{"id":11224,"date":"2013-05-26T20:32:25","date_gmt":"2013-05-26T10:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=11224"},"modified":"2016-08-28T09:32:19","modified_gmt":"2016-08-27T23:32:19","slug":"time-square-and-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=11224","title":{"rendered":"Blogs From America – Time Square and Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"

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There’s something a little bit soul destroying about Time Square in Manhattan, a colourful and cheery hell hole that is famous for its gigantic advertising billboards and exists nowadays as a Mecca for tourists from around the world.\u00a0 I was one of them!\u00a0 I couldn’t resist the allure of standing there and having my photo taken beneath those bright lights.\u00a0 Then I felt a little bit disappointed in myself as I looked around and actually absorbed my surroundings.\u00a0 There’s a McDonalds, a Starbucks and a three-storey high M&M store.\u00a0 Why do people come here again?<\/p>\n

The worst part of Time Square is the army of spruikers on the street trying to sell you stuff.\u00a0 There’s people selling tickets to comedy nights, shortcut passes to the Empire State Building, day trips to Ellis Island…you name it.\u00a0 I believe almost all of it is a rip-off of the highest order.\u00a0 One of the most depressing things is the people dressed as famous characters from American pop culture who are looking to pose for photos.\u00a0 Elmo, Spider-man, Snoopy, Batman…they’re all in Time Square and constantly harassing you for a photo op.\u00a0 They want the photo so they can then demand some tip money.\u00a0 They are relentless in their pursuit of you which is why I momentarily got to enjoy the unexpected sight of my wife getting fed up and telling Elmo to piss off.<\/p>\n

I remember one day in New York, I walked past Cookie Monster sitting outside a McDonalds.\u00a0 He must have had a long day of people telling him to get fucked and stop asking for money.\u00a0 He seemed depressed, introspective and lost in thought.\u00a0 Poor Cookie Monster.\u00a0 I hope he decided to quit his job in Time Square that day and return to more meaningful work in early childhood education.<\/p>\n

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Time Square is a pretty terrible place but on the other hand its also adjacent to Broadway where there is plenty of entertainment to be had.\u00a0 Go to Time Square and hit up the box office in the middle of the strip and you can get yourself reasonably priced tickets to some of the best shows in town.\u00a0 I love me some plays and musicals but in Brisbane we’re lucky to get more than a handful of shows every year and they sure as hell don’t have the variety or star power that’s on offer in New York.<\/p>\n

Jen and I wanted to make sure we saw both a musical and a play and that’s exactly what we did.\u00a0 Acquiring tickets to shows don’t require any planning beforehand and you can usually get tickets for a show on the same day.\u00a0 We couldn’t decide between David Mamet’s stage production of Glengarry Glen Ross\u00a0<\/em>(my choice) and Grace<\/em> (Jen’s a big Paul Rudd fan) so we ended up getting tickets for both.<\/p>\n

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The cast of Grace – Michael Shannon, Kate Arrington, Paul Rudd and Ed Asner<\/p><\/div>\n

Grace<\/h2>\n

We saw Grace<\/em> first.\u00a0 It’s a small scale black comedy made by a first-time director Craig Wright about religion, faith, marriage and money.\u00a0 Paul Rudd (<\/em>Clueless<\/em>,\u00a0This Is Forty<\/em>) is the marquee actor but also involved were Michael Shannon (Take Shelter<\/em>,\u00a0Man of Steel<\/em>) and Ed Asner, a veteran character actor who has had more than 300 roles in film and television including\u00a0The X-File<\/em>,\u00a0The Simpsons, Family Guy\u00a0<\/em>and Up<\/em>.\u00a0 Kate Arrington was the only one of the cast I hadn’t heard of before but she was a fine performer in her own right.<\/p>\n

For a modest production with just a single set, I was impressed by how ambitious Grace<\/em> was in its story-telling and themes.\u00a0 The play opens with a gun shot and then time freezes and rewinds.\u00a0 It definitely takes a set of brass balls to immediately test the audiences suspension of disbelief by having them watch actors on a sparse stage setting roll off the floor, unfire a gun and hold a conversation backwards.<\/p>\n

