New York, New York!

Cal and Rebecca MacLean at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre where "Anything Goes" was showing in preview last Friday.

Of course we all can book a hotel in New York City, browse the New York Times, select some plays and make a long weekend of it. Alan and I have done that several times and had great experiences each time.

But there’s an even better way to have a theater weekend in the Big Apple. Go with folks from the Clarence Brown Theatre and get an insider’s perspective. Clarence Brown’s artistic director, Cal MacLean, and his wife, Rebecca, led a group of Knoxvillians on such an excursion this past weekend. In addition to selecting the plays, MacLean also arranged for us to have lunch with a playwright, a casting director and a Broadway actor he knows.

“I only want to see plays that are in preview showings — when you can really see the actors figuring out the parts,” MacLean explained. “After several months or several years, it gets to be very slick. It’s not as much fun.” Our plays, all in preview: “Anything Goes” with Joel Grey, Sutton Foster and Jessica Walter; “Arcadia” by Tom Stoppard; and the outrageous “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” Two of them were great (more on that later).

Lunch on Friday featured chats with playwright Jeffrey Sweet, casting director Stephanie Klapper, and actor Tandy Cronyn, who happens to be the daughter of acting greats Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn. All three are personal friends of MacLean and had strong opinions about life in New York City and the theater scene in general.

Here are excerpts.

Tandy Cronyn speaking to visiting Knoxvillians at lunch Friday at City Crab and Seafood Company in New York City.

From Tandy Cronyn:

• The cost of real estate in New York has had a big influence on the cost of theater tickets. “They are too expensive,” Cronyn said. “I don’t go unless I can get discounted tickets.”
• Also, the cost of downtown lofts where many artists of all types used to live and intermingle with each other, has become prohibitive. “New York used to be a cheek-to-jowl melting pot,” she said. “But now the artists are scattered. Dance studios have vanished because struggling dancers can’t afford to pay enough to cover the studio’s rent.”
• Perhaps due to the cost of mounting a Broadway production, 90 percent of the shows on Broadway today are musicals, she said. “As an actor, the action is in regional theater.”

From Jeffrey Sweet, who described himself as “the best unknown playwright in the world:”

• Sweet attended NYU, where he had Martin Scorsese as a teacher. He got a B in the class. “I wasn’t good enough for him to notice me,” Sweet joked. “And I wasn’t bad enough for him to notice me.”
• He also lamented the cost of Broadway shows. “You used to have theater stars,” he said. “Now the shows have to have stars from TV or movies to draw a crowd.” Sweet said the high cost has resulted in “the death of pretty good plays,” meaning the plays now have to be blockbusters to recoup the costs. “The best writing today is on HBO,” the writer said.
• “You can’t be poor in New York anymore,” he said, adding that playwrights are “the brokest members of the theater” because they live on royalty checks. “I wish we had the Medicis back,” he cracked. “OK. So they poisoned some people. But they subsidized artists.”

Stephanie Klapper:

• She grew up in Greenwich Village where “art was all around” and attended State University of New York, which she called “art prison.” Edie Falco was a classmate.
• She enjoys being a casting director because she “loves putting people together.” She’s cast actors on Broadway, off-Broadway, regionally, internationally, on TV, film, the internet and on the radio.
• Her advice to anyone wanting to “make it” in theater is to be a part of the “theater scene” any way they can. She suggested volunteering to be a script reader as one way to get noticed. Sweet agreed with that advice. “The theater is a social profession,” he said. “You can’t sit in your room and get work. You have to be part of the social scene. Go to readings. Go to bars and restaurants.”

And, on that advice, here’s a quick look at our weekend in New York.

We met in the lobby of the Millenium Hotel near Times Square to get our weekend's theater tickets from Cal. From left, Cal MacLean, Liz Stowers and her sister, Patrice Shallow.

Then it was off to City Crab and Seafood Company for lunch with our invited guests.

Georgiana Vines and Alan Carmichael posing outside City Crab. (Posing outside of restaurants will become a theme for Alan in this blog post! Ha!)

