Today I am a journalist

Several years ago while visiting New York, I had brunch with Greta Gerwig and she let me in on a little secret:  in recent years they have recorded every Broadway show and anyone with a New York City library card can go to the Lincoln Center Library and watch them.   I held on to that little tidbit of information all this time, and I am finally in New York for a week, so ...  as soon as I arrived here last Friday I acquired a library card.  Then it turns out that Greta was not quite right.  Not anyone with a library card can watch the shows; you have to be a theater professional (I guess no one questioned Greta on that count) or a researcher or a journalist.  I made an appointment on Friday to come to the library today to watch shows, not knowing how I would pull this off, but another young friend of mine, Josh Samberg, pointed out that since I write a blog ... I am a journalist.  It is helpful to have young friends with good ideas.  So I thank all of you for reading my blog occasionally so I could sit in the Lincoln Center Library all afternoon today watching Broadway musicals that I missed the first time around.  And I will faithfully write a blog entry to make it official.

Flashback ... in 1970 when I attended Stern College on 34th Street, I also had a New York library card.  Every other Monday night I walked up Broadway to the Lincoln Center Library on 65th Street to take out three Broadway albums since they had a lending library at that time - and albums were the latest technology.  I played the albums nonstop for two weeks until my roommates were sick of them and then walked back for three more.  One night a man tried to pick me up using language that eighteen year old Orthodox Glenda had never heard and had no idea what it meant.  New York was, and is, always exciting and enlightening.

Back to today.  Greta was not quite right about something else; the library does not have every show ever produced.  Fortunately, they had the first show on my list, but did not have the next four.  So I saw an odd assortment of shows.

Loved it.  I don't know why this didn't run forever.

Meh.  For those of you who saw The Wild Party in Sacramento with me, that was the Lippa musical and today I saw La Chiusa's.  They both wrote a musical based on the poem when it went off copyright.  Frankly, I liked the Sacramento production of Lippa better than the Broadway version of La Chiusa, Mandy Patemkin notwithstanding.



I was enjoying this, but the library closed at 6 so I had to leave near the end of the first act.  It may be years before I find out how the Civil War ended.

Now the shows I am seeing live this week.

Very funny classic musical.  Clever spoof of Shakespeare and Broadway.

Great (underline three times) dance musical.  This one deserved a longer run, too.

Hysterical.  As clever as the original.

I've never seen a Cirque Du Soleil show before and
now I don't have to see one again.

Meh.  Nobody is going to get a Tony nomination for this one.

A little dated but fun and a great cast.

Still to see this week ...

And the two minute recap of the first two months of this trip ...

Amazing.  Incredible.  Awesome.  There just aren't words to describe it,
 but it will run forever, deservedly so, and was worth every penny.

Week in Washington with my grandkids - priceless (and the kids are worth a lot, too.)

Week in Washington touring with my sister, Sue - interesting and fun.  Highlights:  the Library of Congress is still the best tour in DC, but the Archives and Newseum are close behind.  We liked biking the Mall to see the monuments at night.

Week in Berkshires and Hudson Valley touring with my sister, Sue - interesting and fun.  Shocking that no one in our home town of Beacon remembers us.  Shocking too that we left Beacon over fifty years ago and frankly, little has changed.  Highlights:  loved Hyde Park, Norman Rockwell Museum, and Washington Irving's home, but if you are ever in Tarrytown, don't miss Union Church of Pocantico Hills.

Drive to Quebec highlight:  the Clark Museum in Williamstown, Mass; biking along Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont.

Week in Quebec with Kathee and Merry Rosenberg - magical.  Quebec felt like Europe.  Highlights:  our hotel, every meal, our guide, the old city.  Everything was a highlight.

Week in Montreal with Kathee and Merry Rosenberg - fun and interesting.  Not so shocking that no one in Montreal remembers my father who left there eighty years ago.  Highlights:  the Underground City, biking, great meals, organ concert in Notre Dame Basilica.

Drive to Albany highlight:  Fort Ticonderoga.

Week in Hudson Valley bike touring - lots of fun.  I managed hills way better than I expected, and while we had to ride with cars more than I would have liked, sometimes we rode country lanes where we had the roads to ourselves.  And we had perfect weather.  The only slightly unfortunately thing:  the leaves are changing colors late this year so I didn't get to see full-on fall colors.  I might have to come back.

Which brings me back to New York.  Besides shows, I have been visiting friends and relatives.  The one rainy day of my whole trip cancelled my bike ride in Brooklyn with Nina Samberg, but she walked me around the "cool" neighborhoods.  And yesterday I spent the entire day at the Met.  Usually I just visit a few rooms for a couple of hours, but I took the grand tour, seeing things I had no idea existed.  Who knew the Met has an entire Egyptian temple, a medieval courtyard, the facade of a Wall Street bank, and a Frank Lloyd Wright room including furniture?

And that's the wrap-up from your friendly Broadway journalist.