Thursday==>Yesterday’s entertainment doubleheader for your favorite blogger here in The Big Apple, The Greatest City In The World, was only so-so, which was a disappointment.
Yes, my loyal and faithful readers and followers, even Billi Pod can have a so-so day ... so ... let's get started ...
The first event on the schedule was a Broadway show that Billi Pod was really looking forward to ...
VIOLET, the musical, starring Sutton Foster, about a disfigured country girl who embarks on a quest for movie-star beauty that takes her across the South during the Civil Rights era==>B
I, unfortunately, found the story line to be highly improbable, un-involving and the ultimate “paring and outcome” was obvious from the very beginning.
The staging and sets are minimal and I found the orchestra being onstage to be distracting. Why weren’t they in the orchestra pit?
Sutton Foster saves the show from a much lower grade and she will certainly be nominated for a Tony for her performance as a basically unlikeable character.
Her costars, Colin Donnell and Joshua Henry also hold-their-own.
With a running time of at least 1:45, without intermission, it could use some serious trimming, especially a seemingly interminable scene involving the televangelist and his choir/believers.
My comp. seat was in the mezzanine but that was OK. I was seated next to my theatre buddies Dian Crystal aka My Lady and Vera Olichney and they each gave the show a B.
In the name of fair and unbiased reporting I have to share that Marty Kosarik aka Whatever and his friend, Robert, loved the show and they each gave it an A.
It is playing at the American Airlines Theatre on West 42nd Street, opens on April 20th, has a running time of 1:45, without intermission, and runs through August 10th.
When the show was over I came back to PHC and had my usual fruit and cheese plate and then it was time for the second half of my doubleheader ... a classical music concert ...
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA @ Avery Fisher Hall. The program was: Works by Britten, Bartok and Shostakovich.
I was really in the mood for some good classical music but, dammit, this program was also just so-so. The works by Britten and Bartok were totally un-melodic and, frankly, kinda annoying.
Thankfully, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 was much better.
My friends Al & Irene Warshauer, both attorneys, were seated next to me and that was nice because we needed some major catching-up time. They shared my overall so-so feelings about the concert.
When the concert was over I hustled out of Avery Fisher Hall so I could get back to PHC to watch the rest of the Yankees/Astros game.
Would have been much better if my subway had gotten stuck between stations because The Wankies sucked again, losing 3-1.
Kuroda pitched a decent game but our bats were basically dead ... or as reported in one of the local papers ... “the Yankees seem to use wet rolled-up newspapers instead of Louisville Sluggers on the days he pitches.”
Tonight @ 8:10pm we will try to avoid starting the 2014 season by getting swept by a team that is going to end up at the bottom of their division.
Ivan Nova (9-6) will be on the mound for The Yankees vs. Brett Oberholtzer (4-5) for The Astros.
Moving on ...
Tonight’s entertainment event is another Broadway show, in previews ...
8:00==>THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN - “Getting old is never easy, but septuagenarian Alexandra (Estelle Parsons) is making it especially dramatic. The feisty grandma has barricaded herself in her Brooklyn apartment with a bunch of Molotov cocktails, threatening to blow up the block if her family tries to put her in a home. Her estranged gay son (Stephen Spinella) tries to intervene.” (Broadway - complimentary ticket)
The advance buzz has been very favorable although laden with warnings that Parsons relentlessly spews forth the grossest profanity.
The show is in previews, opens on April 21st, is playing at The Booth Theatre on West 45th Street, has a running time of 1:30, without intermission, and runs through August 17th.
Moving on ...
You know, the most positive thing about yesterday was my total walking mileage ...
And ... the weather is nice today, in the 50s with sun ... so ... time for a major walk and wander session after I post this.
Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>4.60 miles (or, 10,058 steps)
Total mileage for 2014==>311.70 miles (average 3.39 miles per day)
GO GATORS & GO YANKEES!!
Billi Pod
“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”
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