A lovely and crazy 24 hours or so in NYC.
I got to spend some time with Don before he left to do the matinee and we made plans to meet at the theater at the end of the show and then go on to dinner. I decided to go down to Greenwich Village to visit a bookstore. It was incredibly hot and humid in the city and it was Pride weekend. I don’t know what the heck I was thinking, but of course the Village, of all places, was going to be packed with celebrants!
As I tried to make my way to the bookshop, there were crowds everywhere, music playing, people dancing and…the parade.
Wherever I went, I ran into the parade, which seems to meander all over the village. It was wonderful, it was joyous, but it was everywhere. I couldn’t cross streets until I found a crossing point and then I’d have to wait in line a long time until a break in the parade allowed a mass of us to cross the street.
When I finally got to the bookshop, it was closed. Of course it was, you couldn’t do business in a normally quiet bookshop during the parade! While the parade was an amazing thing to behold, I was sweating and exhausted and after many tries, I finally found my way to the subway station where I got on the A train, which goes to 50th Street and where I could walk the 3 blocks south to the apartment. All I wanted to do was shower.
Only this particular train didn’t stop at 50th. It went to 59th, so I had to walk 12 blocks south. I finally made it back to the apartment and air conditioning.
I revived myself enough to meet Don at the theater and go out to dinner.
Thai food. Meredith and I ate at this same neighborhood restaurant when she visited.
Pad Thai – my favorite.
I managed to get a photo of Don on the marquee. The cast and crew provided birthday pies and serenaded him. If you want to see it, visit Don’s feed on Instagram. It’s @donsroadtrip. It is very moving – at least to us. They are such fine people. This is the second birthday that Don has celebrated with ETM and the knowledge that it is closing in a week made everything more poignant. Once again, I stood with Don when he signed autographs outside the stage door and heard people say how much the show means to them. It was a second or third or fourth visit or the very first Broadway show they’d ever seen. One woman ran into Don in a local restaurant last week and shared that she had lost her daughter 6 weeks before that, and that the words Don sings in He Went to Paris, “Some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic, but I had a good life all of the way” comforted her and moved her to tears.
That happens all the time. This show changes people, even if it’s just the chance to experience joy for a few moments, to escape. It shouldn’t be closing.
I think that they chose a theater that was too large, making it hard to make back their investment. In fact, I worried about that as soon as I heard they’d chosen the Marquis. It has about 500 seats more than the average Broadway theater. The Broadhurst, where Anastasia plays, has 1100 seats. The Marquis, in contrast, has 1600. 500 seats x 8 shows a week equals 4000 more seats they need to sell every week. The only other theater that has that many seats, I believe, is the Minskoff, where Lion King is currently running. I worked at the Minskoff on a show that wasn’t a big hit and it couldn’t sustain itself. You need a sure-fire, long running hit to make it in either of those spaces. They made a mistake in choosing the Marquis and, though it isn’t the only factor, I think the show could have kept running in a smaller space.
It breaks my heart.
This will be a tough week for the cast and everyone involved in the show.
And now I’m back home. I arrived to wilted potted plants which makes me think that the promised rain and thunderstorms never arrived on Sunday. I ran outside and watered everything. Then I called the Jury Duty phone number to hear: ‘No jurors are required tomorrow or for the rest of the week. Your service is complete and you are exempt for the next six years.”
Huzzah!
Today is a primary in the state of New York. So if you’re a resident – VOTE. We have to fight back and undo the damage done by this horrible nightmare of an administration. Keep making calls about the children stolen from their parents. The more pressure we put on the administration, the better. Keep fighting.
