Chance = Change

Melvin's last day here, he catches a plane at 7:00 from LaGuardia...Peter will make sure he gets there easily...So, I decided he needed to see an important NYC sight: The Cathedral of St.John the Divine, uptown from where we live at about 113th and Amsterdam.He and I took a walk up there just in time for the magnificent Easter service and spent a deal of time walking around as much of the glorious place as we could get to, it being packed for the service and all....i could tell he was tremendously moved by the entire enormity of the place, and not a detail of it was lost on him....since I had not been up there for several years, I was also tremendously emotional in my response to seeing it again...the organ, choir and Paul Winter Consort were all in great voice, and every size, shape and color of human being was there to workship...a wonderful St.John experience...we walked the Children's Sculpture Garden for a while, then we went for goodies:the Hungarian Pastry Shop across the street, where we watched diligent Columbia University intellectuals talk and study and eat baked goods...it's just as I remembered it. Then I took him on my favorite Columbia University walk, past the gorgeous bronze sculpture of The Great God Pan, around the various classroom buildings, ending up in the St. Paul Chapel, totally deserted except for us, and so we sat and talked for a long while about life, art and the future. Very refreshing. We then walked home down Broadway. I bought Easter goodies for Peter on the way home.

Now I must settle down and read the script I am auditioning for tomorrow: TERRORISM, by two Russian brothers. For the New Group...directed by Will Frears...the same guy i auditioned for when I first got home for that odd Irish thing about a guy who had no arms and legs....this director has a taste for...well...unusual things. And I get to meet with him again tomorrow...so I had better read the script. Yep.

Peter and I saw our first show at the Pearl Theater Company last night,at their place down on St. Mark's Place and 1st Avenue...a JB Priestley play : I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE, first produced in the 1930's...it was very good to see this company of actors, many of whom have been working together for years. Felt very like the Barter, in the sense of ensemble and character work. Did not have that New York "vibe" that says "look at me, I am more important than the play is"...which is so often the case when I go to see things at Lincoln Center or Manhattan Theatre Club...the relative anonymity of the Pearl Company allowed us to see the play and I am glad ,and to be in a neighborhood I had not been in in several years. We ate at a good Thai place after the show, with Kate Guyton, a friend who asked us to see the play with her.

Peter worked some more with a song coach this morning. A man named Brian Cimmit, who we met at a recent audition. Lovely man. Well, Ev, enough stalling...gt to it...read TERRORISM...it's so odd...could it be I am simply not ready to get back to work yet as an actor? That I am enjoying the freedom of simply doing voice-overs and being able to re-discover the city as I wish to on my own time? I have to admit, the thought of getting back into any real show performance grind does not make my heart leap with joy yet..8 performances a week, come hell or high water...nope, not quite there yet...but I will be again...I have learned the value of letting my various fields lie fallow....

Tonite we dine with Paul and Steve at their place.
Karen Samuelson (a wonderful former student who named her first child Evalyn!!) is in town and I must find time to see them all....but when?)

By this time tomorrow, Melvin will be back in Abingdon...part of me wishes me too...but then I realize how varied and exciting our time back here has been and I am once again glad to be home.

Word from Michael Poisson: more romantic intrigue at Barter and various other newsy tidbits...I miss it all!So good to hear from my darling "Herbie"...I so loved working with him in GYPSY!!

HAPPY HOLIDAY ALL!!