16 February, 2009

John Mahoney

Yay!! Finally got to see a play I wanted to see - "The Seafarer", wttn b. Conor McPherson Steppenwolf. I'd been turned onto him by luck last spring when asked to chaperone a field trip to the Goodman's version of his "Shining City" - it was brill. Already Steppenwolf's done another of his plays this year - both playing @ the same time - but this was the only one we could get to. We'd tried to get the $20 + $2.50 tickets a month before - no go on a Friday- but this time we got the tix on the Wednesday before Lincoln's Birthday - an off day for both Gf and I and so ideal.

It was a big day. It was officially "USA - MEXICO World Cup Qualifier in Columbus Day", and to be a target of abuse, I wore my - what was it, the Copa America '95 version?- US jersey. Although one might think this is America, sometimes we're reminded that this is actually North America -since my school is 70% Hispanic, plenty of people were wearing Mexico jerseys - lotsa trash talking. I had to tape the game and watched it late into the nite on gettin' home.

The play - wonderful. Five dudes sitting about a dingy basement. Drunken. Dispare. Disfunction. And delightful. We got nice seats, quite close and on stage right. John Mahoney, from "Fraiser", played one of the roles - I knew he was in the play, but I hid it from Gf until he hit the stage - a suprise. Another suprise was on us both - Tom Irwin, presently on "Lost" and previously on "My So Called Life" - played Mr. Lockhart.

There's Sharkey, trying to quit the drink and his memories of Eileen; Richard, the blind druken brother; Ivan, the druken sidekick; Nicky, the drunken lover of Eileen; and Mr. Lockhart. They sit around, argue extremely shrilly, drink, talk of old times, chase gypsies, and drink. And then they play cards .... The card games are excruciating, as the stakes become quite elevated.

Thunderstrike. Quite welcome. Waves of feelings.

Gf liked it. I knew. I had early practice for the next day, and dropped her off -she kissed me once then twice good night. Im always happy when things go like that.

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