HOW TO SUCCEED ... ONLY SLIGHTLY RECOVERED
My trip to New York this weekend was a whirlwind of catching up with old friends, meeting old friends for the first time in person, and seeing the most endearing smile on earth. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, but I got little sleep on Thursday before leaving, then we got very little sleep either night we were in town, and we had to get up in time to leave the hotel by 6:30 am for the first of our three separate home-bound flights. Once I finally made it to the Raleigh airport, I still had a good 90 minute drive home, and I got in just in time to find out the family was taking my mother-in-law to dinner for her birthday, so I had to rush out to get her birthday gift. We’ve only just now arrived home from the dinner and I am practically dead on my feet … so if I’ve made errors in this, please ignore them. I’ll fix them when I’m more aware of what I’m typing. Thankfully, I’d typed some of it on the plane between NY and Raleigh, otherwise I might not get anything up before tomorrow night and I really did want to get it done today.
Since this post is relatively long and contains references to several non-LJ friends (those for whom I’m using just a first name), click if you want to .
I arrived at LaGuardia in New York on Friday morning earlier than scheduled because (according to the Pilot) there was a really strong tailwind working in our favor. My scheduled arrival time was10:48 am, but I was actually off the plane by 10:23 am. slu64 was supposed to arrive around 10:30, so I was expecting to surprise her by already being there. Unfortunately, when I was able to turn my cell phone back on after we’d landed, I had several text messages from her and her flight was first delayed, and then eventually cancelled. She had to reschedule and wasn’t even going to be able to leave on Friday. She had to get an alternate flight arriving in New York about 24 hours later than she’d planned, which was a huge disappointment for me since we hadn’t seen each other since the morning after the end of Equus on Broadway just over 2 years ago, even though we’ve been in regular contact via email. Of course, I’m sure it was a much bigger disappointment to her because not only was she losing the time that could have been spent with friends, but she was also losing the relaxing effect of a mini-vacation.
slu64, and Vicki who I am about to mention, are part of “old friend” parts to this story.
I claimed my luggage and settled in to the seating area in baggage claim for what was now going to be a very long and boring wait for Vicki. Her flight wasn’t scheduled to land until shortly after noon, and as I’d been anticipating that I’d have slu64 on hand to keep me company, I wasn’t really prepared with reading material, and I hadn’t even brought my iPod on the trip, which would have at least allowed me to watch a film.
(Note to self: never again leave home without a fully charged iPod).
I did have a few older fanfics saved to my laptop, and I read those until the battery died, but that only amounted to about a third of the time I had to kill because I hadn’t charged it before leaving home. At any rate, Vicki finally arrived and we set out in the rain for our hotel. (I will mention here that I probably won’t fly into LaGuardia again in the future if I’m meeting friends in New York because once I went to retrieve my luggage, I was stuck there in an area with virtually nothing more than a small coffee shop, restrooms and a bunch of barking dogs waiting to be claimed by their owners, not to mention it was cold because of being so close to the exit doors which were always opening and closing.
Our hotel was … adequate. We chose it because we stayed there previously for 4 of the 9 nights we were in NY during the final week for Equus. We went back there knowing it would not be as plush as the one we were at the other 5 nights during that same week, but it was the least expensive of the two and it was less than a block from our show destination. I don’t have any real complaints about the hotel, but the room was a little small for 3 people, especially the bathroom. It was passably clean and the beds were comfortable, although the one hard-backed chair in the room was totally not enough.
I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again for a short trip like this one, but for anything over about 3 nights, I’d go to the other one. (If anyone is going and wants more specific info, PM me … I just hesitate to post hotel names here).
One quite unexpected, but pleasant surprise at the hotel was that we could see Dan’s name up in lights from our hotel room window! This is how it looked upon arrival, when it was still daylight:
And this was how it looked after dark:
After unloading our luggage at the hotel, Vicki and I went across the street for a bite to eat then headed for Times Square to look around. We were meeting another friend for dinner, this one being the “old friends for the first time” part of the story. We’ve known Lisa for about 4 years, but this was our first face to face meeting. It always amazes me when that first meeting occurs how seamless it is … no “just met” awkwardness at all. Perhaps it’s like that in all fandoms or situations when people have met initially online, but I was never active in another fandom before Harry Potter, so it always impresses me when it happens.
Lisa is somewhat local to the area so we had her choose the restaurant for us. It was called the Heartland … something. Heartland Chop House I think, but I wouldn’t swear to that at the moment. None of us ordered anything too fancy, but we sat there talking over four hours! It was great!
