Vacation notes 4 aka Wicked and post-Wicked stage dooring
Friday started... relatively early.
Nota bene -- NYC waste disposal services start their runs EARLY. Very, very early. 6AM early. With 'beeps' every 15-20 seconds. How do I know this? Guess. And the first two don't count. ;P
In deference to the bitter cold of the stage door efforts, a stop by the local pharmacy yielded a hat to rysler - complete with gloves and such, but I'd opted for finding the closest Eddie Bauer instead. An address up on 66th street yielded the Lincoln Center, a Barnes & Noble, a Banana Republic, and even the Gap. Which, of course, had already changed seasons...
A vague search later plus a stop for lunch meant that half the day had been meandered away, and there were hours to go before the evening's performance at the Gershwin. rysler headed out to Newark-Liberty International Airport to attend wickdillusions while I flipped up the coat collar and wandered down Broadway.
Stops at Colony Music, an electronics shop, and then the Virgin Megastore right at Times Square yielded music, Leatherman, and more music. :) Much as I want to be able to buy the various recordings through Canadian suppliers, trying to find Promises, Promises - the Bacharach/David musical is much like hoping for hot weather (this year) in February... better luck next time. I picked up the Company OBC release for the day :)
The Leatherman I got was the Squirt P4 which was replacing the Micra that had beeb stolen from me six years ago. I really like these tools - if nothing else, they're tremendously useful and oh-so-cleverly small :)
A visit to the M&M store let me play with the candies dispensers - made a half bag of pink and green peanut M&M's along with a layer of silver ones on top. If they weren't so danged heavy, I'd have probably made a return visit to stock up on the pretty colours available :)
By the time I'd returned to the Hotel to wait out the afternoon and the rapidly falling temperatures, darkness was starting to fall, and I was trying to read text messages in a lobby. :) Waiting in lobbies is very much like people watching - but much closer. That, and the fact that one can hear all of the conversation at once means for interesting scenarios envisioned.
wickdillusions and rysler arrived in due time and after a short description of blankets and pillows (pillows in the not-really closet, blankets courtesy of the front desk), dinner! Apparently, NYC restaurants can change names and locations very quickly - two Thai restaurants had merged to become one restaurant on 8th Avenue but then chose to relocate to being across the Gershwin theatre.
The Blue Chili has multi-coloured LED lighting, a black marble/porcelain rest room and a very dim lighting design. Tea lights are helpful only when reading the large font types... ;) The medium-rare steak is not quite so rare as just being closer to medium, but I'm told that Elphie hats, I mean, cones of rice are good, along with the salmon and the chicken-on-a-skewer. Although, it strives to be 'pan Asian' - the servers were Chinese and I'm not sure if it's true 'fusion' or if it's more ... stylistically Westernized Asian food. It's good food, but I'm not sure if it's authentic 'Thai' is all :)
Wicked - I can't begin to describe the disappointment frustration of seeing the board up indicating that Katie Adams would be playing Glinda. I'd seen Katie Adams in September '06 - when she'd been on for Kate Reinders, so this would have been my first Glinda for the second time in NY...
I'm pleased to note that Ms Adams has provided greater depth to her characterization and presentation of Glinda. The six months between viewings has let me see her in a different light; she's making her own inroads on the characterization that differs from what I've seen of the other Glinda's - whether it's note selection (where she might sing while others have spoken) or how she interacts with her Elphaba's. (See the entire Popular scene, along with the meeting of the Wizard).
Julia's Elphaba was very interesting - again, I was hearing different note selections -- especially through The Wizard and I, as well as the trademark Defying Gravity. The change in the choreography along with the different dialogue in The Wicked Witch of the East scenes have 'fleshed' out the story arc a bit better. I miss the waltz scenes from Wonderful not only because it would have be a singular moment of 'joy' between Elphaba and the Wizard, but also because it's the one happy moment before everything gets tossed to the Dogs (or Monkeys or Lions).
There appears to have been technical difficulties with the mic efforts during the second Act. Thank Goodness has a lot of 'echo-y' parts for no apparent reason. The casual listener could write it off as part of the whole 'speaking into a microphone' scenario, but I'd suggest audio difficulties more than anything else.
Post performance meant another wait at the stage door, where I could have sworn I saw Katie Adams appear and disappear with great speed. Hats in cold NY have a tendency to obscure efforts at recognition. ;)
Stage-dooring is interesting in warm weather, and gets even more interesting in the blistering cold. This evening, we were good enough to see fresh_tart, yan00b, and smthngnbtwn at the barricades already. I think I've already posted the pictures of Jayne Houdyshell, Sebastian Arcelus and Julia Murney. :) The best pictures appear to be of Julia - who seemed to recognize some of us from the evening before... ;) See this
See the Saturday review for the recognizing of those at Stage Doors... ;)
I have non-blurry pictures, however, they contain identifiable persons, hence, only spoken of by description and not seen.
Nota bene -- NYC waste disposal services start their runs EARLY. Very, very early. 6AM early. With 'beeps' every 15-20 seconds. How do I know this? Guess. And the first two don't count. ;P
In deference to the bitter cold of the stage door efforts, a stop by the local pharmacy yielded a hat to rysler - complete with gloves and such, but I'd opted for finding the closest Eddie Bauer instead. An address up on 66th street yielded the Lincoln Center, a Barnes & Noble, a Banana Republic, and even the Gap. Which, of course, had already changed seasons...
A vague search later plus a stop for lunch meant that half the day had been meandered away, and there were hours to go before the evening's performance at the Gershwin. rysler headed out to Newark-Liberty International Airport to attend wickdillusions while I flipped up the coat collar and wandered down Broadway.
Stops at Colony Music, an electronics shop, and then the Virgin Megastore right at Times Square yielded music, Leatherman, and more music. :) Much as I want to be able to buy the various recordings through Canadian suppliers, trying to find Promises, Promises - the Bacharach/David musical is much like hoping for hot weather (this year) in February... better luck next time. I picked up the Company OBC release for the day :)
The Leatherman I got was the Squirt P4 which was replacing the Micra that had beeb stolen from me six years ago. I really like these tools - if nothing else, they're tremendously useful and oh-so-cleverly small :)
A visit to the M&M store let me play with the candies dispensers - made a half bag of pink and green peanut M&M's along with a layer of silver ones on top. If they weren't so danged heavy, I'd have probably made a return visit to stock up on the pretty colours available :)
By the time I'd returned to the Hotel to wait out the afternoon and the rapidly falling temperatures, darkness was starting to fall, and I was trying to read text messages in a lobby. :) Waiting in lobbies is very much like people watching - but much closer. That, and the fact that one can hear all of the conversation at once means for interesting scenarios envisioned.
wickdillusions and rysler arrived in due time and after a short description of blankets and pillows (pillows in the not-really closet, blankets courtesy of the front desk), dinner! Apparently, NYC restaurants can change names and locations very quickly - two Thai restaurants had merged to become one restaurant on 8th Avenue but then chose to relocate to being across the Gershwin theatre.
The Blue Chili has multi-coloured LED lighting, a black marble/porcelain rest room and a very dim lighting design. Tea lights are helpful only when reading the large font types... ;) The medium-rare steak is not quite so rare as just being closer to medium, but I'm told that Elphie hats, I mean, cones of rice are good, along with the salmon and the chicken-on-a-skewer. Although, it strives to be 'pan Asian' - the servers were Chinese and I'm not sure if it's true 'fusion' or if it's more ... stylistically Westernized Asian food. It's good food, but I'm not sure if it's authentic 'Thai' is all :)
Wicked - I can't begin to describe the disappointment frustration of seeing the board up indicating that Katie Adams would be playing Glinda. I'd seen Katie Adams in September '06 - when she'd been on for Kate Reinders, so this would have been my first Glinda for the second time in NY...
I'm pleased to note that Ms Adams has provided greater depth to her characterization and presentation of Glinda. The six months between viewings has let me see her in a different light; she's making her own inroads on the characterization that differs from what I've seen of the other Glinda's - whether it's note selection (where she might sing while others have spoken) or how she interacts with her Elphaba's. (See the entire Popular scene, along with the meeting of the Wizard).
Julia's Elphaba was very interesting - again, I was hearing different note selections -- especially through The Wizard and I, as well as the trademark Defying Gravity. The change in the choreography along with the different dialogue in The Wicked Witch of the East scenes have 'fleshed' out the story arc a bit better. I miss the waltz scenes from Wonderful not only because it would have be a singular moment of 'joy' between Elphaba and the Wizard, but also because it's the one happy moment before everything gets tossed to the Dogs (or Monkeys or Lions).
There appears to have been technical difficulties with the mic efforts during the second Act. Thank Goodness has a lot of 'echo-y' parts for no apparent reason. The casual listener could write it off as part of the whole 'speaking into a microphone' scenario, but I'd suggest audio difficulties more than anything else.
Post performance meant another wait at the stage door, where I could have sworn I saw Katie Adams appear and disappear with great speed. Hats in cold NY have a tendency to obscure efforts at recognition. ;)
Stage-dooring is interesting in warm weather, and gets even more interesting in the blistering cold. This evening, we were good enough to see fresh_tart, yan00b, and smthngnbtwn at the barricades already. I think I've already posted the pictures of Jayne Houdyshell, Sebastian Arcelus and Julia Murney. :) The best pictures appear to be of Julia - who seemed to recognize some of us from the evening before... ;) See this
See the Saturday review for the recognizing of those at Stage Doors... ;)
I have non-blurry pictures, however, they contain identifiable persons, hence, only spoken of by description and not seen.