Review - Clybourne Park, plus a yummy new-to-me restaurant

Since it has been a couple of weeks since I've seen a show, and since several shows are closing this weekend, I decided to check out TDF and see what was what.  When Clybourne Park popped up, I grabbed a ticket.  Although I'd seen the show at Steppenwolf last year, I hadn't gotten around to seeing it here.  My bad.  I'm glad to have corrected my error.

When I saw the play last year, here was my brief review: 

I also saw the Steppenwolf production of Clybourne Park when I was in Chicago last week.  I wish I had seen the Playwrights Horizons production last year, but I’m happy to hear the show may come back to New York in the spring.  I very much enjoyed the production at Steppenwolf and thought the play was quite thought-provoking and funny.  I’ll admit that my expectations were probably sky high and maybe the play didn’t fulfill them, but that’s my problem and not the play’s.  The gent playing the father in the first act was fantastic, but the entire acting ensemble was very good.  If the performances were a little too stylized for my tastes, I think it’s inherent in the play, since the NY Times review mentioned this quality in the PH production as well.  And I think I quibble with the necessity of the coda, but again that’s probably me and not the play.  But I had a great time seeing the show with friends—we had a lively discussion about it all the way back to Evanston, which is always fun fun fun!

 

I pretty much felt the exact same way last night, though I think knowing more about how the puzzle pieces fit together in the script added to my enjoyment more.  I also think that the set design for the Broadway production worked better for me than the set design in Chicago.  Not that there were a lot of differences - much of the set design is dictated by the script.  But everything seemed to flow more organically to me in this space.

 

I think this cast is terrific, led by the ever-fantastic Frank Wood (one of my uber-faves).  Perhaps his role is the best-written, since I enjoyed the performance of his Chicago counterpart as well, but Frank finds so many layers to this haunted man.  He simmers and keeps things hidden, but when he finally lets his rage and pain out, wow.  Just the way he uses the word 'community' as a curse is powerful.  I loved him.

 

I will say I found the actress playing his wife a little much, though, again, I think it's inherent in the script.  But, after seeing several of the same actor tics in the second act (where she's playing a totally different character), I'm thinking that maybe a little of this actress goes a long way.  And that's just me.  The rest of the audience adored her.  I did find her affecting and funny at times in the first act, but sometimes, she went so far, my mind just rebelled.  I mean, is she supposed to be so distracting that you literally can't hear what she's saying?  I don't know.  I imagine that's a perfectly valid interpretation.  That doesn't negate my opinion that she could perhaps pull back a bit to make more of a positive impact. 

 

Maybe a spoiler here, so beware: I'm still iffy on the play's coda, which probably worked better in this staging, and I guess it does make sense to me intellectually, but I'm still not sold on it.  We already know the pain and suffering lingers, so seeing the physical manifestation of it seems redundant to me.  Again--quibbling.  Although I think I preferred Chinglish as a play, Clybourne Park is still a wonderfully worthy Best Play-winner and I am glad I took the time to see it again.

 

Last Wednesday, an old chum invited me to a spur-of-the-moment dinner.  I was in the mood for something Mediterranean, so when my chum suggested Naya on the east side, I looked at their menu and thought "perfect!".   This Lebanese restaurant is pretty small (and narrow!), but it's attractive and classy, with delicious food.  The menu has lots of small plates, or mezze, so I chose a few vegetarian options, while my friend also enjoyed a lamb entree (I looked at it longingly).

 

We got an order of moudardara, which was lentils, rice and fried onions (so yummy, I need to find a recipe); an order of cucumber/yogurt dip (always a summertime favorite of mine); and some spicy hummus (a tad too spicy for me, I must admit).  I also got some pan-seared halloumi cheese, with a delicious pomegranate reduction (really delicious--salty cheese and sweet sauce!!), and a fattoush salad - the sumac vinaigrette was really earthy, pungent and delicious!  And I always love a salad that has crispy bread products on top.  :) 

 

Thumbs way up on Naya and I definitely want to go back and try the tabbouli and some of their other vegetarian options.  It's so small, though, so if you want to give it a try, too, make a reservation.

