From Ann:
Yesterday started with a yummy FREE breakfast (compliments of our Hilton credit card) at Pigalli's. I love that the staff knows us and Jose - our favorite waiter- treats us royally. We went from there to MOMA for a little shopping before our matinee.
Seeing two shows in one day is the CB norm on a Wednesday. Some people are amazed that we can see so many shows in so little time, but it is ABSOLUTELY not an issue for the girls! We wanted to attend the Wednesday night performance of Hamlet in Central Park, but getting tickets was a whole new experience for us, and, since we were seeing a matinee, standing in the line was a problem. Our pal Casey gave us lots of advise about the best way to get tickets, and we both registered early in the morning on their Public Theater's new virtual line. When we checked after 1:00, I had been awarded two tickets! Getting the tickets online was great because otherwise we would have had to stand in the standby ticket line for a couple of hours before the show hoping people wouldn't show it. Wonderful things seem to happen to us in this city . . .
We saw Gypsy thanks to Danny Fleckman's generosity and HE GETS A HUGE CB THANK YOU!! The seats were absolutely perfect--in the mezzanine and a perfect viewing spot for this great revival of a legendary Broadway show. We had seen the show last July in the Encore series, and the cast has remained intact for the move to Broadway. Patti LuPone plays Mama Rose, and she is something to behold. She is like watching a tornado up close. S he belts out the tunes with every ounce of energy she possesses- there is nothing subtle about Patti! She brings down the house, and I just love watching and listening to her. Boyd Gaines plays Herbie, and the show stopper, in my view, is Laura Beneti who plays Gypsy Rose Lee. She is transformed from the girl, Louise, to the elegant stripper Gypsy in an amazingly convincing way and she is breathtakingly beautiful. Plus she has a phenomenal voice. This is a show for anyone who loves an old time Broadway show with the great tunes and a full orchestra. It's a real treat and a wonderful revival.
After the show we took a 30 minute rest and then headed uptown to Central Park. More from Leslie in Part Two . . .
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Tony's Week--Day Two, Part Two
From Leslie:
So we hopped in a cab to go to Central Park to pick up our free tickets to see Hamlet at Shakespeare in the Park. It was smooth sailing picking up our tickets (thanks to lucking out in the "virtual line"), grabbing a couple sandwiches and sitting in Central Park before the show. The people-watching was primo--almost as good as going to a show . . . While we were waiting to go in, Ann was chatting with a woman in line who told her that she had been trying to get tickets in the "virtual line" since the play started previews on May 27, and she had been completely unsuccessful, so she had finally carved out the time to stand on line, etc. We felt even luckier then!
It was a beautiful, clear night, and the Delacourt open-air theatre is a wonderful place to see a production. The large open stage was covered with subtle layers of granite backed by a large metal structure that allowed actors to move back and forth above the stage--it also opened and closed for dramatic entrances such as when the troupe of actors for the play within the play arrived with colorful flags and oversized "Bread & Circus" type puppets. The focal point on the stage was an eternal flame meant to represent the presence of King Hamlet's ghost. I took a picture of the set to post, but was quickly repremanded by a staff member who told me it was illegal to take pictures, and he stayed to watch to make sure I deleted it from my camera!
Hamlet is always a great play to see on stage, and, although this was not the best performance of it I have seen, it was completely enjoyable and a real thrill to see it in this kind of setting. Michael Stuhlbarg, a young actor with lots of experience doing Shakespeare, played Hamlet--his interpretation was to play him a little over the top from the start, with very high highs and low lows. He also seemed to be going for comedy whenever he could which worked at some points, but not so much at others. Sam Waterston (of Law & Order fame) was wonderful as the wind-bag Polonius, Andre Braugher (from The Wire) was really strong as Claudius, and Lauren Ambrose (of Six Feet Under) was a lovely and innocent Ophelia whose fall into madness was heart-breaking. The rest of the cast was solid, but not outstanding. All in all, an enjoyable evening for the CB's.
We grabbed a cab back toward our hotel, and went from agreeing to go right to bed to having a drink and a bite to eat in about one minute flat! We went to Thaylia's, a bar next to our hotel, had a few Cosmos, and had fun observing the Wed. night crowd. After we got back to our room, we were too keyed up to get to sleep until about 1:30am. We're pretty old to be staying up that late, but it's hard to call it a day when you're in NYC. More tomorrow!
So we hopped in a cab to go to Central Park to pick up our free tickets to see Hamlet at Shakespeare in the Park. It was smooth sailing picking up our tickets (thanks to lucking out in the "virtual line"), grabbing a couple sandwiches and sitting in Central Park before the show. The people-watching was primo--almost as good as going to a show . . . While we were waiting to go in, Ann was chatting with a woman in line who told her that she had been trying to get tickets in the "virtual line" since the play started previews on May 27, and she had been completely unsuccessful, so she had finally carved out the time to stand on line, etc. We felt even luckier then!
It was a beautiful, clear night, and the Delacourt open-air theatre is a wonderful place to see a production. The large open stage was covered with subtle layers of granite backed by a large metal structure that allowed actors to move back and forth above the stage--it also opened and closed for dramatic entrances such as when the troupe of actors for the play within the play arrived with colorful flags and oversized "Bread & Circus" type puppets. The focal point on the stage was an eternal flame meant to represent the presence of King Hamlet's ghost. I took a picture of the set to post, but was quickly repremanded by a staff member who told me it was illegal to take pictures, and he stayed to watch to make sure I deleted it from my camera!
Hamlet is always a great play to see on stage, and, although this was not the best performance of it I have seen, it was completely enjoyable and a real thrill to see it in this kind of setting. Michael Stuhlbarg, a young actor with lots of experience doing Shakespeare, played Hamlet--his interpretation was to play him a little over the top from the start, with very high highs and low lows. He also seemed to be going for comedy whenever he could which worked at some points, but not so much at others. Sam Waterston (of Law & Order fame) was wonderful as the wind-bag Polonius, Andre Braugher (from The Wire) was really strong as Claudius, and Lauren Ambrose (of Six Feet Under) was a lovely and innocent Ophelia whose fall into madness was heart-breaking. The rest of the cast was solid, but not outstanding. All in all, an enjoyable evening for the CB's.
We grabbed a cab back toward our hotel, and went from agreeing to go right to bed to having a drink and a bite to eat in about one minute flat! We went to Thaylia's, a bar next to our hotel, had a few Cosmos, and had fun observing the Wed. night crowd. After we got back to our room, we were too keyed up to get to sleep until about 1:30am. We're pretty old to be staying up that late, but it's hard to call it a day when you're in NYC. More tomorrow!
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