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An Audience with Dame Helen

Next Friday night, I am seeing The Audience!

I know, it's not the best-reviewed play, but the chance to see Helen Mirren was too great to pass up. The next night, it will be Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy in Skylight for me, while C drinks at a classy bar somewhere.  She told me if she hooks up with a billionaire, she'll leave word with the bartender :)  I'm terribly excited for both shows.  As with everything else in New York, there are just too many choices, but I am happy with these.
Didn't get Sir Ian, but got Sir Patrick and Billy Crudup.
I hadn't seen a Broadway show in ages, but last year, with the FNGs, I saw the Sirs Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in No Man's Land, then in August, Neil Patrick Harris rocked my world in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. (Might have to go back and see Taye Diggs in that role!)



After No Man's Land ended, we were, to be brutally, embarrassingly honest, on our way to the M&M Store, when we noticed a crowd gathering at the stage door.  Ian McKellen came out pretty quickly, so we figured we'd hang out for a bit and see Patrick Stewart.  Well, Mr. Stewart took his sweet time on that freezing February night, but once we'd decide to wait, we stuck it out.  He eventually emerged, signed my playbook, and was extremely nice, as was Billy Crudup.  All I could say to either of them was how much I enjoyed the play, since I didn't understand it at all- Harold Pinter, amirite?? 
P Stew and Me.
That was my first experience standing around waiting to meet an actor.  And, probably my last.  Later that year, we didn't bother hanging around for NPH.  I don't think he needs me to tell him he did a great job.  The hundreds of dollars we paid for the tickets, and the Tony award probably did that well enough.

Naturally, we'll need to get a drink after the show on Friday. I'm considering the Rum House in the Edison Hotel, for sentimental reasons.  The first bar I ever ordered a drink at was in the Edison.  It was a total shithole, but they'd serve booze to a 16 year old, so score! You'll have to trust me on this, but I didn't look anywhere near 21 when I was 16.  The last time I got carded in Manhattan, I was 32, for god's sake! I guess I can prove it with a picture showing one of my 80s perms...

There. Are you happy now?
I don't know if it's the same place, but it will be fun to check it out.  Back then, I had a glass of atrocious white wine with my friend Katie, and a bunch of Italian exchange students, and I felt very sophisticated. This time out, the wine will be better, but whenever I'm in New York, part of me still feels like that teenager (only better dressed and perm-free).  I think that's why I love it so much.

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