tuesday evening with meredith (lyn)

I meet Meredith for dinner at a little Italian restaurant on the westside before going to theater.  She agrees immediately that Sara has done a fantastic job. 

Meredith is taking me out to dinner, for no reason other than she is generous and nice and wants to.  While waiting for me, she sits at the bar hoping to be able to have a drink.  She is disappointed that the bar is out of most alcohols, including Grey Goose.  Their meager excuse?  ”The other night was the Grammys so we ran out.”  Really?  A bar running out of alcohol?  In NYC where there are liquor stores on every block? 

The three-course $14.95 dinner somewhat compensates.  I order mussels with a butter/wine sauce that is so good I take a piece of bread to soak up all the excess.  The chicken picatta is delicious, and my big concession is ordering lemon sorbet for dessert, rather than the  tiramisu that I really want.  Both the food and company are excellent.

Meredith and I have been members of Manhattan Theater Club for a long time.  We’ve dropped most of our other theater memberships but this one we’ll probably keep forever.  There are three reasons for this:

1. Their plays are consistently good.
2. Our seats (for their two theaters) are about the best in the house.
3. We are among the youngest in the audience.

Tonight we are seeing The Whipping Man.  Despite its good reviews, neither of us is particularly interested in the play’s topic:  Jewish slaves in the South after the Civil War having a Seder.  Often we don’t stay for the second act (our new favorite is the 90- minute-intermission-less play).  This one is two acts, two hours, and a questionable theme.  Before even going, we’ve already discussed not staying.  In fact, Meredith even suggests skipping the play entirely.  But we do go.

Within the first 15-minutes of the play, a man’s leg gets sawed off in realistic detail.  A while after that Meredith asks me for the time (a good reason to leave my iPhone on).  It’s 7:36.  The play started 30 minutes ago.  Now I know for sure that Meredith will be leaving at intermission (she does).

I’m on the fence.  So I ask the usher about the second act.  40 minutes. More of the same with some revelations (I ask what they are and he tells me).  I leave confident in my decision.