Playing Catch-Up

Wow, I have been so busy lately!  I've been seeing things, yes, but I've also been swamped at work and at home, so I apologize for the radio silence.  I'm hoping to get my ducks in a row soon and not let so much time go by between posts.  Here is a brief(ish) report of what I've been up to:

photo credit: Joan Marcus

I went to City Center to see Hey, Look Me Over, the new Encores revue show.  I mainly bought a ticket because Douglas Sills was going to be doing numbers from Mack and Mabel, which is one of those time-machine shows for me (I wish I'd seen the original production).  Hey, Look Me Over had a song or two from nine shows that they have wanted to produce over the years, but haven't done so for one reason or another.  The show was tied together by the delightful Bob Martin, who recreated his Man in Chair character from The Drowsy Chaperone.  I enjoyed the evening, and Martin's commentary, quite a lot, though I thought they could've cut at least one represented musical, if not two.  But Douglas Sills was indeed sublime as Mack Sennett and got one of the biggest ovations of the evening.  The other huge ovation was for Clifton Duncan and his amazing performance of "Never Will I Marry" from Greenwillow.  He really was thrilling.  I was also quite taken with Reed Birney and Judy Kuhn's touching performance of "Once Upon a Time" from All-American.  Oh, and I always enjoy Bebe Neuwirth, who was tart perfection performing some Noel Coward.  So I'm glad I went to see Hey, Look Me Over; I only wish we had gotten to see the 'secret guest star' the night I went.  Oh well, I guess you can't have everything.

I went to readings of two new musicals, one rather old-fashioned and one rather new-wave and I enjoyed them both.  Since they were readings, I won't say anything else, but I will keep my eye on both projects.  On Valentine's Day, I made a return visit to Once on This Island with a group of co-workers - the show made me cry as always, though I admit that I missed the ending that I had seen in the preview performance in November.  But the two new cast members, Norm Lewis (who is just PERFECT in everything he does) and Tamyra Gray were excellent additions and I loved the show just as much in my second viewing as I did in my first.  Norm may have pushed my enjoyment level even higher than before, since he is absolutely sublime.  I actually think I need to see the show again, although the cast album comes out next week; maybe I can make do with that.  I was a bit sad about how empty the house was at my performance; I hope it was just because it was a Wednesday matinee in February and not that the show is in any trouble of closing.  It's just too beautiful to not be the most popular show in town.

Last Thursday, I went to a new play at Ensemble Studio Theatre - Against the Hillside.  The playwright, Sylvia Khoury, who I know through my work, invited me to see the show and I'm so grateful she did.  It's a smart and timely play, written with care and humanity, about the toll drone warfare takes on everyone, both the perpetrators and the victims.  I thought the acting was excellent and enjoyed not knowing where this story, one I haven't seen before, would take me.  And the coda was completely unexpected and terrific.  I was very invested in every character's story and I thought each character was depicted with beautiful humanity.  I should've written about the play in more detail, and earlier, since it closes this weekend, but I did want to at least share her name, so that you can keep an eye out for what she writes next.  I know I will.

Then last weekend, for the holiday weekend, I took myself on a tiny adventure.  REALLY tiny, just out to Uniondale, Long Island.  There is a new tennis tournament out there, the New York Open.  It's the first year, and the USTA sent out a discount ticket offer to its members a while ago.  I've had this ticket for a really long time and had been looking forward to it for a really long time, too.  After seeing that the Long Island Railroad and the subways weren't really connecting last weekend, I opted to get a hotel room at the nearby Long Island Marriott, so I wouldn't have to worry about hurrying to catch a last train after the tennis was over.  I'm glad I did that - the hotel was literally in the parking lot of the Nassau Coliseum (where the tennis tournament was being held), so that was perfect.  I got to see two terrific tennis matches, both of them going three sets, and stay in a comfortable hotel AND order room service.  Oh, and I rode in the elevator with one of the players.  Whee!  Win-win, all around.  I think, if I go back next year, I will get tickets for Friday night and Saturday afternoon, to make my time there last longer.  It did feel as if I traveled more than I watched tennis, but I'm glad I went.  I'm afraid I'm too tired to talk about the players, or the matches in more detail, but believe me when I say the tennis was well-played and the victories were hard-fought.  I'll put some photos below.

Geez, this post is really long, sorry.  I've also seen two new plays this week, but I really only liked one of them, and it's in previews.  But you should go see it: Some Old Black Man, by James Anthony Tyler, at 59E59 Theater.  I know James through my job as well, and I love him, so I imagine I'm predisposed to enjoy his work, but enjoy it I did.  He writes such beautifully real characters and his plots are contemporary, but the essence of what he's saying is universal.  I laughed and I cried and I recognized the problems these two characters were struggling with.  The play is still in previews, and I saw an understudy for one of the two actors, so I won't say anything other than please go see this play.  I plan to go back towards the end of the run - you should go see it, too.  I should also mention that I saw it with a group of dear dear ones, and that made the evening special as well.  But James is another playwright worth keeping your eye on, so please do.

I think that's all the news that's fit to print.  I've discovered a new liqueur that I'm fond of and hope to enjoy more cocktails including it.  I have a couple of plays coming up this week, so I promise to try to be more on top of the blogging.  I have also tried a couple of new recipes, which may or may not be blog-worthy.  I'll keep you posted.  And I'll try not to be such a stranger...

not my train

I got on the wrong train, so...frustrated.

Nassau Coliseum

back door of my hotel

view from back door of my hotel!

pretty tasty, for stadium food

view of the stadium from my room

this WAS my train!  :)

Review - Until the Flood

Whenever I start to think of what I want to say about Dael Orlandersmith's Until the Flood, I start to cry.  The experience of seeing the show was that moving to me, and even more moving the farther out I get from it.  I guess that's as good a place as any to start, though I may have trouble finding words that are 'right' enough to describe it.

I've long been a fan of Orlandersmith's - her writing, her acting, her activism.  She's also a delightful human being, which is an added bonus to her talent.  The last piece of hers that I saw, Forever, was a wonderful evening out (you can remind yourself of my thoughts on that play HERE).  When I received the ticket offer for this new show at Rattlestick, I immediately emailed my handsome friend with whom I saw Forever and we found a mutually beneficial night to head downtown.  Unfortunately, he got stuck out of town last night and didn't make it back in time to see Until the Flood with me, which made me sad.  Doubly sad, really - sad that I didn't see him and sad that he didn't see this wonderfully moving play. 

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

Until the Flood is Orlandersmith's response to the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, MO.  Obviously, this is going to be a fraught topic, given the heated passion on both sides of the events there, and this amazing writer did not shy away from the pain on both sides.  After interviewing people in Ferguson - black and white, young and old - Orlandersmith fashioned her play as a series of monologues, meant to show people's responses to the tragedy, rather than point fingers or assign blame.  None of the characters were directly involved with the shootings, they're just all local people offering opinions, historical background and personal takes on what happened.  An interesting article about Orlandersmith's process is in an old issue of American Theatre magazine; if you're interested, you can read it HERE).

photo credit: Robert Altman

It's amazing how even-handed and empathetic Orlandersmith is portraying all of these characters - they're all so real and three-dimensional, I occasionally forgot the same woman was playing all of the roles.  Even the most racist, horrific example of white hate was presented without agenda.  If each character broke my heart in some way, the one who may stay with me the longest was the minister, who talks about going to the protests and offering to pray for people, both black and white, and who can somehow find the love in everything, because that's how she lives her life through her god.  I admit that the face of all that forgiveness nearly shamed me, because I have such rage at what has been done to people of color in this country.  The fact that Orlandersmith can present humanity in all its facets, without judging, is humbling to me.

photo credit: Robert Altman

Of course, now that I've written down that the minister may stay with me, I think about the young teen boy, who speaks tough and seems to have a death wish, then he tells a story about one of his teachers, ending it with wanting to go home with that teacher, wanting that teacher to be his father.  Just heartbreaking.  Or the other teen, who just wants out.  Who just wants to survive for one more year until he can get out.  Devastating.  Or the chill of actually seeing how hate can start in a child - horrifying to see but necessary to try to understand.

