Ok – so I am finally updating!! The free
wifi here is pretty terrible, and I stupidly purchased a small amount with my
sim card. Anyway – I have a few days to write about, so here goes!!
Also - internet is really terrible and uploading photos is slow, so not many...sorry!!! Just a lot of boring words!!!
Day 3.
9/11 Memorial & Museum
I had a guided tour booked for 9:30 yesterday morning, so in usual Fiona fashion, I arrived at 8:15 (I still can't work out how you know what time the trains come. I'm pretty sure you just turn up at the station and wait for the next one to arrive!!!)
It was a beautiful morning yesterday and because I arrived so early, there was no one at the Reflection Pools.
They were beautiful. I kept thinking how clever it was that they had used water, because not only did it mask the construction and city noise, it created this really amazing meditative white noise. (Later I read the book I purchased and it said it was done so people could concentrate on the names of the people who died - so there you go!!)
In the park they have planted white oak trees as a symbol or rebirth etc, but ( and I had never heard this before) one tree survived the attacks. They found it during the clean up operation and sent it to a nursery to re-establish.
It is called The Survivor Tree.
The Museum itself is quite discrete next to the pools, but once you go in, you go downstairs. They have used the remains of the foundations to provide the home to the exhibitions.
Im not going to go into too much detail about the museum as it is HUGE, and there are so so many artifacts used to tell individuals stories.
This is not an easy museum to explain as it is filled with artefacts from the rubble as well as survivor stories, and stories from family members.
If you ever get a chance to go - do. I think it has been done really well and provides in sights into how people can and do pull together in a crisis.
So after an emotional and exhausting 4 and
a half hours, I went back outside to about 14 thousand people!! Hence why
turning up early to monument is ALWAYS a good idea!!
I went across to St Pauls church which was
used as a refuge for support workers during the aftermath of the attacks. It’s
a lovely small church that has been there since 1766 – well you can read the
photo anyway.
The outside is beautiful and sits in a
leafy garden (well it’s a cemetery, but people eat their lunch there!)
But now it was time to get myself ready for
my first show of the trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bullets over Broadway. I will start out by
saying – somehow I missed that this was a musical…(!!!???WTF???) How did I miss
that fairly major element of this Woody Allen adaptation??
Well I did.
Anyway – I am getting ahead of myself.
First of all, there is no element of ceremony getting into the theatre. You
literally line up with everyone else…outside…in the heat…waiting to move
inside. However it allows for a selfie in front of the sign!!
Inside I find the program seller, he (like
everyone working there) is an actor and beautiful. Pretty sure that is the
requirement – actor and beautiful (not conventionally beautiful – I don’t think
there are interested in BP’s – rather the statement beautiful people). I loved
him, because he instantly understood that the Souvenir Program (not to be
confused with the Playbill) is precious and needs to be handled with care!!! So
he gingerly slides it into the bag and presented it to me like it was art!!!
Next stop was the bar. YOU GET A SIPPY
CUP!!!!!!! Me: “Do I have time for a glass of wine” Beautiful Bartender Boy:
“Of course you do. And you can take it in with you” Me: “Really???” BBB: “Sure,
did you want a small, medium or large glass” Me: “What does a large look like?”
BBB: shows me a cup that holds a litre of liquid. Me: “Yeah, maybe the medium”
BBB: “There is intermission, so you can always come and get another one then –
and it will only be $10 because you already have the cup”
Here is a picture of my precious program,
playbill & sippy cup!!!!
So the show – it was brilliant. Zach Braff plays
a wonderful tortured Jewish playwright (you can see Woody Allen in him) trying
desperately to stay true to his work (which turns out to be crappy work!!)
while still finding someone to finance it (the age old problem!!)
Amazing singing – Zach Braff is really
good. Incredible dancing – there was a mob tap dancing scene which may have
been my favorite of the show. Beautiful costumes – set in New York 1929, they
were great!!!
