New York, New York

It is a wonderful town.  Headed down for a couple of days, pre-Juno, and enjoyed the heck out of it.  I saw three shows ranging from wonderful to just so-so, ate lots of good food, went to a nice little museum called the Neue Galerie and hung out with my father.

First we saw "Disgraced" which is an intimate play set in an Upper East Side apartment where a dinner conversation quickly jumps off the rails and enters the place where it never should have gone. I just kept on thinking "hasn't anyone ever taught them not to talk about politics or religion?" because that's pretty much what the characters do for the whole play.  The acting was great and it made for a good discussion afterwards.

The next show we saw was the last performance of "The Last Ship" with Sting in one of the leads. He wrote the lyrics and the music, which was good, but I wish there was more of it.  Three songs does not a musical make.  Wild applause by breathless hanger-ons followed practically every song and there was great swells of it at the end.  The actors seemed genuinely moved by it.  A special night to be sure but I felt it was a let-down, especially since Sting never took off his shirt. ;-)  Kidding!  Here's what someone smarter than me said about it, review of The Last Ship.

The Last Ship's final night on Broadway

We saved the best for last in my opinion by seeing the delightful "Into The Woods" at the Roundabout the following day.  I loved it.  The Fiasco Theater Production of the play, which of course was written by Steven Sondheim, was witty, and very enjoyable.  The small cast did a wonderful job of jumping into different roles and clothes on stage, shedding one persona for another in a blink of an eye.  This was especially hysterical when the prince became Cinderella's ugly stepsister or vice verse.  Now that I've finally seen the play I feel like I'm well prepared to view the movie "Into the Woods" directed by Rob Marshall, and I look forward to comparing the two.

/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2180411/

So much fun in New York, it was a shame that the blizzard had to come and ruin it.  I missed the dinner for which I had bought my extra special $16 dress (ha, ha) but I will hopefully be able to wear it another time soon.  I had to leave on the train home a day early, but I'm glad that I did as I was able to enjoy the snow-days at home with the kids instead of in a bus terminal somewhere!  Hope you had a great weekend too.