2013-11-24 Snow Geese at Manhattan Theatre Club
We saw the new play "Snow Geese" Friday night at MTC on 47th Street. It is starring Mary-Louise Parker (from TV's Weeds), Danny Burstein, and Victoria Clark. I thoroughly enjoyed this play, which takes place in 1917 in Syracuse, NY. It is about the Gaesling family, nuevo riche who spend their summers in Syracuse at their summer home called the Lodge. We learn that the father has recently passed away and one of the sons, Duncan is about to leave to go to the war in Europe. The story deals with the two brothers, Arnold being the younger son, and their relationship to their mother and father. As is usually the case, the eldest son and first born is doted upon by the parents, sent to college, and is basically put on a pedestal, while the younger brother, who is still at home, has to deal with all the trials and tribulations of being at home. The family has taken in their friends, a German couple who more or less have been ostracized from their hometown and are staying at the summer house in Syracuse as a refuge from the intolerance of others. We learn that the father has basically gone into debt and has not let the rest of the family in on the situation. The play shows how the remaining members of the family react to this.
It was a pleasure to see Mary-Louise on stage again, and the two brothers, played by Evan Jonigkeit (Duncan) and Brian Cross (Arnold) were quite good in their roles. Danny Burstein affects a German accent and once again shows that he is an incredible actor as well as a musical comedy star. Victoria Clark, also a musical comedy star, brings out the humanity in her character nicely.
I thought the premise of this play was quite interesting showing how the rich in this country lived for many years, and how with the onslaught of World War I everything changed. Yes, we still had many of the ultra wealthy have their second homes, their servants, and their way of life unchanged, but we see how the upper middle class lives was beginning to change at this time in our history. It is interesting how we still have the separation of the rich and poor in this country and around the world. I felt as I was watching it, that this could be the American version of a Chekhov play.
As usual, the set for the show was amazing. John Lee Beatty designed it and once again shows that he is the pre-eminent set designer on Broadway. I keep looking forward to a coffee table book devoted to his set designs. I always refer to the Lincoln Center production of "Dinner at Eight" where he had a complete table setting with chairs, floral arrangements, chandeliers and complete dining service floating against a black background as you entered the theatre. It was most impressive.
I would highly recommend this play.
Gary Mathias
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
2013-11-10 London Trip & Retirement
Tuesday, October 29 was my last official day to work at Crate and Barrel. My partner Bill and I had decided that I would retire at this point. So to celebrate, we decided to take a five day trip to London, since Bill had to travel on to Kenya for work. It had been 2 years since I was last there, and I was really itching for a London fix. We flew on Delta and arrived on Weds. morning. We were staying at a boutique hotel called Park Place on the river opposite the lower end of the Parliament buildings in London. It was a little difficult in traveling back and forth from the hotel because of its location near the Vauxhall station, but we managed to get back and forth to Leiscester Square without too much trouble. This was an interesting area because one of the elevated rail lines were right behind us. They had taken the curved sections underneath the railroad bridges and made restaurants and shops out of them. There were also some afterhours clubs also. It was somewhat disconcerting to walk past these clubs at 10 am in the morning and still see a line of young folks waiting to get into the clubs.
While in London, we saw 2 plays, 1 musical, and 1 movie. The two plays were excellent, "The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui" which starred Henry Goodman at the Duchess Theatre. It was a wonderful production of the Bertoldt Brecht play. It's had to believe that this was the same Henry Goodman who was fired as the replacement to Nathan Lane in the American musical "The Producers" on Broadway. He was exceptional in the lead role. The second play we saw had moved to the West End from the National Theatre and it was called "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time." All in all a brilliantly acted play with a great set design. I'm sure that an American theatre will bring this to New York. The musical we saw was "The Bodyguard" from the Whitney Houston movie. I enjoyed the show very much, but would have loved to seen Heather Headley who played the role when it opened last year. We were at a matinee so we saw the understudy in the lead role and not Beverley Knight who is advertised in the lead. It'll be interesting to see if this comes to New York in the near future.
The movie we saw had not opened in New York yet, but did open last weekend and captured the box office crown. It was "Ender's Game," a sci fi flick with Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, and Viola Davis. I enjoyed the film a lot, but it was not until I got back to New York that I heard the controversy involving the author of the book and his tirades against gay marriage. It was interesting that the cast distanced themselves from his viewpoint, and it obviously didn't affect the people attending the movie.
