Valentine's Day--a week early

Tom wanted to take me to see Daniel Radcliffe in "Equus" on Broadway on NYC for Valentine's Day. He knows how much I have enjoyed him in the Harry Potter movies and thought I would enjoy seeing him in person. He checked it out and learned the play ended the weekend before Valentine's Day....sooooo, he did the research, bought the tickets online, asked for guidance from friends and family and planned a day trip to New York and the Broadhurst Theatre. He planned some extra time into our travel schedule just to be sure, and it was a good thing he did. We missed turn off the highway and getting back on track cost us a few minutes. My brother-in-law, who works in NYC, had given Tom some very specific directions with instructions to park at a certain building, go beneath the building to the PATH train station there, take it to the World Trade Center Station, catch the E train to 42nd and 8th Sts and walk two blocks to the theatre. Sounds easy, yes? It should have been. But the parking facility is closed on weekends, as were most parking lots in the area--so we lost another few minutes. We had arrived in the area of the station at about 12:30. When we finally got down to the PATH Train Station, the signs indicated the next train the the WTC would be at 1:22. Let's see--short ride under the Hudson River, wait for the E train and fifteen minutes to 42nd Street, then the walk to the theatre. We might be cutting this close....

Unfortunately, our cell phones did not work in the subway stations because we were underground, so we had no idea of the exact time. The transport system here is not as easy to use as the ones in Europe (especially the Tube in London) as there were no maps anywhere in the station. But we asked for help and got it, arrived at the WTC and followed the signs to the E train--which was not running this weekend to allow for needed construction. Soooo, we asked again and learned we needed to take the A train to 42nd St. When we exited the station where the signs indicated "42nd and 8th Sts." we could see the theatre a short distance away. I checked the time. It was 2:01! The show was scheduled to start at 2:00. So we speedwalked, collected our tickets, skipped the trip to the restroom and sat down. The play started almost immediately.

The gist of the story is that we are learning of the difficulties a child psychiatrist (Richard Griffiths) faces in dealing with the problems of his young and very disturbed patients. The story focuses on one of them, a seventeen-year-old named Alan Strang (Daniel Radcliffe), who has blinded six horses in one violent episode one evening. It was done very well, in a sort of 'black box' style--where several large boxes on the stage and the audiences' imagination provided almost all of the scenery. There were seven men who played the horses, and they were just fabulous. Their 'costumes' consisted of form-fitting shorts and long pants, a metal frame of a horse's head and footwear the resembled horseshoes and gave height to the actors. The really fabulous part was the movement of these men as horses. You really got the feeling of a horse! They were very well-rehearsed. The whole show was good--not exactly an 'upper' if you know what I mean, but well done nonetheless. I enjoyed it very much.

Isn't my husband the sweetest? ;)