Chance = Change

...and there are certain days on which I do remember this is true...like this morning,the air, cool and positively liveable, as I wafted slowly downtown on a #104 bus ...down Broadway, until I reached Lincoln Center and transferred to a #11, which goes straight down 9th Avenue...as I stood outside Lincoln Center waiting for the #11, I listened to the original cast recording of THE GOLDEN APPLE (a young Kaye Ballard made a hit playing "Helen" and singing the gorgeous "Lazy Afternoon" in a cool and seductive voice...really lovely), and I realized I was listening to an American "forgotten" masterpiece, while standing outside one of NYC's most famous musical spots: Lincoln Center, and I was studying the score and feeling so damned artistic! When I stop to consider how many musical geniuses have soaked that particular NYC neighborhood in sound and beauty...how the ghosts of so many musical icons float all over those particular streets...I remember seeing Leonard Bernstein one morning having his coffee at the Lincoln Plaza Coffee Shop just like I was, before going off to some rehearsal or other..and all the stunning theatrical experiences I have had inside those walls...ballet, symphony,theatre...and how I take utterly for granted the sheer presence of that Center in our daily life...this morning, as I waited for the #11 to take me to my GOLDEN APPLE rehearsal, I paid silent homage to Lincoln Center, and marked the simple occsasion of my being able to stand in front of it anytime I wished to .

The gathering of the GOLDEN APPLE company this morning was pleasant, though not all were present. Odd to meet John Cullum in the flesh and realize what a smallish man he actually is, though he has no doubt physically diminished with age...he is nonetheless quite goodlooking...and Howard McGillan is very handsome and charming. A large group of about 29 people, once everyone shows up. Nancy Opal,and her daughter, who is singing in the chorus...Anne Crumb...and dear old strapping David Staller, who I have not been in a room with in years and years!! A hearty group. I am at the moment released from rehearsal, and do not need to return for several hours. chorus work is being diligently focused on and my part has nothing to do with them, so, I sit in an Internet Cafe and write, which brings back memories of doing the same thing in an Internet cafe in London! Oddly small, our planet.

Saturday morning, Peter and I will be picked up by Nancy Truitt, and we shall toddle off to the Hamptons and play thater in the sand! At Pearl Berman's Ranch!!! I am actually looking forward to this weekend a lot, as a romp and a time to look pretty and party. Must get my hats lined up, as it is definitely a hat sort of event, and I fully intend to eat, drink, be merry, and give one hell of a read of the indominable "Mrs. Harcourt" in ANYTHING GOES! Again: HATS!!! I long to see the Ocean, and I believe that longing will be amply fulfilled this coming Saturday and Sunday.

I feel actually excited. And shall snuggle down on the beaches there ,as soon as I have the chance to do so.

bye for now...xxev