Rudd and Arrington play Steve and Sara, a typical Mid West Christian couple who superficially have a happy and loving relationship.\u00a0 There are some cracks in the union however thanks to the financial pressure Steve has put upon the couple as he pours their savings into a business plan for a chain of religious themed motels.\u00a0 Steve and Sara’s next door neighbour is the lonely and Godless Sam.\u00a0 When Steve’s finances take a turn for the worse, he ropes Sam into investing in the business.\u00a0 Unbeknownst to Steve, Sam holds a torch for his wife Sara.\u00a0 Observing the train wreck unfold is Karl, a bug exterminator played by Asner, who appears throughout the play and shares snippets of wisdom to the squabbling trio.<\/p>\n

Grace<\/em> reminded me of Roman Polanski’s Carnage <\/em>which also featured a quartet of characters who gradually shed their clean cut public personas through conflict before embracing their more genuine and actual beliefs.\u00a0 Grace<\/em> is a scathing satire that picks at the hypocrisy and superficiality of televangelists and those who seek to mix religion and business.\u00a0 The play was dark in its tone but it seemed to be right up the alley of a raucous New York audience who was guffawing and responding favorably to jokes that poked fun at Christianity, the institution of marriage and pyramid scheme business models.<\/p>\n

I’d like to see Grace<\/em> made into a film one day.\u00a0 The play had a very short run and I think its a production that should be seen by more people.\u00a0 It’s smart and funny without ever falling into the trap of being too sanctimonious about its message.<\/p>\n

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The cast of Glengarry Glen Ross – Bobby Canavale, David Harbour, Al Pacino, Jeremy Shamos, John C McGinley, Richard Schiff and Murphy Guyer<\/p><\/div>\n

Glengarry Glen Ross<\/h2>\n

Just look at this goddamn amazing cast right here for Glengarry Glen Ross<\/em>.\u00a0 I’ve long been a fan of David Mamet’s film of the same name and it holds a particularly special place in my heart because I basically do the same job as these people, albeit in a different industry.\u00a0 When Shelly begs John for “the good leads, the Glengarry leads”, I’m basically watching a dramatization of working in a business sales channel.\u00a0 The money is good if you can get it but job security isn’t great if you’re a front line sales rep.\u00a0 You need the leads<\/em>.\u00a0 And for three years, I’ve been one of those guys that held that key.\u00a0 I’ve had the conversation with a NSW sales manager who wanted the good leads.<\/p>\n

But seriously, look at this cast<\/em>.\u00a0 I was absolutely thrilled to see <\/em>this show.\u00a0 Watching Al Pacino perform on stage a mere handful of metres in front of me was something I never dreamed of seeing.\u00a0 And a supporting cast of characters including Richard Schiff from The West Wing<\/em> and\u00a0John C McGinley?\u00a0 Are you kidding me?<\/p>\n

The stage show of Glenngarry Glen Ross<\/em> is not much different from the film.\u00a0 In essence they tell a story about desperate sales reps, looking to close the big deal that gets them to the top of the leaderboard.\u00a0 At it’s core, there is still that fantastic balance of power which shifts between each and every character in the show as the story unfolds.\u00a0 There are times when Shelly is down on his luck and pleading for a second chance.\u00a0 Then he closes a big deal and his swagger returns.\u00a0 Ricky Roma plays a cool cat when we meet him but when his client threatens to walk from the deal, we see the other side to him.\u00a0 The show treats you to at least two apoplectic meltdowns from Richard Schiff and John C McGinley, both of which are entertainingly full of bluster and bravado.<\/p>\n

You can always tell a David Mamet production for the slightly unnatural, no-nonsense, rapid-fire dialogue that the characters speak in.\u00a0 In Glengarry Glen Ross<\/em>, not only did I get to see it first hand, I got to see it over four acts, each about half an hour long.\u00a0 These fine gentlemen came in, they sat down, yelled at each aggressively in a game of brinksmanship and then I went home happy.<\/p>\n