« OGIC: Links for misanthropes | Main | TT: Almanac »
November 16, 2005
TT: All over the place (cont'd)
As a rule, New York drama critics are admitted only to those Broadway shows to which they're formally invited, which usually means a press preview just prior to opening night. (Sometimes we're asked back later in the run to cover a major cast change.) Because I go to the theater so often, and because tickets cost so much, it's very unusual for me to see a play more than once, whereas I normally see a film at least twice if I really like it. Until last Saturday, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was the only show I'd paid to see again since I started covering theater for The Wall Street Journal two and a half years ago. Well, not only did I do the same thing for Sweeney Todd, but I ordered my tickets immediately after coming home from the press preview. That's how good I thought it was--and I felt the same way on Saturday. So did Ms. In the Wings, who was all but jumping up and down with excitement when the curtain fell at evening's end. "I could see it again right now!" she said as we filed out of the theater.I knew just what she meant. John Doyle's revival of Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece is so powerfully individual that you feel as if you're seeing the show anew, no matter how well you think you know it--and I know Sweeney Todd very well indeed, having written about it in detail in A Terry Teachout Reader. I know some people, and even a few critics, have found the production disappointingly modest in scale, but I'm damned if I can see why that should stop them from appreciating the sheer audacity of Doyle's concept, or the overwhelming punch with which his perfect cast brings it to life.
- I finally started revving the engine down on Sunday, having hit all four of my accumulated deadlines and taken all but one of my scheduled out-of-town business trips through the end of 2005. (I'm going to Baltimore on Saturday afternoon to see Centerstage's production of Noël Coward's Hay Fever, but that's strictly a low-pressure overnight jaunt complete with relaxing train ride.) I brunched with a friend's little sister at the Acme Bar and Grill (mmmm, cheese grits) and took her to a New York Theatre Workshop matinee of Bach in Leipzig, then spent the rest of the day blogging, straightening pictures, and trying to unwind, not very successfully. If only my sleep cycle would right itself at once after all that stress! Alas, it'll take at least a week of sensible living, if not two, before I'm sleeping and breathing regularly again.
- I can't remember the last time I took an entire weekday off without leaving the city (or getting sick), but Ms. In the Wings, unlikely as it may sound, had never before paid a proper visit to New York City, so I devoted the whole of Monday to showing her the town, albeit in an idiosyncratic, low-keyed way.
After a leisurely lunch at Café Lalo, we paid a visit to Zabar's to browse among the smoked fish and cheese, then strolled through Central Park, where we rode two kinds of horses. Next was the Guggenheim Museum and two thought-provoking hours' worth of Russian art (about which much more later). From there we caught a cab to Grand Central Station and sipped cocktails at the Campbell Apartment, giggling wildly as we pretended to be haute something-or-other. Last came a long, utterly satisfying dinner at Blue Hill, during which we talked and talked and talked. Once in a while I'd catch myself thinking how nice it was not to be working, or worrying about work, but mostly I just surrendered to the passing moment, reveling in the company of my visitor and wondering why I don't do this sort of thing more often.
And that's my story: a madly hectic week and a half of writing, travel, and art, capped by a perfectly happy Monday in my adopted home town. On Tuesday I went to the gym and did no work of any kind. Instead, I stuck close to home, called my mother, sent out for Vietnamese food, watched The Apartment on TV, and kept reminding myself that it takes more than one day for a middle-aged workaholic to recover from his prolonged and excessive labors.
I'm not there yet, or even close, but at least I'm on my way.
* * *
(Go here for the first installment and here for the second.)
Posted November 16, 2005 9:03 AM