There is also humor and humanity in Until the Flood, it's not all heartbreak and tears.  But the profound empathy and deep exploration of the human condition makes this show incredibly worthwhile and an excellent addition to the conversations that are happening all over this country, in the wake of all the hate that seems to be flooding our government and regular citizens.  If we could all be as good a listener and as good at expressing understanding as Dael Orlandersmith, we'd all be a lot better off.

Tangential notes around my evening: after the performance, there was a talkback.  I was very excited, thinking we would get to spend more time with Orlandersmith, but no, a staff member from 'community relations' came out to get our feelings about what we just saw, starting with our taking a collective deep breath.  Um.  I have to admit I was feeling a little cynical about that zen take on things, and I'm not sure it led to any substantive conversation, but I was enormously impressed with the staff member's ability to listen to the rants of the rather crazy woman in the front row and then to smoothly transition to another topic.  That took some skill.  

Oh, and before the show, I got the subway at Times Square.  I could hear some snippets of a Journey song - being a girl of the 80s, I admit to loving Steve Perry, so I tried to get closer to hear what was happening.  It was the song "Separate Ways" and it was being sung by a little kid, who couldn't have been more than ten years old, belting his lungs out like Steve Perry!  It was pretty cool.  Much cooler than the conversation between two millennial gals I overheard on the subway downtown: one of them actually said the words, "I don't know, it's that woman who Emma Stone played in some tennis movie."  Sigh.  Sometimes I weep for my younger generations, who don't know who came before them and made their lives a little easier by their fighting for what is right.  So thanks, Billie Jean King.  And thanks, Dael Orlandersmith, for listening to those who came before, during and after the events in Ferguson, and for trying to find a way past the struggle and a way into understanding and healing.  There's only a week left in the run of Until the Flood - please go see it and help keep the conversation going...

A Flashback and a RIP

The sad news that actor John Mahoney passed away Sunday really struck me.  Not only was he tons of fun on Frasier for all those years, but he was also in one of my very favorite movie scenes of all time: the scene in Moonstruck where he tries to explain middle-aged men to Olympia Dukakis.  That scene is written magnificently and is even more magnificently acted by Mahoney and Dukakis.  I once tweeted about how much I love that scene and I was pleasantly surprised to get so much agreement online, even from some of the movie's cast members.  I believe that's the first time I ever saw Mahoney and he was forever in my mind as one of my favorite actors, no matter the project.  He will most definitely be missed.

When Roundabout Theatre Company announced in 2007 they were reviving Craig Lucas' brilliant Prelude to a Kiss and that John Mahoney would be playing the old man, I was IN.  Well, I was in as soon as Roundabout announced they were doing the play at all, since I adore Craig and his plays, but the addition of John Mahoney sealed the deal.  I knew he would be wonderful and I was not wrong.  So, to celebrate John Mahoney and to share an old review from my archives, I present this flashback from 2007 - I'm not sure why it was so brief, maybe because I sent it out alongside another review, but please enjoy: 

3/5/2007:  Prelude to a Kiss is such a lovely, delicate script that says so much about life, love and who we are.  It's one of my very favorite plays (and Craig Lucas is one of my very favorite playwrights).  It's a beautiful almost-fairy tale, yet it's sad and humane as well.  It is just a gorgeously written script, with a lot of truth and longing and humor, and it’s being given a lovely production at Roundabout right now.  And the absolute number one reason for its success is John Mahoney, who is giving a fantastic performance as the old man.  Really grand Tony-worthy work.  That monologue in the second act is breathtaking - he doesn't add any fancy actor-business, he just lets Craig's beautiful words land and break your heart.  "We might as well have a good time while we're here, don't you think?"  

