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.