Movin' Out

Yesterday was our day at the theater. We had tickets ahead of time for The Odd Couple with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick and for Movin’ Out, which we thought was a review of Billy Joel music done by a young singer and piano player. We were right, but soooo wrong.

First of all, if you ever visit NYC to go to shows, you need to file the Edison Hotel away in your mind. Its front door is on 47th Street, its back door is on 46th Street and it’s half a block west of Broadway. It was built in 1931 and the lobby is in genuine Art Deco style; the rooms are more reasonable prices than any of the other Broadway area hotels. Our tickets for the matinee yesterday were at 256 W. 47th Street, about 4 doors west of our front door and the 8:00 tickets were at 226 W. 46th Street, literally across the street from our hotel’s back door. Dennis, who made the hotel arrangements, knew that we would be close to the shows, but somehow didn’t appreciate the genius of our location. The bonus, as though anything more could be wished for, is that the Café Edison, a well worn diner-type place off the Lobby, offers eastern European fare at modest prices for the neighborhood; actors refer to it as the Polish Tea Room. There are also several cocktail lounges, and at least one upscale restaurant, but we were loyal (and wish we would have had time to try more offerings) to the Café Edison.

From the beginning, this visit to NYC has been charmed. On Tuesday, ten minutes after our train from Connecticut passed over a Bronx intersection, a semi-trailer loaded with fuel exploded, killing the driver and knocking out power to the New Haven-New York City train line. Yesterday Amtrak managed to jerry-rig a push-pull arrangement of the trains going north, so we’ve changed our departure time today to allow for the extended travel time. Dennis’ sister, Cathy, will pick us up in northern Connecticut tonight and tomorrow we’ll drive back to Illinois.

Anyway, back to the day at the theater. Dennis went down to scope out the street scene before the Matinee and called on his cell phone to tell me that there was a huge line of folks waiting to go into the theater, and that they all had tickets for the show. As we were puzzling over this strange crowd behavior, Dennis said something to someone passing by, something like, “Would you say hello to my wife?”

He had just recognized Matthew Broderick hurrying into the theater. Dennis pointed at him, Matthew pointed back as Dennis was talking to him, and then Matthew said, “Sorry, I can’t, I’m late for work.” He did graciously shake Dennis’ hand as he hurried off. I’d be willing to bet that most of us, confronted unexpectedly with a celebrity, would just gape, but there was Dennis, with his wits about him. It reminds me of the time he struck up a conversation with the Governor of Illinois in a restaurant bathroom, but that’s another story.

The Odd Couple was entertaining; Nathan Lane was his usual comic self and Matthew was in one of his frump roles. He seems to like taking on strange speech patterns, and in this role he talks with a lisp. In short, it was a lark to get to see them together again, but in retrospect, it was classic Neil Simon with not much depth.

Movin’ Out, however, was a fully intact, forceful piece of Broadway artistry. First of all, there is the young singer, Michael Cavanaugh, who could be a clone for Billy Joel. His singing and piano playing are genuine and he’s backed by a great bunch of musicians who are all showcased by their perches on a heavy metal scaffold that raises and lowers as space is need on stage.

Then there’s the staging by Twyla Tharp. The dancers are all classically trained in ballet, but this is ballet with an edge. It’s easily the most energetic, intense performance I’ve ever seen. In reviewing the program, I note that the leads are played by different dancers in the Wednesday and Sunday matinees, which I’m relieved to hear. The dancers’ performances are so strenuous, that even for trained athletes, it wouldn’t be medically wise to do two performances in one day.
We had tickets in the second row, so good that I could see one woman’s abdominal scar. I said earlier that we thought this was a review of Billy Joel’s music, which it was, but it was similar to Mamma Mia, in which there are a series of pieces tied loosely together with a theme. The dancers had few lines, most of their expression was with their bodies, and the theme was about relationships before and after Vietnam. The theater wasn’t filled, the show closes in December, and if you haven’t seen this yet (I’m thinking of you, Leta,) you must see it!

We’ll have brunch at our favorite spot downstairs before we catch the 1:00 train to New Haven, then tomorrow head back to Illinois. This visit to NYC has been a delectable treat.