photo credit: Sara Krulwich

I liked Alan Tudyk a lot, Annie Parisse maybe not as much, but she wasn’t bad or anything.  She was actually perfectly fine, but she just sort of played the text (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I guess) and didn’t delve any further.  I suppose my main quibble is I didn’t see the fear that grips this character, and if you don’t see the fear, you don’t really have a reason to rejoice when she says “I’m not afraid anymore.”  Perhaps that’s just me.  But the beauty of the final exchange between Rita and Peter is still sublime: "Never to be squandered...the miracle of another human being."  I just want to cry even typing it, let alone hearing it.  Oh, and I don't want to forget to mention that James Rebhorn and Robin Bartlett play Rita's parents and are terrific, as is the original music by John Gromada.  I give the production a great big thumbs up.  Don't ever squander the opportunity to see a Craig Lucas play.  😊

Winter RW 2018 - Riverpark

I had hoped to get in a few more lunches with friends for Restaurant Week, but schedules right now are tight.  I decided to take myself to one last place until Restaurant Week comes back at the end of the summer.  Since we're in the middle of watching the latest season of Top Chef, I went with one of the head judge's restaurants, Riverpark.

Open since 2010, Riverpark is all the way over by the East River, so it's not easy to get to.  I was going to take a crosstown bus, but there weren't any coming, so I took a cab.  Even that was a bit of a hassle, with all the closed streets due to the hospitals and medical centers in the area.  But once I got over there, it was a lovely, tranquil spot.  Probably partly because it's a hassle to get to...

Riverpark is a farm-to-table restaurant and part of the farm is just nearby.  The restaurant is inside a huge glass and chrome building, with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the river.  The dining space itself is very inviting with a good noise level and interesting flower arrangements and lighting fixtures throughout.  The service is very pleasant and accommodating - I felt taken care of, but not rushed or smothered.  I appreciated that.

For my first course, I got the burrata, a deliciously creamy, soft cheese.  Even though it had a supplemental fee (which I will mention again later), I had to get it.  One, I love burrata.  Two, it was served with mostarda pears, shallots, pistachio, and ginger snap tuile.  I adore mostarda - savory and sweet in one bite is one of my favorite things.  So we had the soft and creamy, and the savory and sweet.  The pistachios were crunchy and salty, and the ginger snap tuile was earthy and rich.  If I thought the shallots were a little too sharp, well, that's on me.  This was an amazing dish and will absolutely make my year-end list of best dishes.  I loved it.  Oh, and I should mention that my housemade iced tea was also yummy, as was the (tiny) piece of foccacia that came with my drink.  The olive oil served with the bread was peppery and wonderful.  So, all in all, a good start.  

For my main course, I got the braised chicken leg, with autumn squash, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and wheat berries.  This was another delicious dish - the chicken was perfectly cooked and juicy and the skin was nicely seasoned.  The squash was wonderfully prepared and went nicely with the chicken jus/cranberry sauce that covered everything.  It was a rich dish, and a little sweet, and as I was eating I wanted something crunchy and salty.  Not that the dish needed salt, because it was beautifully seasoned throughout, but I just wanted something to break up the lush softness and sweetness.  I now realize that the chef must've forgotten to put the pumpkin seeds on my plate, because I'm sure they were supposed to provide the balance to the dish.  I guess I should've looked at the menu description again as I was eating, but didn't think to.  This quibble doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the dish, I did, it was amazingly delicious, but I think those pumpkin seeds would've completed it and made the experience of eating it even more satisfying.  In my humble, uneducated opinion.  

For dessert, I thought I had seen on the RW website that there would be a pumpkin cake option, which I always enjoy, but that didn't seem to be a choice.  Of course, my love of lemon is such that I would've ordered the meyer lemon mousse regardless of whether or not there was a pumpkin cake option.  I love meyer lemon ANYTHING.  And this was terrific!  It was served with white chocolate clusters, mandarin orange 'caviar', gingersnap crumbs, and praline citrus fluff.  SOOOOOOO good.  Every bite was interesting and different, and each combination was better than the last.  I really loved this dessert and will be thinking about it for a long time.  Ordinarily, I'm not really a fan of white chocolate, but the little chunks of it, mixed with the citrus, was fantastic and unexpected.  Really really yummy.

