Yesterday Katherine and I went to the theater (pronounce that pretentiously with three syllables). We went to see the great actor David Moseder (moh-SEE-der) in Night Watch with the Heights Players in Brooklyn Heights, funny how that works out. David is a friend and partner in crime. We even acted together in the classic music video, In My Bones by Bobtown. I play DEATH. David is the man in the polaroid. I can’t believe that did not sweep the video music awards. I want a recount.
Like so many other shows it was presented in a church basement. When David told me the title of the show, I thought it was a dramatization of the classic Terry Pratchett Discworld book, Night Watch, but wasn’t. It’s a murder mystery by Lucille Fletcher from the 1972. I knew it was around then but then one character says that 1964 was eight years ago. The play in the same vein as Sleuth and Gaslight, especially the latter. There’s a surprise ending that we are told to not reveal but it was obvious that it wasn’t the uncle that committed the murder it was the husband! Please tell me that you got the joke. I was not giving it away. I am not a blabbermouth.
I found review blurbs of the original Broadway production.
An outstanding Broadway success, this ingeniously devised thriller builds steadily in menace and suspense until the final, breath-stopping moment of its unexpected, “twist” ending. “A most superior thriller…which from its first blood-curdling scream to its last charming surprise is a first-class example of its genre.” —NY Times. “…Miss Fletcher knows exactly what she is doing, goes about her business with gratifying swiftness and comes up with a finish worthy of one of Roald Dahl’s little nifties.” —NY Daily News. “The call for a good American mystery melodrama was answered last night…fulfills all the requirements for an evening of satisfying menace and mystification.” —NY Post.
The real mystery is trying to remember the last time I saw a show in a similarly configured theater. I know the typical Broadway show is on a proscenium stages. The stage behind the curtain under the arch. Many community theater shows are configured with the action taking place at floor level with the audience on three sides. I had no idea what to call it, but I just looked it up. It’s a Black person-box or studio theater. Hey that just triggered my memory. I don’t remember what I saw but at least I remember I saw it with Marti.
I was sure that David was going to play the detective, David looks like a detective. He didn’t, he played a deli owner that makes the worst chicken salad in New York City. He was excellent in the role, and I guess it’s good he didn’t play the detective as he would have solved it in the first act. Katherine and I waited after the show to talk to David. I often go with friends to see friends perform music but not in plays. This was so much fun I’ll have to do it again. Maybe next time we’ll see him opening night instead of closing and then we can go to Sardi’s and wait for the reviews to come out.
Katherine had to meet friends in the City so we couldn’t hang out long but an advantage of living in the Bronx where I do is that whatever train Katherine needed, I could switch to a train to take me home with at most one transfer. So, we had subway ride together, an underrated form of quality time. It just hit me, that’s exactly how I became friends with Katherine, we took the subway together after a house concert. Some things about my taste never change. I’ll never tire of going out to eat with friends after a show or riding the subway home together. That’s why I get sad when all my friends get on a train going one way and I have to head the other. That’s what happens when you live in Queens or the Bronx.
I did something unusual during the play, I wore a cloth mask not a KN95. Why? I took a COVID-19 test on Thursday. I was supposed to get the result on Friday, so I knew I’d be safe for the wedding. It didn’t come until I was on the way home from the wedding. The test was of course negative so I masked to protect myself, not other people and I can be more cavalier when it comes to my own health. I’m going to try and get tested once a week. I’m going out fairly often now and I do not want to spread the plague. I’ve been vaccinated and boosted, if by some chance I caught it, it would almost certainly be mild.
Now it feels like it’s time for my Donut Walk™. When I get back, I have two assignments. I have my final interview for the teaching job tomorrow, it’s going to be giving a lesson on zoom. I need to prepare that. It’s something I’ve taught countless times, order of operations, the only thing I need to work on is the presentation.
Wise Madness 