Other people in the show:
Vincent Pastore: The Sopranos, The Practice
– any mob movie of note!!!
Karen Ziemba
Brooks Ashmanskas
Nick Cordero
Marin Mazzie
Betsy Wolfe
Lenny Wolpe
Helene Yorke
I was sitting in the 8th row, so
really really close. It was amazing to be so close to them.
At the end of the show there was a standing
ovation, which I love (we need to have more standing ovation in Brisbane. Its
an amazing feeling!!)
I left feeling emotional (like I always do
after shows) and walked the 10 blocks back to the hotel.
Sheila was concerned about walking home
alone at night, so here is a picture of how many people were on 7th
Ave as I walked home!!!!!
Day 4
Today was the Slavery & Underground
Railway Tour. Which was about slavery, but was neither underground nor anything
to do with trains!!!!
As I was heading over, I saw a film crew
setting up a shot. I was across the road but then a guy said that it was Brad
Pitt & Ben Affleck. So I went over the other side all excited!! I should
have been a little suspicious considering there were only a few people
watching!! No Brad, no Ben – just a shoot for a commercial, but still fun to
watch!
Before the tour I went for a walk around
Battery Park, which is having work done on it. But I saw the Statue of Liberty
from a distance and a bush turkey!!! Good times!
I then went to the National Museum of the
American Indian. Huge building with some interesting exhibits.
The Slavery tour was really interesting.
The underground railway, was a series of safe houses where slaves could go
after they had escaped from their masters. The safe houses were usually homes
of freed black slaves. The risk involved was huge, as anyone found harboring an
escaped slave could be sent back into slavery or killed. The ways people
managed to escape was also prey incredible. There was one woman who had lighter
skin, so she cut her hair, dressed up like a man (landowner) and took the train
out of the south with her slave (her husband). As she was illiterate she
pretended to be deaf and mute, her slave/husband spoke for her and put her arm
in a sling in case she was asked to sign her name on the train. So they
literally left the deep south in plain sight.
In 1991 during construction for a federal
building, human remains were found during excavation. “Over the next 2 years
about 1 acre of the estimated 6.6 acre burial ground was excavated and 419
skeletal remains were removed from the ground.” African Burial Ground Pamphlet
Next door is the monument which says “For
all those who were lost; For all those who were stolen; For all those who were
left behind; For all those who were not forgotten”
“The Ancestral Reinterment Ground is the
final resting place for the 419 human remains unearthed in the early 1990s.
They are reburied as closely as possible to their original positions. The
coffins were placed in seven crypts, and seven burial mounds mark the
locations. Seven trees serve as guardians for the entrance to the Ancestral
Chamber.” African Burial Ground Pamphlet
On my way back to the hotel to get ready
for my next show, I saw these guys busking in the subway. Seriously brilliant –
electric guitar and violin; who’da thought???
After a quick break, I was off to Avenue Q
(sing along with me!!! …But home to Avenue Q, You live on Avenue Q, Your
friends do to, You are twenty-two, And you live on Avenue Q, You live on Avenue
Q, You live on Avenue Q.)
What do you say about a show like this?? It
was brilliant! The cast were amazing – portraying more than one puppet with
different voices. The puppets were beautiful…Kate monster…Oh Mr & Mrs
Bear!!! They are your inner voices telling you that if you only have $50 to
your name, you really need to buy beer to allow yourself a bit of happiness.
And its wasteful buying a 6 pack because a case in the long run is so much
cheaper! We all know Mr & Mrs Bear – some are just better than others in
silencing them!!!
Standing ovation.
Day 5
Today I took the subway to Brooklyn (I’ve
got the subways totally figured out. God knows how!!) to my Jewish Hassidic
Tour. This particular section of the community have decided to open up to the
public to show people who they are (or more to the point, how they want the
public to perceive them). It was pretty interesting. We went and saw a Jewish
school/college. Until they are 18 Jewish kids go to school 7 days a week for 14
or 16 hours. They are learning the Torah and studying Jewish law (religious
law).
