We are dark and hungry gods…

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…so serve us already.

Yesterday Jeff and Ed invited me to see the penultimate performance of Sweeney Todd in it’s newest production. Beforehand we ate at a tidy crepe shop on 9th Avenue. The food was fine , once it arrived, but the service was slapdash at best. At the time we sat down there were maybe four parties in the place, and more than enough waitstaff around to handle them. But getting glasses of water proved arduous, my order was incorrect, and once we were served it became clear that they had forgotten to put in Ed’s order. Diffeernt staff kept coming up, each more nodding and confused that the last. Usually I’m very sympathetic, but the smiling ineptitude of the crew rankled me for some reason. It was a little patronizing. Maybe all this was fall out from not having been out with people much in the last few days.

The show was staged at a pace which raced past it’s emotional impact I thought. The set, based on bare boards and a tall vertical wall of Victorian bricabrac was more evidence of the crossover between stage sets and installation art. Very tasteful. Patty Lupone showed the goods. She would get on with Sir Mix-a-Lot. For the most part she reigned in the divaisms, which was welcome. But she and the rest of the small cast had so much stuff to do, being actors, musicians and stagehands, that in the end something had to suffer. By the end of the show we should be drained and appalled by the tragedy , but instead I wanted to yell “Put down that damn coffin and stand still for a second!” Just slowing the pace would have helped a bit. I am very glad that I saw it, however. And it was great to talk about the issues in the production with a couple of theater professionals. Afterwards, we shared a lovely talk, and I was given a delightful gift: a hand painted bowl. A quiet walk back to Union Square and then I made it back here.

Today the neighborhood is fragrant with the cooking of the West Indian Day Parade: People have informal grills set up on almost every corner. The sky is clear and mild.

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