Weekend Roundup

Well, it was a pretty long weekend in the world of the 646 Guy. Saturday I woke up rather late in the day – most likely because I was up until about four in the morning talking with friends on the phone and watching the Game Show Network and reruns of Robin Byrd (something which when you have a few beers in you is hysterically funny to watch).

However, being the good rugby guy that I am, I went to the gym Saturday afternoon and did my hour on the runner (check out the workout log so you can see how well I did) and had some fruit afterwards. Now, at this point, I’m really not in the mood to go home so I decided to head down to 42nd Street and see a movie. My choice was Adaptation because I had heard the good reviews and was intrigued by the story. Besides, it was also a chance to see Meryl Streep do a movie that didn’t require her to put on an accent.

The movie was really good – until the last ten to fifteen minutes. I was totally buying the twin brother angle, the writer having an illicit affair with her subject matter, the writer’s block, the odd drug angle, I could buy it all. And then the last fifteen minutes of the movie made everything else totally pointless. I sat there wondering what drugs Kaufman was on when he wrote those final scenes and if I was to forget about what had happened before and think that this comedy movie could turn into an action film.

So I left the theatre and went home to get in some rest and relaxation at home. I know, I could have hit the bars and tried to see if I could pick up a man or something because it would totally be in line with my New Year’s Resolution about putting myself out there more and yadda friggin’ yadda. But I was tired, it was a long week, and besides there could be layoffs at work starting on Monday which means I need to put some money aside to make sure that I have money to live off of should they lay me off because I spent all of my savings last year when I was laid off then and had no work for three months. So yeah…I’m playing it cool Saturday night curling up with a chicken sandwich and Dustin Hoffman as Tootsie.

Then there’s Sunday. Sunday I promised myself I would go to the gym (which would throw off my four day cycle of working out as it would be the fifth day in a row I would have worked out) but thanks to getting up late and dragging my ass around the apartment, that was quickly shot out of the water and for one good reason – free theatre.

There are ways in New York City of seeing theatre for free that don’t include having friends at all of the major general management houses who can say, “Yes, Brian, I can comp you into a performance of The Producers. Is the front row okay?” The way you do it is simple – volunteer ushering. Pretty much you get to see the show for free but you have to help people get to their seats, tell people they are in the wrong seats, and make sure no one puts anything on the stage. So instead of working out as I had planned I headed down to Playwrights Horizons and ushered for the Sunday matinee performance of Falsettos (ergo, the quote from earlier).

For this production, they had pretty much reassembled the entire original cast with the exception of Stephen Bogardus who is on Broadway on Man of La Mancha and the kids who played Jason because…well…Jason is only supposed to be 12 and these kids are in their early 20s now. The guy who replaced Stephen Bogardus was Jonathan Dokuchitz who recently did The Boys From Syracuse on Broadway and was the singing voice for John Cusack in the animated Anastasia movie and the singing voice for Mel Gibson in whatever Disney film he did. He was too adorable for words as Whizzer and let’s just say practically every man (well gay man that is) fell in love with him from the moment he hit the stage. Michael Rupert was amazing as Marvin again and Faith…well let’s just say that seeing the entire cast (well almost the entire cast) together was one of those moments that just sends chills down your spine and makes you cry through about the last forty minutes of the show. Alison Fraser was AMAZING on “I’m Breaking Down” and made me want to learn the song just so I can sing it at the top of my lungs whenever I want.

Of course, after that they only thing you can do besides hope that your eyes aren’t too red when you introduce yourself to Michael Rupert and Jonathan Dukochitz and etc etc is go home and watch the Coupling marathon on BBC America. (Oh and Mr. Dukochitz, if you ever read this…dinner?)

So that was my weekend…how was yours?