No, No, No! I know what you are thinking but that isn’t the case. Patrice didn’t get sick of me and tell me to leave. No, we saw an excellent play today. But before I get to that let me tell you about last night when we saw, “The Ferryman”. This was a play that lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes. Need I say more? There was a very cute baby in it. Yes, a real live baby in a Broadway play. He/she was so cute. The actor was playing a baby (classic type casting) and just had to be carried around the stage by an actress playing his/her care-giver. It was very cute, just looking around at the audience in amazement. He/she did not have a speaking part, all it had to do was look gorgeous which it did with ease. There was also a live goose and at least one if not two rabbits. The baby and the animals were by far my favorite parts of the play.
Today was much different. Today we saw “Network” starring Bryan Cranston. You might not be old enough to remember the film starring Peter Finch, William Holden and Faye Dunaway and the classic line from the movie, “I’m mad as Hell and not going to take it any anymore”. It was character Howard Beale who uttered those famous words not my wife. That isn’t to say that she hasn’t thought about it at times (who could blame her?). This production was superb but during the first hour I thought, “This is good but I already saw the movie so why did I have to pay all this money to see it again?” Then it started to get very interesting. They used some very creative staging with the use of video to pull off some fascinating visuals. Also some of the audience was onstage. I didn’t even realize they were part of the audience until after the show ended. There was one part of the play where Bryan Cranston came off the stage and sat between two audience members (yes between them on the arm rest) and talked to them making them part of the performance. We had to watch on the stage large television monitor to see what was happening. When the cameraperson zoomed out we could see ourselves onstage. It was a very interesting effect.
It was Patrice’s idea for us to see “Network”. I was very lukewarm about the idea. I liked the movie but I saw no point in seeing the play. I knew (and liked) the play’s message of television and corporations running our lives. Certainly the message is still pertinent today, maybe even more so, with the advent of the internet and social media. I really have to thank Patrice for pushing us to go. It reminds me of the time she wanted us to go to an off Broadway musical that really seemed dumb to me. It was about one of the founding fathers. As I recall it was called “Hamilton”. I heard it went on to Broadway and did well.
I also need Patrice on these trip to read signs for me. On our way to meet our friends, Bert and Carol for breakfast we saw a bus that I didn’t understand. I said, “Patrice, look at that bus, it says Big Bust Ours.com” . I was confused and thought it might be some club of women with a certain type of anatomy. She set me straight, “No, Robert, it says Big Bus Tours.com”
Oh.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 