I was so jet lagged on my first day in New York that when a man and a woman walked into the coffee shop I was in, wearing NYPD uniforms I assumed they from a movie set. Then it twigged…Manhattan Police dress like that.
New York never stopped to make my jaw drop.
What makes it tick? Competition.
Nothing lasts if it is not very very good.
Even the buskers were high quality…superb opera singers and string quartets line the subway.
What I found fascinating about the theatre is the little things.
Everyone gets a free program called Playbill filled with ads. The souvenir programs which you buy have no ads and are value for money.
Many Broadway theatres have no foyer you just walk in to the theatre, and many older theatres have you crammed in like sardines.
I got the biggest laughs from a play I attended called wait for it Jewtopia.
A non Jew wants to find a Jewish girlfriend so he does not have 'make decisions any more.' His Jewish friends shows him the ropes.
My most magical theatrical experience was the Opera.
I attended the opening of a new production of Romeo and Juliet by Gounod at the Met.
What an occasion.
The crystal chandeliers that looked snowdrops and rose in the auditorium when the opera begins, the sumptuous curtain, the extravagant foyer dressed up like a medieval feast for sponsors, the sub-titles on the back of every seat and the program which was individually published for that night.
" The 301st Metropolitan Opera performance of Charles Gounod Romeo et Juliette"
I had my $35 dollars worth already.
Then the most exquisite singing and sublimely beautiful set, as Romeo and Juliet floated on a bed which resembled a magic carpet floating among the stars.
I can't wait to go back.