Greetings on a rainy weekend. Harriet and I made a weekend excursion up to New York and had a marvelous time. We took train up on Friday and had a great meal at a Greek restaurant, Avra, in Rockefeller Center. Our hotel was located in Midtown, so we were able to walk there, and everywhere else we wanted to go, pretty easily.
Longtime readers of this blog may remember that we spent a lot of time in Manhattan when our youngest grandson was born in 2021 and needed repair of a coarctation of the aorta when he was a week old (btw, he is doing incredibly well, and has no limitations of any kind). The contrast in New York between then and now is quite striking. Midtown and the Theater District are bustling; we walked wherever we wanted, and it both felt and was quite safe.
On Saturday we walked to the Museum of Modern Art, where we got wonderful inspiration for some paintings Harriet is working on to complement poems I have written about my mother’s experiences as a “hidden child” in Belgium during the Holocaust. My brother wrote a book chronicling her experiences, built around letters she sent to her parents while hiding as a novice in a convent.
Interestingly, our oldest grandchild, who is in the seventh grade, is doing a class project on the Holocaust, as his class recently visited the Holocaust Museum here in DC. The book he ordered for his project did not arrive in time, so he read my brother’s book and will use it as the basis for his project. The stories and memories are hard, but the lessons are so important, particularly at this moment, when all types of intolerance are on the rise. I hope that all of our grandchildren eventually read the book and carry that piece of their legacy with them, transmitting those lessons to future generations.
So, after the museum, we went to the nearby Lego Store, and bought some things for our youngest grandsons. We walked about and had a pre-theater dinner before seeing Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” at the Hudson Theater. The musical has a star-studded cast that includes Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. He is quite the accomplished stage actor!
The show was simply exceptional. It first opened in 1981, and was a miserable flop, even though the score contains some of Sondheim’s iconic songs. Over the years, various productions have improved the book and unusual organization of the story (it starts at the end and works its way back to the beginning, where one sees the origins of the various conflicts of the story). My brother, a composer who knew Sondheim, thinks it may be his best work in terms of musical theater craft.
We turned off our phones during the show, but when I turned mine back on at intermission, waiting for me was a text from my brother telling me that his daughter, whose stage name is Marla Mindelle, just won a 2024 Obie Award (the off-Broadway equivalent of a Tony Award) for her lead performance in the musical parody “Titanique,” which she also co-wrote.
It is a towering accomplishment for any theater performer, and we simply could not be more thrilled and proud of her. I remember her as a 3-year old at an ice cream parlor in Newtown, Penn., who out of nowhere would jump on top of the table where she was supposed to be sitting to “entertain” the customers with her version of the song ‘Tomorrow,” the iconic anthem of the hit musical “Annie.” Again and again and again, and everywhere we ate… She was born to sing and perform, and her dreams have come true. She is extraordinarily talented, of course, but her talent is only exceeded by her hard work.
If my mother had not survived the Holocaust, there would have been no Marla. Every life is precious.
Stay safe and be well.
Lou
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author’s employer, organization, committee or other group or individual.