Review - The Visit concert, plus this 'n that in a NY girl's life

When the Actors Fund announced that this year’s concert would be Kander & Ebb’s (and McNally’s) The Visit, I jumped at the chance to get a ticket!  I’ve wanted to see this musical for ever so long—I adore Kander & Ebb, and we did a production of the play when I was in college.  Symmetry, yes?  Adding to the excitement were the stars: Chita Rivera and John Cullum!  They definitely had me at hello.

I had a grand time at the concert.  It was a theater-star-studded audience (not that I was seated near any stars; my seat was second row, extreme house left) – I saw Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bebe Neuwirth, Tom Jones (the lyricist, not the singer), most of the gents who were in Scottsboro Boys, David Marshall Grant, Charles Busch, Mario Cantone.  I’m sure there were others there, I just didn’t see them.  It was sad that the house wasn't completely full, but I'm pretty sure everyone who was there had a grand time, like me.

Chita Rivera was simply breathtaking.  It must be such a gift for her to have a complex role like this at this stage in her career.  (Yes, I know she's been doing versions of this musical over the last ten years, but the sentiment works regardless.)  I really hope the show comes in for a Broadway run so she can do it for more than one night and so she can win a Tony.  In fact, I may start a campaign for her to win the Tony for this concert version performance alone.  Because she was that fantastic.  Claire Zachanassian has to be one of the most difficult women to play, because the story is essentially a twisted love story, yet she is a complete and total monster.  There are so many facets and she captures each and every one.  Apparently, most of the company had done the show before, and their comfort level with each other really showed.  I thought the strongest numbers in the piece were with Chita and her hangers-on.  Most especially “I Would Never Leave You” (not to be confused with the anthem from Side Show).  That song has to rank way up there in the pantheon of great Kander & Ebb songs.  As do “You, You, You” and “Love and Love Alone.” 

I love John Cullum, but he did seem a little under-rehearsed and garbled a lyric or two.  Plus, I don’t think his songs are on the same level as Chita’s.  Dramaturgically, if his songs are to be a little less interesting because his character is, that didn’t work for me.  I also understand that the townfolk need to be strong characters, but their choral pieces weren’t as successful for me, either.  It could perhaps be because the sound was a bit muddy over where I was sitting, so if more than a few people were singing at one time, I had a hard time with it.  And I think there was some weird feedback during John Cullum’s first song, so that might’ve thrown him off.  I do think that, if they were to do a full production, Cullum would be perfect as Anton Schill.  He has a kindly, benign physical presence that would contrast nicely with the atrocities he’s accused of throughout the piece.  The confrontation scene in the first act was terrifically horrifying, and Cullum acted the heck out of it (as did Chita, of course).

I thought Jeremy Webb as the schoolmaster (the one voice of reason in the town) was terrific and his solo in the second act was chilling.  I’m not generally a fan of Mark Jacoby, who played the Mayor, but I think he worked well in this piece.  There was one gal in the chorus who was WAY over the top and worked my last nerve, but happily, my seat on the extreme side worked to my advantage here, because she was out of my sightlines a lot of the time.  Whew. 

I definitely want to hear the score again, but I’ll admit that much of it didn’t grab me on first hearing, except for the pieces I’ve already mentioned.  Again, that could be because of the sound issues on my side of the house.  I also think the book tends to shy away from the horror that the play really needs to have.  It’s a dark and terrible story, and I’m sure you have to tread on a tightrope to also make it into an enjoyable musical theater piece.  But it can be done, hello, just look at Cabaret and, on a lesser level, Scottsboro Boys.  I think they really have to go there, balls to the wall.  But that’s just my opinion.  Chita is already going there, that’s for sure.

I've been busy about town recently (and am looking forward to a quiet week this coming week):  I had brunch at Elsewhere in Hell's Kitchen.  Any time I have brunch with my circle of friends is a good time, but this was particularly enjoyable.  I believe we spent about four hours there without any attitude or fuss from the staff.  The brunch menu has quite a lot of tasty items on it.  We all shared an appetizer of maple spoonbread, which was incredibly delicious.  It generally comes with walnuts, which I'm sure adds a nice textural contrast, but most of our party had issues with walnuts, it was good to leave them off.

The spoonbread also comes with whipped cream cheese (also flavored with maple), which was quite tasty.  Although the pan looked small when our server placed it on the table, the dish is pretty rich, and it was just the right size for a party of five.

I opted to just get the scrambled eggs because I wanted the Old Bay potatoes (which could've used a touch more Old Bay, imo).  I asked to substitute a salad for the meat that generally comes with the dish (darn it--I MISS BACON), and the salad was perfectly fine, if a little heavily dressed for brunch.  I'll admit that I didn't finish the salad.  I think that when we go back (and we'll definitely go back), I'll ask to substitute toast instead of salad.  I mean, really.  Why have something healthy at brunch?!  :)   I finished my brunch with a mug of their special triple chocolate hot chocolate with mint.  It was delicious, exactly what I wanted, and much too rich to finish.  I always feel so virtuous when I don't finish a dessert-type thing...

