small world

One of the first things we passed on Broadway the other day was this in a posh furniture shop

We are here HOME at last!!!

Yes, Mrs Rouse! We are here! And as an arrival present the pilot of the plane took us from the northern tip of Manhattan, as close as close, all the way down the west side of the island..the Chrysler Building, the Empire State, Ground Zero with that atrium I photographed 3 months ago and then out into the Hudson past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, over a bit of New Jersey then Governors Island and into La Guardia. And the day was golden and azure with frozen ponds and banks of snow left over from last week’s blizzard. It was a glorious sight and to know that this was to be home for..how long?

Earlier that morning I had no idea. We had to go through US immigration at Toronto airport. That dawned on me as we were lining up with our bags. I spotted signs bearing the stars and stripes and logos of an eagle and I put two and two together and got ... "They are processing us NOW” ! It was sort of too late to be nervous and I just breathed as much calm as I have been rehearsing all week. And it worked. Poor Sheldon, having gone through his entry seamlessly, stood by as the immigration officer rang his supervisor and ordered me back to the red line and made me do endless attempts at the digital hand prints and asked me what I was going to do while I was in  New York ( I was so in the moment I said, “Nothing!” )  Anyway I was hoping for a six month visa after which I knew I’d have to leave then return later. But I told the truth and said I’d like to stay until October. He asked what date and I had totally forgotten when Sheldon’s current contract ends. So I took a stab at “The 25^th”  And when he
 had sought out his superiors and they had stared at me over their glasses he finally stamped every piece of paper in his immediate vicinity and as handed me my passport he said, “I’ve made it November 30^th”  !!!!!!! It’s not seemly to leap over the desk and kiss an immigration man so I kept myself nice but in my head I licked him all over. So now I can stay until I have to return to Oz for a play I’ve been cast in.  I am going to live in New York while my fella is kicking up his heels in A Broadway Show!!  Ain't that terrific?

And below some snaps of the most hilariously glorious madhouse that Sheldon booked on the net! We love it.

 This is Mame's fifties period just before she settled on Yul Ooloo.

There is a loft in the bedroom

and a loft in the lounge

It is rumoured that Judy Garland donated this dressing table from the set of "Star is Born"

We hadn't even unpacked when Mr Entertainment was ordering cable

We can see half a tree and what more do we need?

It won't stay like this for long as it is to become the Sheldon and Taylor work station

We plan a Versailles  fancy dress ball this next weekend.  The strange wire thing on the wall is a  tea light installation. Sheldon lit it and half way through the night flames shot almost to the roof engulfing us all in a pyrotechnic demise to rival The Towering Inferno. No more of that, thank you.

From the pillow just before lights out. Thank you, Lord,  for a day out of the box and for giving us this tiny piece of madness.

Two Toronto Queens

We tried the gay area for food last night and lost interest but wandered a bit. The first pictures are of a statue honouring a Captain Woods who activated for the gay cause last century. A  dashing creature.

The next is self explanatory.

                                                 HAPPY NEW YEAR READERS !!!!!!!!

ghosts

We went to see Woody Allen's latest, "Tall Dark Stranger" which hurtled us back to London...Lower Marsh and Little Venice were but two of our old haunts.  The cinema was built on a site next to the now demolished 1948 Odeon and a mosaic tribute is featured in the lobby.

Looked up the history of the old cinema and here's what it looked like in it's glory and less than glory days

"Mad World " was on tele this week. It still makes me laugh!!
Woody's film did a bit too.

The sad farewells begin

With only four shows to go in Toronto (would you believe tomorrow's matinee will be my 1200th as Bernadette?) it's time to say goodbye to some wonderful new friends. My darling David Lopez  who started with us as a swing will not be travelling to New York with us so we said au revoir over a farewell lunch at "Luma". Until next time, dear man.

My dresser Woody Milholland was recommended to me by Simon Burke

after he appeared in Toronto in THE SOUND OF MUSIC and I've always paid attention to Simon since he recommended the indispensable John Fahey to be my dresser in London. Sadly, Woody won't be coming with us to New York so I must leave him to the clutches of the incoming tour of BILLY ELLIOT.

I couldn't have done it without him.

a night shot

Was waiting for a tram and saw this old block of terraces

Not as cold tonight. All snow melted and gloves were off!

weather can be so rich!

So the weather has been violent in the extreme across the border. And here is a photo  (courtesy of Beth Child and the New York Times)  of a  woman walking through the East Village which is where we will be living as of next week...if we can get there!

And here follows an extract from a report by Robert D. McFadden in the New York Times  27th December

The headline was "Huge Blizzard Halts Travelers On East Coast" and seemed to be a straight forward report of the severe conditions...until this paragraph when the cold snap must have hit his head........"Throughout the afternoon the storm grew into an adventure. The snow came down in great sweeping curtains, drifting over parked cars and park benches to be sculpted into aerodynamic shapes.  Everywhere the winds whispered and moaned in their secret Ice Age language.  The blizzard spawned lightning flashes and thunder. Yet the sounds of the city were strangely  muffled and distant....."

Pretty good ,eh?  Better than the usual dry scientific facts.  I was with Mr Mcfadden, ready to rip off my parka  and thermals and romp naked in the stinging drifts as ice maidens and satyrs whipped my blueing skin with birch fronds and bade me fly on the  wings of the ice storm into the arms of the Snow Queen herself!!!!!!