At Some level I am amazed at how closely the facade of a cathedral resembles a stage… something about goings on under arches maybe…
The rain and sun were out again and we were marching through Times Square to collect on a brithday debt: the tickets for The Pillowman with Billy Crudup and Jeff Goldblum.
There is something that still rings dynamic to me about the theater district architecuture of New York… this choc-a-bloc ultra modern meets the neo-whatever the fuck of some turn of the century showman. It is a bizarre and exuberant mix, even if we all miss the hookers (those in the know insert O’malley joke as need be… but we had a nice lunch at Morelle before the show). We were looking for the Booth theater… I thought it odd that they’d named something after John Willkes… still if Sondheim can make a play about Assassins…anything goes on Broadway!
You get certain views which give you pangs of nostalgia for old New York, where artists could actually live and practice their trade… and hustlers and clowns and cowboys walking through alleys with gimps at midnight with chimes and the folks at Sardi’s… It must be these ancient theater signs after all that video craziness of Times Square.
Dave Conrad had been raving about the play the night before. He said, “If you get the chance to see it, you must.”
I said, “We’re seeing it at tomorrow’s matinee…”
He said, “Good.”
You have to understand that he and Billy have a similar look and have competed on several parts, so I thought it was pretty big of him to be so enthusiastic… but it really is a great and thoughtful play about narrative and how fact and fiction effect and affect each other. I sort of saw the ghost of Mice and Men, Garp, certain Mamet and Pinter, and some kind of Hawthorne/Poe dialogue… but it was funny as hell and very theatrical… and the best thing Jeff Goldblums done since he said, “What’s my Mantra?” in Annie Hall, or rode that chopper in Nashvile. I guess he’s learned something by teaching… but then I did love The Fly…. I digress. Just see the play.
I mostly loved the supporting actors:
They walked away from the stage door with no fans… and I thought the whole Hollywood dominance of the craft has become something of a real sham… but they left so fast I couldn’t even snap a photo…and then I saw the old building I used to do phone banking in for the SEIU union… I called it acting on Broadway, thank you very much… I had no procenium arch, but I had a phone and a song in my heart… blah blah blah…
Service Employees Internationl Union headquarters: come and hear those sweeping feet, on the avenue I’m taking you to, 42nd Street!