Two Show Day

It has been awhile since Don and I have seen two shows in one day. About six months ago we purchased tickets to attend the first preview performance of "Schmigadoon." Meanwhile we started seeing shows at 59e59 and their musical "How My Grandparents Fell in Love" caught my eye. Unfortunately their matinee performance was sold out. As this is a really small Off-Broadway theater I was not very optimistic, still I called. The box office was very encouraging. They said often people cannot make performances and they resell the tickets at the last minute. 

I kept checking. The day before I snagged one seat. As I was more interested in the show than Don was, he convinced me to take it. About 90 minutes before showtime another ticket opened up. He called and bought it. 

We were not sitting next to each other, but once we arrived at the theater my seat mate graciously agreed to swap his aisle seat for Don's so we could hold hands during the show. As you can imagine from the title, it was on the mushy side.

The show was charming. It takes place in Poland during 1933. Charlie, who has been living in the United States repairing shoes since 1923 returns to Poland to find a bride. He meets Chava, the salesclerk at a hat shop. They are smitten. Spoiler alert: the return to the United States, start a family which includes the playwright. Yes, the show is a romanticized version of a true story.

The show is charming. They sing about Hoboken in a way that the local crowd really enjoyed. Much of the audience was Jewish, or so I suppose since they laughed at the lines said in Yiddish. As someone who grew up in New Jersey, I know a smattering of Yiddish, but not that much. It was nice hearing laughter.

The best part was learning the the playwright's family was in the audience. Not the grandmother who has since passed away, but his mother (or was it mother-in-law?) and her friends. She met the original Chava and Charlie. She remembers their home smelling not of Lipton Tea (which is a reference to the song "Hoboken"), but of Maxwell Coffee which was brewed in their neighborhood. 

She added, the actor playing Charlie looks and stands so much like the real one. Neil Berg captured the essence of their love story. Almost to be expected, no one else in her family survived the Holocaust. This is also a love letter to honor their memories.

After spending the afternoon at Roosevelt Island, we saw "Schmigadoon." The campy musical is based on the Apple TV show of the same name. The house was packed! As we walked past the long line of people entering the theater we noticed people dressed in calico dresses. The thing about seeing opening night (we also saw "Smash" on opening preview night), the audience is ELECTRIC! Much applause for each person as they entered the stage for the first time. Much laughter. There was so much laughter from the woman next to me that the man in front of her glared at her during intermission and said he was leaving because she was laughing too much. Too loudly. I assured her she was not. Who does that man think he is to squelch her spark?

It was a fun day of theater.

We are looking forward to True Spring arriving.

Roosevelt Island: FDR's Wish for Our World

Between seeing "How My Grandparents Fell in Love" at 59e59 and opening preview night for "Schmigadoon" at the Nederlander, Don and I traveled by tram to Roosevelt Island. When we stepped into our first theater the skies were blue and temperatures were near 70 degrees. It was a perfect Spring Day. The cherry blossoms are in bloom. I'd seen on social media that the tram to Roosevelt Island is a perfect way to see them.

Two hours later the temperatures dropped at least 15 degrees, the skies clouded over, and there was a threat of rain.

We went anyway.

The tram is only a 10-minute walk from 59e59. It is on 60th Street and 1st Avenue. The line was long. We chatted with a woman taking her injured bulldog out in a stroller. The line advanced, but we missed the tram by about five people. Seven minutes later another tram was ready to be filled. By being in the first group, we had a front row spot, next to a woman who had freed her father from his nursing home on Roosevelt Island for the day. She gave us advice on what to see in addition to the cherry blossoms.

We headed to the left, the shorter distance to the end of the island. After passing the crumbling, creepy looking 19th century Smallpox Hospital, we entered Four Freedoms Park. Note about the hospital: its architect James Renwick also designed St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue.

Behind a statue of FDR in a wheelchair standing next to a little girl is a lot of marble. Engraved in one are the Four Freedoms for the entire world as identified by him:

(Paraphrasing)

Freedom of speech

Freedom to worship God as you wish

Freedom from want

Freedom from fear

A small group gathered to read these wishes. As we left, a woman said to her companion: whenever I read this I am struck by how he said it on January 6 (1941). 

Oh the irony. FDR wished for all this for the entire world during his lifetime. Instead we've moved quite far away.

As we rounded the corner to walk on the other side of the small island we came across feeding time at a cat sanctuary. It brought me back to our trip to Lima.

The temperature was quickly dropping. Wearing a sleeveless dress, leggings, ballet flats, and a denim jacket I was not prepared for the weather. With the exception of the jacket, it was the same basic outfit I wore in sunny Peru. We had dinner on the island at Granny Annie's Restaurant and Bar.  As someone leaving the restaurant said, it is "adequately average." 

After fortification we hustled to the northern end of the park. The crowds were definitely thinning. We made it to the Nellie Bly Park with the sculptures of Girl Puzzle Monument and the tiny lighthouse. On a nicer day we would have lingered longer. 

We tried to take the ferry back, but it filled and the next one was nearly 30 minutes later. Instead we took the subway to 42nd Street and hustled to the Nederlander theater. As I told Don, we walk faster in the rain.

Princeton Protest Bubbles

A few months ago a activist group in Princeton announced they would host monthly protests on the first Friday of each month from 4-5 pm. I went a couple of months ago on a cold day. For once I did not blog about it, so I don't remember if I went in January or February, but I do remember it was brisk. It feels good to be standing outside with like minded people. It is a chance to let your guard down and feel comfortable saying what you truly believe about the state of the nation and the world without having to temper those thoughts until you know if the other person agrees with you, or if you'll hurt their feelings by saying there are problems in this country, and I am willing to fight for things to change. 

After months of protesting in bitterly cold weather, sometimes with piles of snow, today was a joy. The 70 degree day was warm enough to stand outside in a t-shirt and capris. About 50 of us stood in front of a grove of cherry blossom trees showing our signs. 

Each time I protest I see less people who "Flip Me Off If You Support Pedophiles" and more voicing agreement with thumbs up and friendly honking.

People asked each other which protest they went to last weekend. Not, IF, but WHICH. Many went to Princeton. One woman said she went to Washington, DC. Lawrenceville was an acceptable answer.

Today two high school aged girls drove by blowing bubbles at us. They then parked their car and joined us, telling us this was their first protest. They were enveloped by people in my age and demographic loaning them a signs and a giant American flag. Some asked about the bubbles, where to get them? Do they always have bubbles? One woman in her early 60s said she carries bubbles in her car and blows them when she is stuck in traffic with cranky people. It lightens the mood. After all, it is hard to be cranky when there are bubbles.

An hour doesn't sound like a long time. It is something I can do to show people feeling they are alone in their displeasure that we have their back.

A benefit to protesting in Princeton is that our governor will be moving into Drumthwacket, located about a mile from where we stand. There is a good chance she will see us. Last weekend she stood in this Princeton park and addressed the crowd at No Kings 3 sharing her vision for change. I was not there, but I heard it was powerful.