 

Sadly, Summer Fridays end today and I'm feeling a little under the weather, so...no adventure.  Just some quality couch-time and tennis-viewing.  Nothing wrong with that, though.  I love me some US Open.  I believe there could be one more post about tennis in this blog's future...

Happy Tennis Week - the best of the rest

So, when my mom gets to the tennis, she likes to watch the pros practice, since she never gets to see them otherwise.  I kinda miss watching the qualifying matches, but I like watching the practices, too.  Plus, there's more shade at the practice courts.  What can I say?  I'm a sun wimp.  When we arrived on Thursday, Viktoria Azarenka from Belarus was practicing on Armstrong.  Neither one of us had any need to watch (or listen) to her practice.  Then we saw Maria Sharapova come into the Grandstand.  We figured we could hang on for a few minutes, unless Maria started getting too loud, too.  But, to our happy surprise, Maria only used the grandstand for a warm-up.  After a few minutes, she left and two Spaniards came in to practice.  Oh happy day.  Did you know the Spaniards like to practice shirtless??  Mom was quite happy.  :)

 

We spent a very happy hour watching the convivial and handsome practice session with Feliciano Lopez and David Ferrer.  They practiced hard, but they also had fun.  They are now the gold standard by which all practices will be judged in the future.  Though not everyone should practice shirtless. 

After the happy Spaniards, we watched Janko Tipsarevic, Serbia, practice with Mikhail Youzhny (my, he is getting in a lot of practice) for a bit.  He and his coach were shirtless, Youzhny was not.  Probably for the best.  After watching Tipsarevic for a bit, I told Mom I wanted to see how Dmitry Tursunov was doing in his second round match.  We went to watch him, but didn't stay long.  He broke his racquet after losing a game and Mom didn't like that one bit.  Goodbye, Dmitry, hello back to practice courts.

 

We watched another yummy Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, practice with his coach for a bit.  I don't know where he was earlier when his chums were practicing.  Verdasco is always a fun one to watch - he makes a point of talking to any kids who are sitting near him in the stands.  He even high-fives them, or ruffles their hair.  Seeing the kids' faces light up because this tennis star noticed them is really great to see.  I always root for Verdasco and was happy to see he's as nice on the inside as he is good-looking on the outside. 

 

We also watched newly-minted Olympic gold medalist Andy Murray practice for a bit with Juan Monaco from Argentina; American Mardy Fish practiced with Aussie Lleyton Hewitt; Belgian Kim Clijsters (who is retiring after the Open) practiced with her coach; France's Gilles Simon and Russia's Nikolay Davydenko also graced our practice viewing.  I'll put photos of them at the end.

 

Two ends of the spectrum of the joy and pain of watching practice - I FINALLY got to see Roger practice!  Woo hoo!  He practiced with Marin Cilic.  What a beautiful treat it is to watch Roger glide over the court in person.  Sigh.  Just lovely.  I probably should've given him a post all to himself, just so I could load it up with photos.  Oh well.  Suffice it to say, I was happy happy happy I got to watch him.  My mom was happy I got to watch him.  And it's so great to hear everyone scream for him.  He's so appreciative of the support - he's always laughing and smiling during practice.  Did I mention I love him?  This was the joy.

 

The pain?  Watching Andy Roddick practice.  My goodness, he was unpleasant.  He may have been joking around with his practice partner, Somdev Devvarman from India, but it didn't seem that way.  And when he broke his racquet because Devvarman was beating him in a PRACTICE GAME?  My mom was completely turned off.  I tried to think that maybe Andy was doing it to get the crowd going, but it didn't work.  It turned a lot of people off.  I just don't know.  I want to like Andy, but his frat boy attitude just leaves me cold.  And now my mom will never like him again.  He probably doesn't care, but still...