On Saturday morning, Vicki and I went out for breakfast, then back to Times Square to take some photographs for a writer friend of ours who plans to have a particular subway station featuring prominently in a book she’s currently writing. That became more of a chore than expected because the one particular thing she most needed photographed turned out to be something you could not see without having purchased a ticket and getting onto the actual platform. We spent a fair bit of time looking unsuccessfully before finding it because of that, but fortunately, I was finally able to spot just enough of it to ask a ticket holder to take the photo for me.
By the time that was done, it was time for slu64 to arrive, so we started back toward the hotel, but ran into a couple of other old friends, who I won’t name because one of them isn’t really active in any fandom that I’m aware of, so I don’t think it’s really appropriate for me to mention them by name. After spending a few minutes with them, we went on to meet slu64, then went to the theatre to take a few photos during daylight.
I won’t actually bore you with all the pictures I took outside the theatre because they are essentially just more of the same that have already been splashed around online, but there were two shots I had not seen before. This one is how they’ve decorated the columns out front:
And the other is of the stage door entrance. This view is to the right of where you go in to access the ticket office and shows the general layout fairly well:
Next stop was Carmine’s, which has the absolute best Italian food I have ever tasted. We go to the location in the theatre district on West 44th, and the Chicken Scaloppine with lemon and butter is my favorite. Another of our friends, this one from across the pond, met us there for lunch, then afterward we did a little shopping then went back to the hotel to get ready for the show.
Incredible does not even begin to describe the first preview performance of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying ,” starring Daniel Radcliffe (as J. Pierrepont Finch) and John Larroquette. Although I’m sure I’m a little biased because I’m such a huge Dan fan, I thought he gave a spectacular first performance considering he had no real prior experience with song and dance beyond how hard and how long he’s trained for the possibility of doing something like this.
I should throw in a disclaimer here to say that I personally have no training in or real knowledge of singing and dancing, so anything I say is pure opinion and probably very little will be described with the correct terminology, but hopefully will be said well enough to convey my meaning.
Dan’s timing with his lines and his facial expressions (which did loads for adding the humor to the show), were simply spot on. He had the most mischievously endearing smile each time Ponty did something devious, and the smile was timed perfectly with a little bell tinkling. The facial expressions could not have been more perfect, and Dan was flawless in knowing his lines, although he did stumble on two words that I noticed; he sort of got tongue-tangled as they came out, but they weren’t something that was distracting. They were something you’d likely hear in normal conversation with someone having Ponty’s exuberant personality, so it was an easy recovery. His American accent was really good, although I did hear tiny hints of his natural British a time or two. I personally wouldn’t have minded if he’d done the show with his natural voice. Given the personality and costume of the character, I actually think it may have even added a bit to the role, calling even more attention to the fact his character was “different” from the other company employees.
As for Dan’s singing voice, yes, there were a few others in the cast whose voice carried a bit better (louder) than Dan’s did, but Dan has a beautiful voice. I think once he’s done several shows and had the opportunity to settle into the part, he will likely show tremendous improvement in that area. He needs to just let himself go and really belt it out because he has the talent to do it. I think he was just a little nervous with this being his first time.
I almost can’t even begin to describe Dan’s dancing. I can’t imagine that he wasn’t shaking in his shoes - and maybe he was on the inside - but he looked fearless! There were leaps and turns and lifts that took him high into the air, and there were prissy little steps that I think may be called a “soft shoe” in the dance world. And Dan has got to be the only man on the planet who can make a hip-shaking geeky character like Ponty look sexy, but damn if he can’t pull that one off in a heartbeat! I do have to say though that he seemed awfully winded after some of the big dance numbers. Granted these are huge production pieces that are extremely demanding physically, so it’s somewhat natural to be out of breath, but with Dan he seemed to be breathing hard and his chest was heaving long after everyone else seemed to have recovered from the exertion. That surprised me considering his age and his apparent level of fitness; it concerned me a little as well. Now the fact that he was getting a bit sweaty as time wore on wasn’t a bother for me at all. I’ve always thought he was sexy when he started to get all sweaty…
John Larroquette, who was the other “name” in the production and who played J.B. Bigley, was surprisingly good in his Broadway debut. “Surprisingly” is an unfair observation on my part since I have no actual clue what his prior experience with song and dance might be, but I see him and think immediately of Dan Fielding on Night Court, which funnily enough isn’t a far stretch from this new alter-ego.
