Well it is already Thursday and I haven't even been able to tell you about my brush with Tom Hanks...
Sadly, I was in row O and he was onstage, but we were close enough to see one another, and I SWEAR, we might have locked eyes once. Sometimes, you just know these things...
The play is in previews until April 1st, and we saw it on the 3rd night it was performed. It starts very strong, but kind of fizzles out a bit at the end, though they may have fixed that a bit by now. The last scene involves all of the characters reprising a drinking song sung earlier in the play and then they hold hands and bow and poof! they are gone! They did not come back for another round of applause, which I think was very disconcerting for the audience, who kind of wandered out as if in a daze! I wondered if they did this because Tom Hanks didn't want people to go crazy clapping just for him (like they do when he goes on stage for the first time) but I really wanted to clap for all of them!
Given the subject matter - a controversial journalist writing for the New York tabloids in the 80s, I will be honest and say that as a non-New Yorker, and a non-tabloid reader, I was not familiar with all of the characters referred to, though it was clear that folks around me certainly were. Tom Hanks is great, but I think he did not get his needed "big moment" in the 2nd act, the moment required to really elevate the play. The other actors, mostly playing his former colleagues, almost seemed to have bigger moments at times, and I especially enjoyed Courtney B. Vance's performance. Maura Tierney as his wife was good, but not great in my opinion, although my husband disagreed with me on that! Peter Scolari, Hanks' former Bosum Buddies buddy, is in the play and is quite good as well. We had seen him play the Music Man in summer stock in Ogunquit two summers ago. It was only 24 hours AFTER seeing the play that Barry mentioned to me "Wasn't Peter Scolari in Busom Buddies with Tom Hanks?" Well, duh!
The theatre was packed. I mean, really packed! And when we came out of the theatre afterwards, both sides of the street were crammed with onlookers, held back by the police, waiting to see Tom Hanks come out of the stage door. We did not wait, but actress Judith Light and her husband walked right in front of us, getting through the crowd to go say hello to the cast. Remember her from Who's the Boss?
All that big blonde hair from the 80s! Well her hair is NOT that big now and she looked very tiny and quite lovely and I was shocked to read that she is now 64 years old, as she certainly does not look 64, nor does she really look to me like she has had plastic surgery.
Would I recommend the play if you can possibly get a ticket? Absolutely! The play was really enjoyable, Tom Hanks is great and I felt that it was a real privilege to see him do his work. My one disappointment was that there was no sign of Miss Rita Wilson!!!
Judith Light was not the only celebrity we saw on this trip - my son and his girlfriend saw Shia LeBoeuf one day out walking, I saw Lou Dobbs (who I think is on Fox New now, which I would never watch, and used to be on CNN) and my husband saw David Copperfield, the magician, whom he described as "very tan with jet black hair"!
But you didn't think Tom could ever disappoint me, did you???
I also visited the Guggenheim Museum for the first time on this visit (just Barry and I) and was blown away by the architecture and the collections!
Such an amazing space!
The big exhibit, wrapping around the huge circular walkways was Gutai: Splendid Playground. Many of you are much more worldly than I am about art - I had never heard of Gutai, which was Japan's avant-garde art collective of the 1950s onwards. Everything was experimental to them and they were dismissive (from what I could see and read!) of art that was in any way, shape or form traditional.
This was an absolutely fascintating exhibit. The group had its own manifesto and the art was definitely out there, at least to my eyes. The whole objective was to be part of the materials, not separate from them and many of the pieces of art looked less like art to me than big globs on paper. The long plastic tubing in my picture above (you can't take pictures up in the exhibit and you know i am a rule follower) is one of the installations.
The one above is red cube, comprised of wood vinyl and lightbulbs. Some of the art work were simply pieces of yellow cloth cut in huge squares on the wall.
My favourite piece, was, no surprise, electric dress, which you can see below:
I am sorry this picture is in black and white, as each one of the tubes above is a very brightly coloured, like christmas tree bulbs from the 1950s and 1960s elongated. It was spectacular.
