Thursday, May 21st

Up early again.

My legs are pretty much back to normal. I go to the corner bagel shop for some OJ. Then back to the room, pick up my notebook and another book on playwriting and over to Riverside Park to watch the people go by.

The temperature in the morning is just delightful but warmer than it was on Tuesday and Wednesday. There are a lot of people in the park – not many sitting there but mostly joggers and people walking their dogs. All with pooper bags in hand, thank you very much.

Not counting the joggers, almost half the women are smoking but very few men are. Makes you think doesn’t it?

I made some pretty major changes to the script. I’m about done with that one and thinking of my next project. Maybe something about Hank and I not recognizing each other. I’m having trouble making that into the most important day in one of our lives. Just let it sit for a couple of days and see what happens.

The are no matinees today so nothing to do till tonight.

I called and left messages for two people who live here. In just a few minutes I get a call back from Rob O’Neill. Those of you who have taken the SOAR or AIRE acting programs know who he is. Anyway, he is directing a play (Dinner With Friends by Donald Margulies) that features Lisa Benner (a SOAR/AIRE Alum). I get tickets on line for the show.

Then I head off the The Museum of Modern Art. Back on the subway to 50th street then a real hike to fifth avenue. Glad my legs are up to it. I a couple of hours wandering around. I liked a lot of it – Architecture, packaging, advertising even type faces. But when it got to the “art” it didn’t do so much for me. I know that I don’t know enough about art to appreciate it. Like Picasso, for example. I know who he was and the kind of stuff he painted. I could probably recognize one if I saw it. But I went through two rooms of his paintings and they all looked like the people were put into a blender. Then I come upon a painting he did that actually looks like a person – no blender at all. Why did he do that? What made him get out of bed that day and say”I think I’ll paint a picture of a person that looks like a person”? I know most people know the answer to that but I don’t. Oh well. We can’t know everything.

When I get out of MoMA (that’s New York for Museum of Modern Art) it is HOT and MUGGY (both with capital letters). When it gets hot on Orcas the humidity is at a reasonable level. Not so in NYC. Hoof it back over to Broadway get the subway north go back to my room and shower and put on a new shirt. Then to dinner (very nice Italian restaurant), spill olive oil on my new shirt then to the theater to see the show looking like a slob with olive oil on my shirt.

It was a GREAT play: Dinner with Friends by Donald Margulies.

It was really compelling theater. The best part was that it was directed by Rob O’Neill and starred Lisa Benner. I have the play and have read it several times but it never clicked for me (of course it won a Pulitzer so what do I know?) It all came together for me tonight. I have to specially mention Lisa. There were several long periods when the audience was holding their breaths, hanging on every word that she said.

Talk about powerful theater, this was it.

Grab the subway and back to the room getting there at 11 pm again.

Love New York City.

Tuesday – a day for exploring

You’d think that I’d be able to sleep in with the time change. After all, when it’s 7 am here in the big city, it’s only 4 am at home. But no. I’m wide awake at 6 am here. I dink around in the room for an hour, unpacking and cleaning up.

I have a “two room suite”. There are actually three rooms. A bathroom and two bedrooms. Each bedroom has a bed, a dresser and a TV. One room has refrigerator and microwave and the other has a phone. Neither room is wide enough to turn the bed sideways. But this is New York. What can you expect?

I’ve decided to do a lot of walking here. So I take off out of my room and head up to Broadway – two blocks east.

I’m at 80th and Lincoln Center is at 66th. 14 blocks. Off I go. Lots to look at. The weather is very nice early in the morning but the sidewalks are BUSY – you have to keep an eye out every minute. It takes me just over 20 minutes. File this away for the future: one and a half minutes per block. I get to Lincoln Center (LC) but most of the outside of the buildings are boarded up for a remodeling. I walked around the building and found several entrances open. There are several buildings and it’s like a maze in there. I forgot to bring the directions they sent me so I’ll have to come back later.

My next stop is Times Square – 42nd street. I decide that I’m not up to walking another 24 blocks so back on the subway. The subway costs $2 a trip but I got an unlimited pass for 30 days for $76. I get off at 42nd street and climb to the surface.

My sense are assaulted.

I could not believe how loud the steady state sound it. I am amazed that everyone in NYC isn’t deaf. The screech of the subways is everywhere, taxi horns, police sirens, people talking dozens of different languages. It’s a cacophony that makes me reel. Add to that the bright morning sun – I don’t have any sunglasses that fit my new glasses and all the lights of Broadway on even at 10 AM. And the smells. There are hundreds of smells all mingled together and the result is far more pleasant than you might think. Most come from restaurants that pipe their cooking smells out to the street (what else can they do with them?) And the small ubiquitous pushcarts with foods from every nation available. Indian curry mixed with Chinese stirfry mixed with southwest mesquite grilled hot dogs(???!!!). There’s also a Macdonald’s on every block and the sweet smell of their french fry fat mixes with all the other aroma’s. It made my stomach growl and reminded me that I hadn’t had any breakfast. I got a bottle of orange juice from a pushcart and wandered around for another hour and some. Now it’s after 1 pm and I’m really hungry. My feet are also getting very sore.

