Rich and Famous

I don't quite know what the deal is, but we are going to see a lot of theatre here in New York. We never do it at home, and we don't even do it that much when we travel. But we've been here since Thursday afternoon, and we've already seen four performances, and have tickets for two more before we leave on Tuesday morning.

Today we saw the 2 p.m. matinee of "The 39 Steps", which was hilarious, and tonight we saw the off-Broadway show "Sleepwalk With Me" by comedian Mike Birbiglia.

Now, the very first day we were here, Jim saw actress Jessica Walter on the street: I wouldn't know her if I tripped over her, but Jim recognized her, so that's good enough for me. Last night on the way home from "33 Variations" (not really very good: it could have used an editor, though Jim says it went through extensive rewrites, it was sort of obvious and didactic, and Samantha Mathis, though charming in the movies, isn't really a stage actress, starting off and often slipping back into a declamatory style that was not at all naturalistic or convincing), I saw Jackie Mason walking down Broadway with a friend.

But tonight at "Sleepwalk With Me", which is staged at a very small and intimate theatre, I thought I recognized someone from the side, though I am not awfully good with faces. "That guy over there looks kind of like Keanu Reeves," I said to Jim. "The one with hat and the bad beard." (It was a bad beard, patchy and scruffy and not remotely attractive.) Jim took a look and said, "That is Keanu Reeves, you dope." And it was, too.

And he was with Parker Posey! If I were not so Canadian I would have figured out a way to go over to them and say, "I'm a huge fan!, and when Reeves modestly thanked me, which I assume he would have to do out of basic politeness, I would say, "Not you, her!" Because unlike Keanu Reeves (a limited range, to say the least, quite good in "Speed" and a couple of other roles but otherwise rather stiff, and he came very close to ruining "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Dangerous Liaisons"), Parker Posey is always good.

Apart from a sullen cash-register jockey today--we were picking up a few grocery items and when I set the basket on the conveyor belt, she looked at me with bland disbelief that I would expect her to do anything as pedestrian as take the items out of my basket--New Yorkers continue to be polite and friendly and quite unlike their reputations. People on the subway say "Excuse me," pedestrians give directions if they have them, everyone's just nice and human. What a relief!

If you're expecting anything except a travelogue for the next few days, you will be disappointed, I think. You might as well just come back on Wednesday, when I'll see if I can't have something for you more in my usual line.