A Musical Week in New York in Three Acts

Sunday in the Park with George at the Hudson Theater. This photo from The New York Times.
Before the sad event described in my previous post, TD and I had a wonderful week in New York when we attended three delightful musical events within seven days.
One: First up was the Broadway production of Sunday in the Park with George at the Hudson Theater, which was a joy. This musical by genius Stephen Sondheim is about Impressionist painter George Seurat and how he produced his pointillist masterpiece painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, which can now be found at the Art Institute of Chicago. What a pleasure it would be to see this painting in person –

When I met TD...that would be 32 years ago...he took me promptly to see Sunday in the Park on Broadway with Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin, and I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. This new production (which has now completed its run) featured movie star Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford.
Here is the charming cast collecting money for Equity Fights AIDS after the show –

Jake Gyllenhaal is a wonderful actor, and he brought the rough personality of Seurat alive. And I was particularly taken with Annaleigh Ashford who I thought was sexier and more lively than Bernadette Peters. The show is really about the commitment to creating art and the price it can take on one's personal life. It's breathtaking visually and the music is gorgeous. This is not a new notion, but in creating a show about making art, Stephen Sondheim himself produced a masterpiece.

Two: Later that weekend, we headed up to East 128th Street in Harlem to a gala at the Music and Mentoring House hosted by acclaimed opera soprano Laura Flanigan. Laura lives in the oldest nineteenth-century wood frame house in Harlem and it's a beauty –

In the house, Laura offers educational programs for singers, mentoring for artists, professional introductions, and a place for artists to train for auditions. At the fundraising gala on a bright spring day, guests sat in the living room as student artists performed to a piano accompanist while sun streamed in through the tall windows of the old house. Laura also offers Saturday Soirees in her garden where guests can meet and hear the students.
Afterwards we all walked to a nearby Italian restaurant in Harlem called Barawine for food, wine and more music. On the way, our friend Philip pointed out the gigantic home where actor Neil Patrick Harris and his husband and children live. As if on cue, Neil Patrick Harris passed us on the sidewalk with a big smile.
At the restaurant, as we ate pasta and salad and sipped red wine, Laura Flanigan herself sang some songs by Rufus Wainwright –

Outside, the sun cast its last rays on Harlem's beautiful brownstone row houses. It really was a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Three: The following week we were invited to a gala for the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown which is one of our favorite destinations upstate. This annual gala in New York City raises money for the Glimmerglass Festival Young Artists and Summer Internship Programs. Like Lauren Flanigan's Music and Mentoring House, this program helps young artists in opera get to the next stage in their careers. This summer, the 110 Glimmerglass apprenticeships will offer emerging artists, craftspeople, production and artistic personnel valuable working experience and guidance.
The event, which we have attended before, is held at the gorgeous Edwardian-style Metropolitan Club on Fifth Avenue, which was completed in 1894. After cocktails in the Grand Hall –

guests progressed into the red and gold gilded salon room to hear performances by some of the young talents who will be singing in Cooperstown this summer. 
The Festival's dynamic Artistic and General Director Francesca  Zambello welcomed the crowd –

(Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival)
Charismatic director and choreographer Paige Hernandez performed a bit of her Stomping Ground, a Glimmerglass-commissioned hip-hopera that will have its world premier at this summer's Festival –

(Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival)
Youth Opera Artists Richard Pittsinger and the Sparklers - that is Emma Hullar, Catie LeCours and Aria Maholchic - sang some of Wilde Tales, which weaves together fairy tales by Oscar Wilde and will have its debut in the barn theater at Glimmerglass this summer – 

(Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival)
It's a great treat to sit in the intimate salon and listen to the artists sing. Several more performances promised an exciting season ahead. If you are near Cooperstown this summer, check out Glimmerglass!

The Glimmerglass Festival Spring Gala 2015

Left to right: Sean Panikkar, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Soloman Howard, Andrew Stenson, Jacqueline Echols, Young Artist Sean Michael Plumb, Carin Gilfry, Rod Gilfry and Dwayne Croft. Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival.

TD and I recently attended the Glimmerglass Festival Spring Gala at the swanky Metropolitan Club on Fifth Avenue at 60th Street. We are big fans of this music festival which is located upstate in Cooperstown, and features operas and musical theater in the summer months. It's the second largest summer opera festival in the United States,

This year Glimmerglass is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Before the Gala's musical performances, Artistic Director Francesca Zambello talked about "the visionaries in the village of Cooperstown who created an opera company which is a miracle in a cow field." She noted that, "the festival now presents one hundred offerings every July and August in harmonious natural surroundings." One offering this summer will be Candide by Leonard Bernstein. At the Gala, Bernstein's daughter, Jamie Bernstein, introduced "Make Our Garden Grow," which is the emotional and powerful final number of the opera. TD and I played "Make Our Garden Grow" at our commitment ceremoney in 2000, and it made me cry as I held TD's hand. It was wonderful to hear the artists of Glimmerglass, pictured above, sing this rich moving song up close.

