Ann and I flew to NYC on Tuesday for a few days of theatre and fun. We spent the night in Little Rock at the airport the night before our very early flight. We had a lot of fun – she picked our plays for the week, and we threw in a last-minute musical, as well. We snagged opening night tickets for previews of “Death of a Salesman” (Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf) and we were thrilled with Wally Shawn and Andre Gregory’s new “What We Did Before our Moth Days.” We also loved “Bughouse,” a one-man show about outsider artist Henry Darger, and we also enjoyed “Chess” (the musical – and I was happy to hear “One Night in Bangkok”!).
We loved walking through the Museum of Modern Art, where I got to see an original O’Keefe and Twombly, among other fabulous works of art – just to inhale the atmosphere is invigorating. Our last day we walked through the Chelsea flea market and had coffee with a delicious bagel nearby. We had two celebrity sightings: Sam Waterston was at the Wally Shawn play and Jonathan Banks was a couple of tables away at Carnegie Diner.
A highlight of the trip was a visit with my former boss, Alyson, who John and I worked for in Monrovia. She and husband Rick had us over for coffee and we spent two hours catching up and yakking. Rick is a wonderful musician who composes for theatre, so he and Ann hit it off and found common connections (Ann directed a show that Rick wrote part of the music for – how’s that for small world?!). We thoroughly enjoyed our visit!
Ann and I haven’t traveled together in a long time, but we did great. Neither of us wanted a death march of tourist attractions, so we took it slow, stopped for coffee and pastries along the way, and opted for relaxation over the need to hit attractions. We stayed at the Grayson Hotel on W 39th and really enjoyed it. We flew home Saturday late afternoon – until next time, New York!
