Stina and "Sweeney"

Well, yesterday and today were both really neat days full of fun New York stuff.

The night before last, I stayed up really late watching Desperate Housewives on DVD and helping a little with the floor decoration part of the Hayden Floor Wars competition; our floor cut out 1,000 bats to decorate the hallway, and Emma drew a really great drawing of Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas for our bulletin board. On each door, the residents' names and causes of death are posted -- it's great!

Anyway, yesterday, I woke up around 12:30 and went out to meet Christina at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at 2. It was so very nice to see her again! I miss being around the people that I'm so immensely comfortable with that I can be totally myself. We walked around the museum for a few hours, checking out mostly American art and furniture and European paintings. I had to look at a Vermeer for my Writing the Essay class and write a short paragraph about it -- that's the main reason we went specifically to the Met. Anyway, it was fun to go back to the museum again. It's always fun.

Afterwards, we went to the Village and ate Chinese at Suzie's -- my fortune was "Happiness is often a rebound from hard work," which perfectly describes how this weekend complemented this past week of class. After dinner, we walked around the Village some more. I hadn't realized just how many streets I didn't know until last night. I need to take a few more random walks around the neighborhood so I get more of a bearing on where I'm going. We stopped at this really amazing bakery for cookies. They had a very long case filled with baked goods that made me remember the bakery I used to go to as a kid. It smelled so delicious!

On the way to my dorm, we stopped at the Tea Spot, which is a little place right down the street from me on MacDougal that has gourmet teas. I had Strawberries and Creme, which was quite good. They always make their tea excrutiatingly hot -- I had to refrigerate it for some time before it was drinkable. Christina wanted to see what all the Desperate Housewives fuss was about, so we watched the pilot episode. She seemed to sort of enjoy it, but it doesn't really seem like her cup of tea. Anyway, by the time the episode was over, it was time for her to go home, so I walked her back to the W 4th subway stop. It was such a nice, relaxing day!

Today, I went to see Sweeney Todd for the second time on Broadway. So, the first time I saw it, I was sort of on the fence. I didn't really buy into the concept of the show (actors play all of the music, highly conceptualized sets and costumes, very different staging concepts). This time, when I wasn't quite so worried about catching every little detail of the show, I definitely appreciated it a lot more. I realized a lot more things about the symbolism of the staging that hadn't sunken in before. I won't go into all of the different things I noticed, but I definitely enjoyed it a lot better. Also, Michael Cerveris as Sweeney seems a lot more comfortable. At the stage door, he said how his voice seemed to be able to hit the lower notes better as he continued to sing the score, and I noticed that that was definitely true. He did a lot better with the lower songs, like "My Friends," than he had seemed to last time. Also, they fixed the false ending that I noticed last time I went. After the final sequence and before "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," they didn't leave as long of an applause break as they did last time. They ploughed right along into "The Ballad...," and, though the first few lyrics of the song were cut off by applause, it seemed much more natural than having a moment or two of darkness and applause before finishing up the show. It originally made people think the show was totally over. Personally, I think they should simply cut the final reprise of "The Ballad..." and end the show after Tobias is put into a straight jacket (oh my, people who haven't seen this show...a.k.a. most people who read this...will be so confused).

Hah! One other thing: I think Michael Cerveris as Sweeney broke a chair when he threw it onstage during the performance. I thought that was interesting.

I waited at the stage door this time -- last time, it was raining -- and I got Michael Cerveris's signature, as well as Donna Lynne Champlin (Pirelli), Manoel Felciano (Tobias Ragg) who graduated from NYU last year, Alexander Gemignani (Beadle Bamford), and Lauren Molina (Johanna). They were all extremely friendly.

I was also happy to note that the show was sold out and there was a huge line to get into the theatre.

Oh, I also ran into this girl who I talked to at Lennon and at the Broadway Flea Market! She was sitting a few rows ahead of me. She and her friend Jen were really nice at Lennon. I also ran into a girl from my QR class in Times Square; she had just gone to see Wicked.

After the show, I walked back downtown to my dorm, but I stopped at H&M on the way back. I bought a really pretty, warm scarf and a hooded sweatshirt jacket. I really shouldn't have spent any money, but I figured that, since both items were winter clothing, I had justification for my purchasing them. Anyway, at the end of next week, I should get my paycheck, but, until them, I'm pretty close to broke -- it's class, the dining hall, and pre-purchased tickets for me until then.

Tonight, we find out if the 12th Floor won Floor Wars at 9. Wish us luck! I'm feeling relatively good about it. The winner is revealed at a costume ball, and I'm being John Lennon. It's a pretty simple, bad costume, but it was also cheap.

Tomorrow is homework day. I think I was supposed to go to a klezmer benefit for Fyvush Finkel that Susan Watts, my drum teacher's daughter, is playing at, but, since she never called me back with information and I have basically no dressy clothes, I'm thinking I'll just not go to that.