Marie's cutie-pie bf, named...

of all things..

DAVID!

The married Proctors

As in Ms. Shari and Peter. Shari picked the restaurant (which we all loved). Peter spent the evening trying to defend his description of calimari as a shellfish.

Marie and Me

Ralph's Ristorante, Sylvia So Far post-reading. The lovely Marie Gouba (so good as "All the Street Trash") and me.

I wish I liked "Jerry Springer: The Opera"

Critics adore it. Friends quote from it freely. An old friend (David Bedella, above) won an Oliver for it.

I hoped, seeing it in person at Carnegie Hall, that I would finally "get it". The BBC production left me cold, but some things must be experienced live.

No such luck. I don't even like the music! Ah well, David was great.

A new "Sunday"

(Above: Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell in the imported revival of Sunday in the Park with George; Bernadette Peters as Dot in the original production.)

I wanted to love the new revival of Sunday in the Park with George. After all, the friend who took me the first time years ago thought paramedics were going to have to be summoned at intermission --- I was practicaly hyperventilating. When all the suffering and sacrifice and wasted love comes together into a thing of permanent beauty... it pushes every button on my console.

So the somewhat disappointing revival now at Studio 54, via London, let me down as often as it delighted. I had heard it was a marvelous, inspired rethinking. Much of it, though, simply struck me as something of a budget tour production. Daniel Evans is excellent as George, Jenna Russell less so as his muse, Dot. It's tough going up against the memory of Bernadette Peters. Ms. Russell is talented, compentent, creative in choices, just lacking the zap that makes a star turn a star turn. Also uneven are the design's much-publicized projections. Sometimes they are glorious, sometimes just cheesy.

There are moments, though, when I shivered with thrill, none moreso than the very final moment --- a new one --- breathtakingly put over by Mr. Evans. I won't tell. But it is gorgeous.

I need my birthday to be over!!!

My friends started to do the birthday do with me fifteen days ago. Last Tuesday the actual day arrived and yesterday the festivities came to an end. I am so tired I am practically dropping off at my desk.

But man, I have WONDERFUL friends. What a blessing!

I'll tell you about Sunday in the Park when I have a chance.

Where did January go?!?!?!?

Time do fly these days.

Anyway, after a week of being roundly feted, my birthday continues all weekend long. Date tonight, brunch tomorrow followed by the matinee of Sunday in the Park with George, birthday dinner with my beloved Lori tomorrow night, church Sunday morning followed by drinks at Suite!

I love my birthday.