the 1988 film was a young Antonio Banderas.

It didn't hurt the film had a screwball story. Described by amazon.com: A woman's lover leaves her, and she tries to contact him to find out why he's left. She confronts his wife and son, who are as clueless as she. Meanwhile her girlfriend is afraid the police are looking for her because of her boyfriend's criminal activities. They talk to a female lawyer, who turns out to be the lover's new lover, and everyone's path keeps crossing each other's in a very complicated and confusing manner.

Nikka Graff Lanzarone, Laura Benanti, Justin Guarini

Where most recent musicals based on a movie had a source that was widely popular, New York Times reported before the show's opening:
The $5 million show is a rarity: a new musical based on a foreign film from two decades ago that is probably not widely known among the tourists who are the backbone of Broadway box offices. And the show is opening in New York without the traditional out-of-town tryout used by every other new musical now on Broadway ('Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark' was yet to play its first preview) to test material to make corrections.

Brian Stokes Mitchell, Nina Lafarga, Justin Guarini

The review from Variety:
The recipe for gazpacho is scrawled large across the curtain. Like the dish in question, the new Almodovarsical is refreshing, peppery and palate-cleansing, but it is still, in the end, cold tomato soup -- invigorating and highly spiced, but not satisfying enough for a full meal or a full evening's entertainment. Tuner is blessed with some delicious performances and any number of items of interest, but the result can be summed up as a women (and men) on the verge of a coherent musical.
Part of the problem is all those characters, played by all those musical-comedy luminaries, unable to step back into a supportive ensemble when necessary. (The design team) produce a visually fascinating show. But Lane and the talented Yazbeck, in an attempt to stay true to the film and provide songs and scenes for each of their nine featured principals, have spread their story so thin that audience interest soon deflates.

Sherie Rene Scott

'Women..' opened at the Belasco Theatre on November 4, 2010 (previews from October 8, 2010 after being delayed twice) and closed on January 2, 2011, three weeks earlier than the scheduled January 23 closing date, for a run of 30 previews and 69 performances. A cast recording of the musical is scheduled for release on May 10. More production photos below the video.

Closing!!! 'Love Story The Musical' in London

Michael Xavier and Emma Williams in 'Love Story'

This is the second post about movies adapted into recent stage musicals and then failing to match its source material's success. This time its 'Love Story the Musical' or is it 'Love Story on Stage'. The press materials indicate the show is based on the novel by Erich Segal on which the film was based. But do you think this musical would exist if the movie was never made?

The following reviews were from the show out-of-town run before arriving in London. From Michael Billington's review in The Guardian:

"Wipe away your tears with Love Story tissues," urges a sign behind the marketing counter. But I wouldn't anticipate a great sales boom. This 110-minute chamber musical, with a score by Howard Goodall and book and lyrics by Stephen Clark, based on the Erich Segal story is so decorously tasteful that by the end, there wasn't a damp eye in the house.

Everyone, if only from the 1970 film, knows the story. Jenny, a poor Italian girl, meets Oliver, a rich boy, at Harvard, marries him and then dies. It could be moving if it weren't for the air of cold calculation, emanating from Segal's original, that surrounds the enterprise: it seeks a deep emotional response to people we hardly know. Starting with Jenny's death, Clark's lyrics ask, "What can you say about a girl who made you proud to be her friend?" Since Jenny doesn't appear to have any friends, the question seems redundant. And Oliver is worse than a cipher: he seems a jerk.

A review by Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail was more favorable:

Anyone in need of a really good blub should get down to Chichester, where Howard Goodall has set to music Erich Segal's 1969 American weepie Love Story. The screen version's theme tune makes a brief appearance, but composer Goodall makes the show his own: classical, popular airs, faultlessly sung by a small cast, performed by a piano and a string sextet.

Going without a break saves the spell being broken. And spell is what it feels like, with Emma Williams and Michael Xavier as two Boston students, Jenny and Oliver, whose young marriage is shattered by her leukaemia.

'Love Story' opened at the Duchess Theatre on December 6, 2010 (following previews from Nov. 27) and shutters February 26. Unlike 'Flashdance the Musical' which closed two weeks ago, 'Love Story' leaves behind a cast recording of the score which can be purchased from amazon.co.uk.

More production photos after the trailer video. (All production photos Alastair Muir.)

REWIND: Gershwin Theatre Spelled by 'Wicked' - The Venue (NYC, 2009)

Marquee

For as far as anyone knows, the Gerswhin Theatre will likely be hosting the mega-hit musical 'Wicked' indefinitely. Down the street who knew that 'The Phantom of the Opera' would be ensconced at the Majestic Theatre 23 years later. 'Wicked' now in its eighth year on Broadway has a challenged on its hands.

