Stars in our town and some mics...

Barrow Street Theatre on May 21, 2010: In This Is New York, E.B. White wrote, "When I went down to lunch a few minutes ago I noticed that the man sitting next to me (about eighteen inches away along the wall) was Fred Stone. The eighteen inches were both the connection and the separation that New York provides for its inhabitants. My only connection to Fred Stone was that I saw him in The Wizard of Oz around the beginning of the century. But our waiter felt the same stimulus from being close to a man from Oz, and after Mr. Stone left the room the waiter told me that when he (the waiter) was a young man just arrived in this country and before he could understand a word of English, he had taken his girl for their first theater date to The Wizard of Oz. It was a wonderful show, the waiter recalled – a man of straw, a man of tin. Wonderful! (And still only eighteen inches away.) 'Mr. Stone is a very hearty eater,' said the waiter thoughtfully, content with this fragile participation in destiny, this link with Oz."

When I ventured downtown over a week ago to see Our Town, I noticed at the second intermission that there were some famous folk in the house. In the surreptitious iPhone photo up there is Frances McDormand, Peter MacNichol, and Austin Pendleton. Since I've been here, I've on numerous occasion seen many a highly regarded personality. I think folks like this can have a life about town more easily here than, say, LA because there's a bit more respect for that thin layer of privacy... and it's more of a necessity that everyone is on the same playing field here. It's always a fun thing, though, to notice that the person at the next table won a few Emmys or the guy behind you in line at the Starbucks is a Grammy winner and Broadway star or the fellow you're sharing beers with is a Tony-winner. Neat place, this NYC!


The Nederlander Theatre on May 30, 2010: Also... had the opportunity to wander on the set of Million Dollar Quartet at the Nederlander Theatre. Here's a shot of the onstage mics and the theatre's ghost light. Note: The mic in the foreground is the one used by my pal Rob Lyons when he plays Carl Perkins in the Tony-nominated show.