We found London to be quite expensive at this point in time. We did venture to Soho and have fish and chips at our little hole in the wall restaurant that we had discovered many years ago and is still there. We also went back to Balan's in Soho for dinner one night. The weather was sort of hit and miss in London, with off and on rain pretty much the whole time we were there.
On Saturday, we went to the Portobello Road flea market where Bill has found an array of antique clocks from the 20's and 30's for the past few years. We caught up with our friend Roger who Bill has bought most of them from. He was surprised to see us since it had been a long time. Bill did purchase another clock from him to add to the collection. During the week I also went shopping on my own to HMV. Yes, they still have a real record, CD and DVD store in London. I spent a couple of hours there shopping and picked up a couple of goodies while there.
It was nice to get back to London, but we hated the crowds and the Piccadilly/Leicester Square area was crawling with people. When will we return, I don't know, but at least I got my fix of London for a while.
So, it's back to New York and planning our next getaway in early 2013.
While in London, we saw 2 plays, 1 musical, and 1 movie. The two plays were excellent, "The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui" which starred Henry Goodman at the Duchess Theatre. It was a wonderful production of the Bertoldt Brecht play. It's had to believe that this was the same Henry Goodman who was fired as the replacement to Nathan Lane in the American musical "The Producers" on Broadway. He was exceptional in the lead role. The second play we saw had moved to the West End from the National Theatre and it was called "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time." All in all a brilliantly acted play with a great set design. I'm sure that an American theatre will bring this to New York. The musical we saw was "The Bodyguard" from the Whitney Houston movie. I enjoyed the show very much, but would have loved to seen Heather Headley who played the role when it opened last year. We were at a matinee so we saw the understudy in the lead role and not Beverley Knight who is advertised in the lead. It'll be interesting to see if this comes to New York in the near future.
The movie we saw had not opened in New York yet, but did open last weekend and captured the box office crown. It was "Ender's Game," a sci fi flick with Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, and Viola Davis. I enjoyed the film a lot, but it was not until I got back to New York that I heard the controversy involving the author of the book and his tirades against gay marriage. It was interesting that the cast distanced themselves from his viewpoint, and it obviously didn't affect the people attending the movie.
We found London to be quite expensive at this point in time. We did venture to Soho and have fish and chips at our little hole in the wall restaurant that we had discovered many years ago and is still there. We also went back to Balan's in Soho for dinner one night. The weather was sort of hit and miss in London, with off and on rain pretty much the whole time we were there.
On Saturday, we went to the Portobello Road flea market where Bill has found an array of antique clocks from the 20's and 30's for the past few years. We caught up with our friend Roger who Bill has bought most of them from. He was surprised to see us since it had been a long time. Bill did purchase another clock from him to add to the collection. During the week I also went shopping on my own to HMV. Yes, they still have a real record, CD and DVD store in London. I spent a couple of hours there shopping and picked up a couple of goodies while there.
It was nice to get back to London, but we hated the crowds and the Piccadilly/Leicester Square area was crawling with people. When will we return, I don't know, but at least I got my fix of London for a while.
So, it's back to New York and planning our next getaway in early 2013.
2013-11-10 South Africa
From Feb. 2 to Feb. 20, 2012, Bill and I plus our friends Fatima and Jeff, and Bernd and his son Mark, spent a wonderful 2 weeks in South Africa. We had planned this trip for almost two years and it finally happened.
Bill and I first flew to Amsterdam and spent a day there. Since I had never been to Amsterdam, I looked forward to seeing the city for one day. And what did we find, a snowstorm and extremely cold temperatures. But I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the day trip! It makes me want to go back to the city in good weather and see the rest of the city.
We then flew to Johannesburg, South Africa to meet our other friends there. The first day both groups took separate tours of the city and into the outlying areas including Soweto. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and took us to many areas of the city to experience the local culture. Bill has been in Johannesburg a couple of times, so he was familiar with the city. This was my first trip. I was incredibly impressed with Constitution Hill and the amazing sense of history of South Africa as presented in the wonderful museum dedicated to the transformation of Africa and the end of Apartheid.
From there, we traveled to Soweto and saw the homes of Nelson Mandela, Bishop Tutu and Winnie Mandela. And then to the Monument to where the new constitution of South Africa was signed. From there we went to the Apartheid Museum. All of this was incredibly moving to me. It mirrored the story of America and how the black race was treated in our own country.
We met up with our friends for dinner that night and had a wonderful first meal in South Africa.