Get your tickets for the Glimmerglass 2015 season and enjoy one of summer's pleasures.

The Glimmerglass Festival Spring Gala in New York City

With Francesca Zambello, Artistic and General Director of the Glimmerglass Festival.
I grew up in upstate New York and am a big fan of the Glimmerglass Festival (previously known as the Glimmerglass Opera) in Cooperstown, New York.  Readers may remember that TD and I have had a couple of visits there. I still love the Glimmerglass pie story.

Glimmerglass recently hosted their spring festival gala here in NYC and kindly invited us. The gala was held at the Metropolitan Club on Fifth Avenue and 60th Street, a private social club which was founded by J.P. Morgan in 1893 and is housed in one of New York City's most beautiful buildings which was designed by Stanford White during the Gilded Age.
A view of the cocktail reception at the gala –

At the cocktail reception we chatted with Francesca Zambello, Artistic and General Director of the Glimmerglass Festival, a real dynamo who has also directed at the Metropolitan Opera and is the Artistic Advisor at the Washington National Opera. Francesca noted how important the evening was since it supports the Festival's acclaimed Young Artists and Summer Internship Programs, which trains and supports young musical artists, production professionals and arts administrators.  Then she said, "Do you know Peter Duchin?" and gestured toward the legendary band leader who was standing next to her.

After the cocktail reception, guests streamed into the ballroom to hear a few performances by young artists. With its carved and painted ceiling, the room reminded me of the Rose Reading Room at the New York Public Library.
A view inside the ballroom before the performances began –

Francesca took to the stage to welcome guests and introduce the Master of Ceremonies, the renowned American operatic bass-baritone Eric Owens. Francesca noted that the upcoming summer season at Glimmerglass will celebrate 100 years of music, with productions by Puccini, Strauss, and Rogers and Hammerstein. Stressing the importance of the young artists' program, she said, "It is incumbent upon us to support the arts so that we have a civilized society." Here, here.
Then we got to enjoy some lovely music including performances by Glimmerglass Young Artist Jacqueline Echols –

(these photos are by Karli Cadel)
Glimmerglass Young Artist Beth Lytwynec –

Soprano Yunah Lee, who sings the role of Cio-Cio-San at Glimmerglass this summer –

and Glimmerglass Young Artist Patrick O’Halloran –

What a treat it was to hear these wonderful performers and more in that grand room. Check out the upcoming season at Glimmerglass and get your summer tickets!

A Trip to Cooperstown

This story first appeared on New York Social Diary.com
After our rafting trip with the Divas on the Delaware, TD and I continued on upstate to Cooperstown, New York. I grew up outside of Utica in New Hartford, New York, so as a child I visited Cooperstown sites with my family, most notably the Baseball Hall of Fame. As an adult though I love the cultural offerings of the town and the preserved eighteenth and nineteenth century architecture of the village which is a national historic district and the home of the New York State Historical Association. We try to visit each summer.

Judge William Cooper purchased 10,000 acres of land on the shores of the scenic Otsego Lake in 1785, and the village of Cooperstown was established the following year. James Fenimore Cooper, the judge's son, was encouraged by his wife to write books set in the area, including The Leatherstocking Tales and The Last of the Mohicans, and he is now recognized as the first American novelist.

Later on, in the nineteenth century, members of the Clark family, whose fortune came from the Singer Sewing Machine company, moved to Cooperstown. In New York City the Clark family famously built the Dakota apartment building and funded the Museum of Modern Art, and in Cooperstown it was instrumental in the development of the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Farmers' Museum, and the Fenimore Art Museum.

A little north of town further up the lake is Glimmerglass Opera which was our destination. Well, actually now it's called Glimmerglass Festival. This past year new artistic director Francesca Zambello took over Glimmerglass Opera and renamed it to include more kinds of productions including Broadway musicals. It is housed in the Alice Busch Opera Theater which is a welcoming, modern, airy design that holds more than 900 people. The theater was opened in 1987 and was the first American hall designed specifically for opera in 21 years.

On Sunday morning we drove up to Cooperstown from the Catskills where we had been visiting friends. We drove speedily to arrive at the opera on time. Once there we had a few minutes to order some sandwich wraps and eat lunch. No sooner had we sat down when a nicely dressed woman from a neighboring table approached us carrying a white box. We looked up at her mid-bite. She said, "Today is the first day that same-sex marriage in legal in New York state. It's been a long time coming, and my friends and I are celebrating with a picnic. Won't you have some pie?" She opened the box and cut two slices.
That choked us up.