I get a phone call from my high school best buddy Hank (who now calls himself Henry) suggesting we meet at Joe Allens at 6 pm and decided what to do from there.

I head back up north on the subway and get off at 79th street and have lunch at a small, hole in the wall restaurant. A great caesar salad with grilled chicken. The dressing was a really nice garlic/olive oil combination. I’d go back there in a minute but I want to try different places.

By the time I get up from lunch, I can hardly walk. My legs have cramped so badly.

After a shower and a different shirt (it gets very hot and sweaty after the morning heats up) I head back downtown on the subway. I’m glad I got the thirty day subway pass.

I get to Joe Allen’s about 5:30 and stake out a seat where I can cover the door and another seat from Hank when he gets here.

Most people get off work at 5 and the place is filling up rapidly. I start to get nervous so I take out my book and start writing.

Here are my notes:

I’m really nervous. Why?
Will I recognize him?
How has he aged (I hadn’t seen him since 2001)
Will I seem really old to him?
How should I greet him? Handshake? Hug? Normally I’d hug him but he’s gay. Is it okay to hug him?
God, there are so many people coming in the door.
He’s late.
There’s another guy over there waiting for someone too. Not Hank.
He used to drink like a fish. Can I keep up with him?
At least I don’t have to drive home. I have the subway.
Several people are looking at this seat I’m holding. I don’t know how much longer I can hold onto it.
That other guy that’s waiting for someone is more nervous than I am.

Finally they guy made his fourth or fifth trip outside to look for someone. When he came back inside I thought: “Shit, I wonder if that could be him.” I pointed to him and said “Hank?” He said “Doug”. I got up and have him a big hug. We had been sitting there for twenty minutes and never recognized each other. We both got a lot older in the last seven years.

We didn’t drink too much but had a good talk that will remain forever quiet.

He had the Times and we talked about all the plays that were in town and picked a few that we would try to get tickets for to see on Wednesday. I’d see a matinee and then get tickets for the two of us for an evening show. I’d get in line for Tkts-tkts for half price tickets. They’re still expensive $51 for a half price ticket to a straight play, but that’s a story for tomorrow.

More later.

Wednesday – May 30th

Slept in to 7 AM today. Got up and worked on a new play. It has potential but needs work.

When I got up, my legs were so tired I could hardly walk. After walking for a while they loosened up and didn’t hurt so badly but every time I sat down for a while it is hard to get them going again.

Headed downtown on the Subway then went to Tickets, tickets to get half-price tickets for a matinee of Deuce with Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes.

Tickets/Tickets is quite an operation. They sell extra tickets for performances for half price the day of the performance. The last time I was in NYC, Tkts/Tkts was in an old trailer at the intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue. You had to stand outside in the sun or rain to buy the tickets. Now they are building a new building but in the interim, they are located in the Marriott Hotel on Times Square. When I got there at 10:30, the line was hundreds of people long. Row after row after row of people. But they move it right along. You are constantly moving so it took about 30 minutes to get the tickets.

The half price tickets were $51.00.

I realized that the matinee was at 2 pm which meant we would get out at 4 and I have to get into line for the nights tickets. That would take a half hour then I was to meet hank at 5:30 for dinner. So I hotfoot it up town to shower and change for the evening (Remember the subway pass? Looking better all the time.) Then back down town and have lunch and see Deuce.

It is basically a two woman show. There are three other actors in minor roles. It ran 90 minutes and I thought that the pair did a great job. Nice set too.

That evening we went to see Frost/Nixon. Another two man show and one of the more popular shows on Broadway. Frank Langella played Nixon. It was an absolutely masterful performance. I don’t know what the competition for the Tony is but His performance was just about the best performance I have ever seen. It also had the BEST lighting I have ever seen in a show before. Like Deuce, Frost/Nixon has several actors that fill in supporting roles. One was Steven Kunken, another stellar performance. Frost/Nixon is about the time that David Frost interviewed Richard Nixon after Nixon had resigned. This play was two hours without an intermission. Not withstanding a full bladder, the first half of the show was just okay but that last hour has to be seen to be believed. It was absolutely mesmerizing.

Back to the room at 11 pm. Still too wound up to go to sleep. Have a beer and work on my play a little.

My legs are a little better by the time I go to bed.

Another GREAT day in the city.