A New York Travelogue
Main hall in the Met
THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT climbing the steps to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the upper east side of the great island of Manhattan. You never know if you might run into someone you know or if you will anonymously slide into to the great house of art where anything is possible.
I had no real plan, as I was blissfully alone on a getaway to revisit the city I had lived in or around for much of my life. So it was wonderful to go wherever I was moved to go—without carpools, play dates, and basketball practices. Entering the familiar entrance abuzz with people from all walks of life, I saw students to elderly couples enjoying art together.
I chose to see an exhibit called “American Stories: Paintings from Everyday life, 1765-1915” which was almost on its last day. With audio guide in hand, I meandered and listened to the stories behind the stories which made these gems come to life. What really drew me in were the variety of activities and the unusual perspective of the painters. Illuminating the early American colonists as they quilted, danced, voted, played, or battled, the artists caught them in the act without being staged, which showed several incidental layers giving the canvas a dimension not seen in the usual portraiture. There was also the understated social comment on issues such as gender, race, religion, and politics—the veritable minefields of today—which were not fully shaped at that time.
Cast of “A Little Night Music”
The next night I was joined by my beautiful, culturally minded mother (without whose education I would never have cared about art in any form ) to see Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway play, “A Little Night Music,” which was last seen on Broadway in 1973 and is based on the Ingmar Bergman film, “Smiles of a Summer Night.” The glamorous Catherine Zeta-Jones aptly and seductively gave her diva of low brow entertainer the emotional depth required by the pivotal scene where she sings “Send in the Clowns” with sadness and aplomb. The great Angela Lansbury commanded the stage and rose to her season star status. The humorous and poignant comedy of errors about love was delightful both dramatically and musically.
Katherine Longstreth
On a different beat, the next night I attended the West End Theatre for some tried and true downtown modern dance (which happened to be uptown). I could not be subjective as I responded to the work of my dear friend, Katherine Longstreth, who in three solos and two duets drew a multi-faceted map of the female mystique, including that which is also male.
With quirky gestures, her dances slyly unfolded tales not fully apparent, but intriguing enough to guess. Images of motherhood, love, loss, and what it takes to keep it all together came forth as she was at times an E. E. Cummings poem or Busby Berkeley or earth mother. It was truly inspiring to see my friend carrying her artistry along throughout life. •
