July 26, 2007
Summer Trip to NYC: Part 5
Emily and I started our Saturday morning with brunch followed by a subway ride down to South Seaport to check out the options at the TKTS. Even though it was pretty early on Saturday morning, I still saw several people reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. And a lot of other people waiting for the train to the Yankees game.
We picked up tickets for The Fantasticks (so excited!) and then walked to the pier for a view of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Then we did a little shopping in SoHo. There was a random street fair happening with all sorts of delicious smells. We got smoothies.
Afterwards, we rode uptown to the Met (about which I've already posted) followed by a quick stroll in Central Park, where we revisited Bethesda Fountain.
We couldn't stay long because we had to make it to the Snapple Theater for the show.
My dad introduced me to the Fantasticks. He had their record, and I remember playing it on Saturdays when we would clean the house. I loved it. It's a 60s play. Jerry Orbach (of Law & Order fame) starred in the original production. It's all about a boy (Matt, 20) and a girl (Louisa, 16) who live next door. Their parents pretend to feud by building a wall between the two houses. The children fall in love. The parents need a way to end the feud, so they hire El Gallo (and some actors) to pretend to abduct Louisa so Matt can fight him off and give them an excuse to be friends again. All seems well. But, as the narrator reminds us, things look different in the sunlight. The boy wants to see the world. The girl wants the romance she's read about in books. So they go their separate ways and find that life can be cruel. But they have to discover that in order to know the beauty of it. Because, as we find in the last song, "without the hurt, the heart is hollow." I love this play so much that I'm going to post some songs. I'll warn you, my mom finds them annoying. But she pretty much thinks everything I listen to is annoying.
And since we couldn't take pictures during the performance (don't think I didn't consider sneaking some), I will just steal a few from the Internet.
I know, I know... you already want to see the play so badly that you're ready to hop on the next plane to New York. If not, I've got just the thing to make you book your tickets. Guess who played Matt in my production. I'll give you a hint:
Recognize him? It's none other than Mr. Anthony Federov, one of the former contestants of American Idol. I didn't realize it until intermission. I'll admit that it took the sheen off the second half just a bit.
We walked around some more after the play in search of dinner. I love that in New York, you can go in search of dinner at 11 pm and it's perfectly normal.
When we got home, I soaked my feet. After wearing flip flops in the city for a couple days, my feet were black as tar. It was disgusting. I left a gray film on Emily's poor bathtub. (Don't worry, I cleaned it.)
I had to leave by noon on Sunday to get to the airport, so Emily and I only had time for bagels and cupcakes and one last stroll.
I had pre-ordered a copy of Harry Potter weeks ago, of course, but I decided to pick one up at the airport since I had 10 hours of traveling ahead of me. I got the last copy at the airport Borders, and it was well worth it.
Posted by kea at July 26, 2007 11:08 PM