Sloth, Maybe?

Broadway in the post-Covid era. Or, my President’s Day weekend in the city! Saturday, February 19th. We settle into John’s mother’s little studio apartment and have burgers for dinner.  The arrangement was that we would sleep over in her place after the IRTE improv show down on W. 44th Street, so that instead of running back to Grand Central for a late train home, we could have quality time to hang out with our friends.  Friends we haven’t spent much time with in over two years.  This was our attempt to come back out from being shut in through 2020 and ‘21. New York City is recovering from the pandemic shutdown, but it’s still ongoing and very bumpy.  We are all used to keeping our masks on and presenting our vaccine cards at admission.  One lead actress in this evening’s comedy, called “Tammy’s Bachelorette Party”, tested positive for Covid and had to stay home in quarantine even though she suffered no symptoms, and another actress was just sick with a cold, so...

It began when I was about five.   I was in Mom's room watching the family TV, when over the white noise of the idiot's lantern, I heard a man singing in a voice that hinted at mischief and mockery.  I entered the living room where Mom was playing "Gee, Officer Krupke" from the motion picture soundtrack of West Side Story .  I imagined the singer in a rakish Elizabethan get up:  A garish red jacket ruffled shirt, tight leggings, and an audacious cap with a flamboyant feather as its centerpiece.  I didn't realize how off target I was with the time and place of the story, yet at the same time so close. Not long after, West Side Story was playing on television.  My family was gathered in Mom's bedroom and I saw this world for the first time in my life.  It was New York City - MY city.  An aerial view swept over the blooming skyscrapers and rectlinear streets until it finally settled on the slums of what would one day become Lincoln Center.  My h...