16.01.2008

big days in the big apple

on Sunday morning Jim (he plays Alan in the show) and I got a quick coffee and pastry at ceci cela on spring st. (really really good pastries...a chocolate croissant to die for) and then caught the number 6 uptown. we got off at grand central so we could ooh and aaah at its utter magnificence. I had remembered it, but not the extent and detail of its beauty...all that marble, the windows, the chandeliers, and that amazing green roof with the constellations depicted on it. actually later on we went through the station again with the others and it was night. sonia said "wow it's just like the sky!" and it really is, only a rarefied version. what a fabulous place.

then we walked up 5th ave to central park. it was a crisp, sunny morning, with that pale wintery light, and as we passed the 5th ave presbyterian church the pavement was suddenly filled with people in their sunday best, including many ladies in full-length, intensely soft and flowing fur coats, one child dressed top to toe in white fur, and lots of men in hats.

we wandered through the bottom section of the park, past the ice-skating rink, which was just being prepared for skating. a guy was driving a machine over the top of the rink and clearing the top layer of icy snow off it, revealing pristine clear ice beneath. i suppose the ice rink was originally just created around a frozen pond in that spot in the park, and now it is a more controlled rink, but it is still so gorgeous, with trees all around it, and the sky-scrapers above, and there's a sort of open cafe area, and a raised terrace from which you can watch the action. it was all very relaxed, with a lovely feeling of sunday morning free time and space.

we then caught the number 1 line downtown to whitehall to do the show.

gerald, the pigeon was present, as well as twinkle-toes, a pigeon whose feet have turned the wrong way, so they point backward instead of frontward. very odd. Eddie was also there. he is one of the regulars at the ferry terminal, someone who rests in the warmth and bustle and relative safety of the space. at the end of the play, once the corporates have rushed off trying to solve their dependency issues elsewhere, gary and steve relax and hang out in the terminal for a few minutes. often they go and talk to eddie, and so in the second show of this lovely sunday eddie ended up taking a bow with us, which was so great.

i will be sorry to leave whitehall. it was beautiful, with great views of the city and the statue of liberty, it was a great place for the play and we all became friendly with the various people there, like all the regulars, the commuters, the staff of the coffee shop, the cleaners and all the security staff, cops and their dogs. so many of the people there were fascinated in what we were doing and so positive. some of the cleaners came to see the play, a couple of cops, and lots of the regular commuters, as well as other new yorkers. it was very special.

that night it was raining, and quite cold. there was talk of snow, but i only caught one glimpse of a thing which may well have momentarily been a snow flake before it melted into my coat. we had a function with other australian artists who are here for the arts conference, then we went out and found a place to eat which had excellent frozen margaritas, then later some of us went to another bar in the west village to meet some friends from home and then much later a few of us made our way through the rainy streets back to lovely james's bar on Lafayette near our hotel and played there for a while, which included a photo shoot of bruce (our director) playing a new york barman.

home sometime (but before dawn) on monday morning.

monday was naturally a rather more delicate day.

i quietly got up mid-morning and then went to visit orchard corsets and the famous jewish bra man. picked up a wacoal 34D for my friend and a couple of padded bras for myself as he advised me that that's what i needed for good shape and proportion. who am I to argue issues of breast aesthetics with a large, direct, straight down the line new yorkan hassidic jew?

went and got some dried nectarines and cinnamon babka from russ and daughters and then tenderly made my way over to soho to a wool shop, where i had my first real encounter with new york arrogance and attitude and then tried on the most beautiful orange coat in the known universe which is $425 and thus just tantalisingly in and out of reach.

shows went very well, had 70 people on the waiting list for the second show as word has well and truly got out. we had visitations from the new Yorker as well as New York magazine. all very good. eddie bowed again with us for the last time. i was teary. then we went on the ferry ourselves at last and saw the lady, the statue of liberty and then all the lights of manhattan. ended up at bread tribeca and had a cast and crew dinner of unbelievably beautiful olives, bread and pizzas.