Friday I walked for about 2 hours to get the MoMA - a superb, decadant, swell museum. The staff were so friendly, I felt at times I was walking around a really kooky house and stumbling upon magnificance from time to time. It took all of an hour to womble around. And, I was glad - it's a very energising place and worth t
he 12 bucks spent. The Rock
efeller centre I didn
't go up to the top (20 dollars - I don;t think so chum) but wlked around the ice rink at
the bottom and had lunch in a little joint overlooking the fountain. And what a lunch. I had ordered a cheeseburger, the cheapest thing on the menu and a side salad. Well the cheeseburger plate alone took up two-thirds of a three seater table. Um... this is meant for one person, I asked the puerto-Rican waiter who laughed at me. Amusing: I write a lot in my diary at meal times if I'm by myself. What I've noticed and was confirmed for me on Friday (when I heard the waiters discussing me) is that they think I'm a food critic. So this time, I hammed it up. Asking what herbs was in the pattie, taking notes and in the end, not getting charged for my soda and salad.
Yippee. Have found ultimate travel tip. A spot of window shopping and giggling at dogs wearing shows (dogs have their own gyms here. They do YOGA for goodness sake. It's cruel. The owners force them into Downward dog. It's ridiculous.
Anyway, I got home, got dressed up in Jackie O ensemble and headed out to UNCLE VANYA at Classic Theatre Company.
This was the best Chekhov I've ever seen. tears welled in my eyes at the end, I laughed throughout, and felt the breadth of understanding of the writing of Chekhov. It was intimate. It was clever and traditional and a very special performance for me to see. I simply adore Chekhov and have seen around 10 productions. Rarely have the productions encapsulated the life of the text.
.. for me at least. The work moved and touched me. I was blustering, overwhelmed wreck at the end! Maggie Gyllenhall is a radiant actress. She was Yelena (the part I played earlier in the year) she was fearless. Broke down, was sexy, was drunk, disturbing, jealous, marvellous. Gave more texture to Yelena than I felt possible. Her pitch for the stage was perfect. She has the tiniest hint of a lisp but this kinda made her more endearing. But it was how present
she was in every single moment that really made her points of destruction all the more powerful. Becau
se Yelena sees and hears a lot. I've only just realised this. So wh
en
she speaks. It is so, so important the subtext under what she is saying. The smaller characters of Marina, Mother and Waffles kind of milked their parts and were all a little bolshy for my taste to begin with. By the end, they fit in perfectly and I sense maybe it was a directorial choice to give them different status. Maybe.
Mamie __ was excellent as Sonya. Made her a victim but not in an unnecessary way. You know Ive heard a lot of people say to me and other people. DO NOT MAKEYOUR CHARACTER A VICTIM. But what if the character is a victim?! After seeing this show, I sort of think Sonya is. I liked that she was sometimes annoying and desperate. But it is only when you play with insincerity that this does not work. This actress was being Sonya through and through. I really respect her choices. Peter Sarsgaard, a fantastically gross and yet sexy Astrov. He wa
s possibly sick the night I went, his voice broke a few times. Most interesting. But he wasn't afraid to make Astrov a bit of a prick. Lovely lovely lovely.
But the clincher was Denis O'Hare who played Vanya. Light. Direct. sustained. His joy and hope was infectious. Hard done by and really f***in angry about it. Heart broken from hope. Note really love. But hope of something different. Not mundane. Oh, his tears were so valid.
I bailed him up after the show and stuttered my thanks at him, too which he was most grac
ious. I pulled myself together, asked a few polite questions and went out into the New York City air on a complete high.
So, Tim and I sauntered out into the night. He had seen, on my recommendation 33 Variations and agreed that it was charming and moving. We had a few drinks and then went to Tim's INCREDIBLE place on Park Ave. Flash fella big time. We ate ice cream and then I got to sleep in the loft! Uber cool. Nice having a bed to myself.
Next day, a late start. A bit of porridge - Tim's specialty and we went in search of cheap tickets for AvenueQ, the musical. Ahh, 65 bucks? D on't thinks so bud. So we bought $26 seats to Guys and Dolls 2pm Matinee. Hmm. Polished. Well done.... Not a helluva lot of soul. The dancers alone wer
e superb. The singing excellent - Lauren Graham off the Gilmore Girls surprisingly sound singer. She does not have stage skills though. She was doing some lovely acting from what I could see. But film acting. She seemed out of place with Jazz hands etc. Not her sty
le.Weak, in comparison. But, then again, I think for a Professional stage debut she was pretty darn good. Oliver Platt was so average. Nothing doing it for me. I'm glad I paid the $26 bu
cks. For two reasons: To have seen Mr Nicely-Nicely Johnson perform SIT DOWN YOUR ROCKING THE BOAT. OH my. What a performer. Oozed ease, committment and dedication and what's more LOVE of what he was doing. GEEEEENNNNIUSSSS. 2nd reason, to remind me that this sort of theatre is not what I would really like to do. I respect it but I don't wish to see much more of it and I certainly don't want to be in it. Without full ensemble drive it achieves so little. That's why I thought MAMMA MIA was excreble.
Tim and I then ventured off to Chinatown which is SO cool. It's more like Asian town. Everywhere you go there's a market, a restaurant (korean, Chinese, Cambodian, etc) a little paper shop, knock offs. Just a crazy busy lively place. We had Vietnamese. Check out this photo - Haha Dad I was charged!
Next on the list was AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY at the Music Box theatre. Well, what can I say. A magnificent, endearing, breakdown, liftup, positively fantastic work of art. The play is so well written. So, so, so well written. 2 intervals and about 3 and a half hours. Now I hate long theatre.... I coulda sat in this for another two hours.
STEPPENWOLF THEATRE COMPANY IS A Chicago-based international performing arts institution committed to ensemble collaboration and artistic risk through its work with its permanent ensemble, guest artists, partner institutions and the community. "Steppenwolf has redefined the landscape of acting and performance by spawning a generation of America's most gifted artists. Founded in 1976 as an ensemble of nine actors, Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of forty-two artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking, and textual adaptation. No other American theater ensemble has survived as long and thrived as much as the Steppenwolf company of artists."
It's pretty awesome, it was founded by one of my favourite screen actors Gary Sinise and has members such as Joan Allen, Tina Landau, John Malkovich,and Alan Wilder. It's pretty prestigious.
The actors in AUGUST were all so incredibly dedicated to the truth of the situation. The family breakdown. Just insanely committed. There wasn't one person that was weak. Character's contrasted beautifully and I feel like I've seen a new Tennessee Williams. Modern. Unbelievably poignant.
I will write more on this later but have only got a few minutes left at this internet cafe.
So after the show Tim and I went and got some Coronas and went to his place, so we wouldnt be spending too much money on a night on the town. I got quite silly and we ended up adopting characters for the night. I was Gina Belladicco from Coogee Beach in Sydney and Tim was Pauly also from Sydney. We couldn't find a club apart from the one directly below Tim's apartment (hilarious) and ended up dirtydancing to Hiphop music (almost got caught out by an Australian who was there...) where I managed to get an unsightly rip in my old fave jeans. How vile.
So, we went out into the night following some New Yorkers outside. Turned out they worked for MTV and it got quite sticky when they asked what we were doing there... I'll admit, I was slightly inebriated and nearly blew out cover... Pauly wasn't impressed with Gina.
We stumbled into a pizza parlor at 4.30am and had the biggest piece of pizza I've ever had or seen in my life. Easily the size of my left thigh (and will probably add to it too!)
OK time running out will write later!
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