May: A Summary

Dear Readers,

I am the worst.

This month has somehow gotten away from me, and this, on the last day of May will be only my third post. A lot has been going on, but this is not an excuse I like to use for my absence. I have missed allowing myself time to reflect-a big part of why I enjoy blogging-and the opportunity to write (somewhat) creatively. To fill you in on what's been filling my hours, below is a brief rundown of May's highlights, some more glamorous than others.

This month, I have:
-Run three races
-Monitored the progress of my new niece, born on May 9th
-Hosted my brother for a weekend visit
-Spent time with Ed's mother, cousin, and friends who visited New York for 10 days
-Seen three Broadway shows
-Traveled to Florida to watch Ed's first half-Ironman of the season
-Dealt with things on my to-do list for months, such as buying Draino and dealing with the sluggish shower drain, mending a torn seam on a favorite sweater, doing a load of handwashing, and taking some pants to be altered
-Planted and cared for a small herb garden in our apartment
-Put together a birthday album for my mother containing messages from family and friends
-Traveled to California to meet my niece and spend time with my parents, brothers/sisters-in-law, and grandparents
-Exchanged the sweaters in my closet for shorts and sundresses
-Attended a talk given by author Jane Gardam
-Gone to two appointments with doctors
-Attended several parties and met friends for dinner a few times

June is shaping up to be busy as well, with more races and weddings in Connecticut and Mexico City. However, I pledge that a busy schedule is no reason not to take a few minutes to do things I enjoy.

Happy June!

Meeting Louis Mendes

I had a great New York moment today: I decided to take a break at the office and swing by the grocery store, and on the way I saw a gentleman all in black with a fantastic old camera. Wanting a picture of it for my photo-of-the-day project*, I asked him if I could snap a shot of the camera. "What about me?" he fired back. Normally, I'm leery of taking pictures of strangers--I see tons of people on the streets that I'd love to photograph, but I worry that doing so might make someone angry; this is New York City. But this guy seemed friendly, and so he posed on the corner and I took a shot with my iPhone. He inspected my work with a critical eye. "It's too dark," he pronounced. "Do it right. Use the flash and get closer." I cued up the flash and he assumed the position again. The result was better, but still dark. "Here," he said, leaning over the screen and pointing at all the sun-drenched buildings in the background of the shot. "Your camera's focusing on all that and it's making me dark. With black people, you need lots of light. Try taking it over here." He stood in front of a wall (we were on the shady side of the street) and Shot #3 was a winner.

"Put it on my Facebook page," he said, after approving the photo. He directed me to type his name into Google, which I did, and saved the page so I could find him later. We chatted for a bit, then I shook his hand and resumed my trip to the store. Later, I put the picture on his Facebook page as directed and visited his website as well. I learned that he's a street photographer who teaches classes and sells books, and that he is known as "Shaft with a camera."

I've had some unpleasant encounters with strangers on the streets of this city, but I was delighted to meet Louis and hope to see him roaming New York with his camera again.

*I have been faithfully taking daily pictures, but less faithfully posting them... I will update this week, pinkie swear!

Thrills, Chills, and (Thank Heavens) No Spills on the Great White Way

Ed's mother, an ardent theater fan, is in town, and she has treated us to three impressive performances while she gets her fix. I had done little research on shows before her visit--aside from seeing a billboard for the odd play or musical on a subway platform now and then--and so was unsure what to expect from any of the three. They couldn't have been more different from each other, but each was an enjoyable experience.

The first performance we attended was Macbeth. I'm a Shakespeare fan and know that play particularly well as I taught it for two years. I went along happily, not sure precisely what to expect but pretty sure it would be familiar territory. How wrong I was. Upon entering the theater, I was surprised to see the stage set like a rather dingy mental hospital. I got another surprise when I opened the program to find that there were precisely three actors performing in the play. Er... It turns out that this performance of Macbeth was basically a one-man show. The play began when the unfathomably talented Alan Cummings was escorted onto the stage by a doctor and an orderly. They strip him and place his clothes in bags marked "Evidence," then hand him pajamas. He's clearly been through a lot - he stares vacantly around him, his hair is disheveled, and he has bloody claw marks on his chest that look as though they were made by a human hand. The medical staff exit and stay offstage for most of the play, though occasionally they appear to watch Cummings from an observation window above. Cummings acts out nearly all the roles; the one exception is when he is acting out the part in which Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and the medical staff, watching from the window, talk about what is happening. It was an unbelievable performance; I'm sure I would have been a bit skeptical if I'd known I was going to see a one-man Macbeth, but I wouldn't have been more wrong. We had wonderful seats, so we were able to appreciate Cummings's most subtle facial expressions, which drew me even further into the play, and by the end I was exhausted. So, evidently, was Cummings. After the play's dramatic end, he appeared, unsmiling, for the curtain call. There were three encores, and by the time he appeared on the stage to bow for the third time, there was the ghost of a smile on his face. But he still looked haggard. I can't imagine how draining it must be to become that invested in such a tragic, troubling play, and to hold the whole thing on your shoulders.

