A Lovely Weekend in the City

I had the perfect excuses for a trip to NYC for a long weekend and happily ones that did NOT involve auditions so I got to just relax and be with my friends.  I left after work on Friday and drove to Michelle's in Queens.  It was good to see her again.  We keep in touch but I hadn't seen her since my birthday so it was overdue.  We stayed up until the wee hours catching up and giggling and being silly until we passed out.

Saturday morning we got up at ten and got fixed up for a baby shower for one of Michelle's best friends, Kim.  I've known Kim through Michelle for about ten years now.  She's had quite a year!  She just got married early last Fall and now she's due with a baby girl on September 27th!  Kim and her sweet husband, James, have named her Amelia Rose and Kim wants to call her Millie.  I think Amelia is beautiful as-is but Michelle says Kim just has a thing for nicknames.  Michelle's mom picked us up and we drove over with her.  The shower was held at the Astor Room at Kaufman Astoria Studios and was a really cute little place.  We played some of your classic shower games which dutifully participated in and even won one...for having the most crap in my purse.  Waaaaa waaaaaaa.  We had a light lunch that was pretty tasty although there were some kitchen and server issues.  I felt bad for Kim because she should be able to just enjoy her day instead of dealing with that especially since I'm sure they spent a pretty penny on the place.  I got Kim some little onesies and the cutest, most girly little socks with ruffled ribbon cuffs.  Michelle, being the artistic genius that she is, got her a journal-type book for them to present to the baby when she gets older.  In the meantime they can write stories, or letters to her, or record things she does or draw or just whatever.  Michelle painstakingly painted the whole thing white and then created stencils from her own drawings and painted them.  It came out SO beautifully.  I really envy her artistry.  I did not get that gene.

Kim opening her gift from Michelle

The cover of the book, all done lovingly by hand.

We got home and I had just enough time to freshen up, grab a sandwich and drive over to Ashley's apartment to pick her, and our friends Robert and Alan up.  Robert was the Associate Producer at Ogunquit and Alan is his partner (and also an actor).  Gail was playing Betty Schaeffer in Sunset Boulevard at the Gateway Playhouse on Long Island so we made plans to attend her closing night show on Saturday.  Our friend Sal was also going to be there as he flew in from Palm Springs to see his friend Loni play Norma Desmond so it was a big Ogunquit reunion!  The drive wasn't bad and allowed us to catch up.  I called Gail as soon as we got there and she came flying out of the cast house and barely said hello and hugged us before she blurted out "I'm 5 1/2 months pregnant!" and patted her tiny tummy.  She was so excited to tell us in person.  She's due in late December so now she's not going to work anymore this year.  She and her husband Aaron were keeping it a secret because of her career.  I mean, having a pregnant Betty Schaeffer would have been odd had she been really showing but in her costumes you really couldn't tell.  Anyway, I am so happy for them both; they are going to be awesome parents.  I have named the baby Rex :)  They are also thinking of renting out their house in Las Vegas (where Aaron is in The Lion King) and moving to NYC in February which, in my opinion, is a long overdue move considering how amazing they both are and how much they work not even living there.

Gail gave us a tour of the theatre which I had not heard great things about and was eager to check out to see if I ever want to audition for them and based on what I saw I DO NOT want to.  It used to be a much better place by all accounts but now it is so run down and dirty and there's junk everywhere.  I mean literally crap is just strewn all over the grounds.  Random stairs, and pieces of rags and buckets and just...crap!  The cast house blows and is rickety and the kitchen is out back in another building that everyone shares.  There are multiple fridges and stuff but when there is more than one cast on site at crossover and they are all trying to make a meal...nightmare.  It's so sad to see a potentially nice theatre not being taken care of and frankly I'm surprised Equity hasn't intervened.  Gail was eager to get the hell out of there.  She was covered in spider bites from her dressing room.  NOT ok.  The theatre itself and the lobby are cute but those are the areas that always get cared for and renovated first.  It was an extremely soupy and hot night so I was grateful for the A/C.

The show itself was just kind of ok.  The three leads were good.  Loni, honestly, seemed to be phoning it in but she still sounded fantastic (she was the L.A. Evita back in the day and has a myriad of impressive credits) and she was a nice lady.  Gail was great, as always.  I just really hate the show so it's hard to be objective.  The set and lighting were ok.  The set was from Ogunquit's production last summer but was drastically scaled down.  The grand staircase was not so grand.  The wardrobe was funky and definitely not from OGT.  The direction and choreography were just dreadful and done by the same man.  And I have a hard time believing the ensemble were the best performers they could get.  One guy was constantly upstaging.  He upstaged Philip Hoffman in a freaking serious solo moment!  Philip's talent was wasted on his role but then that's Lloyd Webber's fault.  We chatted with him, his wife and his son after.  The orchestra was largely electronic is as, sadly, often the case these days.  But still I'm glad we all got to see Gail and hang out a little.  We had a nice visit with Sal too.  He is a very funny man.  His last name is Mistretta but I call him Miss Tretta.

It was sad to leave them so quickly but I will see everyone at Ashley's wedding next month!  And I can't wait for Mike to meet these people who have become so dear to me.  I talk about them and he has no idea who I'm talking about.  He also has requested that I stop making friends with people named Ashley because he can't keep them all straight!

Michelle and I spent a lovely lazy day together on Sunday.  I love her so much and being with her is so easy.  It's that type of relationship where you can sit in silence and be perfectly content or you can talk for hours on end and when I see her it feels like no time has passed.  Hopefully I will be back soon.