So now I am turning to my chum Kathy for guidance. The place was full of young and old hipsters, not so unlike middle aged Wendy and Barry whose feet were hurting (by this point in the trip I was really getting to enjoy avant garde art as I would sit for LONG periods ot time looking at it and resting my toes!) and wondering to myself: "some of these pieces look a lot like installations I have seen in high school art classes. What makes them so special? Was it simply the times and that no one else was doing something similar, especially in Japan?"
I could have bought the book that accompanied the show to get my answer, but I thought I would just wait and ask you, Kathy!
I like art that makes you think and Gutai: Splendid Playground certainly did that for me!
So I am in the Guggenheim, seeing all of this amazing modern art, but you know what I loved best? A beautiful painting by Camille Pissarro called The Hermitage at Pontoise.
I could have looked at this painting all day. I don't know why, maybe because it reminded me of parts of France I have been to, but I just felt like I was there! Apparently, this was very avant garde for its time, but compared to Gutai, it didn't feel like that!
We also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the umpteenth time, but now my modus operandi is very simple - decide on one section and go just there. This time I actually just went and sat in front of John Singer Sargent's Madame X for half an hour. I had read about the painting in the McCullough book I keep talking about (really, I should be on his payroll! My husband thinks Mr. McCullough and I are having an affair and I think we might be, though it is all one-sided on my part) The Greater Journey.
I may have seen this painting before, but this time, I really looked at it, thought about the story behind the painting and its reception, which you can read about here, and really looked at the the brushstrokes, the colour, etc. It was just a delightful way to spend a half-hour. And then I got churlish because we do not teach our children enough about the arts, but that is another story for another day!
So this post is really the culture part of my trip and each time I visit NYC, it is as if another little pearl reveals itself to me!
So it was stars all around, from Tom Hanks to Madame X!
And you didn't think I would end without acknowledging the new Pope did you?
No I am not Catholic. And frankly I have never heard of Pope Francis before this afternoon. But I wish him good luck and God speed as I think he will need it!
He looked a little stunned, and it was clear that this was no Anne Hatheway and that he had NOT been practising his speech in front of the mirror for weeks in advance. But he has a nice smile and I am sure, a good heart! So God bless!
Have a most happy (and holy if so inclined!) thursday and stay safe out there!
 |
| Source: New York Times |
The play is in previews until April 1st, and we saw it on the 3rd night it was performed. It starts very strong, but kind of fizzles out a bit at the end, though they may have fixed that a bit by now. The last scene involves all of the characters reprising a drinking song sung earlier in the play and then they hold hands and bow and poof! they are gone! They did not come back for another round of applause, which I think was very disconcerting for the audience, who kind of wandered out as if in a daze! I wondered if they did this because Tom Hanks didn't want people to go crazy clapping just for him (like they do when he goes on stage for the first time) but I really wanted to clap for all of them!
Given the subject matter - a controversial journalist writing for the New York tabloids in the 80s, I will be honest and say that as a non-New Yorker, and a non-tabloid reader, I was not familiar with all of the characters referred to, though it was clear that folks around me certainly were. Tom Hanks is great, but I think he did not get his needed "big moment" in the 2nd act, the moment required to really elevate the play. The other actors, mostly playing his former colleagues, almost seemed to have bigger moments at times, and I especially enjoyed Courtney B. Vance's performance. Maura Tierney as his wife was good, but not great in my opinion, although my husband disagreed with me on that! Peter Scolari, Hanks' former Bosum Buddies buddy, is in the play and is quite good as well. We had seen him play the Music Man in summer stock in Ogunquit two summers ago. It was only 24 hours AFTER seeing the play that Barry mentioned to me "Wasn't Peter Scolari in Busom Buddies with Tom Hanks?" Well, duh!
The theatre was packed. I mean, really packed! And when we came out of the theatre afterwards, both sides of the street were crammed with onlookers, held back by the police, waiting to see Tom Hanks come out of the stage door. We did not wait, but actress Judith Light and her husband walked right in front of us, getting through the crowd to go say hello to the cast. Remember her from Who's the Boss?
All that big blonde hair from the 80s! Well her hair is NOT that big now and she looked very tiny and quite lovely and I was shocked to read that she is now 64 years old, as she certainly does not look 64, nor does she really look to me like she has had plastic surgery.
