Update--New York City

The CB's arrived in NYC yesterday afternoon after a pleasant bus ride on Megabus from Boston. Nice new bus line, good prices, and we left and arrived right on schedule. After a slight readjustment period, we had a nice dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Pigalli, and were joined for a drink by our buddy Casey who filled us in on the theatre world from his perspective as an intern for a PR firm that manages many of the big theatre groups in the city.

Then we headed over a few blocks to see Equus, starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and Richard Griffiths. We were not bowled over--mostly because the play itself is rather dated, and the "phychiatrist heal thyself" theme feels a bit cliche. Radcliffe was good in his role (we were surprised by how small he is--5' 5") and you certainly live through his emotional turmoil. The scenes between him and his psychiatrist were the strongest part of the play. I also found the set and staging to be powerful, although Ann didn't agree with me. Lots of young girls mobbed the back stage door, and Radcliffe was very generous about signing autographs and people taking pictures.

We called it an early night--we were planning on watching the rerun of the Project Runway finale in our room, but we didn't get the Bravo channel on our TV. Bummer!

Today, we decided to head in different directions. I walked up to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and enjoyed the Van Gogh exhibit and a special installation called Dreamland: Architectural Experiments since the 1970s that was really terrific. From there I went to the Morgan Museum to see an exhibit called Drawing Babar. The Morgan recently acquired the working drafts and printer-ready watercolors for Histoire de Babar (1931), the first book by Jean de Brunhoff, and Babar et ce Coquin d'Arthur (1946), the first book by his son, Laurent de Brunhoff (b. 1925). As a long time Babar fan, I really enjoyed seeing the exhibit and all the first edition Babar books in their collection.

Ann headed up towards Lincoln Center to check out the new Museum of Art and Design. More about that from her later!