Well, we are on the way home from another great trip to New York. Sunday was the best day yet. It’s always great fun to be in New York on Tony Awards Weekend. We actually attended the Tony’s one year and it was a blast. This year, we just enjoyed them from various vantage points around Mid-Town.
However, let me start at the beginning of the day…
We started the day by visiting the “High Line”. This is a garden the City of New York has created along the old El Track- the old elevated train track since replaced by the subway. This is a great urban garden in the sky. It was also hot as hell. You can actually walk from the Village to Chelsea along this track and they are in the process of extending it father uptown. It’s really worth checking out. Just not on a hot, humid day.
We then saw one of the best play productions I’ve ever seen in New York. August Wilson’s “Fences” at the Cort Theatre on Broadway.
As a side note, it was also Puerto Rican Day in New York. We always seem to see Denzel Washington on Puerto Rican Day. The last time was when we saw him in “Julius Caesar” a few years ago. It was so much chaos, we were afraid we wouldn’t hear the play that day. Things seem to have calmed down this year. It’s always fun to be on the fringe of these festivities and see people celebrate their heritage.
Back to “Fences”. I can’t recall seeing a better play with better performances. Denzel Washington was just wonderful. You did not see a Hollywood leading man, you saw a fine actor playing a complex and often unflattering character. Viola Davis, as Rose, his wife was also amazing. She uses her voice and projects emotion like few actresses I’ve seen. She is one of the greats.
It was also so good to have the extra bonus of seeing Chris Chalk in this play. Chris played the key role of Denzel Washington’s character’s son. Chris is a UNC-G graduate and played one of the leads in one of Steve’s plays, “Passing Ceremonies” a few years ago. It’s great to see a local man make good and go from Greensboro to Broadway. Chris also gave an excellent performance and more than held his own with Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. He was that good.
Here are a couple of clips from YouTube:
Here is another clip with Chris and Denzel:
We were so blown away and drained after “Fences”, we had to have a drink. Then we wanted to see something a little lighter, so we went to the early show of Leslie Jordan’s “My Trip Down the Pink Carpet.” Leslie won an Emmy for his guest performance on “Will and Grace” a couple of years ago and is also well-known from the movie and TV Series “Sordid Lives”. You would know him if you saw him.
Leslie Jordan’s show was both light and fun and deep and endearing. He talked about his journey as both an actor and as a Gay man of 55. He detailed his struggle from a young child in a military family in Chattanooga,TN to Hollywood and beyond. He touchingly and funnily described his struggles with substance abuse and his journey from self-hatred and internal homophobia to a happy, proud gay man. It was a journey most Gay men my age can understand and relate to on one level or another. We have all come a long way both individually and collectively over the years. He also had lots of amusing stories about Cloris Leachman, Robert Ulrich, Mark Harmon, Meagan Mullaley and others. It was a great way to cap off our theatre weekend.
Scott, Steve and Leslie Jordan
We then went over to Times Square where they had set up chairs to view the Tony’s on a giant screen in Times Square. It had rained earlier and was still threatening rain, so there was not the crowd they had anticipated.
We weren’t about to sit around in the middle of Times Square and watch a giant TV screen.
We also hadn’t really eaten all day, so we decided to go to Joe Allen’s for dinner and to watch a little of the Tony’s there. Joe Allen’s is a famous old Theatre District Restaurant with good, classic American food. It’s also a haunt frequented by theatre people.
In past visits to Joe Allen”s, I once sat at the bar once next to Penny Fuller and John McMartin. I literally ran into Linda Lavin going out the door one night. Whoopi Goldberg and Frank Langella were once seated at the next table. Minnie Driver was next to us another night. It’s that kind of place. It’s entire staff is also composed of young people trying to make it in the theatre. It was fun to overhear the comments during the Tony’s.
During one of the long commercial breaks, we went back to the hotel to finish our evening.