Into the theater we went to see Deborah Voight in Annie Get Your Gun. Yes, you read that right. The great Wagnerian opera soprano was starring in the bubbly 1946 Broadway show written by Irving Berlin for Ethel Merman. How is that for a combo?

The theater is comfortable and delightful because of its open air walls.

When the show begins the walls slide closed.

It's like when the chandeliers go up at the beginning of the Metropolitan Opera.

Annie Get Your Gun is an entertaining romp about show business and the joke is that it's set in the Wild West in cowboy costumes. The score includes classics like "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better," "I Got the Sun in the Morning," and the rousing "There's No Business Like Show Business." Judy Garland was famously fired off of the 1950 movie version and replaced by Betty Hutton. Deborah Voight is a memorable Annie and makes the role her own. Also in the show was our New York City friend tenor Jonathan Tuzo who is a Young Artist at Glimmerglass. Last summer we attended Jonathan's impressive recital in Cooperstown, and this coming winter he will be singing in the chorus at the Metropolitan Opera.

Many people in the theater were dressed casually in shorts. It was a hot day but I think one should make an effort to dress appropriately for the theater. Like the older woman who was wearing an extremely simple but flawlessly pressed beige linen dress. She carried a beige clutch and wore beige slingbacks, and a big jeweled bracelet jangled on her wrist. Her tan face was naturally lined and her short blondish pony tail was tied with a beige grosgrain ribbon. Her look was polished and refined but also comfortable and effortless. That to me is style.

After the performance, the dynamic Francesca Zambello hosted a question and answer period with other members of the cast and the conductor for the audience while the set was struck on the stage behind them. She said she chose this show because it was written "just 60 years after Carmen," which Glimmerglass is also presenting this summer. "That's not a very long time and it helps to connect the lineage. This show is as important as opera." She also noted that none of this show was electronically miked, which is unusual in the theater now.

We met our friend Jonathan after the performance and then headed back down to town to check in at the Inn at Cooperstown.

I've always wanted to stay here. The seventeen-room inn was designed in 1874 in the Second Empire style by Henry Hardenbergh who also designed the Dakota and the Plaza Hotel in New York City. In the dining room is this portrait of Lucy Cooke as a child, whose family owned the building and who lived in it for 70 years. I liked the cream wallpaper with the big black print.

The red entrance hall reminded me a lot of 611 West German Street, the Victorian house that my grandmother grew up in in Herkimer, New York, which is now the Bellinger Rose Bed and Breakfast.

A convivial porch stretches across the front of the inn.

There we had a glass of wine with Jonathan

and then walked down the street to the restaurant Alex and Ika for dinner.
The next morning we strolled around the village of Cooperstown. The houses are beautifully preserved and maintained.

A pretty back door garden –

Pale geraniums and hostas framed windows which revealed artfully chipped Chippendale chairs.

We made a stop at the Fenimore Art Musuem. It's home, called Fenimore House, was donated by the Clark family, and sits on the site of James Fenimore Cooper's early nineteenth century farmhouse.

Last summer I interviewed curator Dr. Paul D'Ambroiso when the museum hosted an exhibition of John Singer Sargent portraits. Over the past year, he was promoted to president of the museum, and he very kindly came out to say hello to us on Monday morning. He recommended that we walk to the lake to see a new area at the museum.
Down the sloping lawn we went. A kind of roof structure revealed itself in a dip in the land.

We followed the path around a bend and came upon a Mohawk Indian bark house. Growing up in Utica, we learned about the Mohawk and Iroquois Indians who had once inhabited the region. This reconstructed bark house is a fishing and hunting lodge which the Indians would build when traveling for food. Inside the house was Native American Mike Tarbell, an educator who told us more about how it was constructed from trees and bark.

When we came out, Otsego Lake was completely quiet and still. Not one boat was on it, which was surprising for a hot Monday in July. The peaceful transcendent scene was exactly as it would have been hundreds of years ago when Indians lived on its shore.

That is the magic of Cooperstown – wonderful culture and history in an untouched natural setting which inspire and connect the visitor with the past.

A Weekend in the Country

Otsego Lake, Cooperstown, NY
Join me for a little jaunt upstate. TD and I are celebrating our 25th anniversary coming up over Labor Day, and we wanted to attend a recital in Cooperstown given by our friend singer Jonathan Tuzo who was a Young American Artist at Glimmerglass Opera this summer. Voila, a trip was born.
The first stop upstate is always at my family's home, 611 West German Street in Herkimer, New York, now the Bellinger Rose Bed and Breakfast.

