Too much, too soon?

I don't know what I was thinking, maybe that I am ready for things to be back to normal NOW, but I booked entirely too many events over the last week.  I am exhausted, a bit dizzy, and not entirely sure I experienced everything as fully as I could have.  I guess I know better now...

I'll just briefly report on my comings and goings, since my brain is pretty much out-of-service at this point.  First, I want to mention that I went to a music recital last weekend that I greatly enjoyed, but the main reasons I'm mentioning it is that a) I got to spend quality time with friends I don't see nearly enough, and b) I had a delicious cocktail I'm still thinking of a week later.  It was called an A & W Old Fashioned - ok, I grew up going to the A & W root beer stands in my hometown and I love A & W root beer.  It's delicious and nostalgic, all at the same time.  So OF COURSE I had to order that drink and it was incredible!  If I do a 'best cocktails of 2021' post, it will surely be on top!  The fish tacos were also really good.  That evening was one of my favorites of my entire year.  I also had dinner with other old friends at Patsy's, a longstanding NYC Italian eatery, and it was another grand evening.  The wine we had, a vernaccia di San Gimignano, was tastier than my pumpkin tortelloni, but that's ok.  It's the fun company that counts and I had a blast catching up with my delightful chums.

Wednesday night, I made my first appearance in nearly two years at one of my favorite NY spots, the Signature Theatre.  I bought a membership there this year, since I always enjoy their presentations.  My show that night was Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith.  I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't seen this piece before, it was on Broadway during my brief years away from NYC in the 90s and I haven't seen the filmed version, either.  This production, instead of Anna Deavere Smith performing, uses an ensemble of five incredible actors portraying dozens of characters.  The text is taken from Smith's interviews of over 350 people after the 1992 Los Angeles riots that came out of the Rodney King beating and verdicts.

I am also embarrassed - no, the right word would be MORTIFIED - to admit that I remember very little about the riots or about the events that led to them.  I was living in Ohio at the time and all I can say is being in Ohio means being out of touch.  But that's still no excuse.  I was shocked, saddened, and appalled by the happenings in Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, and it is heartbreaking to think that Smith had to do updates and that this piece is even more timely than ever in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder.  There is video that is horrifying, audio that is haunting, and just hearing the actual words of people who were there was most often chilling.  There were some comic pieces, sort of, to break up the heaviness of the topic, but mainly this was an evening that was a call to action and a railing against the continued prevalent racism of police around America.  And of Americans towards other Americans.  

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The cast was simply incredible; there aren't enough words to describe how fully and completely they inhabited each of their characters.  They each played characters of different genders, ethnicities, ages, abilities, everything and they were spellbinding.  I'm sure they listened to the interview tapes repeatedly, but the dialect coach should also be congratulated because the dialect work was fantastic.  It was specific and engaging, rather than stereotypical.  The direction was amazing and the set was terrific, though there were technical difficulties at the beginning that kept us from seeing all of the projections at the beginning of the play and I wasn't sure who was speaking, but that got fixed before the end of the first act.

Seeing Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 was a sobering and powerful theatrical experience and I'm ever so glad I saw it.  I cried, looked away, and frequently gasped with disbelief.  I've been Googling ever since to fill in my gaps; I can only hope that having someone like Anna Deavere Smith and her documentary-style of theater will be produced everywhere to continue to open people's eyes to the world around them.  Though I guess not enough people's eyes are opened since this piece is sadly more timely than ever...

Thursday, I accepted an invitation from a young writer I know to attend a reading of their latest work.  I'm sad to report that I'm not ready for readings.  It was so hot in the reading room, I felt dizzy and sick, and the seat was so uncomfortable, I began to fear blood clots.  I couldn't stay for the whole reading, which is awful.  I hate leaving things early, but I just couldn't do it.  I can only hope this talented young writer continues to work on the piece, which could be an important one.  Then, Thursday night, I was fortunate to receive a free ticket to Douglas Carter Beane's new play, Fairycakes.  I have to admit I was still feeling a little unwell after the hot reading room experience, but I made it there and had a pretty good time at the show.

photo credit: Matthew Murphy

Fairycakes is a silly piece that's a mishmash of A Midsummer Night's Dream and other well-known fairy tales.  The cast is amazing, the costumes are gorgeous, the songs are cute, and there are lots of laughs.  There are also some groans from jokes that don't land, but the production is done in such high spirits and good humor, it seems mean to quibble.  The audience was pretty on board from the start; in maybe the third scene, there was a set malfunction and two of the performers entertained us off-script until it was fixed, which endeared them into the hearts of the rest of the audience.  So I mainly had fun, though by the time I got home, I was DONE.  My commutes during the week were a little cumbersome, so all of that combined made for a long week.  I had to take a few hours off work Friday morning to get my bearings back.  I now know that I am NOT ready for two-show-days or even two-show-in-a-row weeks.  I need to look at my calendar a little more closely as I buy tickets for the rest of the year - admittedly, I probably baby myself a little too much when it comes to commuting, but if I don't, who will?