The day started out normal enough. After a coffee at the local Starbucks I took the subway downtown for a little SVU memorial trip to Foley Square. The building there is otherwise known as the court building on all Law & Order shows. My two proxy friends got their picture taken in front of it, sort of as a re-enactment of Alex and Olivia
Then I braved the cold and icy winds to walk across Brooklyn Bridge. More proxy fun on the bridge, to the astonishment and open stares of the other people. I knew my friends would get me in trouble when they started to have some pervy fun in public ... on a bench on the bridge. Tsk tsk.
In Brooklyn I walked around for a bit, exploring DUMBO (the area Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) and took some nice photos of the two bridges. But I made my way to the next subway station soon because it was just too cold to be outside for too long at a time. Went back to Midtown for a midmorning snack and ... ran into my English lady friends from yesterday: Improbability #1. We had a short chat, then went on our separate ways.
My next stop was Roosevelt Island and, more importantly, the trip there by aerial tramway. It’s a very short trip but it’s amazing and offers great views of Manhattan. Walked around the island a bit ... strange place. Very residential but there weren’t any people around. All out working, presumably. Or huddled up inside. By now it had gotten to be early afternoon, so I made my way back to the theater district for Improbability #2.
Before I went off to New York I'd bought a ticket to the Gypsy of the Year show, not knowing if I’d really go. I mentioned the show yesterday: it’s organized by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids and is a charity event, which at the same time celebrates the “gypsies” of the Broadway shows – the cast who are not the stars ... the chorus boys and girls, if you will. The shows collect money from their audience in a donation drive that lasts 6 weeks ("Equus", for example, auctioned off Daniel Radcliffe's jeans on Saturday). The show that brings in the most money wins.
The climax of this AIDS benefit is the “Gypsy of the Year” show, in which performers from a number of the big shows display their talents in a mostly funny, irreverent, and – at least today – very, very gay way. After the show, the “Gypsy (or Gypsies) of the Year” are chosen by a panel of judges. That’s where improbability #2 comes in: who do you think was on that panel of judges? Right. Kate.
Some shows do a number from their show, while others perform something that’s been written and choreographed just for this show. Some shows just have gypsies, some bring a couple of stars with them to join the performance. No matter what, it’s all good. I’ve learned a few things today. I’ve learned that Daniel Radcliffe can sing, for instance. He also wrote the song the cast of “Equus” performed. And I’ve learned that it’s quite possible to go to a theater and feel like part of a community that celebrates itself. The whole cast of the musical “13” was sitting in the rows behind me and stormed off to perform just before they were on. After the performance everyone left the theater more or less together, gypsies, stars, and audience. Tyne Daly, who was one of the presenters, walked right past me on the way out.
All in all, the show was $20 dollars very well spent. I saw on that stage in a beautiful theater a singing Daniel Radcliffe; the "horses" from Equus dancing ballet; Tyne Daly; Harvey Fierstein; Susan Blackwell; the whole cast of Hairspray (including Marissa Jaret Winokur and Marc Shaiman at the piano); a group of buff man singing about enormous penises; a skit about “Hillbilly Elliot”, and lots, lots more.
Damn, that was fun.
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