In the Company of Friends

Monday, October 8, 2018

This trip to London began 53 weeks ago when I read that a new production of "Company" was scheduled for London in the Fall of 2018.  Patti Lupone, a favorite of mine, was set to play the role originated by Elaine Stritch and, most significantly, Bobby, the 35-year old, single, male commitmentphobe at the center of the play, would be reimagined as a 35-year old, single, female commitmentphobe.  Stephen Sondheim had refused past proposals to potschke with the character he created, but now worked on the revisions.  This I had to see.  So, I ordered 4 tickets on-line on October 1, 2017, expecting that Londoners David and Katherine Brodie would want to join us.  

I had plenty of time to shop for good flight and hotel deals and now we are taking advantage of this advance planning.  Saturday night, we saw this exciting, new "Company," made more exciting by the last minute substitution of the understudy in the role of Bobby, her debut in this demanding role, where she is on stage 99% of the time.  A welcome departure from every Broadway musical that I have seen this century was the absence of amplification; the performers were not miked.  In all, this production of "Company" was far better than the two others that I recall.  (With one exception, I have seen every Sondheim musical multiple times.)

. . .

Sunday morning, the Upper West Side's Power Couple went to the Camden Lock Market, which once featured local arts and crafts, but now has hundreds of merchants offering every T-shirt known to humankind.  Fortunately, the Jewish Museum London was close by at 129-131 Albert Street.  It's relatively small, with 3 main permanent exhibits -- an introduction to Judaism for the 99.6% of the non-Jewish British population; a history of Jews in Great Britain (mostly cruel); British Jews and the Holocaust.  The latter featured the story of Leon Greenman, a British Jew with strong family ties to the Netherlands, who was in Rotterdam when the war broke out.  His papers were misplaced and he was unable to prove to the Nazis that he was an enemy civilian rather than a Dutch Jew.  He went through six concentration camps, surviving the war, returning to England.  His wife and child were murdered in Auschwitz.  He lived until age 97, but never remarried.  

. . .

The Brodie's are not finished with us or vice versa.  Sunday night, their friends Colin and Fleur invited us all to dinner, along with Robina Rafferty, another mutual friend,  and Fleur's sister Nina, a concert musician.  This Anglo-Celtic-American conglomeration worked out splendidly -- food, beverages, fellowship and conversation almost worthy of Noël Coward.

. . .

Madam and I cruised through Harrods this morning, where I came across this abomination.

I spent 10 minutes explaining to the sales clerk why this was an offense to both the sports community and the fashion community.

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Last night, we saw "Hamilton."  When I told David months in advance that we had tickets for "Company," he countered by getting tickets to "Hamilton," almost as big a hit here as in New York.  Since I had resold orchestra seats to "Hamilton" in New York last year for $1,200 each, I was especially pleased to pay £100 each for seats a couple of thousand miles east.  The vast difference in pricing results from the good efforts of the London production company.  Actual tickets are distributed at the theatre immediately before show time upon presenting ID and the credit card used for the purchase, whether the purchase was made on-line, by telephone or at the box office in advance.  Thus, goniffs like me are stymied.

It's a very good show, definitely worth £100.  While the execution was flawless, I marvelled most at the imagination behind it.  It's just about the most unlikely pairing of topic and style conceivable.

. . .

David guided us around the East End for a few hours at midday, a neighborhood that might be likened to Sicily, absorbing wave after wave of "invaders."  For instance, Brick Lane Jamme Masjid a/k/a Brick Lane Mosque, 59 Brick Lane, is in a building that was established as a Hugenot Protestant chapel in 1743.  In 1809 it was bought by the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews.  Blessedly, this was a flop and in 1819 the building became a Methodist chapel.  Congregation Machzike Hadath took over the premises in 1898 as the Spitalfields Great Synagogue.  That congregation moved to the suburbs in 1970 and the building apparently was unused until 1976, when it was reopened as a Mosque, serving the growing Bangladeshi community.

. . .

Thanks to Ittai and Linda, frequent travelers to London, for recommending The Palomar, 34 Rupert Street, "serving the food of modern day Jerusalem."  It's a small restaurant, 10 tables and 10 seats at the bar, making it difficult to get a reservation, but worth the effort.  Portions are meant to be shared, but are small.  Item prices are reasonable, however, so keep on ordering.  We had baba ganoush with pomegranate seeds (£4.30); m'sabacha, chick peas in tahini (£4.30); burrata, buffalo mozzarella with za'atar, tomato salsa and olive oil (special, didn't catch the price); sea trout tartare (£12.50); seared scallops (£15.50); chargrilled aubergine (£7.50); balsamic glazed chicken livers (£11.50); polenta with shaved parmigiana, mushrooms, asparagus and truffle (£9.80).  Service was excellent; the seltzer flowed like water.  Everything was excellent, as a matter of fact.

Since we were in the vicinity, we ended the evening with gelato at Vanini Swiss Chocolate, 1 Sherwood Street, which now has a sign over the door proclaiming Vittorio Swiss Chocolate.  I had a scoop of Nocciole Piemonte (hazelnut) and a scoop of coconut, both superb (£5 for two scoops).  However, to assuage my disappointment at the absence of any chocolate flavor tonight, the kind salesclerk gave us all dark chocolate squares.

Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Homeward bound, but first might you want to know whose smartyphone wound up on the tracks under a train at the Gatwick Airport station?  OK, we'll skip it.

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Instead of reentering the domestic scene slowly and deliberately, I had lunch with the Feingold Faction, former students of Stanley Feingold, still gathering a year after his death to argue politics and public policy.  We attack the issues, and each other only inferentially, with almost the same vigor that we displayed in CCNY classrooms more than half a century ago. 

Friday, October 12, 2018 

I jumped back into American politics yesterday at lunch.  Last night, I took a riskier step back to my normal life after that wonderful trip to London by switching back and forth between the Rangers hockey game and the Giants football game on television.  I had the misfortune to see the worst parts of the Giants game and miss the best parts of the Rangers game.  Thus, I could only curse at the television and not have the chance to cheer.  Life returns to normal.

. . .

I hope I get over my jet lag soon enough to dive into the fabulous interactive map of (almost) every building in the US that The New York Times has just delivered to our electronic doorstep.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/12/us/map-of-every-building-in-the-united-states.html

As an additional gift, the paper promises to include in Sunday's print edition: "A special section featuring a giant four-page-wide map of all the buildings in one of six metropolitan regions: New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Dallas-Fort Worth.  The map you’ll get depends on where in the country you buy the newspaper."  Don't be ashamed to go through your neighbor's trash.
. . .

An  essay by Loudon Wainwright III just went on-line, listing his 10 best protest songs.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/12/opinion/loudon-wainwright-protest-songs.html

Don't be deterred that "old folkies" sounds like "old fogeys."  Make your own list.  Here's your chance to return to your Joan Baez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhbjrPrBGe4), Phil Ochs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv1KEF8Uw2k), Woody Guthrie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKVnur5DkdI), Odetta (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVFngnEP09E&list=PLS6aMtdhI9EpdBg8tRug_4WoFC1KnDfFg&index=26), the Almanac Singers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIU-7G7txmo&index=4&list=PLQHbCqFi89N2ZPkB7z2r4xuWL0pt3kbc0), Buffy Sainte-Marie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUbMoyolxmU&list=PLB0-2WaBbyvkxv-_XlFxdiAu8gWqPI4Vq).  

When you want to take a break, maybe you'll play a little Allan Sherman (https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=tightropetb&p=allan+sherman#action=view&id=57&vid=e18f945b82fefd458d319758df58952e).