The next day we all met in Pretoria to take the Blue Train (a 24 hour trip to Cape Town by railroad.) This was an amazing experience. Each of the three groups of us had our own club car. The train was an amazing experience, which we had not done before. It was a day of leisure and enjoying the amenities that the train had to offer. Dinner that night was pretty special. It was our second night of experiencing some wonderful South African wines which we would imbibe in for the rest of the trip. We did stop in Kimberley to see the Big Hole, which is where many of the original diamond mines in South Africa were located. We arrived in Capetown around noon the next day, where we were escorted to our respective hotels.
We spent 4 days in Capetown, experiencing many of the sights. We toured Table Mountain, the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, spent a wonderful day in Stellenbosch touring Simonsig Winery, and enjoying the wonderful restaurants including the Roundhouse, Bahia, and Nelson's Eye. We caught up with our friends Keith and Angus while we were there, and got to spend some wonderful times with them.
After Capetown, the six of us then drove in two cars to the Cape of Good Hope, and then along the bottom edge of South Africa to Hermanus where we spent a night. Hermanus is where the whales frolic in season, not when we were there unfortunately. The two groups spend the night in Bed and Breakfastes about a block apart on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Both places were really nice. Again we walked into the downtown area of Hermanus and had dinner together.
The next day we had quite a long drive to Knysna. We stopped at South Point which is the area where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean with a wonderful lighthouse. From there we drove on to Knysna through many wheat fields and some really wonderful scenery. In Knysna, we stayed 2 nights, in separate accomodations, which were both pretty special. We ate locally both nights, once on the Pier and the second night at the Olive Tree in the downtown area. Fatima, Jeff, Bill and I took a boat to the Featherbed Nature Preserve for a tour down the side of the mountain, while Bernd and Mark went to one of the local beaches.
Knysna was a beautiful inlet from the ocean and we all enjoyed it very much.
We then journeyed back to the Stellenbosch region via route 62 through the mountains to Franschhoek. We stopped at a weird little cafe called Smits Winkel, where we took some nice pictures of ostriches. This was a very scenic drive and we stopped for lunch in Montagu at a lovely restaurant called the Mimosa Lodge. We were due for another wine tasting but the trip took longer than we thought and the others ended up with 2 flat tires, which we had to take care of. We continued our way to Franschhoek, where Bill and I stayed in a winery and Fatima, Jeff, Bernd, and Mark stayed down the road in a very nice hotel. We had dinner in Franschhoek where once again we had some wonderful South African wines.
The next day Mark left us and returned to Berlin. The rest of us flew to Kruger Park and Singita for a 3 day safari. It was a magical 3 days exploring the nature preserve. We saw all of the Big 5 animals (lion, elephant, water buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros. In addition many varieties of birds, hippos, zebras, gazelles, giraffes, and monkeys. Our guide and tracker were really good so we had five different trips into the African wilderness. I was able to take a large amount of photographs.
The Singita resort called Boulders was pretty amazing. Each group of us had our individual lodge with our own small pool on the deck. One evening after our safari trip all of the people staying at the resort were taken into the bush for a wilderness cookout.. The food was exceptional and it was a great evening.
We then returned to Johannesburg to fly back to New York for me. Bill was to continue on for work in Africa. My plane was cancelled so I had to spend an extra night. Luckily, Bill was staying at the hotel near the airport so I was able to join him. It turned out to be a very special evening because we had dinner with some South African friends, Mark and Anell plus Fatima, Jeff, and Bernd. I was able to take off the next morning on a flight to Atlanta and then back to Brooklyn. We unfortunately had to stop over in Miami because of a sick passenger, but were not delayed to long getting back to New York.
All in all this was one of the most memorable trips I have ever taken. It has also taken me a long time to finish this excerpt of my blog, but my memory of the trip is still with me. I would love to go back to South Africa again because it was such a great experience especially meeting such wonderful people there and getting a real sense of the incredible history of the country.
Bill and I first flew to Amsterdam and spent a day there. Since I had never been to Amsterdam, I looked forward to seeing the city for one day. And what did we find, a snowstorm and extremely cold temperatures. But I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the day trip! It makes me want to go back to the city in good weather and see the rest of the city.
We then flew to Johannesburg, South Africa to meet our other friends there. The first day both groups took separate tours of the city and into the outlying areas including Soweto. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and took us to many areas of the city to experience the local culture. Bill has been in Johannesburg a couple of times, so he was familiar with the city. This was my first trip. I was incredibly impressed with Constitution Hill and the amazing sense of history of South Africa as presented in the wonderful museum dedicated to the transformation of Africa and the end of Apartheid.
