November 1 – Day 56: A Lovely Day for a Walk


We’re now in the home stretch of the final week, and only three performances left.

I was up very late Wednesday, obviously, so I slept in. I keep feeling like there’s really something I ought to be doing during the days, but I keep coming up blank. Once I was up, I spent the day puttering around the apartment, ordering my car to the airport on Tuesday, and generally waiting until it was time to go to work. It was so nice all day (and I was feeling uncongested enough) that I decided to walk to the theatre.

My usual route would take me up to Union Square, then up Park to 59th, but in looking at Google Maps, the suggested routes were up Lexington or on the East Side by the river. The latter route was my preference, but the map for the former showed the location of the Marilyn Monroe subway grating from The Seven Year Itch (southwest corner of 52nd and Lex), so I wanted to include that, even if I don’t like the movie. The building and the movie theatre in the background have long since been demolished (in the 60s), but the grating is still there. I figured I could walk by the river to 42nd (and the United Nations), then go west to Lex, but I discovered—after walking about three blocks out of my way—that one can’t get next to the UN by walking next to the river; the only access is to transfer to 1st Avenue at 37th (or sooner)

  I think everything and everyone in this clip is gone.

Even though it had been sunny and warm all day, by the time I left the apartment (about 4:30) it was overcast. I wore a jacket, but got so warm, I had to take it off pretty soon, even though I suspected I’d probably need it after the show.

In spite of the weather, it was a very pleasant walk. A lot of joggers, cyclists, and pedestrians out, and even though the FDR Drive dominates the walk to the left, there’s enough of the river and Long Island City to make it all worthwhile. I turned on 42nd, and the sidewalk got progressively more crowded, but a lot of that was attributable to people getting out of work.

I kept to the east side of Lex until I got to 52nd (even if it seemed to be the more crowded side of the street) so I could take a panoramic photo of the grating before crossing over for the close-up. Of course, when I got there, a bus was blocking everything, but it moved in a matter of minutes and I had a clear shot. I crossed over, took two more photos, then continued on to 58th and Starbucks, then over to the theatre.

 
East, looking west.

 
West, looking south.

 West, looking north.

Suffice it to say, the show went well. It looked like we had a few walkouts at intermission, but the people who stayed reacted well and seemed to like it. Afterward, Andi and I were the last ones to leave the dressing room, and we stopped at the theatre bar for a quick drink, in spite of the trio—which tonight was a quartet—making it difficult to follow a conversation. It’s really a shame; they’re good musicians and play some good stuff, but the space is so small and bounces back sound so well that it’s all too loud, and being a bass, guitar, and sax, it’s hard for them to really mute anything.

While we were talking, I expressed how much I’m going to miss getting the chance to hang out with this cast. Granted, we haven’t done a lot, but they’re really great people and I’d enjoy spending time (and working) with them. Unfortunately, after next Tuesday, they’ll still be here and I’ll be home.  

We finished our drinks, left, and I took my usual 6 to Astor Place. I was checking Yelp to see what was open and kind of thought of fried chicken. The only place that was open was Mr. White, so I went back, and ordered just before the kitchen closed. Because it was so close to closing, I had to substitute mashed potatoes for potato salad, but I don’t think I’ve ever turned down mashed potatoes, so it wasn’t that difficult of a choice. It was a great meal again, and I ended up glad I’d gone. 


 I know you can't really see it, but it was really good.

After that, it was a quick walk through the park on a very nice evening (I’ve currently got the windows open, and it’s pretty late), then home to get caught up blog-wise and watch some television. My plans for Friday are once again light, but I hope to mop up the newspapers from the week and take a final walk up to the theatre. (Saturday will be too early to walk, so it’ll be the subway.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

September 18 – Day 12: A Dessert with Ap-peal

Image
Attentive readers—or at least those with nothing better to remember—will recall my purchasing a battery case for my new phone that was the wrong size. I assumed that exchanging it would be a breeze: a few minutes at the customer service counter to return the old case and buy the new one, then I’d be off to rehearsal. As almost never happens, I miscalculated. I had scoped out the local Best Buys, and thought the one at 23 rd and 6 th would be most convenient. I mapped out my route: walk to Astor Place, take the 6, walk the long block to the store, do the exchange, walk back to take the Q or the 6 uptown, and be at rehearsal in plenty of time. My mistakes began when I left a little later than I’d expected to, so I had to take the 4 instead of the 6. When I realized that really wasn’t going to do me any good, I thought I could just get off at 14 th , then transfer over, but my subway app was showing an unusual logo that I couldn’t quite figure out. I ended up thinking it might be
Read more

September 27 – Day 21: “Oh, the Autumn …”

Image
If I thought yesterday’s post was lacking in content, today’s will make that look like War and Peace . Before I get to that lack of content, though, a word of explanation on our title. Back in 1977, David Mamet wrote A Life in the Theatre , which was a marvelous play about two actors, one older and one younger, working in a regional theatre somewhere. (Remember when Mamet wrote marvelous plays? Remember when he wrote good plays?) I don’t know if it’s aged that well, if only because so much of the repertory system it deals with isn’t around anymore, but I saw the original production with Ellis Rabb and Peter Evans. (It may have been the first off-Broadway show I ever saw.) The scenes with the two actors in their real lives alternate with on-stage scenes parodying various types of shows, including a Chekhovian thing with the older actor, bearded and sitting in a wheelchair, looks out a window before emitting—with a melancholy sigh—“Oh, the autumn …” In the 40 years since I saw t
Read more

October 28 – Day 52: Baseball Pain (based on a Series loss)

Image
Since Saturday’s World Series game had gone nowhere near as long as the previous nights’, I was able to get a reasonable amount of sleep. I’d gotten a message from John on Friday about whether he could change the linens on Sunday, and I told him that I’d be gone between noon and 6:00, so any time in there was fine. As it was, I was running a little behind and didn’t get to leave until 12:20, which was just when he showed up. He knocked, I let him in, put on my jacket, and left. While I was on the train, there was an email to the cast from GG saying he had an extra ticket to that night’s performance of Thom Pain (based on nothing) with Michael C. Hall at Playwright’s Horizons, so I took him up on it. I wasn’t especially looking forward to it (a little bit of the playwright, Will Eno, goes a long, long way for me), but it was a chance to hang out.  I don't get the title, either. Got to the theatre, and Andi had brought banana bread (which was very good), so we all chowed
Read more