I may not come home

Ok I have finally got round to adding to the blog!! Guilty! This city is so brilliant that sitting at the pc just hasn't happened yet. So let's start at a week and half ago. The wierdest thing was arriving in New York and immediately feeling at home. The atmosphere and the people just makes it feel like Glasgow except that the surroundings have had an american makeover. I know that sounds crazy but believe me it's true, my other half and our pal just left today having stayed a week and they said the same thing. It took me a week and a trip up the Empire State Building to finally have the 'woah I'm in America' mind blow moment - what a view. Even the way the architecture catches up on you reminds me of Glasgow. Edinburgh is obviously the traditionally beautiful city in Scotland but when you actually look around Glasgow you see so many hidden gems and beautiful buildings and here is full of the same. You have huge tower office blocks next to gorgeous stone stores or houses. And Central Station and the Public Library truly are as stunning as they look in pictures. So to all you scots out there, come to New York! The people are fab, the atmosphere rocks, I may never come home!! (Only joking U.S immigration authorities!)

As Keith said, the theatre is great. It's situated a couple of blocks from the south east end of Central Park (which I heard was modelled on Kelvingrove Park but I don't know if that's true).
So, an hour's walk through the beautiful park from our apartments on the north west side and we are at work. It's such a buzz to work in a building where the staff are so welcoming and helpful and all comment how much they like their jobs. It's like a big family atmosphere which is a compliment really to Peter and Elizabeth - the big high heid yins. They are truly enthusiastic and passionate about theatre and supporting the talent that New York and further afield has to offer. The enthusiasm is infectious! And the audiences have been great, Peter was saying he has been well impressed by initial turn out. We expected to play to maybe 20/30 people tops (including lots of invited freebees) but the first week was averaging 50/60 (without freebees) every night and the theatre only seats 70 odd! It's been great seeing the American reaction to the show and affirming that the subject matter and characters David has written really are recognizable and universal. We had a hint of that at the Edinburgh Festival but it's nice to have it reaffirmed. It's been mostly over-21 audiences so far but we did have 2 schools from the Bronx in and that was brilliant. It was great to see how the reaction of american kids wasn't too different from their scottish countertparts. Lee's 'rapping' went down very well! We were saying the other night it would have been brilliant if we could have taken it into new york schools like we did and will be doing again in Scotland. It's hard to beat the buzz you get with this show when its done on home territory.

So, needless to say, we are having a ball and spending far too much money! And some traditions never fade. Andy has a growing u.s fan club, including the lone older woman who passed him and Keith in the street and randomly said "I like the tall one, come on let's go!". Let's just hope all the reviews are as nice as the New York Times and the audiences keep coming. As they say here, 'lader'!

Beth x