Tuesday - West Side Story At Last

Good afternoon my loyal and faithful readers. It is a hot and muggy afternoon in The Big Apple and I have the AC on for only the second time since moving into 420 W. 42nd Street, Apt. PHC, in the Greatest City in the World, back on June 2nd.

Have so much on my entertainment schedule that I don’t know where to begin, so ... what about beginning with tonight, Tuesday? OK, here goes - I am finally getting to see the highly regarded revival of West Side Story, one of my favorite musicals.

I have previously posted about my unique experience involving this show back in 1957 when it was in its out-of-town previews. I will again share the story in the form of a verbatim copy of a posting I made last year to the New York Theater Chat Board called “All That Chat” --

“In the summer of 1957 I was coming to the end of my tour of duty in the Army and was stationed in Washington, DC, living off-base with a bunch of army buddies, including one, Dan Hoik, who had a part-time job with the afternoon newspaper (the name escapes me).

One night Dan came in from work and told me that his Editor had given him two tickets to a musical that was finishing up its out of town tryout and would soon open on Broadway. He asked me to go with him because he knew of my interest in the theater, even back then, and, also, the tickets included an after-performance party with the creative team, cast members and the press.

I asked him about the show and he said all he knew about it was that it was a musical based on a modern version of Romeo & Juliet. To this I replied - “no f**king way am I gonna see something like that, no f**king way.” Dan begged me and begged me to go with him and kept emphasizing the party afterwards. Finally I gave in and said I would go. According to some old notes I have the date was August 19, 1957 and it was the opening night at The National Theatre in Washington, DC.

Well, we were both blown away by the show. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, or, frankly, since. I remember though that some of the older people (I was all of 23yrs. old then) seated around us were horrified by the “coarseness” of some of the lyrics, especially in “Gee, Officer Krupke,” and there were audible gasps with the final line:

“Gee, Officer Krupke, Krup You!”

I don’t remember too much about the after-party other than it was at one of the posh hotels and had plenty of free booze and food. Someone pointed out a person named Leonard Bernstein and a very young looking guy named Sondheim, but neither name registered with me at the time.

The rest of the story is history, of course. I don’t know how many times, thousands I am sure, that I thanked the Gods of the Theatre for making me go to see a musical of a modern version of Romeo & Juliet.

Bottom-line I count this as the highlight of all of the theater experiences I have ever had.

Bill”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Yep, I am very charged about tonight.

My schedule for the rest of the week looks like this:

Wednesday - 8:00 - Mostly Mozart Festival @ Avery Fisher Hall. The program is: Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor; Haydn: Berenice, che fai?; and, Mozart: Symphony No.41 in C major, K.551 ("Jupiter"). (discounted TDF ticket)

Thursday - 7:30 - “Departure Lounge” - Spring Play Festival @ The Public Theatre. The press notes are: “It's the end of vacation as four guys wait for their flight home in this testosterone-driven new musical. With time to kill they recount the hilarious antics of the week, and as secrets tumble out we learn more about the lads than they know about themselves.” (full price $10 ticket).

Friday - 8:00 - Mostly Mozart Festival @ Avery Fisher Hall. The program is: Mozart: Overture to Die Zauberflte; Britten: Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings; Mozart: Piano Concerto No.18 in B-flat major; and, Mozart: Symphony No.39 in E-flat major. (discounted TDF ticket).

Saturday - 8:00 - “Al’s Business Cards” - Off Broadway. “When New Jersey gaffing assistant Al Gurvis accidentally gets his new business cards swapped with those of real-estate agent Eileen Lee, he's mildly annoyed. Little does he know that this tiny mix up has sparked a chain reaction, which will ultimately ruin his life. A comedy about waking up from the American Dream. (discounted TDF ticket).

Sunday - open at the moment.

I am happy to report that I was able to spend some quality time with student/bartender/manager Scott Reed and with attorney Dwight Wells and his wife, Joanne, who were in the city staying with one of Dwight’s law school buddies.

It looks like The Yankees are on a roll since The All Star Game break, having completed an excellent home stand where they compiled a record of 9 wins and 1 loss. They now lead the AL East by 2 1/2 games over the FuckSox. And, speaking of baseball, I have scheduled my first visit to the new Citifield for August 19th. I was able to score a discounted ticket to see the Mets/Braves game.

I am also very happy to report that Sandy Mullon of Anna Maria, FL, will be my first out-of-town guest in PHC. She will be visiting The Big Apple from August 11 to 14 (barely long enough, but ...) and I have already scheduled us lots of things and stuff, the details of which I will share with you later.

In closing I want to wish my daughter, Kathi, and son-in-law, Dr. John Bendeck, bon voyage as they depart tomorrow on an awesome 10 day trip to Northern New England. Just sorry that The Big Apple couldn’t be worked in but I know it will be, sometime soon.

Go Yankees and Go Gators!!!

Billi Pod
“Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.”