Not bad for two old broads, huh? There's nothing like a trip with a tried-and-true travel buddy. This is the sixth or seventh year Cheryl and I have had these Broadway weekends, and we enjoy each one more than the previous. We met in college—January of 1969—and have had a strong friendship since the day we met. Our weekends together include reminiscing about college events as piano duet partners, recalling memories of earlier Broadway weekends, and wondering how on earth our lives ended up where they did after we were born and raised in mid-20th Century Florida. And as we enjoy ourselves, we start planning the next year's trip.
We arrived at the Marriott Marquis around 3:00 Friday afternoon (yesterday), and were given our usual corner room overlooking Times Square. This year it's the 17th floor, which simply means it takes less time to get down to street level. After relaxing for an hour, we grabbed a cab down to Bryant Park to meet Cheryl's neighbor, Susan, at Bryant Park Grill for dinner. Dinner was cauliflower and butternut squash chowder, salad, mushroom ravioli for me, salmon for Cheryl, and bronzini (similar to sea bass) for Susan, and then pumpkin cake with cheesecake ice cream, cinnamon ice cream, and fig compote for dessert. Yum all the way around!After dinner, Susan walked us to the subway and showed us how to use this means of transportation (for the first time in my life!) to get to Lincoln Center. Our choice of play this year was "South Pacific", which has been getting rave reviews. It was just fabulous. This revival has been very well done.
Today we slept in until 9:00, then headed towards Rockefeller Center for our normal Dean & DeLuca Saturday breakfast. On the way, we saw a great looking breakfast place called Pret a Manger. Fabulous fresh and healthy food, all marked with calorie counts. We had yogurt with apples and cranberries, shared a healthy oatmeal cookie, and enjoyed our choice of breakfast beverage. Then we walked around and visited some stores before heading for Columbus Circle.
Our goal was The Museum of Arts & Design, which has just moved into its new home at 2 Columbus Circle. I was very impressed with this museum. I want to bring Boston and Ridley to New York to see this collection, as I think they would find so much inspiration for their creativity here. I was especially inspired by Terese Agnew's Portrait of a Textile Worker, which was created out of stitched-together clothing labels. The permanent collection in this museum made me want to find time to take more classes in pottery and stained glass and mosaic and learn how to weave and solder and . . . . It's a fabulous collection.After the museum, we had a Dean & DeLuca lunch, then did a little shopping. I found an investment Eileen Fisher jacket on sale, then we strolled the 8th Avenue Street Fair and I picked a couple of cashmere shawls for $5 each. We headed back for Broadway, and found ourselves next to The Colony Music Store, which is mecca for any musician. I picked up a couple of books for Tyler and just reveled in being around so many fellow musicians.
We headed back to the hotel to put our feet up for a couple of hours. At 7:00 we headed to Café Un Deux Trois (1-2-3, if you don't speak French), which is where we've been having dinner for many years. As we walked in, they told us they saved the best table in the house for us. We were placed right at the window. We shared the warm chevre salad, then I had crab cakes and Cheryl had farfalle with eggplant and sun-dried tomatoes. As always, we ended with profiteroles. We headed back to Broadway and a little more late-night shopping. As we walked into Quiksilver, the young man at the door sang out "Sweet Kitties" to us. We smiled at each other. We knew he was just encouraging us to want to spend money there, but it was fun, anyway.
We have been commenting to each other about the number of people in the city this weekend. One would never know there's an economic crisis in this country. There was not an empty seat in the theater. The restaurant was packed. The sidewalks are crammed with people. The streets are filled with cars and cabs and limos and rickshaws and horses and police cars and humanity. There's a fleet or two in town, maybe for the long weekend, and there are sailors everywhere.
In all the years we've been coming to the city on this same weekend, we've never seen this many people. I don't know if the people are spending as much money in the restaurants and the stores, but the people are definitely out there and circulating.
(And we're doing our share to help the economy along.)
One of the strongest feelings I've had this weekend is of the power of music in the lives of so many people. As I sat in the theatre last night, and again this afternoon walking around The Colony, I thought about the number of people who, as young people, took individual music instruction or played in the band or sang in the choir. Look at the impact that had on their lives. The people in the theatre last night paid, for the most part, no less than $120 each for a ticket to listen to that music. They bobbed their heads and tapped their feet and bit their tongues to keep from singing along to the music.
Most of us make our living at other things—as programmers or doctors or lawyers or administrative assistants or janitors, as teachers or chefs, as bus drivers or cashiers or CPAs. But music brings us joy and lifts our hearts. Music brings to our minds some long-lost love or some favorite vacation spot. Music makes us smile and cry and want to dance a jig. What else do you know of in life that is so powerful to so many people across such a broad spectrum?
Whenever someone compliments me on my musical ability, I am quick to say, "It's a gift." Yes, I've worked hard to perfect my abilities. But at the very nucleus of what I have is a magical gift, and this world is a better place, I believe, for the power of music and it's effect on those around us.
This music in our lives is what brought Cheryl and me together and gave us this friendship that has spanned forty years. And it's why we choose musicals to see on Broadway every year.
We're both lucky and blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment