Your dear friend Jonathan
Invites you on a backstage tour of the Met Opera
And there is a couple from London
And a lady from San Francisco
And together you explore the bowels and backstage
Of one of the most iconic operas in the world
It is thrilling and beautiful
And smells like paint and dust
And even though you’ve been in theatre your whole life
The grandness of it
The scale of it
Takes your breath away
The hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of workers scurrying around   
The costumers
The wig makers
The carpenters
The metal-smiths
The stage hands
The education officers
Not to mention the singers and dancers and chorus members and children
And you get a tiny glimpse of the costumes up close
And the sumptuousness of the fabrics
The detail of the stitches
The way costumes are re-made and refashioned and refitted
The way the set pieces are rolled in and out
And stored in the air
And the history of it all
Tracing back hundreds of years to opera houses in Europe
Even the very walls in the house can trace their origins back to a single grand tree from a forest in London
The history of art and music and
Story telling and luxury

Dear Me
You’re singing in a chorus
With Kelli O’Hara
And Jason Robert Brown is playing the piano
And in you’re in a beautiful room of a historic NYC building
And it’s not a dream
But a dream come true
And it’s overwhelming and wonderful and exiting and exhausting and thrilling all at once

After a difficult few days
Apartment hunting (again)
And feeling like NYC is harsh and hard and
Sometimes downright impossible
A work friend gave a group of us a free pass to the top of the
Empire State Building
And it was sunset
And even though it was overcast
There was a pink and orange glow to the west
And the bird’s eye view
Of this gorgeous glorious difficult beautiful city
Made my heart swell
And when we came downstairs
I could hear piano music
And we made our way around the lobby
And there tucked away in the corner
Was a pianist
Playing Christmas carols and jazz standards on a baby grand
And it all felt possible

How wonderful to be able to call NYC home
It still makes my heart catch in my throat that I get to live here
How lovely to come home after work
And sit down with a bowl of noodles and dumplings peas

​What a thrill to see
Hansol Jung’s new play at the
New York Theatre Workshop
The utter delight of a well written play that is
Belly laugh funny
Heart achingly biting
Edgy yet comforting
The joy of outstanding performances
Under clever direction by Leigh Silverman
Satisfying, thrilling, phenomenal play going

I felt sad about baking cookies on my own
So Ralph came over with homemade chocolate milk
And then Al and I took a stroll around Bryant Park and window shopped at the Christmas markets
And finished the afternoon with iced tea and  banana bread

Thankful to Debbie and Debbie for
The chance to meet Frank Rich and
Seeing Michael Feinstein in concert at
Carnegie Hall
A truly wonderful New York day

The thrill of the marathon finish line
The humanity of it all
Every age, ethnicity, ability
Out there celebrating the triumph of the human spirit

​How special to have Ralph and Amelia there
How wonderful to be able to celebrate after
I don’t want it to end

Dear me
Remember at drama school
When that director said you didn’t have the voice to do musical theatre
Well here you are in the room
On the stage
Singing Sondheim
And a part of it all
And it feels glorious