Would I recommend the play if you can possibly get a ticket? Absolutely! The play was really enjoyable, Tom Hanks is great and I felt that it was a real privilege to see him do his work. My one disappointment was that there was no sign of Miss Rita Wilson!!!
Judith Light was not the only celebrity we saw on this trip - my son and his girlfriend saw Shia LeBoeuf one day out walking, I saw Lou Dobbs (who I think is on Fox New now, which I would never watch, and used to be on CNN) and my husband saw David Copperfield, the magician, whom he described as "very tan with jet black hair"!
But you didn't think Tom could ever disappoint me, did you???
I also visited the Guggenheim Museum for the first time on this visit (just Barry and I) and was blown away by the architecture and the collections!
Such an amazing space!
The big exhibit, wrapping around the huge circular walkways was Gutai: Splendid Playground. Many of you are much more worldly than I am about art - I had never heard of Gutai, which was Japan's avant-garde art collective of the 1950s onwards. Everything was experimental to them and they were dismissive (from what I could see and read!) of art that was in any way, shape or form traditional.
This was an absolutely fascintating exhibit. The group had its own manifesto and the art was definitely out there, at least to my eyes. The whole objective was to be part of the materials, not separate from them and many of the pieces of art looked less like art to me than big globs on paper. The long plastic tubing in my picture above (you can't take pictures up in the exhibit and you know i am a rule follower) is one of the installations.
The one above is red cube, comprised of wood vinyl and lightbulbs. Some of the art work were simply pieces of yellow cloth cut in huge squares on the wall.
My favourite piece, was, no surprise, electric dress, which you can see below:
I am sorry this picture is in black and white, as each one of the tubes above is a very brightly coloured, like christmas tree bulbs from the 1950s and 1960s elongated. It was spectacular.
So now I am turning to my chum Kathy for guidance. The place was full of young and old hipsters, not so unlike middle aged Wendy and Barry whose feet were hurting (by this point in the trip I was really getting to enjoy avant garde art as I would sit for LONG periods ot time looking at it and resting my toes!) and wondering to myself: "some of these pieces look a lot like installations I have seen in high school art classes. What makes them so special? Was it simply the times and that no one else was doing something similar, especially in Japan?"
I could have bought the book that accompanied the show to get my answer, but I thought I would just wait and ask you, Kathy!
I like art that makes you think and Gutai: Splendid Playground certainly did that for me!
So I am in the Guggenheim, seeing all of this amazing modern art, but you know what I loved best? A beautiful painting by Camille Pissarro called The Hermitage at Pontoise.
I could have looked at this painting all day. I don't know why, maybe because it reminded me of parts of France I have been to, but I just felt like I was there! Apparently, this was very avant garde for its time, but compared to Gutai, it didn't feel like that!
We also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the umpteenth time, but now my modus operandi is very simple - decide on one section and go just there. This time I actually just went and sat in front of John Singer Sargent's Madame X for half an hour. I had read about the painting in the McCullough book I keep talking about (really, I should be on his payroll! My husband thinks Mr. McCullough and I are having an affair and I think we might be, though it is all one-sided on my part) The Greater Journey.
I may have seen this painting before, but this time, I really looked at it, thought about the story behind the painting and its reception, which you can read about here, and really looked at the the brushstrokes, the colour, etc. It was just a delightful way to spend a half-hour. And then I got churlish because we do not teach our children enough about the arts, but that is another story for another day!
So this post is really the culture part of my trip and each time I visit NYC, it is as if another little pearl reveals itself to me!
So it was stars all around, from Tom Hanks to Madame X!
And you didn't think I would end without acknowledging the new Pope did you?
No I am not Catholic. And frankly I have never heard of Pope Francis before this afternoon. But I wish him good luck and God speed as I think he will need it!
He looked a little stunned, and it was clear that this was no Anne Hatheway and that he had NOT been practising his speech in front of the mirror for weeks in advance. But he has a nice smile and I am sure, a good heart! So God bless!
Have a most happy (and holy if so inclined!) thursday and stay safe out there!