Rose Hemingway, who starred as Ponty’s love interest Rosemary Pilkington, was absolutely darling! She’s a great dancer and has a surprisingly strong voice to be so petite … and as much as it pains me to admit it, she looked great with Dan. I have no idea if her heart belongs to Broadway, or if she has aspirations of moving from stage to film, but whatever she chooses, I think she will do well.
I would say the same about Mary Faber, who portrayed Smitty. I think Mary’s performance was equally strong when compared to Rose and I can’t imagine she won’t do well in the industry. On a personal note, I was reading about some of the cast members before I went to see the play and I learned that Mary was born in the town in which I work. How cool is that?
OK … I’d be here ages if I tried to comment on every member of the cast, but suffice it to say I genuinely did not see a weak link in the entire production. That high praise and about $3.00 will get you a Coke in a New York hotel.
And just a quick word to those of you who have asked my opinion on seating, the stage is high enough and the production “big” enough (in terms of happening at sides of the stage and elevations above it) that I don’t think there is a bad distance away to be. In fact, while I personally gravitate more toward seats nearest the stage, I have to admit that if Dan were not in this show, I’d say the very best seats would be as close to the center of the house as you can manage, and somewhere between rows F and M, or the lower few rows of the center mezzanine. I think I’ll probably aim for the center mezzanine when I go in July actually because Vicki has already purchased our November tickets and they are in the 3rd row again (not that I’m complaining). Still it would be a shame not to sit somewhere I can be sure I’ve seen the whole show properly, and it’s awfully hard to take my eyes off Dan from the 3rd row.
As might be expected, the cast got a standing ovation at the end, and I truly believe it was well earned. Dan’s beautiful smile at the crowd’s reaction was worth the trip all the way to New York to see.
Backing up a bit, as I mentioned last night, Alan Rickman was in the audience and he signed a few autographs at the interval. I don’t think he was particularly thrilled at being asked to do so, but he was very polite about it and thankfully no one made such a big deal of him being there that it caused a crowd to form. I hated not getting his autograph, but I just wasn’t comfortable imposing on his night out to ask for one. For me, that just wasn’t the appropriate place to ask. It was enough for me to be able to sit as near to him as I was and listen to him talk to those he was with and those approaching for autographs. I know I’ve read in at least one fanfic (a Snarry) that Harry thought he could come just from listening to Severus talk, and Rickman has always had a very sexy voice on the audio to a film. Now that I’ve heard it from only a few feet away, I can’t help thinking Harry was right. I should probably be grateful the interval didn’t last any longer than it did.
Since this post is relatively long and contains references to several non-LJ friends (those for whom I’m using just a first name), click if you want to .
I arrived at LaGuardia in New York on Friday morning earlier than scheduled because (according to the Pilot) there was a really strong tailwind working in our favor. My scheduled arrival time was10:48 am, but I was actually off the plane by 10:23 am. slu64 was supposed to arrive around 10:30, so I was expecting to surprise her by already being there. Unfortunately, when I was able to turn my cell phone back on after we’d landed, I had several text messages from her and her flight was first delayed, and then eventually cancelled. She had to reschedule and wasn’t even going to be able to leave on Friday. She had to get an alternate flight arriving in New York about 24 hours later than she’d planned, which was a huge disappointment for me since we hadn’t seen each other since the morning after the end of Equus on Broadway just over 2 years ago, even though we’ve been in regular contact via email. Of course, I’m sure it was a much bigger disappointment to her because not only was she losing the time that could have been spent with friends, but she was also losing the relaxing effect of a mini-vacation.
slu64, and Vicki who I am about to mention, are part of “old friend” parts to this story.
I claimed my luggage and settled in to the seating area in baggage claim for what was now going to be a very long and boring wait for Vicki. Her flight wasn’t scheduled to land until shortly after noon, and as I’d been anticipating that I’d have slu64 on hand to keep me company, I wasn’t really prepared with reading material, and I hadn’t even brought my iPod on the trip, which would have at least allowed me to watch a film.
(Note to self: never again leave home without a fully charged iPod).
