Journal Oct. 7: New York Stories--Broadway!

Attending theater was a focus of our trip....Mark and I both love performing arts.... the following are some notes about my very first visit to Broadway (actually, 45th street!!)


Mark and I decided as soon as we arrived to try to secure tickets for a show that very night, and invite our friends Jillian and Max. We managed to get excellent Orchestra seats, 4 together, for Tracy Letts' "Superior Donuts" at the Music Box.   An ironic choice, since it was written by a Chicagoan, and first produced at Steppenwolf... the play takes place in a run-down donut shop in a Chicago neighborhood. I am sure that Mark and Jillian and I understood the subtle Chicago references, in the set design and manner of speech, more than some in the audience....


It's all about lost dreams, and youthful enthusiasm, men who live in the past, and kids trying to escape their present...about writers and poets, cops, loan sharks, the resignation of the Midwesterner in wintertime, and a protagonist who was an ex-hippie, a man who could have been one of the idealists from the cast of "Hair" 41-odd years ago. It was unexpectedly moving; I really became fond of that donut shop! A fitting first Broadway experience, which I enjoyed very much.


Saturday we got in the TKTS line on Times Square and Jillian treated us to "39 Steps", a 4-actor play with about a dozen different characters. Using much physical humor, voices, costume changes, and sly musical cues, this show pleased everyone, even those who were not familiar with the original film with Robert Donat, or with Hitchcock's oeuvre. Performed at the Helen Hayes, a charming little theater, next to Sardi's where we stopped afterward for dessert, and to look at the caricatures.....


Sunday afternoon...the explosive high of our trip.... "Hair"   "Hair" was a definite high point; the show was brilliantly staged, with effective use of the entire theater to bring the audience into the play.......characters mingled with the audience....a young theatergoer, about 8 years old, was lifted and twirled by the protagonist, unforgettable for the boy, and delightful for the rest of us.....
BEST OF ALL: Yours truly and my Mark accepted the invitation to join the cast onstage for the curtain-call, along with dozens of others from the audience. It was the pinnacle of the event, and I was overcome, by the joy of the play, and by its tragedy, and by the beauty and playfulness of the music, and by the rarity of that moment..........
While we sang, and looked upon the audience fogged by the brilliance of the spotlights in our faces, the crew lifted a banner to promote the National Equality March in Washington DC this Sunday (October 11.)
I know some will want to chide me a little....but I stand by my love for the show, its naivete, its energy, its incredible music a reminder of the tangible enthusiasm that helped lots of people through a sick and uncertain period of time...and gave boys like me the inspiration to pursue life in unconventional ways.