Gay of A Certain Age - Old in New York

Boy Howdy, did I have a nice time in New York!  Even though it felt like I flew in, saw 5 shows and flew back 2 days later, I knew that 60 hours is plenty of time to do that.  At least it used to be!  Maybe it's that I didn't get as much sleep as I needed, although I got a good amount.  I never used to feel this jet-lagged before.  Granted, this trip was one day shorter, but I stayed one night longer.  My IN on Thursday at 4:00pm, OUT on Sunday at 8:00pm  sure feels a lot nicer than my IN on Friday at 4:00pm, OUT on Monday at 7:00am.  I guess that Friday with no matinee to get to helps in recovering from the early morning flight out of LA.   The morning flight out of JFK was no nap in the park, either.   When I got home from LAX a little before noon, I thought to myself, "I have the whole rest of the day!"  Then unwillingly fell into a sleeping heap on my big chair until after 5:00pm, feeling groggy the rest of the time before I went to bed at 11:30pm.  Sad.

Despite the lack of sleep and rushed feeling, I had a great time seeing shows, hanging with muh DAB, Rich and meeting up with new LA to NY transplant Matt Crabtree.  THAT'S ALL I DID!

Also, my Fitbit, (which I now keep in my pocket all the time to avoid wrist-rash) was very happy.  My best day was over 13,000 steps!  And since nobody's been flooding up my email and text space with questions demanding to know, I'll tell you! I really enjoyed FALSETTOS

and NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812!

Other than that, I spent a lot if time people watching.  People can be very interesting, if you give them a chance...  

See?

As a Gay of A Certain Age, who love to have his theatre trips, I've learned that I need that open day after flying to recover and fully enjoy my shows and not feel rushed enough that I can plan to get more friend visits in.  I don't think I'll be doing much Friday flying in the future.

Gay of A Certain Age - The Geek At The Door

Today I had another double header.  I brunched with Richard and new LA to NY transplant, Matt Crabtree, then Rich and I headed to the theatre to catch our matinee of FALSETTOS

I'll admit that I was a little trepidacious going in, since I had seen the original Broadway production in 1992.  I'd seen a few productions since, and each one of those got worse and worse.  This one turned out to be a pleasant palate cleanser; it was delightful.  There were a few changes that made the show better and I really enjoyed the staging.  The biggest change I felt was that in this production, Marvin comes off much more selfish and somewhat of an asshole in Act 1, which makes his second act transformation much more remarkable.  I liked the entire cast, so I got lucky on this one.

In between shows, I did some more people watching...

Then I was off to pop into my seat to get ON YOUR FEET!

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this show, but I really enjoyed it, especially the dancing.  The rhythm got me and I was bouncing in my seat.  Of course, I probably would have enjoyed it much more if I didn't have the girl & her huge boyfriend on one side of me, both sloshing ice cubes back and forth in those GODDAMN PLASTIC SIPPY CUPS they now allow people to bring into the theater.  There's no more hooch! Get over it! Ya se acabo! Stop making the ice go back and forth!!  Of course, they got refills during intermission so that I could endure more ice in an empty cup for the rest of the show.  On the other side I had Tia Tencha with a folding fan that she would fan her self with for three seconds, then loudly tap her face with it ALL THROUGH THE SHOW.  Other than that, I had a truly delightful time.  After the show I went over to the stage door to say ,"Hi", to Yassmin Alers, who is in the show.  We don't know each other very well, but I know her well enough to congratulate her on the show she is in and for doing a fabulous job!

Yay!

Before Yassmin stepped out, the stage door popped open and there was Andrea Burns, who gives a fantastic turn as Gloria Estefan's mother. and whom I also loved in IN THE HEIGHTS.  I couldn't let her get away without throwing some admiration her way.

It's always nice to get to tell folks how much I enjoy their work!

As a Gay of A Certain Age, I've seen a whole lot of shows on the Broadway and have been lucky enough to meet and talk to some of the people I have truly enjoyed on stage and so while I don't do it as often as I used to, I don't think I'll ever be too old to hang out at the stage door and pour some love for the people who have made me happy.

...I also learned that you can start to feel pretty old when you're going to revivals of shows that you've seen in their original run!

Too Busy For Love - Broadway Via Waikiki

I'm not avoiding you!  I swear!  I would love to have gone to the movies with you to see the one about the strange doctor, but I've been crazy busy and it's still going.  I'm back in a dress and heels, surfing and solving crimes in CHICO'S ANGELS 5-0; WAIKIKI CHICAS.

During this November leg of our run, I've starting finding more fun stuff and our timing is getting really tight.  Plus, being carried around by hunky Duke ain't none too bad, neither! (at 10 pounds lighter since our last run, I might add!).  A full schedule of work, work meetings, rehearsals, double performance days and trying to sleep somewhere in between sure has me in a tizzy.

It's all worth it, because I love doing the show.  I also love when cute mens stay after for pictures...

I also love when Celebs stop by for a few chuckles... like Debbie Gibson!

And did I mention getting to play actor with Duke?

As enjoyable as it is, it still is exhausting.  We have two more shows on Wednesday & Thursday, then on Friday I jet out to NY to catch a few shows on the Broadway.  Sounds cool, but when I think I have to close a show, gather all my crap out of the theater and get it squared away at home before getting to bed for a very early 5 hour flight, I wonder what I was thinking.  I hope I don't fall asleep at whatever show the TKTS Gods have in store for me on Friday night!  I should be fine and rested enough to enjoy the other shows I have tickets for, including: FALSETTOS, THE GREAT COMET OF 1812, THE FRONT PAGE and ON YOUR FEET.

What with all this activity, when do I have time to meet someone and fall in love?
I look forward to giving that a try when my schedule clears up a little bit in November...

Until then, see you on stage!