Cal MacLean and playwright Jeffrey Sweet, right, at lunch.

Casting director Stephanie Klapper speaking at lunch.

Knoxvillians, front from left, Tamara Lyons, Dan Roling, and Susan Farris; Rachel Stowers can be seen between Tamara and Dan; Joe Ben Turner and Tom Wood are facing camera from the other table.

Another view. From left, Nancy Duckles, Tamara Lyons, Dan Roling, Susan and Kent Farris. At the other table, Patrice Shallow.

This big crab certainly made a point. I had crab bisque and a crabcake sandwich!

Doesn't it appear to be sneaking up on Georgiana and Alan??

After a quick nap, it was off to the Stephen Sondheim Theatre for “Anything Goes.”

Sign on theater.

Rather than wait in line, though, we ducked into Duvel BXL, a bustling little bar/restaurant across the street.

For some reason, this picture looks like an album cover to me! Doesn't Alan look tough?

Now this looks like the quintessential New York bar.

Waiting for "Anything Goes" to start. From left, Tom and Melanie Wood, Joe Ben and Robin Turner, Kent and Susan Farris.

Two former West High School teachers: Fran Scheidt, left, from Knoxville, and Kate Crawford from Chicago.

Knoxvillians Kathryn and Coy Freeman are newlyweds!

The play was fun. The dancing was outstanding. And Cal is right about previews — you can tell the actors are still getting used to the material. In fact, one dancer fell during a tap-dance number, but she picked herself up and went right back to it. And veteran Joel Grey seemed to still be learning his lines.

I love Times Square, so after the play, that’s where we headed.

Alan on Times Square

Times Square

Wanna join the military? You can sign up right on Times Square at the recruiting station.

Starved, we headed for a late dinner at a cute little spot, Saju Bistro, that Georgiana had spotted across the street from our hotel. It was great.

Bread and olives for starters. (And wine, of course!)

My Salad Nicoise was awesome.

So was Alan's butternut squash soup.

Lunch the next day was at the Glass House Tavern, which was located directly across the street from the Ethel Barrymore Theatre where we were to be at 2 p.m. for a matinee performance of “Arcadia,” which was still in previews.

Another restaurant pose for poor Alan!

Alan loves dessert. This was his molten chocolate lava cake at Glass House. He thought they were a little skimpy with the ice cream, though!

Susan Farris showed up at lunch with a new friend -- a Muppet she had made herself at F.A.O. Schwartz! Also in the photo (the one who is not green!) is Tom Wood.

Play number two.

I think I would really have liked “Arcadia” — if I could have understood the words. The acoustics were horrific. And in a long play (nearly three hours) with so many words, that’s important. If they don’t fix this, I predict a very short run for “Arcadia.”

We love Greek food so we popped into Kellari Taverna to split some saganaki (flaming cheese) and a big Greek salad. This is where we had the best wine of our trip.

We love Greek wine!

And then, on to the Palace Theatre for “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” which was a rollicking good time!

This is an illegal photo -- but I couldn't resist! Yes, that's a giant lipstick on the stage prior to the start of the play, which is about three drag queens.

OK. Here’s a new gimmick since I was last at a Broadway play. They let you bring drinks into the theater (listen up, Lucas Richman, my friend!) — but only if they are in a souvenir sippy cup, which you must purchase. A glass of wine and a rum and Coke cost $26 — but we got to keep the sippy cups!

Our friend Patrice Shallow drinking beer from a sippy cup! A first for her!

A couple of other restaurants I wanted to mention. The Lambs Club was sophisticated and perfect for a nightcap. And Sunday brunch at Cafe Un Deux Trois was delish. I had crepes filled with Paris ham and drizzled with maple syrup. Yummy!

Anyone can go on these Clarence Brown Theatre trips, first come, first served. We highly recommend.

Note: Clarence Brown Theatre Advisory Board Chair Townes Osborn was on the trip, as well. For some reason, I missed taking a photo of her.