Friday, June 26, 2009

I Can't. I'm Waiting for Godot.

We went to see Waiting for Godot in New York last night. It's a revival starring Nathan Lane (!), Bill Irwin (!), and John Goodman (!). And Johnny Glover, who probably deserves a (!) if you're a Broadway fan, but I've only been to two shows before this. Waiting for Godot is a famous play from the 50's by Samuel Beckett. It was revolutionary for the time because it was one of the first "existential" plays. It doesn't have a plot, really, and a very strange sense of time. If you're interested, the wikipedia link gives a pretty complete description.

It was very good, although it's rather an impenetrable piece. I love Bill Irwin, if you don't know who he is, click the link, and of course Nathan Lane is Nathan Lane (!). They were fabulous, and John Goodman was good as Pozzo, but it's a tough character to like.

We found a nice mid-range Italian restaurant around the corner for dinner. I don't remember the name but it's right next to the Dave Letterman theater. And the show was in Studio 54, which didn't look like a nightclub at all - apparently it was previously a theater, and we couldn't figure out HOW you'd have a nightclub there, because it looked like it had always been a theater. Gilt and cherubs and everything. And we walked from Penn Station to 54th street, and I even anticipated walking and carefully chose shoes - which rubbed my heels raw and gave me blisters on my toes. Sigh. But I chose to walk instead of take a cab because I LIKE walking in New York. Watching people is fun.

However, on the way back to the train station, we walked through Times Square which was PACKED at 11pm. I mean, shoulder to shoulder, squeezing along the sidewalk. There were numerous TV broadcasts setting up, I think to report Michael Jackson's death, because where else would you go for crowd reaction than Times Square for news like that? And that may have been why it was so crowded. But I didn't enjoy that - I mean, I like people watching, but not when I'm crushed by a crowd!

3 comments:

Lisa C said...

NBA Draft picks were announced on Thurs. as well and we noticed they had seats and were panning Times Square a few times. So it may have also been due to that as well.

Jill in MA said...

Mr. Noodle! I love that guy!

Momo Fali said...

I just love Nathan Lane!

I hate crowds too. I'm with you...I like to people-watch, but I don't want anyone too close!