Remedies

I set out with the best of intentions this evening, carrying my new yoga bag (a Christmas gift from my sister) through the snow flurries to my 6:30 yoga class. Only, guess what? The class started at 6:00. D’oh! “The best laid plans…”

Instead of asanas, I wandered a bit and found another blues-buster, one favored by at least two of my readers: CUPCAKES!!


Now, I’m no food pornographer, but those look pretty good, right? Devil’s Food and Raspberry… yummmmm. A clean house, some exercise, cupcakes, and free episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and Ugly Betty on abc.com. Life’s not so blue after all. In another attempt to get out of my head, I also, per my mother’s suggestion, found a potential volunteer opportunity in my neighborhood; more on that as it develops.

Here are those bullet points I promised:

• I attended the Friday lunchtime concert of the New York Philharmonic last weekend. It was an interesting mix of a program: a Beethoven piano concerto, selections from Debussy’s “Impressions for Orchestra,” and the US Premiere of a work by Swedish composer Roger Börzt. The Börzt piece opened the concert, with a strident and seemingly endless chord, shimmering in the high strings. It was pushed the limit of uncomfortability (if that’s a word), and the much of the audience was obviously uncomfortable throughout most of the piece. I loved it, however, and I think I showed my age a bit when I grew quickly bored with the Beethoven! Obviously, I love Beethoven, but my tastes lean more and more toward what’s being written today.

• Also on Friday, I had a late lunch with Ariadne, who spent a long weekend taking in as much opera as she could cram into her schedule! It's always fun to meet other bloggers face to face, and this was no exception. Hope you had a wonderful NYC visit!

• Saturday night, KW and I sat in the company box to watch Judith Forst work her magic as Kostelnicka. With apologies to Sieglinde, this was our view: Cool! The sound wasn’t as good there as elsewhere in the house, but the vantage point was worth it. And of course, Forst didn’t disappoint! Someone a few tiers above us ripped up their playbill to throw as confetti at her curtain call, which was totally cool. I turned toward the house to drink in the scene as the audience let the performers know how much they enjoyed the evening. It was one of those “pinch me” moments…

• Last night I went with some friends to watch our friend LC perform in Follies at City Center. She was SOOOO wonderful, and beautiful, and it was absolutely thrilling to see her onstage with stars like Donna Murphy, Christine Baranski, Victoria Clark, and Victor Garber. Remember my shattered illusions of Broadway a few months ago? Well, they’ve been restored. Across the board, the commitment and skill and talent on that stage was awe-inspiring. Victoria Clark’s vocal technique is a dream, and Donna Murphy is beyond sensational. It was a night full of goose bumps and gasps, truly thrilling. The thrills continued as we bumped into star after star backstage and at the cast party: SJP and Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Bernadette Peters, Joel Grey, Barbara Cook, Fred Willard, and the maestro himself: Stephen Sondheim. What a night!!

• (One more note about that: I totally geeked out on Donna Murphy. I told her that I belonged to what I imagined was a small cross-section of her fans who saw her as Fosca in Passion on Broadway and then wore out the CD original cast recording AND who own her Star Trek movie. Dork!!)

• Helena rehearsals started this week, and tomorrow I think I’ll get a chance to get up on my feet. I’m covering the same woman in this production that I did in Jenufa, and on days when she has a show in the evening, I’ll likely get to step in for her for at least part of the rehearsal. It sounds like the Elves are going to have a lot of blocking, which means lots of rehearsal… This is also a new production, rather than a revival (like Jenufa) in which the director is working from the blocking book he and the stage managers created when they built the show the first time. (I love that book. It’s an office supply-lover’s dream! Maybe I’ll get a picture…)

That’s all she wrote! Thanks for your words of encouragement; they meant a lot.