Riding a Camel, Then Seeing a Langston Hughes Show with Ben Brantley (Probably Not in That Order)

Wow, what a day. I started the morning with a train ride just over an hour north to the Bronx Zoo, which offers free admission on Wednesdays. I was torn about visiting the zoo on a Wednesday — on the one hand, it was completely FREE, but on the other, I’d read online reviews that said to avoid Wednesdays at all costs because the zoo was insane and you’d be crushed by strollers.

The verdict? It was fine. Sure, there were plenty of people, but the zoo also covers 265 acres, so it’s big enough to fit everyone. The line to get in was scarily long, just like one of those Broadway theater lines that snakes waaaaay past the theater down the sidewalk five minutes before curtain that you think can’t possibly move fast enough to get everyone inside in time until it does. But like the Broadway lines, this one moved continuously, and I made it in after a lovely walk along a tree-shaded trail.

Here’s how the Bronx Zoo works on a normal day: You can pay for general admission or upgrade to a Total Experience ticket, which you need to see certain exhibits like the gorilla forest and JungleWorld, as well as to ride any of the rides. That restriction still applied today, but general admission was free and the premium ticket was priced at the difference between the two (which I think was like $20). I opted just to go for general admission, as did most visitors.

But, PERK alert. You can also pay for each experience separately, which is best if you only want to do one or two. The experience that was calling to me was a camel ride, something I’ve always wanted to do (next up: Elephant ride? Anyone know where I can find one?). But back to that perk: On Wednesdays, the lines are short for anything you actually have to pay for, as people are all about that #freestufflife. So I climbed right on to a camel hump and took a joy trot around the enclosure.

A camel ride is much bumpier than you’d expect — I imagine your butt would hurt A LOT after a whole day on one of them. But it was so much fun! Clearly, I was left smiling goofily for the rest of the afternoon. #AllTheCamelJoy

(If you’re wondering why there’s no Sarah camel selfie, that would be because falling off a camel hump for the ‘gram would be a really embarrassing way to die. Imagine needing someone to explain that at your funeral. No, thanks.)

Other highlights: Flamingos, sea lions, Tiger Mountain, giraffes, and, of course, those friendly camels.

And then it was back to Manhattan, and on to tonight’s Ben-Brantley-accompanied bill: "The Black Clown," which is part of Lincoln Center Theater's Mostly Mozart Festival. It's a music-and-dance adaptation of the Langston Hughes poem, and is rather extraordinary.

*Picks up writing blog post after returns from amazingness*

OK, that was awesome. Looking forward to reading how Ben tells Manhattan to go see this show (To clarify: This is my opinion of the performance, and if that isn’t the tenor of his review, I assume no responsibility ;) ). He was so interesting to talk to, and the performance was stellar!

As you can imagine, we already had no shortage of conversation topics, but considering how much time he’s spent in London, it was fun to discuss the differences between the theater scenes here and in England. As for recent NYC plays, his current rec is “Moulin Rouge” (someone else I talked to recently also gave the show a flying-colors recommendation, but unfortunately, since it’s brand new, ticket prices are still higher than I’m willing to pay).

Funny moment at the end of tonight’s show: I asked, and learned that the NYT critics don’t stand for standing ovations. But in order to see what’s going on on stage at the end of the show, they kind of have to. Here’s what that looks like: Ben Brantley sitting on the armrest of an aisle seat with neck extended, leaning around people to see the stage. It was pretty funny. ( He acknowledged the difficulty.)

He also swears by these mini composition notebooks he buys in bulk at Staples, if you were wondering about the tools of an NYT theater critic.

It was such a lovely evening, and a permanent highlight of my theater-going life. Ben said he would say I got lucky (which I still did, clearly), but the production previously got great reviews in its Cambridge run, so it wasn't a total surprise. The male lead’s voice is also very close to Thurl Ravenscroft’s (who sang “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” in the original 1966 cartoon), which added an interesting element.

As for the show itself: The poem is already dramatic, but it’s amazing what actors can achieve through the use of repetition. Lines are repeated over and over in different contexts, and music and dance fills the space between stanzas (there are 17 titled selections). It definitely made me want to see more dance performances — it was all so lovingly done. Hughes would be proud to see this on stage.

The standout was Davone Tines, who plays The Black Clown. He’s previously done extensive work in opera and sung with international orchestras, and is a Harvard and Juilliard grad (and, yes, he really does sound like the dude from "The Grinch" — his voice is so deep and expressive!).

The costumes in this show are a subplot in themselves. The Black Clown puts on a black jacket over a white collared shirt, takes it off, puts it back on, takes off the white shirt to reveal a black tank underneath, ditches every white article of clothing except for his suspenders … it’s like a symphony of costumes. Notably, the white suspenders never come off, not even at the play’s end when The Black Clown proclaims “I’m a man!,” leaving the question open as to how far he’s truly risen.

I’ll definitely never read Hughes’s poem the same way again — I’ll have shadow figures dancing through my mind, and musical numbers running through my head.

Also, in case you haven’t noticed by me doing tourist-y things like visiting Madame Tussauds and sending all the postcards, I’m new to this city. I asked Ben about the theater scene outside Manhattan and Brooklyn, which are the only two places I’ve seen shows. Amazingly, he’s never reviewed a show in the Bronx or Queens, two boroughs where I was curious about the theatrical landscape. He also hasn’t visited Indianapolis, though I attempted to convince him that he should.

Anyway, I'd just like to emphasize that THIS WAS SO COOL AND I’M STILL AMAZED I GOT TO DO THIS. Ben was clear that his job is tons of fun, and I’d have to agree (but am a bit biased).

On tap for tomorrow: A Broadway in Bryant Park concert near the NY Times office featuring performances from Disney’s “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,” and “Frozen” (I’ve seen the first two, but not “Frozen.” But I *will* have the chance to see Broadway’s Elsa, Caissie Levy, perform at The Cabaret in Indy in August).

Then I’m touring the “Treasures from Chatsworth” exhibit at Sotheby’s, which was designed by David Korins, the “Hamilton” set designer. The items are drawn from the collection of the Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, England, which was used in the 2005 film “Pride and Prejudice” as Mr. Darcy’s Pemberley. Hooray!