Sunday, June 12, 2005

A soup kitchen and "Hairspray"

Yesterday (Saturday) I was invited to work at a soup kitchen down in Greenwich Village by another PEO named Holly. She's about 25 years old, but she looks 16. Seriously. And she's an actress...stage and musical theater. We met early and walked around Greenwich Village some before heading back to the church to work. She showed me the restaurant where the term "Eighty-six the _____" was coined. Apparently, during Prohibition, this was the place (then called 86) where people would meet to "break the law" and when the police were spotted, they would quickly hide all of the liquor underground again. We also saw a streetcorner that is used often in movies because it still looks like it did at the turn of the century....well, two turns of the century ago, I guess.

I really enjoyed working at the soup kitchen. There was a youth group there on a mission trip from Denver, and I met some other really neat people. One guy (from Texas) works at the U.N. and is about to move to London. Anyway, I was the bread and dessert person. The first thirty minutes or so were very busy, and trays were sliding down the, um, whatever you call the rack thing on which trays slide, very fast. Holly and I felt a little like Lucy and Ethel in the famous "I Love Lucy" episode where they work at the chocolate factory. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to work at the soup kitchen... it is something that isn't so "touristy" and something that most people don't do when they come to New York. And now I can say I've worked at a soup kitchen. In New York City.

Then today, we went to see "Hairspray" a the matinee. It was SOOOOOOOOO much fun. I've wanted to see this show ever since it first opened and I saw the cast perform on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" (back before Rosie turned into the evil, bizarre thing she is now...seriously, what is up?). And it definitely lived up to my expectations. It was even more exciting than I'd expected because the girl who plays Tracy Turnblad is sick so Marissa Jaret Winokur, the original "Tracy Turnblad" is stepping in for about a month. Today was only like her fifth show back, so there were a few rough spots, but I got to hear all of the songs being sung by the voice that I was familiar with, and that was wonderful. However, what wasn't wonderful was seeing Bruce Vilanch as a woman. That was probably the most disturbing thing I've ever seen. I mean, seriously...do you want to see this (http://www.ggba.com/expo/Bruce_Vilanch.jpg) as a woman? Because this (well, my link won't work, so you'll just have to do an image search on Google or Yahoo! for Bruce Vilanch or Edna Turnblad and see what you get) is what it looks like. But he was hilarious. He even inserted a few of his own jokes about some recent events into the show...such as the recent Russell Crowe phone mishap and Britney Spears' pregnancy. He was still hideous to look at, though! Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the show, and I'm sure I won't be able to get "You Can't Stop the Beat" out of my head for at least a week. We did sit behind the most annoying group of high school girls! They were awful. And it reminded me, once again, of one of the reasons why I got out of high school as quickly as I could!

So, I have class tomorrow. I'm down to about two and a half weeks left here, and I've still got things to do. So goodbye until the next time I do something worth writing about here.


Times Square Posted by Hello

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey....the second picture of the Bruce guy didn't come out.....you've got me curious, now!
Mom

Nominal Me said...

Update this blog!

NoRib said...

This was an incredibly refreshing entry. From the style of your perception to the content....I truly enjoyed reading it (and glad you enjoyed Hairspray LOL)