My college buddy Carol, a flutist and audiologist who lives in San Francisco, came in last week to celebrate her birthday and see a lot of theater. She stayed with me for the first half of the week. so we had a lot of chances to go out and do stuff.

She arrived on Saturday morning and I took her out to brunch, then we chilled and chatted until dinnertime. I took her to Fabrika, the fun and funky restaurant up the street, where we both had really great salmon, then back to my place for birthday cake and ice cream. (I’d thought her birthday was Saturday, it was Sunday.) Oo, and we watched the latest animated Spider-Man movie, which is excellent, but quite intense. I think I want to go back and watch it in little bits, so I can rewind.

Sunday, we were meeting up with Vance and Craig for drag bingo in the afternoon, but first we went into Manhattan and uptown to go to The Cloisters. This is way up north, close to where Bunthorne Boy lived during most of his time in NYC, and just south of where I lived when I moved to town – but I’d never actually been there. It’s in Fort Tryon Park, and I would only vaguely sure of where it was. Carol and I got off at 191st St. and took the elevator to the top, which brings you right next to the Cabrini Shrine. (Home of the now-closed Cabrini High School, where BB was the chorus teacher for many years, and thus a place I’d performed a lot.)

We walked through the park… a lovely walk, and it was a lovely day, but I was freaking out a little. My inaccurate impression was that the Cloisters was right there and it’s not at all, it’s quite a schlep. (and Carol’s knee was ouchy and I didn’t want her to overdo it) In fact, The Cloisters turns out to be technically closer to the Dyckman St. stop, one more stop north, but if you got out there, you’d have to essentially go straight up a giant hill to get to the museum – which you can do if you want. (we went down the hill when we left). Anyway, The Cloisters is lovely for what it is, but for us, medieval art does not retain its zest, so we weren’t so into it. Lots of couples taking in the museum, gay and straight, and one gay couple was wearing so much cologne Carol and I kept having to avoid them.

So, down the hill and subway south to the Village. We needed to get to the bar early to stake out tables, but were even a little early to do that. But we ran into Vance and Craig on the street as they came in, and they went to grab the tables and Carol and I went to get coffee and pastry.

Drag Bingo was a hoot, as always, although none of us won anything and nobody won any money. Carol’s Elvis-Costello-list friend John and his wife Marjory were there with us, and we all had a great time. The drag queen, Chaka Khanvict, knows Vance and Craig very well by this point and was razzing them both from the stage the whole time, very fun. And afterward, Vance and Craig went back to Connecticut, but John and Marjory and I took Carol out to dinner at Olio e Piu around the corner, which was excellent. And J&M were nice enough to drive us home on their way back to Long Island. Really great evening.

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Monday, I had to work (from home), and Carol went into town to meet up with her high school friend Rob, who’s currently conducting Chicago on Broadway, and see the show.

Tuesday, I took her to a diner for lunch and then out for Thai for dinner. Then watched All of Us Strangers, which was excellent and sad. (It might work very well as a play, there’s nothing particularly cinematic about it, and it’s got a small cast.)

Wednesday, we needed to get out the door early. I needed to go to the office, Carol needed to switch to her hotel for the last few nights, and my cleaning lady was coming in. That all worked out – we actually Uber’d into Manhattan and it wasn’t as expensive as I thought it would be, although unfortunately it took long enough that we couldn’t grab breakfast before I had to be at my desk for a meeting.

I worked (or ‘worked’) at the office the rest of the day, but Carol got to go to the Sweeney Todd matinee, which she loved. (Carol and I both played in the Sweeney pit in college, and we both love that show – and I haven’t seen it yet in this revival.) Then we met for an early dinner at Cafe Un Deux Trois, always a great choice, because we had tickets to Hamilton!

Carol’s already seen Hamilton on stage a bunch of time, but I never had! (I’d seen the filmed version.) I had bought tickets for C and I back in mid-2019 for a May 2020 performance – which got torpedoed by COVID. (They reimbursed the money.) And I just hadn’t gotten around to seeing it since. I was really worried, actually, that it would be one of those things where the screaming fans took over the theater and overwhelmed the show with applause and singing alone, but actually, everyone was very well behaved. We had amazing seats, front row of the top balcony, and could see and hear beautifully.

I already knew that mostly, it wouldn’t be my thing. The rap is fun and clever, but the music didn’t do a lot for me. No song jumped out to me as something I’d ever want to excerpt or sing. But the show itself is very well crafted, the staging is amazing and the performances were largely excellent. I was worried about picking up lyrics, but only the Angelica was mush-mouthed, everyone else was clear as a bell. So… since musical theater is my field, and this is probably the most important new show we’ve had in the last decade or so, it’s about effing time I saw it. Thanks, Carol!

I didn’t get to see Carol again before she went home, but she got to see Merrily and Kimberly Akimbo on Thursday and Friday, making it five shows. Totally jealous.

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What else? I finished my CD project, that was a lot of fun, although cleaning up the Itunes database remains a constant (and fun) project. Next, I think I need to do a basic evaluation and reorganization of the bookcases in the ‘maid’s room’.

I’m pondering a little road trip through Virginia the week before Memorial Day. I’ll be in Baltimore that previous weekend, and will be visiting my family in Durham, so rather than going back home, I may just keep going leisurely south from Baltimore. I’ve never been to Charlottesville or seen the UVA campus, so that might be a stop, and maybe I’ll visit Richmond. (I could always go to Williamsburg, but that’s kind of out of the way.) Anyway, need to do some plotting and planning there.