As always, Tennis Week was my favorite week of the year.  This year, the weather mostly cooperated, and my mom and I got to see lots of great players.  Mom and I always have fun together (well, except for the broken tooth - that may be its own post someday soon) and we laughed a lot.  We also finally got around to looking at some of the monuments in Corona Park - we've been meaning to do it for years and just never have.  The George Washington statue was cool, he's wearing Masonic regalia (which my dad will love).  And the Column of Jerash was also very neat.  Photos at the end of the post.

 

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself once the Open is over.  Since Wimbledon, I've been pretty much on "all tennis, all the time" mode.  My life is going to seem so...empty.  Good thing the new theater season is starting...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Tennis Week, Day Two

So, heading to the Open on Wednesday, according to the Weather Channel, there was a zero percent chance of rain.  Why oh why did I listen to them??  I went to Court 7, because there were two players I've enjoyed in the past, and then it...rained.  :)   It was like there was one black cloud, directly over Court 7, and sunshine everywhere else.  It was really weird.  The players, Frank Dancevic from Canada and Teymuraz Gabashvili from Russia, played through the rain for a bit, then sat for around ten minutes, waiting for it to stop.  The ballkids wiped off the court and the match continued.

 

I've enjoyed watching both Dancevic and Gabashvili play in the past - I've seen Dancevic in the qualies before, and I was at a night match where Gabashvili was electric in a loss to Rafael Nadal.  This match, at least the first set, wasn't so electric.  Gabashvili was misfiring and was so frustrated, he kept overhitting his shot.  He is certainly more explosive than Dancevic, but in the first set, he was also more prone to error.  Dancevic stood his ground and won the first set.

 

The second set was much closer, then at 4-all, Dancevic broke Gabashvili's serve again and served for the match.  This was an extremely long game, with a lot of deuce points, but Dancevic just couldn't put his foot down and close out the match.  He had five match points but couldn't close.  He seemed to back off when he should've been more aggressive.  Finally, Gabashvili broke back and I immediately thought to myself, "Dancevic is going to lose now."  And...I was right.

 

Oh, I mustn't forget The Saga of The Ballboy and The Tennis Pro.  There is always one ball kid who seems to be the unofficial (or official, I don't really know the ballkid hierarchy)leader of the group.  Some are bossier than others (I even have nicknamed one gent Mr Bossy), and this match had a Supreme Boss.  He was always waving at the other ballkids to get into position or to throw the balls faster.  He was also in charge of giving the players their towels to wipe the sweat.  Well, finally, one of the players (I won't say which) said to the bossy ballkid, "Give me the towel.  I want the other guy to have it."  I don't know if this was in response to the bossiness, or he was just looking to change things up, but this tennis pro completely crushed the bossy ballkid's world.  He looked crestfallen.  Defeated.  His bossiness totally deflated and he spent the rest of the match looking wistfully at the towel that had been taken from him.  I kid you not.  This was a tv movie of the week waiting to happen.  And a cautionary tale.  Don't get too bossy.  This means you, Mr Bossy.

 

Anyway, after the end of the second set, it depressed me too much to think about Dancevic losing (which of course he did.  I so called that one), so I wandered over to Court 17 to watch Dmitry Tursunov from Russia against James Ward from Great Britain.  Court 17 was new last year and we never made it over there.  I was looking forward to checking out the new court and to checking out Tursunov.  He's a) cute, and b) funny.  He's blogged for the official ATP website in the past and is just adorable.  He has been ranked as high as 20 in the past, but is working his way back from injury.  I got a marvelous close seat, settled in and...it almost immediately started raining.  They got through one game before they sat down, then it stopped sprinkling and started pouring, so the players were hustled off the court and the crowd swarmed outside the stadium to stand under the overhang.  Sigh.  So much for that 0% chance of rain today.  Thanks, Weather Channel mobile phone app.  We probably stood around for 20 minutes or so, then I wandered over to the new restrooms by Court 17 (thumbs up!), then got a snack at the oh-so-nearby food court.  I also came upon a lovely photo of a certain beloved someone...

