Before heading to New York, I had passed several days prior in Boston, hosted with the usual flair by Chad and Matt.
Chad is not really possessed, but I really am that happy.
I made my way down from Boston, bumped onto Manhattan just after dark and got in line.
Behind the garbage truck seems like a good place to deposit some of the sad moments of the time before getting on to the good stuff.
There was never the right moment for me to get together with some of the other friends who add spice to any time in the city.
The line at the community food bank was populated by too many old people, some seemingly barely able to get there.
There were tactical force police officers at Lincoln Center, Times Square, and generally just around, dressed in military style, carrying machine guns.
This line of people, extending half-way across a mid-town street, is people waiting to get food from Chick-A-Fila, giving money to it's Christian-Sharia owners. YUK!
Worst of all, an overheard conversation in passing on the street. "I was with my girl. I almost went to jail. I had to choke the bitch." Today I read that an alarming number of women who have that experience end up dead.
Enough of that.
Since Paul was out of town, Tom and I spent the evening catching up over pizza and wine at home. His work as Production Accountant for motion pictures, monitoring millions of dollars a week, always provides some interesting tales or amusing rants. "I thought is was a studio. It's three people in a trailer in Santa Monica!"
Aside from the obvious benefits of being with a long time friend, the extras that come with staying with Tom are worthy of a whole posting of their own. To wit: secure off street parking; access to two different subway lines, each within a block; streets that are not teeming with people; Central Park across the street; easy access to the New Harlem; the ability to have the window open while sleeping: and probably a whole lot more that I'll think of later. It's perfect!
Here's what their building looks like from the park. It's the tall one.
And here's what it looks like looking out the living room windows.
- DAY ONE - Express train to Brooklin to the TKTS booth, where one can buy tickets for the evening and, if there is one, a matinee the next day. Plus, there are never more than 10 people in line. I walked along the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights, visited Pier 3, which is a re-purposed navy pier turned into a park by Matt's firm, Michael Van Valkenburgh and AssociatesI took the water taxi from the Brooklyn side of the Bridge to E. 34th Street, with several stops along the way on the East Side of the Harlem River ( not really a river, but never mind that ). Cheap thrills - it's a $4 ride.
The show that evening was "Ruthless - The Musical" which reminded me of Theatre of the Ridiculous. About a child star wannabe, driven relatives, children switched at birth, one of the female characters played very broadly by a man, etc It's an excellent send-up of the whole musical comedy genre.
- DAY TWO - A walk through Central Park on my way to a Lincoln Center Matinee. The northern part of the park is full of the feeling of wilderness.
"Dada Woof Papa Hot" uses three married couples ( 2 gay male and one heterosexual ), all with children, to explore issues relating to the effects of children, time, promiscuity, and what's lost on the path to normal. It tended toward the didactic ( enough that they published a book of essays to go with the performance ) but I did both laugh and cry, so.....
Tom and I had dinner at Lido in his neighborhood. A great Italian spot. After dinner we stopped at his local wine shop and ordered provisions for the upcoming holiday season, which were delivered about an hour later.(11PM!) We also stopped at Lee Lee's Bakery to pick up some of the best rugelach EVER!
- DAY THREE - I hit the "Plays Only" window at the Times Square TKTS booth. Between the statues of George Gershwin and Father Duffy they have installed a very neat map on the plaza, showing the location of most of the theaters.
"Hand to God" is the story of a Christian puppet show where one of the puppeteers loses control of the puppet.... and a whole lot more. It's both hilarious and about as dark as it can get.
Luckily I had time for Steak Tartare at Sardi's before the show. My server was a woman, which prompted me to ask if it was hard for a woman to get a job there. "No, it's not too hard to get one, but it's hard to stay. You are a minority here." Not really all that surprising.
That evening, perhaps for the first time in my life, I watched an entire professional football game (Patriots / Giants). This was at home, at night, with the game recorded and Tom, obviously a master of the technique, manning the remote past all the commercials, commentary, and replays ( unless it was a great play by the Giants ) Aside from the fact that is was a great game, seeing the whole thing in a bit more than an hour made it actually exciting.
