Gotham Gal

Mr. Marmalade

Mr. Marmalade is the second production I have seen at the Roundabout Theater Company this season.  The Roundabout is celebrating their 40th year.   Both productions have been disappointing to say the least.  I would think in a celebratory year, where they are in the process of raising money around that, someone would be green lighting better scripts.

Mr. Marmalade is one of the worst plays I have seen in a very long time.  The play runs one and a half hours, with no intermission.  I walked out after an hour but thought about it at 20 minutes, 30 minutes and 40 minutes hoping that it would get better.

The acting is good but that is to be expected.  The play is about 2 children who are playing with imaginary characters about adult behavior.  It isn't thought provoking, it isn't interesting, it isn't even comical, it is plain bad writing and theater.  There is nothing worse than bad theater.

Do not go see Mr. Marmalade, even if you already have the tickets.  I hope that the next production put on by the Roundabout is good because so far, I am rethinking my subscription to next year.  That is how bad the last 2 productions have been.

Blue Tree Gift Store

I had read about the Blue Tree store and figured if I ever get up that high on the Upper East side, I'd stop in.  Today was my day. 

The store has gotten a lot of fanfare because the owner is Phoebe Cates, actress, mother and wife to Kevin Kline.  Why retail?  She wanted a store like this herself so she opened one up.

It is basically an upscale General Store.  Anything from jewelry, kids toys, women and mens clothes and accessories, socks, art, etc.  It is a good gift store.  If you don't know what you are looking for, you might find it there because there are so many different choices.

The staff is really nice.  The store has 2 floors.  Mostly random stuff downstairs and clothing upstairs.  The clothing is a little bit too boho for me but it will be interesting to see what they carry for spring. 

Cute store, interesting concept.  Not sure it is my kind of store but I like the idea. 

Vincent Van Gogh

One of my favorite Jonathan Richman songs was always about Vincent Van Gogh.  "Have you heard of the painter Vincent Van Gogh, he loved color and he let it show".   He certainly did but today I got a completely different look into the art of Vincent Van Gogh. 

The Metropolitan Museum current exhibit is Vincent Van Gogh and his drawings.  We all know how incredibly talented Vincent was but these drawings blew me away.  Prolific is an understatement. 

The drawings in the first room were my favorites.  He started drawing at the very onset of his career in art.  He had relatively no training.  I only wish that I came with that genetic make up.  The drawings start off in basically pencil charcoals.  The details are incredible.   

Each room tracks him through a different time period.  You can see  later on in his drawings the similarity to his paintings but in charcoals, watercolors and pencils.  That is probably why I like the earlier work, there is absolutely no similarities.  It is as if you are looking at an artist for the firs time.

The one drawing, later on, that was shown of a discus thrower was amazing.  The muscles movement on the models back draw you immediately to the picture.  Most of his drawings were landscapes, sometimes with people, sometimes not.

It is so sad that Van Gogh ended up taking his life just as his work was beginning to get recognition among his peers and others in the art community.  Art obviously just poured out of him. 

I highly recommend going to see this exhibit.  It was inspiring.

Podcast is up..

Our weekly podcast is up.  Good new tunes.  Listen live here.  For more information, go to Fred's blog. 

Amy Ruth's

We went on our second outing to dinner outside the confines of our neighborhood.  We get together with another family, hop on the subway to our destination and do dinner.  Last time we went out to Woodside, Queens. The subway is part of the experience, at least we say it is.

Last night we went up to 116th Street to have dinner at Amy Ruth's.  One of the premier soul food restaurants named after Carl Redding's grandmother.  Carl is a big man who is full of life.  We had the fortune of him sitting at our table for awhile to chat.  The restaurant has been open for 7 years.  He opened a second one in Connecticut less than a year ago.  It has been an obvious success.

The restaurants is 2 floors.  Looks like a high end fast food joint downstairs.  Upstairs is tables upon tables with waiter service.  Not fancy lighting, no fancy anything but good basic food.  Just what you would expect from a soul food restaurant.  Chicken fried steak, honey fried chicken, barbecue ribs, chittlins,  smothered pork chops, and a smattering of sides.

They start you off with a big basket of buttery cornbread.  We all had a different entree but fried chicken and ribs was the entree of choice.  The best side, hands down, was the collard greens that must have been made with ham hocks.  Fried okra, butter corn, cole slaw, macaroni and cheese, and other starches were ordered too.  Each entree comes with 2 sides.

Desserts ranged from red velvet cake, vanilla layered cake with chocolate frosting, peach cobbler (canned peaches) and coconut frosted layer cake. 

The food is like having a home cooked meal in the south.  What is available in the frig and in the cupboards.  Nothing omigod, but a definite stick to your ribs. 

It is a fun adventure.  I love the art on the walls that rotate every 2 weeks from the local artists too.
The experience is was worth the trip.

La Boheme

Last night was the first time I had ever been to the opera.  We went to see La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center.  What an experience. 

The production is quite the event.  There are 4 scenes in La Boheme, and 4 intermissions.  2 of the intermissions are almost 20-30 minutes long.  The entire evening lasts about 3 hours. 

The sets are truly beautiful.  Each act had a different set although the first and fourth ones were similar.  If you pay any attention to what they are exactly singing, in English, you'll wonder why someone wrote such a ridiculous story.  The lines are comical.  But, they are singing in Italian and the words sound beautiful.  There is the small device in front of your chair that translates the words. Basically they are into lots of love and their bohemian life style. 

Grand is an understatement for the Opera House.  Huge sweeping floors of marble, large windows, big red carpeted stairs up the middle, etc.  There are about 15, if not more, fabrications in the building.  You have to love the tremendous Chagall's too. 

At one point, people probably really dressed up for the Opera.  I didn't wear jeans but there were no ball gowns and tuxedos.  Oh well. 

What struck me funny is how after every act, the actors came out to get their applause.  The scene would end, the curtains would go down, and out with come the actors from behind the curtain to get their applause.  I found it quite funny.  Lots of bravado.

All and all, I'm glad that I went.  I am not sure that attending the opera will be an annual thing, nor a bi-annual thing, maybe a decade thing but maybe not.  It's beautiful, it's interesting but the truth is, I'd rather go see Death Cab for Cutie play at Hammerstein Ballroom.