So the Grad Festivities continued as I was whisked away to The Country Club, 634 Louisa St., by my fellow LRWs, & my personal vote for cutest couple, Kris & Jen. I was treated like a queen by my gals & a non-entity by most of the other gays, but PS what else is new? For those who haven't been, from the outside, it just looks like another beautiful Marigny style home but once you walk in, there's a hostess stand and some nicely appointed tables in the dining room. We bypassed dining room service & headed to the well-airconditioned (and ventilated) bar area where Kris had the bottomless mimosa & I got started on the a la carte Bloody Marys. YUM. had mine with pickled beans & no olives, as usual. After a few of these & a lil attitude from the topless, tasty bartender over a question about the soup du jourI I got confused about the menu and ordered the 1st thing that grabbed my eye, the sinfully delicious Chipotle Lime Cheddar Bacon Chicken sandwich. I think I might have been slurring at this point bc right after I ordered, this aging hustler next to us at the bar who working on some older, bleach blond queen said "What is a Sugar Sandwich?" (Or maybe that ho was drunker than me, who can say?). But I digress.
Kris had a side of Mac & Cheese w Green Peas (her fave side EVER) & the Traditional breakfast--2 scrambled eggs, thick cut bacon, cheese grits & toast. She raved about it, but the dish that gave me Buyer's Remorse (is that possible when some1 else is paying?) was Jen's entree: Southern Fried Chicken w Smashed Potatoes & Asparagus w Brown Gravy. That just looked Stunning.
After a third Bloody Mary, we headed to the pool for some fun in the sun. Let me just say I love the pool. I love swimming pools in general but I really like the vibe there. Cruisy yes but not too shady. There is always an eclectic mix of ppl-- straight, gay, in-betweens, hustlers, hipsters, hoes...& all in various stages of Clothing Optional. No judging, ppl acting cool about any number of body flaws, although there were definitely some hot bodies to be seen. Harmless hedonism at its finest. The booze flowed freely (thanks again to Kris & Jen!!) and of course the only man there who had anything substantial to say to me was some Straight but not Narrow Quasi-Hipster type in designer eyewear and bikini brief swimwear. At least he & his good gay friend who works at the pub had cool stuff to talk about. Eventually my girls had to head to another party & had to go home & nap for a lil while b4 seeing Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, directed by Jennifer Growden, at the Shadowbox Theater at 2400 St. Claude Avenue with my old pal, Katrina Manhattan.
It's a really cosy little black box theater in the former Marquer Drugs Building, with an eclectic bunch of chairs, ranging from rows of movie seats to folding chairs, arranged on risers. The effect is such that the 1st row is sitting in the living room of George & Martha, the mean-spirited, aging couple, with the bar/dining room just off to the right of the audience. I previously saw A Taste of Honey at this location and the "kitchen sink" nature of both these plays is absolutely perfect for the space. It permits the audience a level of physical as well as emotional intimacy with these desperately flawed characters.
I was really excited to see this play, I have never seen the film (but I'm sure I will, SOON), and I was not disappointed. The plot is straightforward enough: after a dinner party, a mean-spirited middle-aged couple, George and Martha, have a younger couple over for drinks and psychological torture. The younger, naive couple, are alternately fascinated and repulsed by the people they are most likely destined to become. Michael Martin gives a star turn as George and Kathryn Talbot absolutely matches him as his braying, harridan of a wife, Martha. The stiff performances of Giselle Chatelain & Matt Story make me wonder if Jennifer Growden thinks, as I do, that the characters of Honey & Nick are just figments of George & Martha's overactive, booze-soaked imaginations (like so many other references to truth & illusion in the text). Story's over-enunciated T's & D's when he is drunk is one indication of this, as is Chatelain's mirroring of Martha's body language at the climax of the final act. It is a long show, but the theater offers delicious hors-d'oeuvres & a cash bar during both intermissions, so you don't have to get tempted by the Rally's across the street. This is a great opportunity for a unique theater experience, & I definitely recommend that you catch it before it closes on May 29.
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/gambit/whos-afraid-of-virginia-woolf/Event?oid=1714617
Thanks again to Jen & Kris & Katrina Manhattan for a fun-filled Saturday!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment