Notes on a few trips

One last view from New York: The view from the Wintergarden of the World Trade Centre site (WTC7 just opened on the far left)

There is one last story from New York I will mention. After catching The Drowsy Chaperone I decided to head down to Splash Bar . People rave about Splash Bar and if you live in New York it might be the best bar in town, but what gave the place a reputation was lost on me. The punters kept telling me the recent refurbishment of black tiles and chrome bath fittings was such an improvement I was perplexed to think how dire the place must have been before that. Wednesday night around 2am they use the bathroom fittings to shower a whole lot of gentlemen wearing white underwear. This seemed to be a popular event. But I think people up for this sort of thing should wear their best white underwear and not some tired old pants that look like they were thrown in with a dark wash. This was obviously not an important consideration for those boys up on this elevated shower-stage. Presentation aside, the art of tease was also something that these performers knew very little about. Anyway, a little w...

My last full night in New York I caught the Drowsy Chaperone . It isn't so much as a musical but more a comedy monologue full of knowing jokes about the state of modern theatre, which just happens to have old-style musical numbers peppered throughout it. How it does this is by getting a single man in a cardigan who happens to like show tunes play an old record that he has from a long forgotten musical called "The Drowsy Chaperone". Then it comes to life and he gives a running commentary on the proceedings full of such knowing things as one actor "died after taking an overdose and was discovered half-eaten by his poodles"… Trust me it was hilarious… The show has become a hot ticket in New York. It is probably because if you weren't into vampire musicals or crap songs by Phil Collins (oops that's a tautology) there isn't much out there. It is also a comedy and that helps. Also the cast is terrific and inject life into a show which otherwise probably sh...