THEN AND NOW: Summer in the City

Hello Friends,

If you ever get the opportunity to spend a summer in New York City, do it!  First off, there is so much free stuff to do, you could easily do this city on a dime.  Check out Time Out Magazine’s guide to a New York Summer.  New York City can evolve very quickly, and I thought it would be fun to take a look at how NYC has changed over the years that I’ve  been lucky enough to live and thrive here.

My first summer in New York City was spent working at the Papermill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey.  It was an honor to work at such a prestigious theatre, next to that my best friend from college was working on the show with me.  Astoria was my first location of choice for living that summer, it was cheap and convenient, and I didn’t know where else to live.

Getting around New York City any time of year is not always easy.  Us New Yorkers,  we spend a lot of time walking, and when we aren’t walking, we are walking.  Imagine, you have to wear a suit for say, an audition, and it’s 90 degrees out, the only way to get where you are going is to walk!  Thank God, the subways have air conditioning..   If you wanted to take a cab in 2001 it was cash only, but the thing I most remember about getting around New York City  was that you always knew which direction was South by the location of the twin towers.   On September 9, 2001, I decided to take my first trip to battery park city and see the Jewish Heritage museum.  On the way out of the museum, I remember stopping to take a look up at the beautiful symmetry of those two towers.  Little did I know that two days  later those glorious buildings would be gone.

The shows that  I remember seeing on Broadway that summer, (when the average ticket price was $58), were 42nd Street (my first Broadway Opening night party) , Tale of the Allergists Wife, The Full Monty (my favorite musical that season), and Follies.  Every Sunday night, I went to Limelight to dance my 22-year-old tush off.  That summer was the first summer that I went to Broadway Bares, the theme being 2001 a Strip Odyssey, and it was enthralling!  It was my first year with a cell phone that paired nicely with palm pilot, and paper calendar.  Central Park is the beacon of summer in New York City, it is thriving in the summer with green plants, and half-naked people.  If you want a true New York City summer, you have to go to the Great Lawn or Sheep Meadow.  That summer I was introduced to the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera free concerts in the park.  A group of us would get there early with blankets and wine, and started eating and drinking until the stars came out.  My first NYC Gay Pride Parade in June, was an ornate display of colors and flashes, and the most important political movement in the  gay community was still fighting for HIV awareness.

Today, I live in the East Village, with a mortgage – never saw that coming. Recently, I saw The Little Mermaid at Papermill Playhouse, and it was the first time I had seen a regional production of the show that I got to originate on Broadway, and, on top of that, I was seeing it at the theatre where it all started for me.  Getting around the city hasn’t really changed that much in 11 years, the price of a trip on the subway was around a dollar then, and now it’s $2.25, Taxicabs take credit cards, and pretty soon, people are going to start getting run over by our new friends citibikes.  New York City has a southern compass point now by way of the Freedom Tower and it’s beautiful symbolic structure.  There is no solution to the walking, but I’m grateful for it, because it certainly allows me to eat a few more calories than I should.  Broadway ticket prices average around $86 dollars now, and the shows that  I’ve seen this year are Kinky Boots, Pippin, Matilda, Vanya Sasha Masha and Spike, among many Off-Broadway shows.  Limelight, my favorite dancing joint, is now a mall!  I actually haven’t been to Broadway Bares in years, but with all the social media, I see as much as I want on my iPhone where I do all of my calendars, phone calls, shopping, organizing, couponing, texting…basically everything.  Central Park is still the place to be, and, FINALLY, this year, the Gay Pride Parade’s political movement has become one of Equal Rights for marriage on a federal level.

I saw, firsthand, an entire city stand beside members of its own community – and it was beautiful. Well, not really standing, but walking,…always walking.

Live, Love, Learn,

Bret & The Write Teacher(s) Team