Happy Tuesday.
so glad you and don could sneak in some time together! love the photos of you two. not only are they great photos of you both, but i can see you beaming such love for and at each other … such a wonderful thing to see (and you both to experience)!
too bad you couldn’t get to the bookstore and had a long, hot walk back to the apartment, but glad you got to see part of a parade!
it is sad … i am sad for you all … about “escape to margaritaville” closing in just a few days. hope the tour will prove the critics wrong (because they are wrong), that don will continue to be j.d. (if that’s what you both want) and “etm” comes within driving distance to me. i want to see it again!
you work so hard and take such good care of them, i am sure your plants will rebound.
and i am glad that you get a break, didn’t get called for jury duty.
after a couple cooler days (thanks to some rain), things will heat up here, too. not looking forward to that, but will deal with it.
happy tuesday!
kathy in iowa
People just love the show. It’s a damn shame. Thanks, Kathy.
That ordeal in the city would’ve done me in. Love the pics of you two at dinner…Kathy said it right…you can see the love!
Sure wish I could send you some of our rain. We’ve had so much….and it’s raining again. We’ve (yes…I’ve enlisted hubby’s help) been pulling weeds for about 4 hrs the last two days. Why is it weeds grow better than flowers it seems? It’s almost done, so that’s good.
Enjoy your day…hope lots of people go out and vote! ;)
We need rain so much! It’s so dry out there. Thursday is the next possible day and I’ve got my fingers crossed.
We’ve had so much…people who live on the lakes and creeks are having to sandbag their homes. Weird weather that’s for sure! ;)
I’m sort of over the whole thing. Nigel (the other groundhog) has been eating things in my garden, probably because his lair is closer to the big garden bed. I’m trying every humane way I can to get him to move on. That, and the weather, and the lack of rain, and that POS Trump and the show closing are making me a not-very-happy-camper.
I am so sad your bookstore was closed! Were many businesses closed during the parade?
Glad you got home in time to water the plants! You have worked so hard on your outdoor plants. Hope you get rain soon.
Every photo, every video of anything to do with the show makes me cry! The video of Don’s birthday had me weeping like a baby! It really isn’t fair! They are all such amazing actors and from everything I have watched and read, they are a family! I am so glad they had the time together that they have had. Saturday I am going to cry all day!I
That new camera that was on Don’s Instagram is amazing! You both should do a showing of your photographs!
Have a wonderful day!
Hugs to you both 💖
I don’t really have any idea about other businesses, Debbie.
Sunday is the day the show closes, not Saturday – so save your tears for then! Thanks, Debbie.
I am sad with you and Don that the show closes so soon. If there is anything positive in this, it is that you and Don will be reunited for a while at least. I very much hope that Don will be part of the tour, if that’s what you both want. Wishing you luck.
I am currently in Saskatoon, Canada. There was a crazy pride parade here, too and the roads around my hotel were closed. There was a lot of joy and happiness, which is wonderful.
Hope your wilted plants are recovering well. x
They’re okay, though I worry about Sunday when I’m in NYC. It’s supposed to hit 98 degrees!
The city is a wonderful place, but it can definitely be challenging on a hot and humid summer day. It’s wonderful that the production touched so many people, but sad that it is closing. xo Laura
Very sad. Thanks, Laura.
So very sad about ETM and the cast and crew which have, of course, formed their own family now. I know it will be a tough week.
Speaking of tough weeks,,,,, months…… administrations….. blergh. I want to believe that fighting back will work. I just don’t believe it right now. I am losing all faith that I once had, in decency winning. Every day it gets more and more absurd and heartbreaking and nothing changes, except that it gets more absurd and heartbreaking the next day. No one is able to stop him. I cry and I read. And that is about it. Children in cages in camps. And no one is able to do anything. He just keeps yelling and screaming and laughing. It is beyond a nightmare.
I call today about jury duty next week. I am wishing and hoping that since it is a holiday week, there won’t be many cases. I have to call every Tuesday in July about the following week. All of this may just send my BP into the explosion arena. I hope your Tuesday is a good one!
I am heartsick at what is going on. And just found out that the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s travel ban. That wouldn’t have happened if McConnell hadn’t blocked Merrick Garland. I’m pretty down, too.
