Promises kept

We're halfway done with our trip and our shows, and it has been a good run with both. The weather turned very warm today -- mid-80s! So I saw our first show of the day, the matinee, in shorts. I wasn't alone.

I would not say my gender was terribly well represented, however. The audience for Promises, Promises was three fourths female, for sure. I wasn't sure if that was because of Sean Hayes ("Will and Grace") or Kristin Chenoweth ("Wicked"). Based on the cheers each got in their first scene, perhaps a little of both, with a slight edge to Sean Hayes. I had never seen him before having never watched Will and Grace, and Margie loves the show, so perhaps we are were microcosm of the audience.
The musical itself was dated, and I mean that in a bad way. When the top two songs were Dionne Warwick hits in the 1960s ("I Say a little Prayer for You", and "I'll never fall in love again"), and the rest of the score is also by Burt Bacharach, you can perhaps understand what I mean. Phantom of the Opera, this is not!

As for the leads, Sean Hayes was a decent enough actor, with his asides to the 4th wall getting the most laughs, but his singing was suspect. Good enough for this material I suppose, but no better. Kristin has an amazing voice for a little gal, but lacked the material to get the pipes really moving.

Still, and in spite of a marginal NY Times review, the house was packed (and advance ticket sales are through the roof) at the cavernous Broadway Theatre, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, including Margie.

I was highly uncomfortable. Not due to anything onstage. Now these were not our best seats in terms of distance to the stage. We were in the rear Mezzanine, which seemed to start at Broadway and extend back to nearly 8th Avenue! Opera glasses would not have been inappropriate. I got what I could get, as this was one of the last plays I booked, and it was already booked pretty solid for this particular day. But eye strain was not the source of my discomfort. It was the seats! Sitting all the way back in my chair, I could not sit straight ahead without driving the seats in front of me forward with my knees. Just ridiculous, and the worst theater experience I have had in terms of being cramped, since seeing "Rent" here several years ago. I remember swearing last year that I would always book aisle seats from now on. If only that had been possible at this particular show. So anyway, in spite of the less than stellar show, in my opinion, and my discombobulated posture following the show, I took one for the team, which means Margie. She liked it a lot.

I suppose I should say a word about the plot. A NYC guy (Sean Hayes) working at an insurance company tries to advance his career by loaning his apartment out to the "Mad Men" executives for their carnal adventures. His ploy works, and he becomes a Junior Executive. But the girl (Kristin) he wants is also having an affair with his boss, one of the guys he is lending his key to most every night of the week. This might have been racy in the 1960s, but without the success of the aforementioned TV series, or the inestimable talents of the leads, I doubt anyone would have been interested.

Dinner was at an old favorite, Shun Lee on 65th. It used to be better, I think. Anyway, we shared the boiled szechwan dumplings, Neptunes platter which was a potato basket filled with seafood, and Sesame chicken, which was stringy rather than fried, and Hunan Broccoli. It was all good enough, and better than anything we get in Ashland, but for the astronomical prices, I guess I expected better.

But the location can't be beat for a show at Lincoln Center, which is right across the street. We sauntered over after the meal, and went into the beautiful Met Opera House to see "Carmen". This show has long been sold out, because it is both a stunning production, and it featured a up and coming tenor named Jonas Kaufmann as Don Jose. So we had to buy scalper tickets to get in, and we ended up with incredible seats, 10 rows back in the orchestra, mid-center. Some of the seats in the theater have memorials, and the one in front of us was for Enrico Caruso, so you know you have good seats! They are not going to give Enrico a dedication in the 5th balcony, trust me.

Carmen was played by Kate Aldrich, and she was a revelation. Beautiful, young, thin, this mezzo-soprano seems to have it all. Her acting was as stellar as her singing, and she even did a cartwheel on stage at one point! I guess you no longer have to suspend disbelief at the opera as you did when your Carmen weighed in at 250 lbs. No fat ladies sang here...

Anyway, the opera was just wonderful. Bizet's familiar music was utterly enchanting, the singers were great in every respect, and the sets were magnificent. I am so glad we decided on this particular production.

UPDATE: I wanted to let everyone know we were not in the vicinity of the car bomb that detonated but failed to explode on W 45th St. We were in the upper west side at the time this happened. But where it was located, in front of the Imperial Theater, is exactly where we will be that time this afternoon when we see "Hair" and this evening when we see "Billy Elliot". No worries. We are still planning to attend...