Paris, Night and Gaie

Upcoming Trips and Events
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plays and concerts
April 24th, 2024. The Worst Cafe in the World' See blog post for details . . . .
April 21, 2024. Went to an all-Mozart concert at St.Thomas More Church at 65 East 89th street. It featured the St. Thomas More Church Choir with the Church's organ and a string quartet. A very nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
April 27th, 2024 Went to the MSM''s production of Puccini's "La Rondine". In many ways it is my favourite opera. The music still haunts me as it used to do in youthful times. This production, as always at the MSM, was so enjoyable. The cast played their parts with tremendous enthusiasm, the costumes were excellent and the voices quite professional!
March 21 2024 - LLOYD Altman concert (See blog post)
January 27th - Saw a first-class revival of Tennessee William's "The Night of the Iguana" at the Pershing Square Signature Theater. The set, lighting and acting were all great! The cast, in particular, sustained three hours of dramatic dialogue without fault.
January 14, 2024. With the sincerest of thanks to Ally, close friend of Christine, who gave us tickets which she was unable to use herself, we were able to see the Met's latest production of Madama Butterfly. The production requires the high skills of about twenty puppeteers, three of whom are dedicated to manipulating Cio-Cio-San's toddler! This, they do with an amazing degree of reality, including gestures such as tugging at his mother's dress and jumping into her arms! There is a snag, however; puppeteers require near invisibility in order to make their work convincing. Dressed from head to toe in black, they need a very low light to hide in. The set designer's solution was to build a black-painted stage, sloping back and upwards. The producer had his characters enter the stage from the back of this hill in dramatic lighting, while the puppeteers moved at will in the gloom below. But, it was not the Puccini I knew so well and was moved by since I saw the Sadler's Wells production some seventy years ago! The arias were there and the pathos and emotions still evident, but my overall feeling was that the music was playing second fiddle to the visual fireworks!
November12, 2023. Saw the finest revival I have seen in New York for many a year! It was Bernard Shaw's "Arms and the Man" put on by the Gingold Theatrical Group at Theatre Row. It was directed by David Shaller (godson of Hermione Gingold) who had his cast come to the front of the stage at each scene to explain to the audience the action to follow. Shaw's humour never missed a beat--The audience was in stitches from beginning to end!
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Paris, Night and Gaie

Posted on October 27, 2023 by Ben Thompson

As it happened, Paris was in the throes of preparing for the upcoming Olympic Games; which she is hosting next year! It didn’t prevent us from getting around very much, but there were a few restrictions.