We learned the difference between married
men (with the shroud), under 13 (without a hat – just the cap) and unmarried
men (with the hat and no shroud).
Women are not allowed down there, but can
sit up where we were and watch. We kept being told that it is not a sexist
religion – that women were the head of the household which was the core of
Jewish life. It all sounded reasonable, until one of the guys on the tour told
me about a friend of his who had left the religion and it was just as sexist as
ever if not getting worse!! She has written a book called Unorthodox, which I
am planning on reading when I get home.
There were also a couple of German guys who
were doing their masters in Urban Geography. They are here looking at the
different sectors that make up New York.
And now its time for some Comedy!!!!!!
Carolines on Broadway is a comedy venue that has comedy most nights. I didn’t
know what to expect because I didn’t know any of the comedians. Needless to say
they were very funny! I listened to Colin Jost, J. F. Harris, Vanessa Bayer and
the MC (who I have forgotten) it was a funny night.
After I went to a bar called The Liberty
near my hotel for a couple of drinks. Met up with a couple of Australians
(surprise surprise!!!) and spent the night discussing New York.
Day 6
VERY quite day today and was feeling a
little hung over and really really tired from a week of busy days.
Somehow I missed booking this show before I
left – I have no idea how, but was lucky enough to get a brilliant seat.
Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill with
Audra McDonald. Holy Crap. I have few words to describe how incredible this
show was. So I’ll copy what was in the Playbill by the playwright.
‘In 1959, a boyfriend of mine say the great
Billie Holiday in a little dive in North Philadelphia about three months before
she dies. He said she stumbled in obviously “quite high”, carrying her little
Chihuahua Pepi, whom she introduced to her audience. A water glass was kept
filled with booze atop the piano for her. She and a piano player performed 10
or 12 of her songs for an audience of seven patrons. Then, he said, she
staggered out.
That image of the world’s greatest jazz
singer being so undervalued at the end of her like and career was an image that
has always haunted me.
Writing Lady
Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill was an attempt to rid myself of that
ghost.”
Laine Robertson
Audra McDonald was stunning &
breathtaking. I don’t know how she did it, the voice, the mouth, the emotion –
it really was one of the most amazing experiences.
Standing ovation.
Day 6
I wont go into this again – you all saw it
on Facebook!!
Cabaret – got another sippy cup and cried
at the end. Alan Cummings is brilliant.
Standing ovation
Hedwig & the Angry Inch – more of a
rock concert than a theatre show. Got another sippy cup (yes they are all
coming home with me!!!) Cried pretty much non stop from half way through. Neil
Patrick Harris is a genius. He deserves every single award he has ever
received. I was blown away by how much effort, emotion, skill he put into his
performance (and he had to do it all again at 10pm!!???)
Standing ovation.
Day 7
Today I went to The Book of Moron. It was very funny and had the magic guy from Pitch Perfect who was really really good. I had a seat that was in row two on the fight hand side of the stage - which at first glance looked to be a bit of a crappy seat, but once the show started, it was actually really good. When you can see people spitting when they sing and be able to have eye contact with the actors - I say its all good!!!
Standing ovation
After that, I didn't have anything booked, so I went to the closest box-office (that had a show on, which happened to the be third one I went to...why these actors think they need a night or two off is beyond me!!!!) so I ended up seeing Holler If Ya Hear Me which was written by Saul Williams (who was also the lead) and using Tupac's songs. It was incredible. Again I was in the third row, right in the middle and got to watch these incredible people perform.
The music was great and cleverly weaved into the show.
Standing ovation.
Ok - so as you can see, internet here is a pain. So I may not post again until I get to Washington. I will try, but its pretty unlikely!!
Im off to Perfect Crime tonight and meeting up with the guys from Germany tomorrow (so no show...sad panda!!) But it will be nice to have a conversation with people that is not just before a show starts!!!
I am hoping to see another 3 or 4 shows before I leave on Friday.
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