It was wonderful to see Denzel Washington and Viola Davis win Tony’s for performances we had seen only hours previously. It was also wonderful to see this fine production of “Fences” win the Tony as Best Revival of a Play. And to see Catherine Zeta Jones, who we saw in December, win Best Actress in a Musical, for the exquisite production of “A Little Night Music”. We were lucky to see many of the nominated shows and performances this year. We are blessed.
I’m now sitting in the USAirways Club at LaGuardia recapping this as we head home to Greensboro. New York always both energizes me and wears me out. It’s time to go home and take our great memories of another great weekend in New York with us. I’ve dropped enough names…
And we are already planning another trip in December!
Lost in the 21st Century 
Dixie Carter: Goodnight to Moonlight and Magnolias
Dixie Carter, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker on “Designing Women”, died yesterday. Her passing made me sad for many reasons.
I have long struggled with my Southern Heritage–how to keep the good and throw out the bad. Her portrayal of Julia really helped me with that journey.
All the ugliness coming out of Virginia this week, where the Governor failed to recognize the importance of Slavery as part of “Confederate History Month”, made me address that struggle again. Dixie Carter and “Designing Women” helped put this in perspective and I thought of them more than once.
We all need to let go of the myth of the Old South. God knows I have and so had Julia Sugarbaker. Dixie Carter’s Julia knew we needed to keep the good, but recognize and address the bad.
All Southerners need to face the fact that Slavery was the cause of the Civil War. I can’t believe I still have to say this 150 years after that horrible war. States’ Rights and the other catch phrases were merely propaganda terms used to entice the poor Southerners to fight to protect the socio-economic needs of the few rich Southerners. A myth of the Old South grew from this that some of us are still trying to dispel 150 years later. The war wasn’t about States’ Rights. It was about one group of people owning another group of people and making their life hell for their own benefit. Let’s finally put that to rest.
However, I never wanted to throw out the baby with the bath water. There are certain Southern characteristics we need to keep. Our justifiable reputation for hospitality and casual elegance. Our concern for our family, friends and neighbors. Our appreciation of honesty and a sense of personal honor. We need to keep these parts of our heritage–whether we are black or white. Or Hispanic. Or Asian. There are many kinds of Southerners now.
We do need to lose our traditions that held down and held back women. Julia Sugarbaker and Dixie Carter knew this. There was no Southern Belle Simple for these women. No pretending to be dumber than they were. They were educated, forthright and honest. They were straight shooters, not manipulative Southern Belles. They were Southern Women– not girls–as my friend Robin made me aware last week. Dixie Carter put Scarlette O’Hara, or more precisely her sister Suellen, in her place– as part of historical fiction, not modern fact.
Dixie Carter’s Julia Sugarbaker gave a new face to the Southern woman. And it was one face, not two.
Steve and I had the privilege to meet Ms. Carter briefly once. In person, she was exactly what you would expect. She was beautiful, smart, gracious and classy. She was a modern Southern Lady.
I’ve been privileged to know a few other women like her of her generation. My friend Shakey’s mom, Betty, welcomed a house full of W&L boys- and we were boys then, not men- into her home for every dance weekend at Sweet Briar. I can’t imagine how different my college life might have been had I not known this Great Lady. She made us welcome, fed us-both food and bourbon- and entertained us in the most gracious manner imaginable. I’ll never forget visiting her in college right after she had cancer surgery. She received us with a grace and sense of humor that only a Southern Lady could have after such an ordeal. My friend Deane’s mother, Nancy, always welcomed us into her home in Danville and we spent many entertaining evenings in her company. These women always seemed, at least, to be thrilled to see us and made us comfortable, amused and enchanted by their company.
Dixie Carter’s Julia Sugarbaker made these women visable to the rest of the country. She demystified the South and showed us how Southern Women really were and should be seen. She knew we needed to keep the Magnolias, but lose a little of the Moonlight. She showed how great these women could be in the light of day- when the Klan didn’t march, lynchings didn’t happen and lesser women weren’t focused on manipulating their men.
Dixie Carter will be missed. The world is a sadder, less elegant place without her. Just as it would be without the women she personified and publicized.
Thankfully, I see the Southern Women-by birth and by choice- of my generation carrying on her example.
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