I like New York in May, so Freed and Lane can bite me

[tzikeh]

I've been visiting with my folks in New Jersey since Saturday, but on Tuesday morning I fled to NYC for fannish friends and Broadway shows.

First stop was _par_avion's lovely apartment where whatssnoo and I are staying for a few days. After wandering around and having lunch, we headed into Manhattan. Since we were quite early for our show, we walked all around Times Square and discussed the continued Disney-cum-Vegasification of, well, everything, and how I think the market for glasses with blinders is going to develop in order to get rid of all the blinking and scrolling and image-projecting distractions. We had dinner a the Times Square HoJo's (mmmm, root beer float) and then wandered down toward the theater - when lo and behold, something fannish happened!


So we're walking along and we pass a man on a cell phone who seems awfully familiar to me. I take a second look and - yes - it's Richard Schiff! He looked up and saw me, and we immediately engaged in the dialogue-free discussion which follows:

tzikeh: ::shrugs shoulders inwards, grins hugely and tilts head, does the "squeezy-thing-on-the-blood-pressure-monitor" wave::

Richard Schiff: ::Waves the back-and-forth wave with non-cell-phone hand, grins knowingly, winks at tzikeh::

Those of you who are good at dialog-free-drama interp will easily follow this conversation. For those who didn't take that C-level, let me translate:

tzikeh: "Hello there Richard Schiff! I see you're on the phone and I really don't want to interrupt, but I wanted to let you know I'm a huge fan, and I'm happy to see you! So, my message for you is: Richard Schiff=keen!; tzikeh=polite and sane fan not bothering Richard Schiff. Enjoy your evening of theater, as you are clearly going to see your West Wing co-star Alan Alda in Glengarry Glen Ross in this theater we are in front of! Goodbye, Richard Schiff!"

Richard Schiff: "Hello, nice sane fan! I see that you recognize me and want to tell me that you think I'm wonderful, but you don't want to interrupt me, which tells me you are a polite and sane fan who will not bother me, which I appreciate! I will wink to communicate that your message has been received, and also so that you can report to your friends who watch West Wing that Richard Schiff winked at you! You are very sweet for not bothering me. Enjoy your show, whatever it may be! Goodbye, nice fan!"

Of course, I had to call killabeez and tell her all about it, but the text of the play was radically altered by the time I phoned her up. It went something like this:

tzikeh: Hello, Richard Schiff! My friend killabeez is insanely in love with you and would like me to tell you to give her a call, when you're done with this one! Do you think you could do that? Bye!

Richard Schiff: Hello, crazy fan! Give me killabeez's number and I will invite her to spend a weekend with me post-haste! Tell her I love her! Bye!

When I phone Killa to tell her, she squeaked, so all is well. I'm sure she's packing even as I type.

The show in question was Avenue Q, which I had seen before but whatssnoo had not. The replacement Princeton/Rod (and don't go there) isn't quite as good as Tartaglia was, but he's very good anyway, and as per usual the show was hilarious. It was a Tuesday night crowd, which is less boisterous than a weekend gang, but there was still enormous laughter and several applause breaks. In the middle of the first act, the young woman playing Gary Coleman was replaced by her standby. It was very strange and not explained. What was stranger was when I mentioned it to a group of ladies while waiting for the bathroom, none of them had noticed and one didn't even believe me. "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist", indeed. Also amusing was the chatter among the middle-aged ran along the lines of "I can't believe those puppets had sex!", while the chatter among the seniors in the audience ran more "Heh heh heh heh. Naked puppets."

We traveled back to Brooklyn and met up with _par_avion on the street, just getting home from work (poor thing)! Once inside, the three of us ate cake and watched last night's Veronica Mars, and ... um... wow, they sure did pack a LOT into that episode! I've read some of the lj talk about it, and while I agree that the Logan reconciliation seemed a little weirdly paced, I also buy that a teenage girl who'd been through a traumatic day and whose Dad was not in town would be happy to have someone who professed to care deeply for her at that moment and would go with it. I also *don't* think Logan knew about the video set-up. That is *so* going to play into solving the murder, isn't it.

I really really really hope that Duncan *is* her half-brother; if he's not it kinda seems like wimping out at this point, no?

And boy howdy, anyone could be the killer. Gah. A week? We have to wait a week?!

More shows today; more post tomorrow!

Comments

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

*laughs and laughs and laughs*

:-D

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Oh! I forgot the part where I explained how you want to kiss him all over his big brainy bald head. Shoot. Hm, I could ETA...

[basingstoke.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what to think about the video setup. I would buy that it's his. I would buy that it's his dad's. If it's his dad's FOR WATCHING HIM, that's hella creepy.

Or his mom's.

Or his sister's!

Glargh!

I'm just glad that this is a show that provides answers eventually, instead of letting the weirdness keep going. (*cough*Lost*cough*)

[yahtzee63.livejournal.com]

while I agree that the Logan reconciliation seemed a little weirdly paced, I also buy that a teenage girl who'd been through a traumatic day and whose Dad was not in town would be happy to have someone who professed to care deeply for her at that moment and would go with it.

The more I think about it, the more I think this had to be Veronica's motivation, but it wasn't brought out in the show as much as it could/should have been. The only aspect of VM with which I sometimes have problems is the direction/editing -- sometimes it's on, but sometimes it's off, and certainly it's not on the same level of excellence as the acting and writing. I think that, if the scene had been staged/filmed/cut just a little differently, we would have seen this as Veronica reaching out for comfort; instead, it came across as somewhat jarring, and as you say, it really didn't have to.

ITA that Duncan really ought to be her half-brother. I hope beyond hope they'll go there.

I am not sure what to make of the video set-up yet. I could buy that Logan knew about it/had originally installed it, but that he hasn't used it in a long time; Aaron could have taken it over in the meantime. I don't think he actually meant to dupe Veronica into filming her having sex, though that would be wow twisty if it were.

[kirbyfest.livejournal.com]

You have the best celebrity conversations ever.

[corinna-5.livejournal.com]

You are in BROOKLYN? How did I not know this? IM me!

[beebalm.livejournal.com]

Richard Schiff!!!

*sigh....*

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Gah - can't IM so much as we're not really at my computer except early in the morning and late at night. (Currently at an internet automat on 42nd street.) Will try, though!