NYC on a Saturday night

 Well, I can say it … the city is almost back to normal.  Almost.

We saw Company on Broadway last night.  If you love Sondheim, you’ll enjoy the show.  The plot?  It’s Bobbie’s 35th birthday and she’s a single woman surrounded by married couples, and wondering if she should be married, too.  Relationships are examined as Bobbie navigates the issues surrounding marriage and life choices.  What’s really interesting is that when the show was written, back in 1970, the main character was a man named Bobby.  The gender reversal works well in some scenes, but seems awkward in others.  In 1970 all four couples were straight, but in the current production we’re talking about a wedding with two grooms.  Overall a great production, with Patti LuPone in a supporting role for which she may win a Tony.

Broadway theaters still require proof of vaccination to enter and all patrons must wear masks, but that may not last much longer.

We usually have dinner after theater.  In the pre COVID world most Times Square restaurants were open very late, but now … we made reservations at Carmine’s because it was one of the few places open for dinner at that hour.  Carmine’s is a Theater District icon,  an old fashioned red sauce Italian restaurant.  The vibe is Old New York, hard to believe the place opened in the 1990’s. I didn’t think we’d need a reservation, but I was so wrong … the place was packed!  Carmine’s serves food family style, huge platters of pasta and meat and seafood.  We ordered veal Marsala and rigatoni Bolognese, and brought home enough leftovers for at least two more meals.  Chatter with a nice couple at the next table.  

We came home on the infamous “drunk train”.  The Long Island Railroad does run trains all night long, but after 2:00 AM those trains are few and far between.  Most Long Islanders who party in the city try to catch a train by 1:30 so as to avoid a long and tedious wait in Penn Station.  Unfortunately most riders at that hour are groups of young people who have over-imbibed.  Not a pleasant ride home.

But the existence of the train means … normalization of NYC activity.