- DAY FOUR - Took myself to MOMA PS 1 in what my be my first visit to Queens. If you don't know about it, PS 1 was an abandoned public school where the Museum of Modern Art houses special exhibits. It's kinda shabby, but there's a lot of walls and rooms.
The current exhibit, called "Greater New York", featured a whole room, probably 60 photographs, that were taken by my friend Alvin Baltrop (RIP), mostly from his book call THE PIERS ( mostly NSFW images of men on the piers on the west side during the late 70's)
I indulged in one of my New York favorites for lunch with an Oyster Pan Roast at the counter at the
That evening was Joe's Pub for one of those "Only in New York" events, this one called "An Evening with Cleopatra" featuring works by Shakespeare, Shaw, Lucretius, Eugene Wilder and others, written about the most powerful woman who ever lived , presented in reader's theater format and moderated conversation, with a cast that included Bill Irwin, Christine Baranski and, most amazing of all, Ambassador Samantha Power, our representative to the United Nations. With drinks!
After the show I visited another favorite in that for a double chocolate cannoli and a double espresso.
- DAY FIVE - Again the #2 Express to Brooklyn, where I was able to round out the theater week with tickets for "A View From the Bridge" in the evening and "An American in Paris" for next day matinee. On the way back I found myself near the F train, so headed to the old neighborhood for an outrageously big and outrageously expensive pastrami sandwich at Katz's.
The sign over the table references a film shot there, "Where Harry met Sally. You should have what she had."
A walk up 1st Avenue had a few poignant moments.
The buildings that had housed the Club Baths in the time before HIV/AIDS are now falling into doors-chained-closed dereliction. It was a glamorous thing in it's time, despite the central purpose of being there. There were palm trees, bubbling fountains, good lighting, it was always clean, and it was frequented by dancers, chorus-boys, actors, and lots of newly liberated men of all stripes.
Di Roberti's Cafe is no more. It was our very local Italian cafe. One friend left her keys with Mrs. Di Roberti whenever she left town.
"A View From the Bridge" was, is, an always will be a profoundly moving experience. It's set just after WWII and the refugees from the devastation in Europe are desperate to get to America and not welcome. ( Sound familiar? ) Add love and obsession and clan behavior, set it in a stark prop- free stage, employ outstanding performers who know how to handle silence, add a little background rumble (the Bridge), and watch the audience squirm as the inevitable unfolds. Being seated on the stage made me feel like I was in the room, not looking into it.
- DAY SIX - Before the matinee I took a walk along the new part of the High Line which had some charm and a lot of construction in the periphery.
The orange dots are people and that's a big piece of Manhattan in the lower middle.
Old and new along the High Line.
"An American In Paris" is and has everything you want from a musical... and more. For me, it was about 2 steps away from being a ballet, and that was fine. All the performances were spectacular. As has been shown time and again, even understudies on Broadway can deliver the goods. If you want a musical, this is the one you want. The scenes of people at sidewalk cafes had a certain melancholy in the light of recent events, despite the exuberance of the performers.
Tom and I agreed to have dinner in the neighborhood for my last night in town. We started at the highly touted The Cecil, but after waiting for far too long for water, I waved down the hostess, who accomplished nothing. The room, large and very attractive, was mostly empty and the menu looks great. Eventually the water arrived, and then nothing.....Finally I suggested we just toddle on home and order Thai food, but on the way realized we would be passing by Lido. We walked in, the hostess found us a table in the almost full room and within two seconds of sitting down we were greeted by our waiter and had full water glasses. A fine meal ensued. Thanks to Tom and Paul for sharing their great home with me.
I'll close this positing with a quote from Malcolm X, rendered in tile at the subway stop I use most often. It speaks to the central idea of Islam.
I hope you've enjoyed tagging along.