From there, we traveled to Soweto and saw the homes of Nelson Mandela, Bishop Tutu and Winnie Mandela. And then to the Monument to where the new constitution of South Africa was signed. From there we went to the Apartheid Museum. All of this was incredibly moving to me. It mirrored the story of America and how the black race was treated in our own country.
We met up with our friends for dinner that night and had a wonderful first meal in South Africa.
The next day we all met in Pretoria to take the Blue Train (a 24 hour trip to Cape Town by railroad.) This was an amazing experience. Each of the three groups of us had our own club car. The train was an amazing experience, which we had not done before. It was a day of leisure and enjoying the amenities that the train had to offer. Dinner that night was pretty special. It was our second night of experiencing some wonderful South African wines which we would imbibe in for the rest of the trip. We did stop in Kimberley to see the Big Hole, which is where many of the original diamond mines in South Africa were located. We arrived in Capetown around noon the next day, where we were escorted to our respective hotels.
We spent 4 days in Capetown, experiencing many of the sights. We toured Table Mountain, the Victoria and Albert Waterfront, spent a wonderful day in Stellenbosch touring Simonsig Winery, and enjoying the wonderful restaurants including the Roundhouse, Bahia, and Nelson's Eye. We caught up with our friends Keith and Angus while we were there, and got to spend some wonderful times with them.
After Capetown, the six of us then drove in two cars to the Cape of Good Hope, and then along the bottom edge of South Africa to Hermanus where we spent a night. Hermanus is where the whales frolic in season, not when we were there unfortunately. The two groups spend the night in Bed and Breakfastes about a block apart on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Both places were really nice. Again we walked into the downtown area of Hermanus and had dinner together.
The next day we had quite a long drive to Knysna. We stopped at South Point which is the area where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean with a wonderful lighthouse. From there we drove on to Knysna through many wheat fields and some really wonderful scenery. In Knysna, we stayed 2 nights, in separate accomodations, which were both pretty special. We ate locally both nights, once on the Pier and the second night at the Olive Tree in the downtown area. Fatima, Jeff, Bill and I took a boat to the Featherbed Nature Preserve for a tour down the side of the mountain, while Bernd and Mark went to one of the local beaches.
Knysna was a beautiful inlet from the ocean and we all enjoyed it very much.
We then journeyed back to the Stellenbosch region via route 62 through the mountains to Franschhoek. We stopped at a weird little cafe called Smits Winkel, where we took some nice pictures of ostriches. This was a very scenic drive and we stopped for lunch in Montagu at a lovely restaurant called the Mimosa Lodge. We were due for another wine tasting but the trip took longer than we thought and the others ended up with 2 flat tires, which we had to take care of. We continued our way to Franschhoek, where Bill and I stayed in a winery and Fatima, Jeff, Bernd, and Mark stayed down the road in a very nice hotel. We had dinner in Franschhoek where once again we had some wonderful South African wines.
The next day Mark left us and returned to Berlin. The rest of us flew to Kruger Park and Singita for a 3 day safari. It was a magical 3 days exploring the nature preserve. We saw all of the Big 5 animals (lion, elephant, water buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros. In addition many varieties of birds, hippos, zebras, gazelles, giraffes, and monkeys. Our guide and tracker were really good so we had five different trips into the African wilderness. I was able to take a large amount of photographs.
The Singita resort called Boulders was pretty amazing. Each group of us had our individual lodge with our own small pool on the deck. One evening after our safari trip all of the people staying at the resort were taken into the bush for a wilderness cookout.. The food was exceptional and it was a great evening.
We then returned to Johannesburg to fly back to New York for me. Bill was to continue on for work in Africa. My plane was cancelled so I had to spend an extra night. Luckily, Bill was staying at the hotel near the airport so I was able to join him. It turned out to be a very special evening because we had dinner with some South African friends, Mark and Anell plus Fatima, Jeff, and Bernd. I was able to take off the next morning on a flight to Atlanta and then back to Brooklyn. We unfortunately had to stop over in Miami because of a sick passenger, but were not delayed to long getting back to New York.
All in all this was one of the most memorable trips I have ever taken. It has also taken me a long time to finish this excerpt of my blog, but my memory of the trip is still with me. I would love to go back to South Africa again because it was such a great experience especially meeting such wonderful people there and getting a real sense of the incredible history of the country.
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