Shows



We got up on Saturday morning and went down to the reading room for breakfast, which was what they call continental - pastries, boiled eggs, coffee, juice, cereals, etc. It was a nice spread, and we can eat more or less as we do at home. We ate fairly late, and then set out to get to Lincoln Center for the first show.

On Friday after we were settled in the Library Hotel Philip had walked around the city collecting the tickets for all the shows. The only two tickets he didn't get were for the show in Lincoln Center (an adaptation of Aristophanes' The Frogs by Sondheim, Shevelove and Nathan Lane — I liked it way better than this reviewer did) and for Bug, the show in the Village. So we walked uptown to collect the tickets.

I think the original idea was to collect the tickets early, then eat lunch while we waited for the show to start. But the breakfast, while light, was filling enough for neither of us to be hungry. Also the day was cloudy and breezy, and so we were invigorated by the walk, which was about thirty blocks (24 city blocks, across 5 avenues). Instead of sitting in a cafe waiting, then, we strolled around in Central Park for a little while. Then we went on back to the Lincoln Center for the show.

Central Park

We really enjoyed it. Critics seem to be in two or three minds about it, but for us it was clever, it was extremely well-produced, and it was loony. And it was about FROGS. I know I have a mini-phobia about these amphibians, but excuse me, hello, Dionysus, god of wine and theatre, was afraid of frogs too. So there.

Philip at the Lincoln Center

Me listening to frog noises at the Lincoln Center

We walked back down to the Library Hotel, where we had wine and cheese and I read a bit of a book, and then we went out again in the evening.

The night's performance, which started at 8:00, was the play I Am My Own Wife by Doug Wright. Despite its rather off-putting name, it was riveting. One man, in drag, playing a German transvestite who survived the Nazis and the Stasi in what would be come East Germany. The critics were not divided on this one — it's brilliant. Breathtaking.

Afterwards we ate at a restaurant that served French cuisine fused with vague Asian stuff. Mostly French, and very nice.

Posted: Sat - October 2, 2004 at 05:14 PM        

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