I did have a few older fanfics saved to my laptop, and I read those until the battery died, but that only amounted to about a third of the time I had to kill because I hadn’t charged it before leaving home. At any rate, Vicki finally arrived and we set out in the rain for our hotel. (I will mention here that I probably won’t fly into LaGuardia again in the future if I’m meeting friends in New York because once I went to retrieve my luggage, I was stuck there in an area with virtually nothing more than a small coffee shop, restrooms and a bunch of barking dogs waiting to be claimed by their owners, not to mention it was cold because of being so close to the exit doors which were always opening and closing.
Our hotel was … adequate. We chose it because we stayed there previously for 4 of the 9 nights we were in NY during the final week for Equus. We went back there knowing it would not be as plush as the one we were at the other 5 nights during that same week, but it was the least expensive of the two and it was less than a block from our show destination. I don’t have any real complaints about the hotel, but the room was a little small for 3 people, especially the bathroom. It was passably clean and the beds were comfortable, although the one hard-backed chair in the room was totally not enough.
I wouldn’t hesitate to stay there again for a short trip like this one, but for anything over about 3 nights, I’d go to the other one. (If anyone is going and wants more specific info, PM me … I just hesitate to post hotel names here).
One quite unexpected, but pleasant surprise at the hotel was that we could see Dan’s name up in lights from our hotel room window! This is how it looked upon arrival, when it was still daylight:
And this was how it looked after dark:
After unloading our luggage at the hotel, Vicki and I went across the street for a bite to eat then headed for Times Square to look around. We were meeting another friend for dinner, this one being the “old friends for the first time” part of the story. We’ve known Lisa for about 4 years, but this was our first face to face meeting. It always amazes me when that first meeting occurs how seamless it is … no “just met” awkwardness at all. Perhaps it’s like that in all fandoms or situations when people have met initially online, but I was never active in another fandom before Harry Potter, so it always impresses me when it happens.
Lisa is somewhat local to the area so we had her choose the restaurant for us. It was called the Heartland … something. Heartland Chop House I think, but I wouldn’t swear to that at the moment. None of us ordered anything too fancy, but we sat there talking over four hours! It was great!
On Saturday morning, Vicki and I went out for breakfast, then back to Times Square to take some photographs for a writer friend of ours who plans to have a particular subway station featuring prominently in a book she’s currently writing. That became more of a chore than expected because the one particular thing she most needed photographed turned out to be something you could not see without having purchased a ticket and getting onto the actual platform. We spent a fair bit of time looking unsuccessfully before finding it because of that, but fortunately, I was finally able to spot just enough of it to ask a ticket holder to take the photo for me.
By the time that was done, it was time for slu64 to arrive, so we started back toward the hotel, but ran into a couple of other old friends, who I won’t name because one of them isn’t really active in any fandom that I’m aware of, so I don’t think it’s really appropriate for me to mention them by name. After spending a few minutes with them, we went on to meet slu64, then went to the theatre to take a few photos during daylight.
I won’t actually bore you with all the pictures I took outside the theatre because they are essentially just more of the same that have already been splashed around online, but there were two shots I had not seen before. This one is how they’ve decorated the columns out front:
And the other is of the stage door entrance. This view is to the right of where you go in to access the ticket office and shows the general layout fairly well:
Next stop was Carmine’s, which has the absolute best Italian food I have ever tasted. We go to the location in the theatre district on West 44th, and the Chicken Scaloppine with lemon and butter is my favorite. Another of our friends, this one from across the pond, met us there for lunch, then afterward we did a little shopping then went back to the hotel to get ready for the show.
Incredible does not even begin to describe the first preview performance of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying ,” starring Daniel Radcliffe (as J. Pierrepont Finch) and John Larroquette. Although I’m sure I’m a little biased because I’m such a huge Dan fan, I thought he gave a spectacular first performance considering he had no real prior experience with song and dance beyond how hard and how long he’s trained for the possibility of doing something like this.
I should throw in a disclaimer here to say that I personally have no training in or real knowledge of singing and dancing, so anything I say is pure opinion and probably very little will be described with the correct terminology, but hopefully will be said well enough to convey my meaning.
Dan’s timing with his lines and his facial expressions (which did loads for adding the humor to the show), were simply spot on. He had the most mischievously endearing smile each time Ponty did something devious, and the smile was timed perfectly with a little bell tinkling. The facial expressions could not have been more perfect, and Dan was flawless in knowing his lines, although he did stumble on two words that I noticed; he sort of got tongue-tangled as they came out, but they weren’t something that was distracting. They were something you’d likely hear in normal conversation with someone having Ponty’s exuberant personality, so it was an easy recovery. His American accent was really good, although I did hear tiny hints of his natural British a time or two. I personally wouldn’t have minded if he’d done the show with his natural voice. Given the personality and costume of the character, I actually think it may have even added a bit to the role, calling even more attention to the fact his character was “different” from the other company employees.
