I was almost 17 the first time I went to New York. I was on an east coast tour of potential colleges and, on the way up to see Cornell, my mom and I stopped in the Big Apple. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight but I remember being fairly dazzled and more than just a little overwhelmed. I had been to Washington, Baltimore, Chicago, and I lived just outside Cleveland so I was familiar with big-ish cities but, as you know, nothing really compares to NYC. My mom and I share a love of Impressionist painting and we went to the Met (I think) where there was some ridiculous number of Monets on display, like 30 of them or something. I remember just wandering around that museum for hours with my eyes popping, totally wearing my poor mom out.
My feelings about NYC have changed dramatically over the years and these days I look forward to my increasingly sporadic trips up there with giddy anticipation. My trip this weekend is going to be a quick one – really just 24 hours in the city itself – and more logistically challenging than other trips, but man, I’m just smiling madly through this Friday thinking about getting on the road northward. On Saturday, I’ll be able to see “South Pacific” which I’ve been wanting to see for what seems like forever so I am grateful for even the small window of time up there.
What’s funny to me is that, nearly 30 years after that first visit, this time I’ll be dragging my son around town and probably wearing him the heck out. Oh well, some things just don’t ever change.
Before blowing town, I was able to catch the final preview of Henley’s “True West” last night (many theater pros in the crowd – Joe Inscoe! Jolene Carroll! Bill Brock!) Great work by the cast with a truly quirky little play. More next week after I get that pesky review written…
1 comment:
This is an interesting post Dave. I am directing my first show in New York this summer as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival and I hate myself for being so excited about the opportunity. I spent my entire career proudly proclaiming myself as a guy committed to the notion of regional theatre and resisting the urge to move to New York. The closest I came was when TheatreVirginia closed, but at the time, I didn't want to figure out how to take care of a 3 year old in NYC while pursuing a directing career. When I participated in the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab in 2000, one of the lab mentors was Daniel Sullivan, who directed the original production of PROOF and a bunch of other hits...he ran Seattle Rep from like 1972-1997 before coming to NYC as an Associate Director at Lincoln Center. I asked him about moving to NYC and he said he came to New York when New York invited him, and that has been the underlying thought of my theatre career. If New York invited me, I would give it a shot, and now, for the first time and on a small scale, it has...and again, I hate myself for being so excited by the opportunity. In the ideal world, it should be no different than coming back to Richmond to guest direct, or directing in Raleigh or Cincinnati, but for me, that is not the case...I guess I am part hypocrite!!
Any other thoughts on tackling New York?? I'd be curious to hear from other people about it...
Hope everyone is well, our 25th Anniversary Season closed today...
Peace
Rick
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