"Dear World"

 As much as they say, "don't judge a book by its cover," one look at the artwork for the musical "Dear World" and I was hooked. Trouble was, the show had a limited run over gala weekend. I've learned not to make plans the days leading up to the gala, so that left the day after the gala as our only chance to see it. Fortunately, they had two performances on Sunday: 2 pm and 7 pm. Go into New York City early the day after a late night, or late and have two late nights in a row? 

That was the dilemma. 

We opted for the 7 pm show, which allowed us to go to church in the morning to kick off its 325th celebration with a worship service featuring elements of 17th century worship -- which, fortunately for modern ears, did not include a 45-60 minute sermon.

After church we drove to Jersey City and took the PATH train to Christopher Street

station where we walked around Little Island and along the High Line before having dinner at The Counter, and finding a table to enjoy a cannoli purchased on impulse across the street from the New York City Center. 

"Dear World" is part of the Encore! series of shows not performed very often -- usually for good reason. This show was written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, with music by Jerry Herman -- in the late 1960's this team had "Hello, Dolly" and "Mame" running on Broadway at the same time as "Dear World." "Dear World" starred Angela Lansbury (who won a Tony for this role) and should have been a success, and Countess Auriela should have become as famous a name as Dolly Levi and Mame Dennis. Alas, it was not a flop, but it was also not

a success. Over the years the script has been reworked to try to make some sense out of it. On the trip home I read the Wikipedia version of the plot to Don who said he didn't get all that out of the show. It needs some more work.

Last year "Into the Woods" appeared as a two-week Encores! show. It was so popular it opened a few weeks later on Broadway, which is when we saw it. By the time we heard about their limited run at the New York City Center it was too late to get tickets.

The Encores! is a series of three shows performed on stage with a full orchestra behind them. The whole show is put together in 10 days, and performed over a long weekend. It is a whirlwind! They only have two days to build and paint the set, and limited time to learn lines, songs, music, staging, etc. It is insane! For the show we saw, Donna Murphy, the lead, caught COVID and missed half of the rehearsals. As a result, she had her script in hand for some of the show (even on the last performance). Reading the comments on a FaceBook group (I know -- never read the comments) people either found it distracting or magical. They found a way to make the script almost feel like another character. It floated away from her when not needed, and magically appeared when needed. A comment made by someone more in the know than mine was that it used to be typical for the actors to be on book since the rehearsal period is so short.

What I found almost as charming as the show was the audience. We sat in the

nosebleed seats. I had a great pre-show conversation with the stranger next to me. He kept bumping into his friends. I have a feeling if we return to a future Encores! performance and sit in the same general area, we'll see him again. Though, he did say he only bought the tickets a week earlier (same as when we bought our tickets), and it is a pretty large venue. He bumped into like-minded friends, some of whom had the foresight to bring binocular - brilliant! I should look into that for the next time we go for the cheap seats, which will likely be the next time we see a Broadway show. My seatmate and I agreed we'd rather pay less for a ticket and see more shows than pay more for a ticket and see less shows.

A quick note on the theater, the New York City Center began its life as a Shriner's Temple in the early 1920s. When they could no longer pay their taxes during the Depression, NYC took over the building. In 1943 then-Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia converted it into a cultural center. It still retains a hint of the look of a Shriner's temple. The intricate tilework was a treat to study. Now that we know about them, we hope to see more shows at this venue.