A Show and Dinner

Well, Perlick already blogged the evening of seeing the new production of Sweeney Todd and going out for dinner pretty well. The show was spectacular, and it was very fun to see it with somebody who knows the piece well (e.g., musical theater geekery--"I'm not sure I really like Pirelli done as a pants role [high male part sung by a woman; e.g., Prince Orlofsky from Die Fledermaus is sometimes done this way]." "I agree, the part has a degree of bombast to it that works with the operatic tenor used in the San Francisco production... but then again, maybe that's just the performance that created my mental images.")

Patti LuPone playing the tuba and sashaying around in fishnets was definitely one of the highlights of the show.

And dinner at an open-air restaurant in Hell's Kitchen was an awesome quintessentially New York City experience.

I made the Long Island Railroad train back home with mere seconds to spare at Penn Station. I would have been stuck for another 1.5 hours if I had missed that one. One thing that is nice is that the LIRR station is a 20 minute walk from my front door (e.g., I've made it from my parents' place to the Roost entirely by train and on foot). However, it took multiple rounds of convincing my parents: "Really--it's ok, I'm going to walk to the station. No, I don't need to drive there. No mom, I don't need a ride. No, not even on the way out. I enjoy the walk. Yes, I'll be fine walking home, mom. Um, crime? What are you talking about? This is a ridiculously safe part of suburban Long Island. It's pricy residential all the way back home; the town banned commercial development in the 1900's. Yes, it will be late. I'll be fine."

Other than that, I spent the afternoon before the show wandering around Central Park; it was really nice to get a feel for the various parts: the grand promenade, Bethesda Terrace, the lake, the reservoir. Saw some cormorants (I think) on the reservoir; made it up to 90th Street. Time after time, I muttered to myself, "A nice piece of work there, Mr. Olmstead." One of his intents was to create "scenes" or "vignettes" that you would walk into, while walking through the park, with each successive one creating an almost cinematic sense of place; I found that this describes the user's interaction with the park very well.