I enjoyed Riverpark and would love to go back, though maybe not for lunch on a weekday.  It's so cumbersome to get there and back, my lunch hour stretched out maybe a little too much.  But it seems like a gorgeous special occasion place and the bar looked incredible.  I will definitely go back.  And as for that burrata 'supplemental fee'?  They forgot to charge me.  When I looked at my check and saw it missing, I pointed it out to the host and he thanked me for mentioning it, but it wouldn't be necessary to add it.  I hope I didn't get the server into trouble, but I would've felt like a thief if I had left without saying something.  So I left feeling virtuous AND I didn't have to pay the supplement!  Win win, I say!  Oh, RW, I will miss you so.  August is much too far away...

Winter RW 2018 - Ortzi and Victor's Cafe

My Secret Santa from work gave me a lovely present last year - a lunch during Restaurant Week!  After looking at the list, and our schedules, we opted to try Jose Garces' new restaurant in the Times Square-area, Ortzi.  My SS and I both enjoyed eating at Garces' former restaurant in Chicago and I'm a big fan of Amada downtown, so I was greatly looking forward to our afternoon.

Of course we had a great time at Ortzi!  Oh, heck, I always have a great time with my Secret Santa.  Anyway.  Ortzi is a new-ish restaurant, and our server was also new-ish, so maybe there were a few hiccups, but I thought the food was delicious and the space had a very nice atmosphere.  Ortzi is inside the Luna Hotel, so it's on the small side, but it's also very cozy and friendly.  The menu is based on food from the Basque region in Spain, so it's not just traditional tapas, but other flavors and sauces are brought into the mix.

The appetizers are served tapas-style, so the whole table has to choose the RW menu, which wasn't a problem for us.  What was a bit of a problem was that one of the dishes was tuna.  Have I ever mentioned my complete and utter aversion to tuna?  When I travel abroad, I always make sure to know the region's word for tuna so I can avoid it at all costs.  So I did not want the tuna.  Nor did my SS.  The server got quite perplexed and had to go talk to the chef.  He came back and confirmed that we could indeed get two plates of the other appetizer, so...whew.  Why that confused our server, I don't know.  I later found out it was our server's third week on the job - that explained a lot.  Moving on.  The appetizer course was a very nice plate of serrano ham, manchego cheese and a garlic lavash.  I thought all three components were fresh, rich and delicious; my SS found the lavash a little wanting, but that's ok.  I just love serrano ham and manchego cheese together; it was a pretty filling appetizer-course, at least for me.

For my main course, I chose the pepito bocadillo, which was a sandwich with braised short ribs, roasted mushrooms, picked onions, and a la peral fondue sauce.  I'm not normally fond of blue cheese, but the la peral sauce was delicious and went well with everything else on the sandwich.  The sandwich was delightful - the braised short ribs were tender and fatty and SOOOOO good, and were just enhanced with the sharp onions and the earthy mushrooms and cheese sauce.  The sandwich came with shoestring fries, which are my favorite.  They were super-crispy and super-yummy.  The sandwich was also really filling, so I decided to eat only half and take the other half in a doggie bag, since I wanted to have room for dessert.

I loved the dessert, my SS didn't (in the interest of full disclosure) - it was a pastel vasco, which is a Basque-style custard tart, with apricot, olive oil, and pistachios.  I found it the perfect ending to the meal - not too sweet, but deliciously rich and satisfying.  It was also nice that our young server told us we could have coffee or tea, on the house, since I'm such a good customer of the Garces family of restaurants.  I tell you, Jose Garces knows how to do customer service.  I loved using the drink coupons for my birthday and I very much appreciated being able to get some tea with my dessert without having to make my SS pay more for my holiday gift.  For me, the meal was delightful and I'm so grateful to my generous co-worker for giving me exactly what I would want for Christmas - yummy food and time with him.

