And speaking of Jonathan Freeman, he's currently co-starring in
The Producers on Broadway as Roger DeBris which we saw on Thursday night in NYC... But before we settled into our eighth row(!), center(!!), on the aisle(!!!) seats at the St. James that night... -And, yes, I just walked up to the box office, asked what they had available... And, again, the guy at the window was doing some paper-shuffling... I actually think we ended up with a pair of seats that are set aside for the Broadway Inner Circle program... In any case...
But before heading to the theatre that night, we basically just ended up exploring lower Manhattan. Our day started off at J&R down by City Hall. Steve had to scout out some new computer equipment and supplies, and I was just scouting out CDs and DVDs. Surprisingly, I only ended up purchasing 3 CDs - the new Manhattan Transfer ("Vibrate"), Dawn Upshaw's new recital disc about songs of "light" (Debussy, Messiaen, et al), and the OCR of
Hallelujah, Baby. I had some other possible purchases in and out of my hands, but just really wasn't in a "buy everything" mood. Best off all, all three discs were on sale for $12.99 or less! Steve also picked up some new choral CDs for his collection and reference.
After leaving J&R, we walked over to Ground Zero... I still get choked up...
Then we ambled around for a bit... Over to the courts buildings - more pic-taking opportunities for Steve - which were surprisingly and pleasantly quiet since it was a holiday. Then up a few blocks to Canal Street and Chinatown. I realized I hadn't been in Chinatown in years - probably at least 10 years! Ah, the hustle and the bustle. Steve commented that he started feeling like he
had to buy something since there were just so many things on display all along the sidewalks.
We ended up at some place called Ping for a late lunch, dim sum. Pretty good, although, the staff more or less made their "inconvenience" known - they were about to settle down to their own lunch in the back tables. Ah, well... It wasn't bad service, just not the right attitude.
We then walked up Mulberry and continued into Little Italy. Ah, the hustle and the bustle. And the smell of tomatoes and garlic in the air! We almost had a second late lunch! More pictures, more people watching, more window shopping.
Then it was a walk through a bit of SoHo and TriBeCa. Steve bought me a "Devil Julius" t-shirt at the Paul Frank store. Very cute - and practical too - it's black, so I can wear it in the pit (I hope the devil monkey is not too big). Then it was over to Broadway and then up a few blocks to catch the subway back up to 49th Street. We checked into Sam Ash before heading back to the hotel...
Whew! We had basically been our feet for about seven hours straight by that time, and we needed the time to rest our footsies before heading out the theatre that night. But I just love walking the Island, and Steve did too - even though he did end up with a blister.
After about an hour and a half respite, we headed over to the St. James for
The Producers. Steve had not seen the show before, and, I also realized that it was my first time actually seeing it from a seat(!). And since I had just played the show here in Richmond...
The show is in very good shape. Brad Oscar is a fine Max; he's really made the part his own. Hunter Foster is currently playing Leo. He's good, but I wasn't totally won over by his portrayal - it seemed a little forced at times. However, my favorite performer and performance of the evening was Jonathan Freeman as Roger DeBris. His mugging and smugging throughout the evening were a guaranteed laugh and smile. Brooks Ashmanskas is currently playing Carmen Ghia - he's good, but I got "distracted" by my own thoughts about his casting - I had just never thought of Brooks Ashmanskas as a Carmen Ghia.
But a very good performance, and his physical comedy skills get put to good use.
After the show, we headed back over to Becco for a light, post-show meal. We just supped on two appetizers: Lidia Bastanich's signature Crispy Shrimp Appetizer, and their Insalada Misto which consisted of some grilled vegetable and some seafood preparations (in this case, grilled octopus and a whipped cod-fish spread). And our server was kind of enough to bring out a small dish of their fresh riccotta topped with orange blossom honey and freshly cracked black pepper - one of my favorites there. It turned out to be quite a bit more food than the "appetizer" heading led us to think, but that turned out to be a good thing. For dessert, we ordered their Fruit Grappa Sampler - three of their of house-made grappas.
In short, grappa is basically Italian moonshine. It is usually made from the remnants of the wine-making process. Grappas may taste - and smell(!) - like it is almost pure alcohol, but it's usually in the 80 to 90 proof range. In any case, Becco infuses their own grappa with various fruits - in fact, they literally store the jars on the shelves around the restaurant, and then just take them down when someone orders them. So we ordered pineapple, red currant and pear this time round. -It was pineapple and fig on Tuesday night. All three choices were quite wonderful. Very smooth. And they serve the grappa with pieces of the fruit too. And, yes, you can even eat the fruit... if you dare! Since the alcohol basically leeches out all the flavor and sugar from the fruit, the "fruit" basically ends up as fiber and alcohol. It's almost hot on the tongue and going down the throat. Well, it is.
There was a wonderful couple from Pacific Bay, CA, who were sitting next to us. They were in town for the week celebrating their wedding anniversary. Well... After they heard us talking about and drinking our grappa, they ended up ordering a post-dessert glass of pear grappa for themselves. -We even passed our glasses over to them beforehand for a brief sniff - "Whew! - I'm drunk from the fumes!" They thanked us for introducing them to the libation!
...Then it was over to Times Square for the last few photo-ops, and a brief run into the Virgin Megastore - they had
Broadway: The Golden Age on sale! Then back to the hotel...
Then the drive back home yesterday in the rain.. UGH!....
All in all - except for yesterday's rain - it was a great trip up to NYC. And it was also great to spend some more time with Steve. He truly is my best friend, and any time with him is a special time. Hopefully, we'll be back up their next February/March... or at least while
Jewish Thighs is running.
