The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

This morning my 3 and I went off to St. Luke's Theatre to watch an 11:00 a.m. performance of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. 

Its always a tricky thing seeing seeing the play of a great book after you've seen a great movie of a great book. 1 of my 3 had read the book, 2 of my 3 remembered the movies fondly, and the 3rd had a mild memory of it all but she just turned 6 and there are so many more important things to remember when your 6.

The films The Chronicles of Narnia (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Prince Caspian (2008)), directed by Andrew Adamson, were very well done - a lovely series of films. My anxiety was that my children would expect great production values from this 100 (?) seat house. So, that was a great start of the conversation to prepare their minds; what can we expect if the house is so small that there was no rake (the seats did not slope) and there were only 2 performers in the entire cast. It was a good conversation to have. Lots of great ideas were shared and expectations were adjusted appropriately. 

In the 50 minutes it took to tell the tale, my 3 were riveted the entire time. Andrew Fortman (Peter) and Erin Layton (Lucy) did a great job, with no set, nominal props but great story telling skills,  at taking us back and forth through the wardrobe, conveying the emotional ups and downs this adventure.

This creative theatrical experience garnered an eight thumbs up from this clan! 

Lasker Rink @ Central Park North

Friday night I was walking north along Fifth Avenue from 96th to get to Lasker Rink. There is a short cut near 106th St. that winds south of the pond; it would have gotten me there faster, but the lack of lights made me think twice and so I hoofed it up to 110th. Although the path inside the park, just shy of 110th St, is well lit, it's still sparsely populated at 6:00pm and as I walked along I was mindful that I was alone.

Have no fear, that walk was uneventful. It was actually quite lovely. There are not many places in Manhattan where you can walk alone at night and truly enjoy your environment, but his stretch of Central Park is one such spot. It was a mild 50F that night and the street noises were muffled by the trees so the silence of the park was beautiful. As I walked around Harlem Meer I could hear the ducks on the pond, the sound of the hockey pucks slapping against the boards and coach Alan's voice booming out instructions to the Mites at practice. I could have been in any rural Canadian or American community. That's what makes hockey at Lasker Rink so great; it's a suburban pond hockey feel in the midst of a big, busy city.

Street Plants

Some of the nicer residential buildings in Manhattan make it part of their purview to beautify not on their building and courtyards, but also the plots around the trees on their block. It makes for a lovely walk during the spring and summer, and for those smart enough to adjust their flora for the cooler weather, fall can be quite pretty as well.

These, I'll call them planters for lack of a better word right now, are on 87th between Amsterdam and Broadway. The Belnord building and their army of maintenance men - all on a coffee break on the back street at 8:10am today - cultivate these plots rather nicely.

NYPD Evict Anti-Wall Street Protesters

The sit-in is over. Early this morning NYPD cleared anti-Wall Street protesters - the movement Occupy Wall Street - out of Zuccotti Park. With the recent increase in news reports of the site's sanitary conditions - or lack there of - and complaints of local business malaise, it seemed inevitable that action was impending. Reuters covers the scene.

Hugh Jackman - Back on Broadway

"The impossibly talented, impossibly energetic Mr. Jackman is a glorious dinosaur among live entertainers of the 21st century: an honest-to-gosh old-fashioned matinee idol who connects to his audiences without a hint of contempt for them or for himself." 

I am sometimes conflicted with Mr. Brantley's theatrical reviews but he got it right in this one.  Hugh Jackman's one-man show on Broadway is a joyous celebration of musical theatre. Mr. Jackman admits that he is happier on stage singing and dancing than he is making movies, and you can see that its true. Impossibly good-natured and always positive, you can't help but love every moment of the show - at least I couldn't.

I had the pleasure of seeing this show in Toronto during the summer and not much has changed. A few more show girls but the feel of the show was consistent, thank goodness, because I loved it then too!

So now I have a confession. 

My husband worked with Mr. Jackman on A Boy From Oz and A Steady Rain. They have developed a great friendship and they stay connected. We attended opening night, last night, and were seated in the house left box. My husband was immediately concerned, and it turned out with good reason. 

Mr. Jackman starts the second act from the house left/stage right box as the persona of pan-sexual Peter Allen (A Boy Form Oz ), dressed in gold lamé from head to toe. When he entered the box he immediately sat on my husband's - Rodney - lap, flirting and pulling him into the act. Poor Rodney was mortified but played along, silently grinning.  I, however, thoroughly enjoyed the good-natured spectacle being created!  If my husband thought the experience was over when Mr. Jackman left the box, he learned quickly how wrong he was. Throughout the second act he folded Rodney into his monologue and even his end of show "thank you's." 

As it turns out, all of Rodney's colleagues knew Mr. Jackman and his team were plotting this encounter days in advance. 

What are friends for, if not to get good mileage out of embarrassing you from a Broadway stage...!!?!

Big Apple Circus B-Roll

Noses, check. Popcorn, check.

In September I was asked if I could share my two girls for a b-roll shoot for the Big Apple Circus. It's an event we go to every year without fail, so I thought the girls would enjoy being part of it in this way. 

Alison and Nicole had their hair and make-up done - they could have walked away happy at that point!! -  and spent the next hour in a studio saying lines against a green screen. They had a great time and I think they came away from it appreciating the sustained energy level actors need for their jobs!!

Alison on her mark

This is the finished footage !

http://youtu.be/9SjQsrvkQ6U

Subway Sketcher

I took a circuitous root home from work tonight and found myself on the south bound R train heading to Times Square.

The gentleman across from me was a teacher - some papers fell out of his notebook and as I picked them up of the subway floor for him, he made a remark about his students. He then pulled a fine black marker out of his jacket pocket, slowly and discreetly looked around the subway car, chose a subject, and started to sketch.

I love New York.

West 68th Street Surprise

Walking along 68th Street, just east of Columbus, the gang and I walked past an open window out of which came the beautiful sounds of someone playing a violin. 

It stopped us in our tracks, and we paused to listen to a talented young lady practice in a lovely little below-ground studio (David Segal Violins) lined with even more lovely string instruments. 

I love finding these nuggets in New York.

NY Road Runners & ING Host Students Pre-Marathon Park Run

Alexander was a Mighty Miler today!

Today 1,000 or so New York City school children came to race in the 13th annual Run with Champions, an event that will help kick off the New York City Marathon on Sunday. Run for Champions is a NY Road Runners - they host the NYC Marathon - youth program. Our Mighty Miler had a blast in the event!

The Mighty Milers is the New York Road Runners Foundation's running program for the schools,  promoting physical fitness to children during the school day.  The NYRRF works with the New York City Public School system in order to implement the running program.

ING Run For Something Better sponsors free, school-based running fitness programs.  By awarding grants ING Run For Something Better’s nonprofit program introduces kids to the benefits of running, physical fitness and healthy lifestyle choices, and makes it fun and rewarding for them, too.