Thoughts on Loot and my first musings of 2014

Happy 2014, all!  I spent a lovely two weeks over the holidays with the family - we did next to nothing for two weeks, which was great.  I spent some quality time with my spectacular nephew who gave me the most wonderful Christmas present; I confess to choking up when I opened it.  I again made him laugh heartily with how badly I play Mario Kart.  And my cousin's wedding was beautiful - I even ran into an old high school chum at the reception!  I'll put a few holiday photos at the bottom of the post.  I hope everyone out in blogland had a wonderful holiday, too.

I was very fortunate to travel back to New York before the bad weather hit again (I guess I flew between the two storms).  My flight was pretty smooth, though I was annoyed that although I upgraded to a business class ticket home, there was still a screaming child in the row in front of me.  No, not screaming.  Shrieking.  As if she were being burned with cigarette butts.  And she shrieked practically the entire trip, only stopping to briefly catch her breath and whimper when she herself was tired of shrieking.  Sigh.  Whatever.  In my mind, I know it's not the kid's fault.  I just turned up the music over my headphones and prepared to get back to my apartment.  Good thing the flight was only 57 minutes long...

Side note:  my apartment was robbed in 1996 - I was at a conference for my previous job (in Jackson, MS, ugh.  That awful week in Jackson could be a blog post someday) and when I got back, my apartment door was open.  I was terrified.  I ran to get a neighbor, we called the police, all of my (not very) expensive stuff was gone.  Though some good did come from it - I've had renters insurance since that robbery and my renters insurance saved my bacon after the Great Fire of 2011.  ANYWAY, all this backstory is to say that I am frequently terrified, as I ride in a cab back from the airport, that my apartment will again have been broken into and my stuff will again be gone.  Especially this year, after being gone for two whole weeks.  Happily, all was well.  Everything was just as I left it and the huge weight was lifted.  However, oddly enough, for the first time since I moved into that apartment in 1995, as I wheeled my wonderful new suitcase inside, I thought to myself "Do I really want to be here?"  Not about New York, but about that apartment.  I wonder if it's time to consider moving.  Though I don't know how I could, just paying rent is a hassle some months.  Coming up with security deposits, first and last month rent, and moving expenses are probably beyond my means, but I thought it was interesting that the thought crossed my mind for the first time.  Maybe I'm just bored and should redecorate...

And after that thought crossed my mind, other 'what if' thoughts began to rumble!  What if I finally join a dating service, because coming back to an empty apartment is beginning to seem old, too?  What if I stopped spending all my money on theater tickets and started saving some, or, better yet, actually book a vacation for the upcoming Big 5-0!  I discovered I have enough frequent flyer miles for a ticket to London, now all I have to do is come up with hotel/food/miscellaneous money for London!  I do already have a few shows booked for the coming months, mostly subscription tickets to Signature, plus a couple of other shows I'm seeing with friends.  Will they be enough to satisfy?  I really need to figure this whole budget thing out.  I would love to go to London...

Of course, because I'm me, I did look at TDF immediately when I got back into the office on Monday.  Even though I should stop buying theater tickets, I felt like I needed to see something immediately to get back into the New York State of Mind.  I noticed that the first preview of Joe Orton's Loot was up for a nicely discounted price.  I saw that one of my uber-favorite actors, Rocco Sisto, was in the cast and so I dove right in.  Seeing a show that takes place in London is a good thing, right??  And so I went down to the Lucille Lortel Theater last night to check it out.

Again, it was a first preview, so I'll only offer a few thoughts.  I had a terrific seat in the second row center.  Happily, the show started right on time - how often does that happen?!  Not often enough, as far as I'm concerned.  As expected, Rocco Sisto was a bundle of fun.  I'm a big fan of his and he can, frankly, do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.  I thought he had a great handle on the Orton surreal universe.  Some of his line readings were screamingly funny.  There were a few line tangles (actually, most of the cast had a fumble or two), but there's a heck of a lot of dialogue, so I forgave it.  Once they really get cooking, I think the show will be very fast and funny.  Clearly, they're still finding their footing.  But they seemed to be in pretty good shape for a first preview.

I did a production of a Joe Orton play in grad school, so I'm predisposed, I guess, to enjoy his biting humor.  I had quite a few belly laughs throughout the evening.  Others in the audience (say, everyone else in my row) did not.  There were a few walkouts during intermission, but that's their loss.  I had a good time and am pretty sure it will be a terrific production once they have a few more performances under their belt.  It only runs for five weeks, so if you're into some subversive British humor, featuring corpses and the divine Rocco Sisto, you should check out Loot. 

I'm going to continue mulling seeing/not seeing theater this year; saving/not saving for a London trip; moving/not moving out of my apartment.  Maybe I'm just feeling a midlife crisis coming on.  Maybe the Big 5-0 is starting to play with my mind.  Who knows?  Maybe I should just start buying lottery tickets...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photo credit: my uncle Ray.  yes, I'm dancing to "YMCA"