We drove up and stayed with friends on Riverside Drive in Manhattan in what was a heat wave by anyone's standards. We had dinner at Marseille near the theater where Alice Ripley stars in Next to Normal. It's a rock musical and wonderfully done. Opened here at Arena Stage last year and thence to NY. It is rumored to be much improved in NY. Alice Ripley does a wonderful performance. Ben spent an afternoon with the hunks of South Pacific, really enjoying the revival.
John spent several days at Columbia, doing a bit of continuing education, learning new and different things about technology and the Internet, and we had a couple of good lunches, more important for the conversation than the food!
Together we visited with the Reunionistis at a party above Union Square at one of our classmates. John chatted with old friends, of course, while Ben cemented friendship with his new South African friend, married to one of my old co-workers at WPXI Pittsburgh.
A high point was to take in the Museum of Modern Art with these friends. The museum has been redone since my last visit, and the Futurists, John's favorite, are not all on display, regrettbly. Oh, well. Several are, and they are gorgeous.
On the Sunday afternoon we went to a wonderful performance of Handel's La Resurrezione, by our flutist friend Charles Brink's group, The Grand Tour Orchestra. He is associated with both Opera Lafayette here in Washington and the Four Nation's Ensemble in New York. Four Nation's director, Andy Appel, played the harpsichord for this performance, of a much better piece than the Messiah!We left immediately for Andy and his partner David's new maison secondaire in the mountains east of the Hudson for two days of rest and relaxation. They are on 15 acres and have views of the mountains, sunsets, stars and fields in every direction. The house, built about 1970, is a work in progress, but lots of space and room for concerts.
After two days there we left for a quick visit to Providence to see John's advisor for his Master's degree at Brown. We had a wonderful dimsum lunch in Cranston, at the Kings Garden. The braised tripe was particularly good so we have since tried it home to great success. From there we spent two nights with our friend Elaine in Bristol. We took a quick trip to Newport for the day, and enjoyed seeing boats being made ready for the water.
Of course the real reason for the trip north was the wedding of our daughter to her long-time boyfriend. On the Wellesley campus where they met 13 years ago. It was a small and lovely ceremony, only six guests, including Ben and John, her mother Lee, and his parents and sister. She wore her maternal grandmother's 1928 prom dress, a cherry red ensemble, off the shoulders, and looked magnificent. We were all very proud and enjoying the event.She had chosen a point overlooking Lake Waban.
Since it was May 1, the leaves on the trees were just bursting out and there was a haze of green over everything. Ben, John and her mother hosted dinner that night at the Kincaid brothers Sibling Rivalry in South Boston, an excellent restaurant owned by the Washington-based Kincaid's with a reasonably priced prix-fixe menu that offered something for all of us from herbivores to carnivores.We had a quick trip home, stopping overnight in Philadelphia with friends Paul and Linda.
Since then, we have done significant theater:
Giant, at Signature, a new musical based on the Edna Ferber novel made popular by the Liz and Rock film of the same name in 1957. We gave it a roaring A, but the reviews have been mixed. Partly, we think because of the length at four hours. The music by Michael John Lachiuso is very good.
Arcadia, at the Folger, one of Tom Stoppard's best plays ever, examining through two different eras the worth of mankind. Holly Twyford, who starred in the Little Dog Laughed a few months ago at Signature, is a wonderful lead. We gave it an A.
Rock n Roll, at the Studio, also by Tom Stoppard, examining the way man plays on man with a background of the 1968 Czech revolution against the Soviets, including subsquent evens. We gave it an A.
See What I Wanna See, a musical at Signature, with book, lyrics and music by Michael John Lachiuso. Not a great place. Based on the Japanese stories of Rashomon. B- at best.
And now we pack for our trip north again.
