December 2014… iPhoneography

Whoops… it’s February 1st as I type this (though I backdated this post to Jan. 3) after realizing yesterday that I never did a December 2014 recap. Which is hardly important to anyone who’s not me, but since this space serves as a photo diary of sorts, I want to document the miscellaneous photos I took that month. I already recapped December events like Peter Pan Live, my trip to Florida, Christmas in CT, and New Years’ on Cape Cod. But every single photo in this post was taken in my iPhone and supplements those other posts.

So for posterity, here we go!

A few shots out the plane window as I flew out of cold Connecticut…

… and into sunny Florida!

My grandparents used to live on Ft. Myers Beach above left. I tried to pinpoint their condo as I flew overhead.

I spent most of my time in FL visiting my Grandpa Gus and his friend Jane (plus a side trip to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates). This was about two weeks before Christmas (and Jane’s birthday) so we celebrated both holidays.

I took four trips into New York City this month and saw seven Broadway / off-Broadway shows (I assure you I scored heavily discounted tickets to each one via my TDF membership or through my old student ID). It was fun to enjoy the city all decked out for the holidays.

I stopped into Magnolia Bakery:

I ate at Black Sushi (formerly Kodama Sushi) on 45th St. because they have Broadway-themed rolls. I ended up ordering other items because these rolls were overpriced, and it was a decent meal.

I checked out the revival of Side Show, which sadly closed early just a few weeks later. This show first ran on Broadway back in 1998 but it wasn’t until 2003 that I fell in love with the music. And this was the first time I’ve been able to see a production of it on stage — and what a production it was! Directed by Bill Condon, it had runs in San Diego and D.C. before this Broadway engagement. The performers and sets and costumes were top-notch. I’m only sorry it didn’t run longer.

I finally, finally saw Hedwig and the Angry Inch — I was obsessed with the music while traveling through the Serengeti last summer. Michael C. Hall played Hedwig, and he was outstanding. The only bummer was that my balcony seat (the cheapest I could get after losing the rush ticket lottery) did not have a view of the first few rows of the audience — which is too bad because Hedwig does a bunch of audience interaction with those rows and everyone was laughing, but none of us in the balcony could see it. (The ticket was not stamped Partial View.) That said, it was still a dream to see this production, which won the Tony last year for Best Revival of a Musical.

Next up: I loved Honeymoon in Vegas on Broadway starring Tony Danza, Rob McClure, and Brynn O’Malley. Music by Jason Robert Brown. Seriously, go see it. I’ve never seen the film but this musical is so much fun.

And later that evening I saw The Oldest Boy at Lincoln Center. Really fascinating story — it’s about an American mother whose young son is believed to be a reincarnation of a high Buddhist Lama (teacher). Tibetan monks arrive to ask permission to take her son back to India for spiritual training. Through a series of tests (like asking the two-year-old to identify his belongings from his former life) it becomes increasingly clear that this kid had a prior life with these monks. The mother and her Tibetan husband must decide how to proceed — can they send their son to the other side of the world, if that is where he is meant to be?

A few nighttime shots around gorgeous Lincoln Center:

The next week I met up with my Young & Restless co-worker Ed for lunch. Later that night I saw Disgraced on Broadway, a play that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two years ago. Josh Radnor and Gretchen Mol star alongside Hari Dhillon in the lead roll. It’s about a Muslim-American lawyer moving up the corporate ladder while distancing himself from his cultural roots; he and his wife invite their friends over one evening and their lives are never the same. This play features the most uncomfortable dinner scene I’ve ever seen on stage.

The day after Christmas I checked out Kenneth Lonergan’s play This is Our Youth, starring Michael Cera and Kieran Culkin as misguided young men fumbling their lives over the course of a weekend in New York City. Great play with an abrupt ending. It left me depressed walking out of the theater but I’m glad I saw it.

That evening I saw the latest revival of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing on Broadway, starring Ewan McGregor, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Cynthia Nixon. I’d read the play while in South Africa and very much looked forward to seeing it on stage. The actors did not disappoint — most notably Ewan McGregor, who totally inhabited the role of Henry and quite convincingly delivered Stoppard’s dense dialogue. I did not enjoy the music interludes and 1980’s aesthetic (the show was directed by up-and-coming, highly-lauded director Sam Gold). But I was so pleased to see this play with a stellar cast.

And I ate dinner at Tavola — great Italian place outside the hustle-and-bustle of Times Square, located on 9th Ave. between 37th & 38th.