I hope you don’t get called, Chris. I’ll be crossing my fingers for you.
That bit of news this morning turned my stomach, also. Every place we turn “they” have the majority and no matter how horrendous things are, they are voting Trump’s Party’s way, and totally not considering their constituents, ethics or sanity. My serious concern, and I sound like a paranoid nut case, is that no matter how we vote, or how many of us vote, it is truly all in the hands of Putin.
Mine, too.
Wow, you lucked out on jury duty!
I just scanned over an article that said the northeast is going to be getting hit with some really bad hot weather.
We warmed up here in SoCalif and, Claudia I am so glad to tell you, the jacarandas ARE starting to bloom; I just have never experienced it THIS late, so close to 4th of July. (Unless my memory can no longer be counted on!) One article said that each jac has its own personality, like a human, and may or may not bloom on schedule (if at all) depending on a whole slew of factors. I have stopped the car so many times to screech, “OMG, it IS going to bloom!” Probably silly to go all gaga over a tree but I do love my jacarandas! The best ones are SO old, growing as a front yard tree so much of the time in front of homes from 1910, 1917, etc. (For SoCalif, which is relatively New West, those years of houses built are considered pretty darn old.)
Yes, I spoke about the coming hot weather in an earlier response to a comment. It’s been a shitty spring and summer, weather-wise.
Aside from the “death march,” it sounds like a fun visit. So sad these visits will be ending with the show. How cool it must be to hear people’s stories about how the show has affected them. Hadn’t had time to read your posts in almost a week and, for a little while as I read each one, I was able to escape the awfulness of the news. Been emailing my congressman every single day (“Hello, Glenn – it’s me. Kay.”) He’s a good little Trumper so it does no good. But I’m also working to elect the man running for his seat so – fingers crossed.
Don will really miss the apartment and his life in the city. It’s going to be an adjustment for him. And me.
One of my best friend’s sons marched in the NY parade. Glad you got a glimpse, but ugh on all that congestion and then having to walk so far back to the apartment, especially when it was so hot and humid! Thai food is my favorite and I absolutely love Pad Thai. Either that or Pad Kee Mow.
Great shot you got of Don on the marquis. I agree that it’s horrible that the show is closing. Thank you for sharing about Don’s experiences and about the theater, etc. All very interesting (and sad).
That shot of your porch is beautiful.
It’s a wonderful show. I’ve heard nothing but positive responses (actually, over-the-moon responses) to it. It’s heartbreaking for everyone involved.
Well Ms. Claudia, you certainly have a driving force. Crowds, walking, heat, and you were still able to show up. It’s great you can be part of celebrating Don in his endeavors and to view people’s esteem for him. I feel a loss from the show closing and I don’t even know him or you personally. I wish I could have seen the show. Hang in there.
Thank you, Lyndia!
You are right those thunderstorms never materialized. We only had a little rain which quickly dried up. I have been watering the flowers and the grass. It is too bad that the bookstore was closed. I is a shame that the show is closing when so many people have enjoyed it.
Marilyn
We have a hot week ahead, Marilyn!
Goodness I love that picture of Don on the marquis. I think it would make my heart flip flop around every time I saw it if I were you. How proud you must be of him.
The light on your porch looks so lovely. I can’t tell if it is early morning or evening but either way I would want to be out there (with either a hot cup of tea or a cold glass of chardonnay).
It does make my heart flip-flop. Unfortunately I can only see it for one more week. I’m going to take a video of it. I’m enormously proud of him.
The porch photo was taken in the evening, Andrea.
I’m way behind on blogging, and it sounds like you’ve been really busy, too. That sounded like a very hectic, but interesting day. So sorry about the show closing after all that work; it seemed like such a good one, too. Hope the coming week isn’t as hot as predicted out your way.
It is an excellent show. I’m heartsick that I won’t be able to see it after Sunday.
Thanks, Judy.