You may remember that this Victorian house built in 1865 was my grandparent's home where they raised nine children including my grandmother, and that I spent a lot of time in this house as a child. The house looks great. Thanks to Chris and Leon Frost who own it now and maintain it beautifully. TD and I made a video tour through the house which will be upcoming here on the blog. It's always fun for me to visit because I can still picture my great aunts there.
We visited with O'Donnell relatives in Herkimer and then had a little dinner at the Albany Street Cafe.

Back home we went with the moon shining over 611

and up to bed.

The next day we drove down to Cooperstown which is a place that I love. The village of Cooperstown was established in 1786 by Judge William Cooper, the father of James Fenimore Cooper, the renowned American author. Today the village is filled with nineteenth century houses within the Cooperstown historic district.
This is Cooperstown: pale pink geraniums, variegated hostas and a blue picket fence:

The exterior, shutters and interior curtains of this elegant house are all in the same matching creamy color.

Some time I would like to stay here, the Inn at Cooperstown, built in 1874.

TD and I hustled over to the Fenimore Art Museum to see an exhibit there – John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Praise of Women as well as a correlating costume exhibit of nineteenth century New York fashion called Empire Waists, Bustles & Lace.

We had a date to meet with the two exhibitions' curators, Dr. Paul D'Ambrosio and Chris Rossi, and videoed the tour through the shows. The video will be coming up on the blog forthwith! There is also wonderful folk art and American Indian art housed in this museum which is located on the shore of Otsego Lake on the site of James Fenimore Cooper's early nineteenth century farmhouse.

Then it was off to Jonathan's recital at the Otesaga Hotel, a grand resort hotel built on the lake in 1909.

Down a long hall we went

to the ballroom with windows that looked onto the lake.

We met up with our friend Brian Healy and his pals who also came from New York City for the recital. Jonathan Tuzo gave a wonderful concert performance. He has a beautiful, strong tenor voice and a sparkling, irresistible on-stage presence. His program was dedicated to his parents, and he explained that his father was from Bermuda and his mother was Irish-American; "He put the black in black Irish," Jonathan said to a round a laughter. Then he sang some Irish ballads to his mother, pictured here. Not a dry eye in the house, I'm telling you.

Here we are with Jonathan.

Then it was time for a drink on the hotel's veranda!

We had a jolly dinner with the group at a restaurant in town and then TD and I were off to Sharon Springs, about a half an hour away. There we stayed at The American Hotel.

The American Hotel was built in 1847 and attracted the leading figures of the day including Oscar Wilde who gave porch-side readings.

It fell on hard times though, and in 1996 ex-New Yorkers Doug Plummer and Garth Roberts bought the neglected building and completely restored it.

Doug and Garth are, we soon discovered, totally charming. As hotel owners have found their true calling. I loved the way the hotel was decorated with antiques.

This is the cozy bar area.

The hotel has a very good restaurant, we were to discover. Here is the dining room. It's antique but it's edited for a clean, handsome look.

The next morning after a delicious breakfast of corn pancakes with local maple syrup, we headed out. Here is the hotel by day.

Sharon Springs is also home of the Fabulous Beekman Boys – have you seen that reality tv show? It's about two New Yorkers, Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge, who buy the Beekman farm in Sharon Springs and learn how to become country farmers. I had bought and read the book Josh wrote about it, The Bucolic Plague. Down the street from the hotel is the Beekman 1802 Mercantile where goat cheese, goat milk soap, and beauty products from the farm are for sale. Cute baby goats graze outside.

We had asked Doug if there were any antiques stores around, and he reported that the Bouckville Antiques Show, with tons of dealers, was that very weekend. We hopped in the car and buzzed over to Bouckville. There were tents for days. We walked and walked and walked.

My favorite tent was filled with antique wood furniture.

It reminded me of 611.

If only we had more space at home.

Back we went over the rolling green hills to Sharon Springs. There was no room for us that night so we checked in to an eighteenth century brick house bed and breakfast. There was a clear spring-fed pond in the back where we took a refreshing dip.

Behind this door was a warm outdoor shower.

TD gathered some wild flowers.

That night we returned to The American Hotel for dinner. Guess who was sitting at the next table – the Fabulous Beekman Boys with someone from the Food Network. I had beef tenderloin tips with pear, bacon, blue cheese, and mashed potatoes. For dessert we had a piece of maple cream layer cake and a glass of port. It was the best meal I've had in a long time. There is a very talented chef in the kitchen, Lee Woolver, who happens to be Garth's cousin. Garth and I also discovered that we both went to New Hartford High School.
The next day we drove home to New York City, down route 145 to Catskill, past lush cow pastures and through verdant valleys and old mill towns. After it stopped raining, white mist clouds rose up from the green hills, like a Rip Van Winkle dream.