Gore Vidal’s The Best Man is playing in the city until September 9.  Last week my friend Theresa and I went in to see it.  We really went in for James Earl Jones, John Laroquette, and John Stamos.  We got so much more.

First of all there were some isolated torrential downpours which left us stranded (in the second of three trains) at the Mineola station for 90 minutes!  We were told that we were there for an indeterminate period of time until the rails were cleared.  (We were told that repeatedly which surprised me because the announcer was preaching to the choir.  No one was getting ON the stranded train.)  Finally we decided to get out of the train and see The Flood.  It was neat.  The first person we spoke with told us that we would never get to the show on time.  Then we walked a little further along to take pictures of the surging flood.  It was a few inches of water.  The next person we spoke to looked at the lights blinking on the train and told us to get on……

We jumped on the first train which meant that we upped our transport real estate and so got to Penn Station earlier.  From there we hailed a cab in the rain (which was the only time we got poured on.  The cab got us the few blocks to the theater pretty slowly but in time for the beginning of the play!

And it was great!  First of all, how often in life do we get the chance to see a national treasure perform?  James Earl Jones is such a treasure. From “The Great White Hope” to “Star Wars” he has just created character after character with brilliance.  My favorite character, though, is the Sky God from Gale Haley’s A Story, a Story.  “How can a weak old man like you, so small, so small…”  I still remember a quote from a book I pored over as a teenager ( I was strange) in which he stated:  “If mankind is the first order of life to reflect upon itself, then theater is the reflector.”

There were some empty seats in the theater which stuns me still.

If you don’t go to see James Earl Jones, then go for John Laroquette’s seriously amazing  performance, or Cybil Shepherd’s stoic self-restraint, or Kristin Davis’ somewhat playful portrayal of a sharp southern diamond, or, John Stamo’s surprisingly evil candidate.  Or just go to wait outside after the play and get a photo WITH John Stamos!  I did…..so did Theresa.  I bet you don’t have such a photo….you could if you go to see The Best Man before the end of the summer!

Sometimes seeing a great play is the bliss of the day, but other times the bliss comes out of the collage the pieces create.  After the play we wandered around giggling and trying to find a restaurant.  We settled in at “Pig and  Whistle” for salad and wine.

We walked back to Penn Station under our umbrellas in the soft rain, and this was when the bliss set in for me.  The peace of just ambling in a busy city topped with umbrellas down a street lined with flowers and benches during a cool respite from a hot summer absorbed me in experiencing the moment in the sweetest way.

Wonderful!