The Longest Day Ever

Jul 20, 2004 12:06

You've been waiting for it... and here it is:

The Continuation of Darius's Fabulous Trip!

DAY 2: The Longest Day EVER

After sleeping in the steam sauna that was Manhattan for a night, John (aka as J Mo) and I decided to hop on a subway to midtown. Now I was stupid so I didn't by the 7 day pass and therefore wasted probably about 40 dollars.... but what can ya do?!

Oy Times Square and Broadway... let me tell you people: Its a fucking magical place... Walking around in a place where hundreds of young actors and actresses have worked, struggled, succeeded... being surrounded by every famous broadway house. Its just fucking magical.

I saw the theater for a musical I'd heard a lot about but wasn't sure if I was going to like: Caroline or Change. So me and J Mo just walked up and bought some great and cheap student rush seats and saw it. I honestly wasn't expecting anything really, I just didn't know what kind of show this was going to be, all I'd really seen of it was the Tony performance, but it honestly blew me away. Of all the shows I saw on my trip, Caroline or Change was definitely the most moving and one of the most creative.


It has a relatively simple premise: It's 1963. A black maid, Caroline, grows close to the young son of her Jewish widower employer in Louisiana. To teach him a lesson about money, his new stepmother tells Caroline to keep the change she finds in the boy's pockets when she does the laundry. Yet out of this simple story, Tony Kushner creates a brilliant commentary on the social changes of the 1960's. One of my favorite aspects of the musical was that the inanimate objects in Caroline's life (the washing machine, the radio, the dryer, the bus, and the moon) were also characters who, to me, represented different parts of the african-american experience and provided a dialogue with Caroline in which they questioned and judged her actions.

The performances were rich and moving, particularly Tonya Pinkins as Caroline and Anika Noni Rose as her daughter. Using a variety of types of 60's music, the score was also pleasing and invigorating, especially when placed into the scheme of the show. "Lot's Wife", Caroline's passionate eleventh hour number, hadn't seemed particularly moving at the Tony's, but in context it was truly one of the most moving theatrical experiences I've had.

I think one of the problems with the show, is that unless you can really relate and identify to the emotions and conflicts that are a result of oppression, prejudice, and an overall battered existence... you may not leave the theater as moved as I was. Personally, I saw in Caroline the type of fallen hero I see in my own mother: women who would sacrifice everything for their children, but who in the end really have no choice. Its society and life that has beaten them down, and sometimes its hard to decide whether or not to fight back.

After the show, J Mo and I tried our hand at the lottery for Avenue Q tickets... we lost. Luckily, we had already decided that if we lost we'd go see Naked Boys Singing. And who better to bring with us that the lovely ingenue of the century miss Ashley Eskew g0ttaluvme who was in New York doing the NYU cap 21 high school thingy with Alti and Ruthie.

There's no need for an extensive review here. Naked Boys Singin (NBS) is basically a bunch of cute guys doing a musical review in which nudity is the theme. Yes, they were actually naked. And yes, this was ashley's first time seeing a naked man. No, it wasn't very arousing (for me anyway... J Mo would tell you otherwise!), and none of them ever got aroused either. But for what it was it was good fun! And it started earlier than other shows (7) so we were out before 9.

Ashley, the little minx that she is... thought it would be a good idea for us to go see the second act of Little Shop of Horrors with Joey Fatone. Egad? Sneak into a broadway show?! Isn't that some kind of felony against the thespian code! Well... maybe so... but we did it anyway. I had thought it would be simpler, but unfortunately, the doormen were checking ticket stubs as they were letting people back in. (This was the only broadway show I went to this trip where they did that) We were going to use our Caroline or Change tickets, but luckily i saw that their stubs looked more like the NBS ones... so we just kinda waited for a big group and flashed our tickets... and walked on in!

Little Shop kinda sucked, at least the second act did anyway... I mean Joey and the new girl who was playing Audrey just were awkward and has no chemistry. The urchins were fabulous though... i loved those girls! After we ran into more ochsa kids who were sitting in the orchestra and went and got Joey's autograph for kicks.

Seth ucpsychguy called and told us to go to the roxy that night for some crazy clubbin... Me and J Mo found Erik and dragged him along too. I was in for more than I expected. It was pride week, so the club was chock full of men. They were all big muscley and shirtless... so John, Erik, and I looked like some kinda fresh chicken for sale. Let me say... the guys in New York are REALLY aggressive. After a few hours of that it was 3:30 Am and we went back to Eriks to shower and de-clubify.

And on the taxi cab ride back to little italy... we watched the sunrise.

A long ass day indeed.

Don't touch that mouse! The REST of the trip awaits featuring:

7 more shows!
More Clubbing!
Cute Boys!
Guest Appearances by star2be5678
And me falling in loooove

To all the rest,
-Darius
Previous post Next post
Up
[]