ERT: 700 Sundays and the Edison Hotel

After our fabulous singing supper -- Marion and I headed to the WHOLE REASON FOR THE NYC visit -- Billy Crystal. In his critically acclaimed One Man Show -- "700 Sundays"

The title of the play is reference to the fact that when Billy Crystal was 15 years old, his father died. So the Sunday afternoons they spent going to Yankee baseball games was the time they had. Only 700 Sundays...

The set was so simple. And it really was just ONE MAN -- on the stage for two hours...

In 2004, my friend Eileen saw 700 Sundays when it premiered on Broadway and she loved it. She saw it AGAIN in Texas in 2009 when it went on tour. So I expected it to be very good. But sometimes, a play can be a victim of my high expectations. That didn't happen this time.

700 Sundays was everything I could have hoped for...touching, some sad, mostly funny...always heartfelt. And it made you think. About the hand everybody gets dealt. Having only 700 Sundays with his father was a bad thing. But getting married to the love of his life and being able to spend 40 (and counting) years with her was a good thing.

And maybe the truth is that only through absence or loss can you feel genuinely grateful for the good stuff you DO have in your life??  So -- that's what I was thinking as we walked out of the theater.

I texted Eileen that she should have warned me...I didn't have a Kleenex, so I had to wash my jacket sleeve that night back at the hotel. (Because it was full of snot.)

Marion and I walked back to the Edison Hotel. And these pictures are the last you will see of New York City....

The Edison. It is such a great location

This is the lobby of the Edison Hotel late at night -- when it's mostly empty. During the day -- it is PACKED WITH TOURISTS. I enjoy sitting down with a group of foreign visitors -- (they are shocked and delighted to meet somebody from Iowa.) I love the Art Deco paintings in this room and the old fashioned velvet furniture. You'll see me and Marion in a couple of mirror shots...we had a WONDERFUL half-day in New York City. WE MADE THE MOST OF IT....NOW IT'S TIME FOR US TO ACTUALLY GET THIS ROAD TRIP STARTED....

So -- at 5:00 AM -- we jumped into a cab and headed to JFK airport for a quick commuter flight to Syracuse, New York...