I went up to the 92nd Street Y for a lecture between Christopher Kimball, Jacques Pepin and Adam Gopnik.  I watch Cook's Country and America's Test Kitchen all the time and find Christopher Kimball to be a lovable curmudgeon, plus he's so knowledgable about food.  I saw him lecture last year and had a great time.  Jacques Pepin is always adorable, and I love Adam Gopnik's writing.  Paris to the Moon is one of my very favorite books, plus he's working on a new musical right now with David Shire, so I was particularly looking forward to seeing him.  Unfortunately, Adam Gopnik was sick with the flu, so he didn't come.  He was replaced as moderator by Alexandra Leaf, who was described as a food historian.  I was probably just disgruntled, but I found her a little pretentious.  Maybe she was nervous, being thrown in at the last minute.  But I didn't love her.  At all.  I did, however, love Jacques Pepin and Christopher Kimball (who described himself as "a little tipsy").  Both gents have recently published new cookbooks, so they were there to shill the books, plus talk about trends in food and other topics.  They were both really interesting--Christopher Kimball spoke very eloquently about the advent of e-books and how he doesn't think they'll affect cookbook sales; Jacques Pepin was quite moving talking about food as memory and sensory experience instead of an intellectual one.  He expresses himself so beautifully for someone speaking English as a second language.  His description of how eating dark chocolate and bread means something totally different to him than to his wife because of his childhood memories and associations was quite genius.  You could hear the crowd murmur, "yessssss," and collectively nod.  I enjoyed the lecture quite a lot.  They spoke for about 90 minutes and I could've listened to them for at least 90 more.  Their books are ginormous, so I didn't buy either one and therefore could not get in the autograph line, but I did get a Cook's Illustrated chocolate chip cookie and brownie on the way out.  They were quite tasty.

Advantages of working in Times Square:  I heard a ruckus outside my office the other day, looked downstairs and found Tim Gunn!  I love Tim Gunn!  He was taping promos and other stuff for his new tv show The Revolution.  After arguing with myself over going downstairs to see him, I just went down to get some photos.  A gal asked me if I wanted to be on the show.  Uh, no.  But I was thrilled to have Tim Gunn smile at me...

Advantages of having actor friends:  I was invited to a recent screening of the new movie The Artist.  We had to get in line really early, since it was such a popular screening, but it was a nice afternoon and it was great to just stand there and catch up with my SAG member friend.  The movie is really wonderful.  The more I think about it, the more I love it.  The acting is wonderful, especially from lead Jean Dujardin.  He is so effortlessly charming, yet very moving.  The music is gorgeous and the story took me places I didn't expect.  I'd say, even if you don't think you'll be interested in a black-and-white silent movie, think again.  It's joyful and a real love letter to the magic of film.

I had some high school friends in the city last weekend, so I made the trek to the tree at Rockefeller Center Saturday night.  Oh my, it was enough to ruin my holiday spirit forever.  I have never seen it so crowded!  You literally could not move along Fifth Avenue.  I don't know if the police are being overzealous with the crowd control and are making things worse, or if the tourists are really that bad.  Look at all those people.  Blech.    I'll have to go back.  I couldn't even get a good shot of the tree.  I got better photos of the tree at Bryant Park, and a few good shots of the windows at Lord & Taylor.  I'll include photos at the end of this post. 

Just a brief mention of my goddaughters' dance recital yesterday--they were, of course, the most beautiful and the best dancers there (in my humble, unbiased opinion, of course).  It was a long day, I have to admit - because there were so many students, they had to do the show twice, with different casts (plus, there were WAY too many hip-hop numbers).  So, in the early show, one pretty ballerina was in the Nutcracker and the other was in a secular tap number, then they switched it up for the later show.  But it was fun.  Look at pretty girls taking curtain calls! 

It's nice having the show at the Danny Kaye Playhouse, though I do feel so guilty about taking videos of the girls' dance numbers, when a dear friend is the house manager and is supposed to stop people from taking videos in that union house.  Oops.  Sorry, just can't help myself.  I love watching their little dance routines throughout the year.  They're adorable.  OH, and it was nice to have better seats than George Stephanopoulos.  Advantages to having friends in house management.  I felt so important.  lol

Lastly, I've decorated my office with a little tree, a wreath and some garland, which is nice.  I also got out some decorations for my apartment that didn't involve my climbing into my closet for boxes.  I think I'll get a poinsettia and maybe a string of lights to run along the floor where the air conditioner cord usually lives.  That will seem festive enough.  Maybe sometime this week I'll do a tour of Manhattan trees and store windows to get better photos.  Maybe... :)