My other boss wanted to get into the act, so he and I went to Victor's Cafe, a Cuban restaurant a little uptown from Times Square.  So you're getting two RW reviews for the price of one!  :)

He and I were on the same page about trying restaurants we wouldn't ordinarily seek out, so since neither one of us eat Cuban food all that often, Victor's was an easy choice.  The restaurant is very pleasant - we sat in the back dining room, which is like a solarium, with flowers and skylights and pretty light fixtures.  And bamboo fans.  It was very nice.  Our server was sweet and brought us a serving of fried plantains and dipping sauce pretty quickly.  They were quite tasty - the fried plantains were crispy and salty and yummy and the dipping sauce was pretty earthy.  A nice nibble before getting our meals.

I got the croquetas corral as my appetizer - crispy smoked ham croquettes, with tomato-cachucha pepper sauce.  They were very tasty, very smoky and nicely crisp.  The serving was six croquetas, which were too many for me, so my dining companion was happy to be able to try them.  He got the ceviche, which I sampled; he and I agreed it was a little bland and needed way more acid.  Ah well.  I'm glad I got the croquetas.

I actually thought about getting the ceviche as my starter, but since I decided on the salmon as my main course, I opted to not have two courses of seafood.  On their menu, it's known as salmon carnaval - Atlantic salmon, with charred pineapple salsa, Cuban polenta, alongside rice and black beans.  I thought this dish was delicious!  The salmon was perfectly cooked and had really crispy skin, and the charred pineapple salsa was to die for!  The perfect bite of fish, salsa and polenta was SOOOO good together.  I tell you, I could probably eat a tennis shoe if it were served with charred pineapple salsa.  Delightful dish.  My dining companion didn't enjoy his beef dish as much, unfortunately.  I guess I just know how to order.

For dessert, I got the arroz con leche, or rice pudding.  I love rice pudding.  And this was excellent.  (my photo is horrible, though, sorry.  it's hard to get a good pic of a dish of rice pudding.)  Very rich and creamy and thick, with just a hint of spice.  Really really good.  Again, the portion was too much for me, so my dining companion was happy to try it.  He enjoyed it too, as he also enjoyed his flan.  Dessert was a hit for both of us.  Victor's Cafe was a very nice lunch spot and I might be tempted to go back and try some of their other menu items - I do adore a good Cuban sandwich - and their cocktails sounded amazing.  Since we had to come back to the office, I opted to skip the cocktail (darn it).  But all in all, it was a very nice RW lunch!  I am three for three!  Looking forward to trying some new places next week...

Review - Hello, Dolly

Hello, Dolly is one of the first musicals I ever saw - we did it at my high school and I remember thinking the show was good, but our cast maybe wasn't.  I was a mean critic even then.  I worked on a production in grad school, but I honestly don't think I've seen the stage show in 30 years.  I've seen the movie over the years, of course, so that's what I have in my mind now when I think of Hello, Dolly.  When Bette Midler was announced for the current production, I was excited to see it, but was quickly priced out.  I never made it there - I often thought about going to see Donna Murphy do the show, but never made it to see her, either.  My loss.  But when a friend texted me saying she had an offer for inexpensive balcony tickets to see Bernadette Peters do the show (alongside Victor Garber), I jumped at the chance.  So last night I went with two dear old college chums to bask in the glow of an old-fashioned musical.

And bask we did.  I had a smile on my face nearly the entire evening.  What a fun night!  It seemed to me that the cast was having a blast and the audience was, too.  It was really a love fest - there was a lot of whooping and hollering for Bernadette, which was totally deserved, in my opinion.  The whole show seems to have been put together with a lot of verve and love and fun, from the costumes to the choreography to the direction.  Everything just worked together beautifully to give everyone there the best time.

photo credit:  Julieta Cervantes

I thought Bernadette was terrific, giving a wonderful musical comedy star performance, with double-takes and glances out to the audience.  She was generous and open with the other performers and seemed to get as much of a kick out of their performances as we did.  Her singing sounded great and her monologues to her late husband were truly wonderful - she is so grounded and real, while at the same time larger-than-life and theatrical.  She just lights up the stage (and looks spectacular in those costumes!  She must have a portrait in her attic because she looks amazing!) and twinkles for three hours.  I really really loved her.  Oh, and her dancing was great, too!

