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fabrisseI saw The Crucible with Ben Whishaw and Sophie Okonedo. It wasn't gripping in the same way that A View from the Bridge was; it's a different sort of play. But unlike many of the reviewers who hated the "magical" aspects of this production (some eerie animation when the girls are entranced, one flash of a girl flying, a wolf walking across the stage), I found they helped emphasize the edges of their society. The words showed the links between then and now, but those little touches showed the differences. The wolf (okay, it was a dog, likely a husky, who'd been well trained, but that didn't make it any less creepy) especially served as a reminder that these characters were on the edge of wilderness. The animation showed the contagion of ideas: lynch mobs come from somewhere.
After I arrived on Thursday, before the play, I wandered around near my hotel. This was the first time I stayed near Wall Street and it was a revelation. Obviously the city had to have started somewhere, but I hadn't realized how close to the tip of the island the original settlements were. Battery Park was beautiful and had lines showing the original shoreline before backfill extended it. Seeing the Statue of Liberty in the distance always gives me a little lump in my throat. While I was down there, a jazz group (about 12 people) was giving an open air concert in front of Two Battery Park. I missed the first ten minutes or so, but got to listen to an hour of pretty good jazz.
Then there was Pearl Street. Thanks to Hanover Square Pearl Street is divided. There's a wide street on one side and a narrower one on the other. The storefronts, all restaurants, open to both sides and the wider street was filled with picnic tables. Each restaurant had its section, and people sat crowded together at the tables with the waitstaff rushing around, back, and through. It reminded me of the scene in the oyster house in Helprin's Winter's Tale. And that oyster house would have been in the area.
I found a patisserie (which I later found out is part of a local franchise) called Financier. I giggled when I saw it. Financier is a type of cake, but can you think of a more appropriate name two blocks from Wall Street?
(Delmonico's was nearby! Diamond Jim Brady and Diamond Lil! Oscar Wilde ate there -- see, I learn things when I research my![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
yuletide fics.)
Most of all for the first time, I rode the subway on my own. It was relatively simple, but I remember all of the admonitions I'd heard as a young woman in the late 1970s. I think I'll try to stay in the same neighborhood again. It was relatively quiet at night, and I like having a river so close that I can see it in a block or two.
After I arrived on Thursday, before the play, I wandered around near my hotel. This was the first time I stayed near Wall Street and it was a revelation. Obviously the city had to have started somewhere, but I hadn't realized how close to the tip of the island the original settlements were. Battery Park was beautiful and had lines showing the original shoreline before backfill extended it. Seeing the Statue of Liberty in the distance always gives me a little lump in my throat. While I was down there, a jazz group (about 12 people) was giving an open air concert in front of Two Battery Park. I missed the first ten minutes or so, but got to listen to an hour of pretty good jazz.
Then there was Pearl Street. Thanks to Hanover Square Pearl Street is divided. There's a wide street on one side and a narrower one on the other. The storefronts, all restaurants, open to both sides and the wider street was filled with picnic tables. Each restaurant had its section, and people sat crowded together at the tables with the waitstaff rushing around, back, and through. It reminded me of the scene in the oyster house in Helprin's Winter's Tale. And that oyster house would have been in the area.
I found a patisserie (which I later found out is part of a local franchise) called Financier. I giggled when I saw it. Financier is a type of cake, but can you think of a more appropriate name two blocks from Wall Street?
(Delmonico's was nearby! Diamond Jim Brady and Diamond Lil! Oscar Wilde ate there -- see, I learn things when I research my
yuletide fics.)Most of all for the first time, I rode the subway on my own. It was relatively simple, but I remember all of the admonitions I'd heard as a young woman in the late 1970s. I think I'll try to stay in the same neighborhood again. It was relatively quiet at night, and I like having a river so close that I can see it in a block or two.
