Every passing day seems to move us further from the time when attending a Broadway musical in New York felt normal and commonplace. When seeking throwback shots for this recent post, I stumbled upon these cheeky peeks from a January weekend in New York a number of year ago, and instantly I was brought back to some happy, if frigid, memories.
It feels like there have been a few very important January shows that I’ve been lucky enough to attend. The first was when Andy and I had tickets to ‘Grey Gardens’ on what felt like the coldest weekend of the year. We had a steak dinner at Gallagher’s before rushing to the theater, bundled up and braced against the wind and chill, and Christine Ebersole warmed us with her glorious portrayal of The Edies. It was, despite its icy nature, a weekend I think back on quite fondly.
Much like the one depicted here, when I was in town to see a revival of ‘Follies’ with Bernadette Peters. Suzie was my date that night, and we repeated a hearty dinner at a nearby steakhouse. Such icy evenings apparently build a hankering for substantial meat. The show was exquisite, the company grand, and my lodgings at 6 Columbus were cozy enough.
In the bathroom, an O-ring right before they even made O-ring lights surrounded the mirror. It should have been colder in that tiled bathroom, with its shiny navy vertical design, but the heat had been indulgently turned high, and a robe made things extra cozy. As was my wont when enjoying a weekend away, I’d purchased a bottle of body wash from L’Occitane nearby, making a memory with some Lemon Verbena.
Such a simple weekend in New York feels so exotic and distant now, and it brings me back to my last brush with the city. That’s all it was, as it never came to fruition. I wonder if we’ll ever get back there – not just in the physical, actual sense, but in the figurative, emotional place where such things as COVID hadn’t yet come into existence. It will be more difficult to find that again. Places and things can be found. The past… not so much.