I'm a longtime fan of Victor Garber, he's one of my absolute favorite actors, so it's hard for me to be objective but...I loved him!  (of course I did.)  I thought he was gruff and funny, charming and rough-edged, and you could really see, in the last scene, where Dolly and Horace suddenly realize this isn't about money at all.  They had a very touching chemistry and a lovely connection.  His second act-opener, "Penny in My Pocket," was a real delight.  I think that he and Bernadette are still finding their way into sharp comic timing a little bit, especially in the Harmonia Gardens scene, but they are already so good, it's silly to quibble.

photo credit: Julieta Cervantes

Kate Baldwin and Gavin Creel were really sublime as Irene and Cornelius ("Ribbons Down My Back" was a beautiful stand-out to me), and Molly Griggs and Charlie Stemp are stars-to-be as Minnie Fay and Barnaby.  The four of them together were simply wonderful and radiated such joy.  They were all quirky and interesting, yet sang beautifully.  And Charlie Stemp's dancing is simply marvelous!  He had little solo pieces here and there and watching him was just a treat.  Oh, and Jennifer Simard as Ernestina Money?  Hysterical.

After seeing the movie so many times, it was nice to hear the original songs from the score, instead of the songs inserted into the movie.  The orchestra played the lively music beautifully and the ensemble sounded great as well.  It was honestly just a lovely night.  I'm SO glad I went, especially with my dear friends.  I just had the best time.

Of course, there were seat neighbor issues.  Hello.  I was happy to have the discounted seats in the balcony, and the sightlines were mainly fine, but the rows are really close together!  My chums had a rough time up there with the non-existent leg room, though my short legs weren't in as much pain, thankfully.  There were the leaners, of course, who then made the view harder for anyone behind them, but I was again pretty fortunate that the seat in front of me was empty and there weren't as many leaners in front of me.

Speaking of the empty seat in front of me:  shortly before showtime, a full-figured gentleman, singing the title song, stumbled into his seat.  Shall we just say he had a hard time fitting into his seat and leave it at that?  I would've left it at that and wouldn't have bothered to write about him, but he kept talking to the woman next to him, whose English didn't appear to be fluent.  He kept singing "Hello, lady" to her until he then asked her to please get her arm off his armrest.  I mean, I understand that he was probably uncomfortable to the max, because he was pretty full-figured, but you don't tell someone to get their arm off the armrest!  She did, but then he stood up and stumbled back out into the aisle.  He decided he was going to sit in one of the accessible seats in the back.  I was the tiniest bit relieved that he moved - not only for the empty space in front of me, but I was also afraid he would be a sing-a-longer.  I promptly forgot about him during the joyful first act, then at intermission, one of my dear friends pointed out that the full-figured gent had moved himself down to a box seat!  He was getting closer, and more alone, by the minute!  We figured he would be on-stage for the curtain call, if the ushers weren't careful.

Speaking of the ushers: they were certainly kept busy, running up and down the aisles, to try to stop people from videotaping the performance on their phones.  I could see a woman a few rows in front of me videoing the opening number, but the usher came right down and flashed his flashlight in her eyes, to get her to stop.  He had to come down a few times because I guess she was determined to video.  But there were several people who got 'flashed' by ushers to stop their taping.  What is the matter with people?!  Isn't it enough you get to see the show but you have to 1) ruin the experience for yourself because you're not really seeing it, and 2) ruin the experience for everyone around you because the light from your phone is annoying!  Grrrr.  Good thing the show was a bundle of fun and made me forget my troubles and I floated away on a cloud of musical theater happiness.  What's the line from 42nd Street?   "I'm talking about musical comedy, the two most glorious words in the English language!"  Yeah, I can see that.  Last night, I certainly agreed.  Of course, "free pizza" are also two glorious words.  Your mileage may vary.  :)