As for Dan’s singing voice, yes, there were a few others in the cast whose voice carried a bit better (louder) than Dan’s did, but Dan has a beautiful voice. I think once he’s done several shows and had the opportunity to settle into the part, he will likely show tremendous improvement in that area. He needs to just let himself go and really belt it out because he has the talent to do it. I think he was just a little nervous with this being his first time.
I almost can’t even begin to describe Dan’s dancing. I can’t imagine that he wasn’t shaking in his shoes - and maybe he was on the inside - but he looked fearless! There were leaps and turns and lifts that took him high into the air, and there were prissy little steps that I think may be called a “soft shoe” in the dance world. And Dan has got to be the only man on the planet who can make a hip-shaking geeky character like Ponty look sexy, but damn if he can’t pull that one off in a heartbeat! I do have to say though that he seemed awfully winded after some of the big dance numbers. Granted these are huge production pieces that are extremely demanding physically, so it’s somewhat natural to be out of breath, but with Dan he seemed to be breathing hard and his chest was heaving long after everyone else seemed to have recovered from the exertion. That surprised me considering his age and his apparent level of fitness; it concerned me a little as well. Now the fact that he was getting a bit sweaty as time wore on wasn’t a bother for me at all. I’ve always thought he was sexy when he started to get all sweaty…
John Larroquette, who was the other “name” in the production and who played J.B. Bigley, was surprisingly good in his Broadway debut. “Surprisingly” is an unfair observation on my part since I have no actual clue what his prior experience with song and dance might be, but I see him and think immediately of Dan Fielding on Night Court, which funnily enough isn’t a far stretch from this new alter-ego.
Rose Hemingway, who starred as Ponty’s love interest Rosemary Pilkington, was absolutely darling! She’s a great dancer and has a surprisingly strong voice to be so petite … and as much as it pains me to admit it, she looked great with Dan. I have no idea if her heart belongs to Broadway, or if she has aspirations of moving from stage to film, but whatever she chooses, I think she will do well.
I would say the same about Mary Faber, who portrayed Smitty. I think Mary’s performance was equally strong when compared to Rose and I can’t imagine she won’t do well in the industry. On a personal note, I was reading about some of the cast members before I went to see the play and I learned that Mary was born in the town in which I work. How cool is that?
OK … I’d be here ages if I tried to comment on every member of the cast, but suffice it to say I genuinely did not see a weak link in the entire production. That high praise and about $3.00 will get you a Coke in a New York hotel.
And just a quick word to those of you who have asked my opinion on seating, the stage is high enough and the production “big” enough (in terms of happening at sides of the stage and elevations above it) that I don’t think there is a bad distance away to be. In fact, while I personally gravitate more toward seats nearest the stage, I have to admit that if Dan were not in this show, I’d say the very best seats would be as close to the center of the house as you can manage, and somewhere between rows F and M, or the lower few rows of the center mezzanine. I think I’ll probably aim for the center mezzanine when I go in July actually because Vicki has already purchased our November tickets and they are in the 3rd row again (not that I’m complaining). Still it would be a shame not to sit somewhere I can be sure I’ve seen the whole show properly, and it’s awfully hard to take my eyes off Dan from the 3rd row.
As might be expected, the cast got a standing ovation at the end, and I truly believe it was well earned. Dan’s beautiful smile at the crowd’s reaction was worth the trip all the way to New York to see.
Backing up a bit, as I mentioned last night, Alan Rickman was in the audience and he signed a few autographs at the interval. I don’t think he was particularly thrilled at being asked to do so, but he was very polite about it and thankfully no one made such a big deal of him being there that it caused a crowd to form. I hated not getting his autograph, but I just wasn’t comfortable imposing on his night out to ask for one. For me, that just wasn’t the appropriate place to ask. It was enough for me to be able to sit as near to him as I was and listen to him talk to those he was with and those approaching for autographs. I know I’ve read in at least one fanfic (a Snarry) that Harry thought he could come just from listening to Severus talk, and Rickman has always had a very sexy voice on the audio to a film. Now that I’ve heard it from only a few feet away, I can’t help thinking Harry was right. I should probably be grateful the interval didn’t last any longer than it did.