Anything Goes

Sometimes I think that a blog has to be life changing, a great inner reflection, or a satiric social commentary, but maybe anything goes. That's a pun. I'm using this post to plug the show I'm currently in rehearsals for, Anything Goes. Here's my doodle from the read through:

We perform Sept 5th, 7th and 8th in Ocean City, NJ at the Music Pier. If you don't know the show, it is a really cute Cole Porter review featuring such hits as You're the Top, I Get a Kick Out of You, and more.  The cast is really wonderful and we perform with the Ocean City Pops, who's sound has Cole porter swooning in his grave. Come see it before it's looming revival on broadway. 

For more information go to:

http://oceancitytheatrecompany.com/default.aspx

Book Club: The Final Chapter

First impressions of a book are fun. Especially about a book like Eat, Pray, Love which has been a best seller ever since it's release, was on Oprah's book club, and is now a movie with Julia Roberts... I mean, people have many different opinions about her, but I would be honored if she wanted to portray me. But it is the final impression that really defines the reader.

We decided to discuss Eat, Pray, Love over a Roman dinner, just like our heroin Elizabeth Gilbert and chose Cacio e Pepe in the East Village; a culinary indulgence that I would gladly go to hell for. To start, we shared a watermelon and spinach salad with goat cheese, almonds and a balsamic reduction. Erin and Joe shared a fig and prosciutto thing that looked tasty, but I don't eat meat. I finished with penne pasta in a crushed tomato sauce with pesto drizzle and fresh motzerella. My mouth is watering thinking about it and how I fit into my pants the next day, I'll never know. What I do know is that the meal and conversation were stimulating.

Joe started off with the opinion that the biography was well written, entertaining, and a little too self indulgent. Basically, he wished he had written it first.

Erin was still Erin. She both wanted to hurl the book from her throughout the read and discuss the inherent contradiction between praying to God and free will. I'm pretty sure she appreciated the way  Elizabeth Gilbert approached the subject... I was a little lost after a glass or two of wine.

I, on the other hand, laughed a lot in Eat, dog-eared and underlined like five hundred things in Pray, and found that Love just didn't cut it. From the title, you know that Elizabeth Gilbert is going to find love in Bali... It was not titled Eat, Pray, Balance (which is what she intended to find in Bali). And so, I made it through the book waiting for the great love. I wasn't sure how they were going to meet, but I was positive it would be really romantic. I was reading, she was flirting with a bunch of people and it was a little romantic. Then it was scientific and the romance died... That's harsh, but there was no great love affair that I had waited for. It was two people who talked it out and decided it could work. I mean, at least throw in a hot make out scene! Not just hint at the sex that was happening behind doors. I don't think Erin and Joe really cared... they were more interested in the philosophy and practice of religion. So after my tryst in love and romance I was sucked back into academia; mind stimulating conversation.

After dinner we were off to the movie... boring, boring, Javier Bardem! On screen was the romance that I wanted from the book! Thank God! And I think the missing link in the book was the interaction beween Elizabeth and Felipe. I got to see the way he looked at her when they met, and how he courted her. Needless to say, I got a little teary eyed, which surprised Joe because I rarely cry.

We finished the evening at Holey Cream in Hells Kitchen and went home. Was it cheesy to invade an Italian restaurant with our copy of Eat, Pray, Love which we read in order to see the movie? Were we "Those Americans" that we usually rebel against? Was it worth it in order to have an intellectual conversation over a decadent meal with great friends? Yes.

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Book Club

My friends in publishing-Penguin, the Wiley agency, Wiley, John & Sons- started this book club last year while I was away doing a show. While they have told me that I should just read the book and join, I have never truly felt invited; I was not added to their email list and even when I read the book, twice, they met while I was away. But, I'm not bitter, I read two great books because of it and it inspired me to start my own book club. So, while they are reading Franzen's The Corrections and Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn, I have decided that my club should read Eat, Pray, Love. 


This decision did not come easy. Working at a book store sometimes distorts your impression of a book, especially if it's been on Oprah. Consider these three situations:


There's his book it has three names...
You mean Eat, Pray, Love?
No! But if I'd seen the cover, I'd recognize it.
(I walk her over to a huge pile of Eat, Pray, Love)
Ya, that's it! Have you read it?
(Unspoken: Lady, if you are the type of person who reads this book, I'm never going to read it.)
...five minutes pass....
There was this book on Oprah...
Eat, Pray, Love?
Maybe, I don't remember.
(I walk them to the same huge pile)
Ya, that's it! Thank you!
(Unspoken: God, I hate this book.)
Do you also have A New Earth?
(Unspoken: A self-help bio wasn't enough, now you need some new age crap? I'm sure you could learn just as much by turning off Oprah and going outside.)
It's right over here.
Thank you so much!
...Two years later...
Boychik, do you have Pray, Eat, Love, and is it in paper back?
(Unspoken: Lady, I'm going to need you to turn the Jewish stereotypes. It's Eat, Pray, Love and it's been out for at least two years, I'd hope it's in paperback by now.)
You mean, Eat, Pray, Love? It's right over here. Do you want the movie cover?
That's meshugennah!
(I'm guessing that means no.)
The book's right over here.
Thank you!


I bite the bullet and we are reading Eat, Pray, Love. First impression, it reminds me of Oprah's audience which gives me a physical diversion to it. Second impression, I don't usually like biographies or self-help; even more nauseating. But, neither Joe or Erin, my book club, have read it and the movie is coming out. I don't have to be alone when I succumb to societal pressures and read it. I don't have to be ashamed to be reading it on the subway because these other two people, who normally wouldn't read this book, are out there. 


Erin buys her copy at an independent book shop where a sales clerk scoffs, looking down on Erin from over her hipster glasses. Erin immediately asks for the new AJ Jacobs and Snug Harbor to sandwich a book she feels shameful buying. My co-workers all poke a little fun, although one admits that she really loved it. And so, having read Love, Erin and I arrive at Pray. (I don't know where Joe is because he has not submitted his first impression). Erin has had moments of hate and yet, she can't put it down.  And, I'm actually enjoying it. That's an understatement. I'm laughing on the subway- drawing attention to myself, people are staring-with my pencil out and dog-earing important pages.  Forgive the pun ,but you could say, I am eating it up! I don't know if I relate to her entirely, but there are moments-orgasming over pizza, coming home alone in a new city with my two best friends loneliness and depression, and telling myself, "I deserve what I have," and, "I deserve down time to do nothing."


I no longer care that I am reading an Oprah book or reading it right before the movie comes out-I should have bought the movie cover-because I love it! I mean, if I'm not ashamed to rattle on about Twilight with some teenager... the third book, Eclipse, is totally the best because it is build around Jasper's back story and not Bella whining over which hot guy she can't have. I am an avid member of Team Jasper, who doesn't really have a following, but should! He's pretty kick ass... Why should I be ashamed of Eat, Pray, Love?


Eat, Pray, Love is going to happen and this blog is going to happen,
Robert