About Me

My photo
Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts, United States

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The Normal Heart

The ostensible reason for our latest trip
To Old Greenwich and New York
Was to join the extended family in celebration
Of Frank's eightieth birthday.

But Sue suggested we arrive early to
Spend a few days using their apartment.
So, as is our wont, we first hied up to
Lincoln Center to see what we could score.

The American Ballet Theatre was in residence,
Performing "Swan Lake" as the week's offering.
We must have bought the very last tickets
Overlooking the stage from the lowest box.

It was a memorable and masterful exhibition,
With the parts of both the white and black swans
Danced by one prima ballerina, generally
Considered a tour de force in the genre.

The centerpiece of our visit was the next night's
"The Normal Heart," winner of numerous Toni awards.
The featured doctor in the play is copied directly from
The wheelchair bound daughter of a close friend.

She was the first to treat Aids patients in New York
And to identify the disease as a true plague.
The play is powerful theater, the actors mesmerizing
To the audience of mainly young men.

For light relief after such heavy cultural investment,
We toured St. Patrick's, where I dipped me fingers
In the holy water and made the sign of the cross,
Like the good Catholic boy I used to be.

Attended noontime HE at St. Thomas on Fifth Avenue,
Flew up to the Top of the Rock,
Joined a happy crowd whooping it up
To "Mamma Mia" at the Winter Garden on Broadway.

Where did you dine, you might ask,
That being an important feature of touring NYC.
Our favorites:  P.J. Clarke's on Columbus Avenue,
Basso 56 between 8th Avenue and Broadway on 56th St.

We have been to the latter so often that
The proprietor recognizes and greets us on the way in.
This time we sampled Ruhlmann's Brasserie at
Rockefeller Center and The Oyster Bar in Grand Central.

Then back to Old Greenwich to be enfolded
By numerous Millards, young and old, including
One of my stepdaughters and various cousins who now
Recognize me as one of the extended family.