Beating the Clock

I feel like most of today's events should have been backed by a track of really intense chase music:

"Dun, duh-duh-duh dun. . .DUN, DUN!"

I was running to beat the clock all day long, and against all odds, I did it! I am now sitting safely on my Boston-bound Megabus, looking out the window and bidding New York a temporary farewell. (Well, technically, I'm alternating looking out the window and watching the screen while I type. . .so I apologize in advance for any typos! And yes, for those of you who are curious, I *am* cleanly showered.) ;-)

Here is a quick list of today's time-defying accomplishments:

1. Made it to the Imperial Theatre box office by 10:00, even though--once again!--I slept in (this time until 9:15). Glad I've developed good pedestrian-dodging skills! Asked, breathlessly, if they still had any student rush tickets for the opening night preview premiere of "Nice Work if You Can Get It," and, amazingly, they did! (The show is an original musical that frames some of the Gershwin brothers' most famous songs, a la "Crazy for You." Read about it here.)

2. Made it all the way from 46th to 96th street, on foot, in less than an hour.

3. Finished my Italian (aka "Spanish") homework. Check!

4. Took a scenic walk through Central Park and got to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in time to spend two solid hours taking things in.

I've been to the museum so often now that, this time, I decided to limit myself and soak in the European art and musical instrument galleries. A gray-haired lady approached me as I entered the first gallery and asked, brusquely, "Do you want this?" She started shoving something into my hands. I was confused. "Do you or don't you?" The woman was growing impatient. "Take it!" I nodded and obeyed as my mysterious Met angel disappeared.

Looking down at my hands, I saw that the woman had handed me--not a bomb or a million dollar bill!--but an audio guide to the museum. I ended up having a great time with that thing. :-) I learned all sorts of facts about the development of each instrument family in the orchestra and about the Steins and their patronage of late impressionist/early modern art. Did you know that the family's collection of Picasso paintings had to be smuggled out of Germany at the onset of WWI? Good stuff!

And now my schedule really starts getting crazy. Ready? Here we go. . .

5. Got back to the apartment just in time to field a call from my former missionary friend, pack up my things, and make it all the way to Times Square to meet him. We didn't find each other until about 6:30, and even though we began walking together towards my workshop, I had to sprint two full streets at 6:55 (the workshop begins promptly at 7:00). I slipped inside just as they were closing the doors!

6. Left the workshop at 7:50, giving me exactly ten minutes to bolt ten streets to the theater where I'd be watching "Nice Work if You Can Get It" at 8:00. Did I make it? I did, at a rate of one street per minute. Not bad!

7. Slipped out of the show during the 10:50 curtain call to walk four streets and two avenues to the stop where my bus was scheduled to leave at 11:10. Stepped onto the bus just before it pulled away!

Success!

And how was "Nice Work if You Can Get It?" It was fun--very much in the vein of "Anything Goes" (big band music; ridiculous storyline). In fact, they re-used the same director and orchestrator from "Anything Goes." Whereas "Anything Goes" packed some major star power, though, Matthew Broderick didn't quite cut it for me. (He's 50 years old, after all--not really the typical young hero. I don't know that he ever was the typical hero; he was terribly miscast as Harold Hill, for example, in the movie remake of "The Music Man.")

The chorus numbers were appropriately splashy, though, and the music was, well, Gershwin (read: "catchy and brilliant"). Unfortunately, the plot fell short. It felt like an oddly-modernized, wanna-be Golden Age story, and I wasn't really drawn in until the second act which ran a lot more smoothly than the first. It was definitely a first preview sort of night--the orchestra missed some notes, Broderick forgot some lyrics--but I guess that's part of the fun of live theater: It's not edited and airbrushed; it all happens in real time!

As for the musical presented today at the ASCAP workshop, I was pleasantly surprised--not so much by the content (I didn't care for that, actually), but by the musical language. This show was far more sophisticated musically than any of the earlier shows had been. The style seemed little too blatantly Sondheim-esque (one melodic phrase was lifted directly from "Sunday in the Park With George!"), but--hey!--Sondheim's great, and this guy obviously knew what he was doing too.

I've come away from this workshop experience realizing that I need to make heavy revisions to "Weaver"--especially in the first act. The opening number is particularly long and confusing, and it doesn't establish the central characters and the central conflict quickly and clearly enough.

I've got some interesting ideas brewing. :-) Stay tuned!