Originally opened in 1972 as the Uris as part of a new office tower and named for the building's developer, the theatre was renamed in 1983 after the composer George Gershwin and lyricist Ira Gershwin. The venue is the largest among the Broadway theatres with over 1,900 seats and is one of three modern built Broadway venues with the others being the Minskoff Theatre (housed in the Viacom building) and Marquis Theatre (built as part of the Marriott Marquis hotel). Other Broadway houses have opened after these but they either made use of the shell of a landmark theatre or were refurbished from an existing one.

Theatre entrance along the breezeway.

In terms of wrangling the night's audience, the theatre hosts some of the most generous lobby spaces and includes escalators sending audiences to the auditorium located three stories up. The Gershwin lacks a defining marquee but the theatre's entrance along the mid-block breezeway connecting 50th and 51st Streets adds more space for crowds attending a performance. The breezeway is also shared with the entrance to the Circle in the Square theatre which takes the audience to an auditorium in the basement level of the building.

A 'Wicked' map greets visitors riding the theater's escalators.

A couple of the prominent productions to premiere at the Gershwin include Sweeney Todd (1981) and Starlight Express (1987). 'Wicked' began previews at the theatre on October 8, 2003 and opened October 30 after an out-of-town tryout in San Francisco. In addition to attending 'Wicked' in 2004 some other shows I've witnessed here were revivals of 'Show Boat' (1995) and 'Candide' (1997). By the way for the week ending 1/2/11, 'Wicked' grossed $2,228,235, the highest grossing week for any show in Broadway history.

The Gershwin, located in the Paramount Building, is one of nine Nederlander theatres. All online ticketing for the venue is sold through Ticketmaster. More information at gershwintheatre.com. Click here for a fan site offering tips to purchase 'Wicked' tickets. Visit wickedthemusical.com for more about the show.

Note: all photos taken in June 2009 during a visit to the behind the scenes tour called Wicked Behind the Emerald Curtain. Visit the previous post for info about the event.

The orchestra level bar and lobby

REWIND: Wicked - Behind the Emerald Curtain

Since opening in 2003 on Broadway 'Wicked' has grossed over $500 million at the Gershwin Theatre. No doubt that number well exceeds over one billion once the grosses from the other North American companies of the musical. The musical continues to sell out performances regularly eight years later without the need to sell discounted tickets at the TKTS discount booth in Times Square.

That kind of popularity is funneling audiences to Wicked Behind the Emerald Curtain, a behind-the-scenes look at the musical which I had the opportunity to attend in June 2009. First of all there is fine print:

Behind the Emerald Curtain is a museum tour and presentation. Because of insurance liability, Behind the Emerald Curtain does not go backstage.

What is offered is the up-close experience to view props, costumes, models and photos of the production. This presentation is offered in one corner of the lobby just outside of the auditorium. The tour guides are actors who performed in the production. The presentation continues in the auditorium with a film presentation about the making of the musical. Q&A sessions are offered during both parts of the tour. The tour lasts approximately 90 minutes and the merchandise booth is opened after the film presentation.

Among the items worth seeing is a model of the set and the close look at the detail in the costumes. The tour also gives an mini-lesson in the economics of Broadway with the guide's description of the costs and people to undertake a musical from workshop to opening night to daily operations. For comparison purposes, the guides stated that 'Wicked' will continue to run as long as the operating costs are met and tell about a Broadway musical called 'Glory Days' opened and closed on opening night at the Circle in the Square Theatre located downstairs the Gershwin Theatre. (note: all photos taken June 2009).

More info at emeraldcurtain.com. The tour is offered Saturdays at 10am. Admission is $30 and available online at ticketmaster.com. Tickets also available at the door 30 minutes prior to the tour on a first come, first served basis. The Gershwin Theatre is located at 222 West 51st Street. Click here for a fan site offering tips to purchase 'Wicked' tickets. Visit wickedthemusical.com for more about the show.

News Flash: Legoland Florida Opens in October 2011

It appears a return trip to Orlando may be in the works. With LEGOLAND Florida opening this October and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal's Islands of Adventure, it's definitely time to be a kid again.

Visit florida.legoland.com for all the details. Located on 150 acres of the former Cypress Gardens amusement park grounds, LEGOLAND Florida will be the biggest LEGOLAND park ever opened offering more than 50 rides, shows and attractions including spectacular LEGO models. The other parks are located in California, England, Germany and Denmark, where the toy company was founded.

The heart of every LEGOLAND is the Miniland. This is where the parks draws my interests. Back in 2001 at LEGOLAND Windsor outside of London, I must have used two rolls of camera film (yup, you heard right...film!) to capture as many images of each tiny metropolis.

The miniland at LEGOLAND Florida will include Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., New York City, Kennedy Space Center, Daytona and a Pirate themed section. One feature of New York City will include the Freedom Tower which is still under construction in Manhattan.

Below is a shot of the London section at LEGOLAND Windsor at night. Awesome detail and full of wonder.