 

I went back to Court 17, dried off a seat, and watched the grounds people squeegie the courts.  I think I need one of those squeegie things for my apartment.  Finally, the players came back out and we started the match.  Tursunov was clearly the better player, but it took him a little while to find his range.  James Ward, just like when I watched him last year, became a crankypants pretty quickly.  I'm thinking we've discovered one reason why he's still qualifying.  The crankypants thing needs to go.  He has a nice enough game, though.  Oh, and both players were wearing the exact same outfit.  I always find that odd.  Doesn't a clothing sponsor try to make sure that their players have more than one outfit?  Odd.  Tursunov won the first set pretty easily, so I decided to head to the grandstand and check out some practicing.

 

Jackpot!  When I got there Tommy Haas, Germany, was practicing with Marin Cilic, Croatia!  I like them both, but especially Tommy Haas.  Well, for one thing, he's gorgeous, but also, he's such a hard luck story.  He's a wonderful player, but has been injured so much, he hasn't really fulfilled his potential.  He was actually ranked #2 at one point, but hasn't made the final of a Slam.  Yet.  He's another one who has been making his way back from injury.  And he's done so well, he's raised his ranking from the 200s all the way to the 20s.  It's pretty impressive. 

 

I definitely had a good time watching them practice.  Haas has a gorgeous one-handed backhand, of which I never quite got a good photo, and Cilic has a monster serve and forehand.  Cilic is another player who hasn't quite reached his potential, but I like his game a lot.  I'll be rooting for both of them during the Open.  I also got a photo of a shirt change.  Yes, I love tennis.  I'll include that at the end.

 

Since Mom was flying in a little later, I decided to leave the tennis a bit early.  But Mom and I will be back Thursday.  Again, you know the drill - shots of handsome men serving, plus a goofy shot (or two) of me...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Tennis Week, Day One

It's my favorite week of the year! Tennis Week!  Last year, I only got to watch tennis for a day and a half, but this year, I got the whole qualifying week in.  Though, I will admit, I still don't quite have the stamina I had before.  In the old days, I could stay until 7 or 8pm, but this year, I was usually out by 5.  I guess I just have to build my tennis viewing endurance back up.  :) 

This year, my mom came in on Wednesday night, so I had Tuesday and Wednesday viewing by myself, and then Thursday and Friday were with Mom, with the additional bonus day of Saturday for Arthur Ashe Kids Day.  Look for those photos/posts later in the week.

 

Tuesday was a nice day, sunny and warm but not humid.  I got to the tennis complex around 11am, and went straight to Court 7 to watch the American, Alex Kuznetsov, take on Karol Beck from Slovakia.  I have to say this was a boring match.  Both were perfectly pleasant players, but neither guy had much of a game plan, they just hit it back and forth, waiting for the other to make a mistake.  That doesn't make for a compelling match.  After the first set (won by the American, but he lost the match in three sets), I made my way to another match.  That one was much more interesting.

 

Over on Court 14, I watched the second set of the match between Amir Weintraub from Israel and Mathieu Rodrigues from France.  Rodrigues had lost the first set and was quite the crankypants throughout the second.  Weintraub had a nice forehand and was definitely the more aggressive player - he was trying to make something happen instead of waiting for Rodrigues to make a mistake (which he did, quite a lot, but still).  I liked Weintraub's game and wish I would've made it to his second round match on Thursday.  I will definitely keep my eye on him.  He was quite adorable after he won, raising his arms in victory and then high-fiving a lot of the spectators.  The Israeli fans are always very vocal and supportive. 

