Broadway Day

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Sun and a "...Hot Tin Roof"

Pat and I saw Terrence Howard and Anika Noni Rose on Broadway this afternoon. I've never seen any other version of the play, and to me, it seemed totally natural that it was a black cast.

Pat told me that James Earl Jones said that any part in any play ought to be playable by an actor of any race. "Come Back, Little Sheba," which we saw recently, demonstrated that.

Spoiler Alert: It felt like a 3-D E. Lynn Harris novel. I've read everything he's written so far, and many of his key characters are sexually-down-low football players, past and present.

Watching the play, I wondered if Tennessee Williams inspired E. Lynn Harris' plots.

My favorite lines of the play were when Maggie, the wife of Brick, the former athlete whose sexual orientation seemed not necessarily heterosexual, said to Brick, "That was gallant of you [-- not telling them I wasn't pregnant]. Thank you for saving my face...."

Just like with "Brokeback Mountain," I found myself sympathizing with the wife, rather than the sexually-distant husband.

Sun and a Voicemail Message

After the play, while waiting to be seated at "Above," a theater district restaurant on the 18th floor of the Hilton, I checked voicemail and heard a sweet message from my mom:

"Thanks for smiling, Sarah, because the sun came out today and it was a real booster...."

Whenever the sun came out, growing up, my mother said, "Sarah must have smiled." I don't know the origin of the saying, but she has said it all my life.