Every year we try to get to NYC for a stay on the Upper West Side, go to theatre, and see our “kids” (Jon and Tracie, Megan and Chris). I usually write lots of details about the numerous sites and high points, but alas, weather at the end of April did not cooperate and instead an intense and raw rain made some of our plans obsolete.
But first upon our arrival, when the weather was still good, dinner at Jon and Tracie's apartment which overlooks the Hudson River.
As luck would have it, though, our son booked us into a boutique UWS hotel, the Wallace, and in spite of the construction across the street, the requisite NYC street sounds, fire engines, police, early morning garbage trucks, it was a wonderful choice as we had a separate living area to hunker down with family or just ourselves to “duck out” of the weather, mostly a cold blustery rain.
The weather spoiled some of our plans but we managed to enjoy, not only all six of us being together, but being able to get to most of the shows and performances we had booked, special restaurants too such as the Boulud Sud where it looks like we arrived from the frozen tundra. (The photo, left to right, Megan, Ann, Bob, Chris, Tracie, Jon.)
The highlight for me, though, was going back in time to the Village Vanguard, remembering I was there in the early 1960s for a performance by Oscar Peterson. I was in college and sat at the bar with one of my college or HS buddies. Doesn’t look like they changed much. This time the rising luminary was Samara Joy, just in her early 20s. We saw her first perform at Emmet’s Place before she even graduated from college and then again on the Jazz Cruise.
Unfortunately, I was unable to get a good photograph of her because of the crowd and lighting so this will have to do.
Nonetheless, her Web Site has all the pix and information one might need. Her team has swung into high gear with performances scheduled all over the world and to see her emergence as a top jazz performer in such a short time is remarkable.
She is the real deal, a natural, titanic talent, often compared to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, you might even say having Ella’s range and Sarah’s smoky quality. But she is herself, her own style. We once heard her sing Guess Who I Saw Today, perhaps it was on Emmet’s Place, exactly as the song was written, with the unforgettable final verse,
Guess who I saw today, my dear!
I've never been so shocked before.
I headed blindly for the door.
They didn't see me passing through,
Guess who I saw today? [Repeat: x3]
I saw you!
Instead at the Vanguard she inter-spaced lyrics from another song, affecting in some ways but lacking that three word axe that falls at the end. Many singers have made “”Guess” a signature song. We love the one by Edie Gorme and hope that Samantha stays with at least some of the standard lyrics. But she could sing the telephone book, and we’d be there.
The two shows that we managed to get to in spite of the weather were like the bookends to one another.
Some Like It Hot is loosely based on the movie and it is traditional Broadway energy with fabulous performances and clever, complicated staging, tap dancing galore too. I thought it had all the best elements that a Broadway production had to offer plus farce with the moving doors, not knowing what characters would dance, or sneak out of each one. Huge cast. While the music was enjoyable, maybe only one or two songs were memorable in some way, yet no wonder it has just been nominated for 13 Tony awards.
Nonetheless, being in NY, and at a hotel where we had some separate living space during the storms, made it another wonderful visit to the past. Maybe we will have to avoid future April showers and storms and visit during the lusty month of May, “that lovely month when ev'ryone goes / Blissfully astray.”