 

The next match on Court 14 featured a gal I've enjoyed in the past, Aravane Rezai from France, so I thought I'd stick around and watch a bit of her match against Zheng Saisai from China.  Rezai has been ranked in the top 20 in the past and I once saw her play Serena Williams really tough, so I thought it would be fun to see her continue her comeback from injury.  Well, not so much.  She was just hitting the ball so hard, mostly hitting it out.  There was some mindless tennis going on there, and once she got broken, I decided to move on.  It's so frustrating when you see a good player fail to achieve their potential.  Plus, I was starting to feel a little warm...

 

I moved to Court 10, because there was a little shade there to be found, and watched Agustin Velotti of Argentina play Andrey Golubev from Kazhakstan.  This match featured a lot of exciting rallies, with some pretty good net play.  It's always nice to see players actually try to head to the net for a volley, since most of these qualifying hopefuls play exclusively from the baseline.  Golubev was clearly the more accomplished player, though, and won the match quite handily, though Velotti put up a pretty good fight.

 

After I watched this match, it was time for an iced tea break.  I went over to the food court, got some iced tea (I really enjoy the Illy iced tea) and sat in the shade for a few minutes.  I took the time to check some e-mails, perused the scores from around the grounds, and just generally relaxed for maybe twenty minutes or so.  Then I decided it was time to head to the grandstand and see which higher-ranked players were practicing there.

 

I was very excited to see Richard Gasquet from France practicing with Milos Raonic from Canada.  I like both players very much.  Mom and I actually watched Gasquet in the qualies one year - he threw his racquet and accidentally hit a linesperson.  He was defaulted immediately (this was quite a long time ago, maybe 2004?).  He was so remorseful, my mom and I felt really sorry for him.  We've rooted for him ever since.  And I've enjoyed watching Raonic ever since he burst onto the scene last year in Australia.  So this was an enjoyable practice to watch.

 

Suddenly, I remembered who is coaching Gasquet now:  Sebastien Grosjean!  Grosjean was my very favorite player (after Roger, of course)!  So I decided I needed to get some Grosjean photos along with the players.  Once I love someone, forget it.  It's forever.  I still have my Grosjean-autographed tennis ball proudly displayed in my apartment.  :)  This was a very lively practice, with wonderful ballstriking and the gorgeous one-handed backhand of Gasquet.  Along with the gorgeous coaching of Grosjean...

 

After Gasquet and Raonic finished their practice, Mikhail Youzhny from Russia wandered into the grandstand for practice.  I'm guessing his partner didn't show up, because Raonic stayed and practiced again.  Good thing he's only 21 or so.  He's young enough to practice twice in a row.  I've always enjoyed watching Youzhny.  He hits the ball so cleanly.  His career has been so up and down, you have to think the problem has been between the ears.  Because when he's playing well, it's gorgeous. 

 

I was meeting a friend for dinner, so I decided to sneak out a little early.  I realized a little lie-down in my air-conditioned apartment would be good before dinner.  I really do get overheated quickly nowadays.  And I had seen quite a bit of good stuff for just the first day.

 

Just a brief mention of dinner:  I met a friend at DiWine near my house.  I haven't seen this friend since January, which is sad.  I used to see him all the time, but...I don't know.  I think he's unhappy, but he doesn't want any help out of his unhappiness.  I wish he'd let his friends in more.  But, he's an adult, yes?  I can't help someone who doesn't really feel like he has a problem.  And maybe he doesn't.  Maybe it's my problem.  I don't know.  I do know that I love him and that it's frustrating that he shuts people (meaning me) out.  Sigh.  We did have fun, though.  My pizza and wine were delicious, we laughed a lot and we went for a little neighborhood stroll afterwards.  Hopefully, it won't be another six months before we get together again...

 

Tomorrow, the saga of the Ballboy and the Tennis Pro.  It's compelling.  I'll conclude today with some shots of players serving, a self-portrait and my attempt at getting a picture of a picture of Roger and me.  It looks like he's yelling at me... ;)