I knew a bit about the second play, which we saw a few days later. Lucky Guy is the last script Nora Ephron completed, and her longtime friend Tom Hanks would be playing the lead role. I love Ephron's work and am crazy about Tom Hanks, so the prospect of seeing the first-ever performance of her last-ever play with Hanks as the helm was titillating. The play is based on the life of journalist Mike McAlry, who had gift for getting people to talk to him and sniffing out stories. He started at the bottom rung of the newsroom ladder but climbed quickly due to his talent and nerve. His story was narrated by his colleagues; from the get-go, it was clear that they were remembering him and so he must not be around anymore. He seemed to be a larger-than-life character, so even though there were very serious themes in the play, McAlry's antics penned by the hysterically funny Ephron and performed by a wildly talented cast kept us giggling. Seeing Hanks on stage was both exciting and familiar; he's the kind of actor you feel like you know personally. I found myself feeling proud of his success and talent the way I would if a favorite uncle had hit it big. He's every bit as good on stage as he is on screen, and he was buoyed by a really wonderful cast. I recognized faces from countless movies and TV shows (Maura Tierney, Christopher McDonald, Peter Gerety, Courtney Vance, Peter Scolari... Don't worry, none of those names rang any bells for me either when I saw them in the program, but I recognized the actors immediately onstage and I'm sure most of you would have, too). And star sightings were not limited to the stage, either; actor Victor Garber (Milk, Titanic, countless others) was in the audience just a few rows ahead of us. While I love Hanks's performance, there was something about the script that didn't seem to flow right, which I can't put my finger on. Still, I'd recommend the show to anyone; the performances were outstanding. Since we went, the play has been nominated for a Tony and so have Hanks and Vance, and the director, lighting director, and scenic director.

Our final show was Pippin, a revival of the musical which debuted on Broadway more than thirty years ago. Ed's mother saw it then and said she didn't care for it, but this performance was supposed to be fantastic and so off we went. I knew less about this show going in than either of the others. It had been nominated for a Tony for Best Revival a day or two before we went, and the actress playing the ringleader and the actor playing the king were up for awards, too. As were the scenic and costume designers. And the director. And the choreographer. Phew. The story, about Charlemagne's confused son Pippin's quest to find himself, was told against the backdrop of a circus. Dancers and acrobats accompanied Pippin from scene to scene as he graduates from college and tries his hand at soldiering, politics, love, farm life, etc. There were some really great performances (none of which came from the lead actor, whom I found boring) and the circus theme was a lot of fun. The acrobats leaped through hoops, walked around the stage on their hands, climbed ropes and hung suspended from rings swinging from the ceiling. There were many moments in which I was sure we were going to see someone go tumbling down to land in a heap on the stage, but of course everyone performed their feats of strength, balance, and agility with a flawless grace that made their stunts look almost easy. The ringmaster performed magic tricks throughout the show, some of which I figured out and some of which Ed had to explain. I found a lot of the song lyrics and dialogue cheesy, but it's amazing how far a good performance can go in making you appreciate something that, objectively, isn't that great. I was particularly impressed with the ringmaster, grandmother, and wicked queen - the strongest performances by far were the women's. Then it all fell flat after the intermission. The plotline great boring as it introduced and centered around a rather unlikable main character, the acrobatics fell by the wayside, and the stellar performers were nowhere to be seen. The cheesiness was undiluted. Ed and I liked the show much more than anyone else in our group, but we agreed that it fell flat at the end. It made me think of The Piano Lesson, a great show with wonderful performances whose script ended in a way I simply didn't like. It was a bit of a let-down. 

Ed and I had been commenting for a while that we hadn't been to a show in ages and should really see something. This spree should hold us for a while. Even if I haven't loved every minute of every show, I have yet to see a Broadway performance that is not impressive.