Monday, January 2, 2023

Live entertainment 2022

Thanks to friends who are proactive about seeing good theater, like Kathryn, I saw a fair amount of shows this year without really having to think about what I wanted, which is always the challenge (it's why I do Home Chef). 

Broadway:

  • American Utopia w/mom
  • Birthday Candles w/Kathryn
  • The Little Prince w/snails
  • SIX w/Kathryn
  • Paradise Square w/Kathryn
  • Plaza Suite w/Louise & Jeremy
  • POTUS w/Jeremy, Marissa, and Kathryn
  • Into the Woods w/Jess & Kyle
  • A Strange Loop w/Liebers
  • 1776 w/NYMAAC
  • Phantom of the Opera w/NYMAAC

    At the Public:
    • Suffs (canceled)
    • Fat Ham w/Kathryn & Hillary
    • Richard III at Shakespeare in the Park/The Delacorte w/Kathryn (opening night)
    • As You Like It at Shakespeare in the Park/The Delacorte w/Kathryn (opening night)
    Other theater:
    • Four Quartets (modern dance show at BAM w/Kathryn)
    • Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway w/Mike
    • Sassafras & the Captain w/Mike & Kathryn (directed by Kate)
    • Into the Woods at City Center on Mothers Day w/my mom & Kathryn
    • This Beautiful Future at the Cherry Lane Theater with Laura
    • Stamptown at Asylum NYC w/Bryan
    • The Stranger Things Experience w/work friends

      Concerts:
      • Neighbor Charlie at Mama Tried ("Neighbor Charlie" is not the name of a band. Charlie is the name of one of my neighbors)
      • ISO Symphonic Band Memorial Day Concert at Green-Wood Cemetery w/neighbors
      • Akie Bermiss at Wild Birds w/Maya & David
      • Lake Street Dive at Radio City Music Hall w/Maya
      • The Greatest Generation: The Double Dumbass Tour at the Bell House w/Lindsay
      • Strong Sets at CrossFit South Brooklyn w/neighbors
      Museums:
      • The Metropolitan Museum of Art w/Mike
      • NY Historical Society (Art for Change exhibit) w/NYMAAC
      • National Museum of African American History & Culture (DC)
      • National Museum of the American Indian (DC)
      • Asheville Art Museum
      • Moogseum (Asheville, NC)
      • Asheville Pinball Museum
      • LongHouse Reserve (East Hampton, NY)
      National Parks
      • Great Smoky Mountains
      • Blue Ridge Parkway
      • Folk Art Center
      • Fire Island National Recreation Area
      Theme Parks:
      • Walt Disney World (all four parks)
      • Dollywood
      My own performances:
      • 8 parades and 2 other performances with the Queer Big Apple Corps Marching Band (look at that shiny new name!), which culminated in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the band's first time marching in it (we performed in the pre-recorded, reviewing-stand-only version in 2020)
      • 2 concerts with the Queer Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band
      • 5 concerts with the Queer Urban Orchestra, including a 4-conductor fall opener which served as the final audition for our artistic director search. I also helped out with our QUOtets chamber concert
      • 1 paid gig as timpanist at the Holy Apostles Easter service

      2022 viewing

      If 2022 was the year of anything for me, it was the year of Disney+. I've been devouring Star Wars series one by one, the pinnacle being Andor and the least interesting being The Book of Boba Fett. I've also allowed myself some new MCU content despite not having done the work of watching all the movies. She-Hulk was excellent (thanks to the brilliant Tatiana Maslany) and WandaVision was enjoyable despite my lacking the backstory. I've also been consuming all the new Star Trek I can get my hands on via Paramount+. Lower Decks continues to be its highest achievement in my estimation, and Picard, though I love it and am very much looking forward to the final TNG-reunion season, is a little bonkers.

      A mutual interest in some mindless fun has led to a series of TV nights with neighbors. We started with the nostalgic and slightly reprehensible And Just Like That, and a subset of us continued on with RuPaul's Drag Race season 14 and the recent All-Stars season, my entrance into the series. Other group watch action included this year's three Page & Popcorn Book & Movie Club (P&P) selections: Passing, The Tender Bar, and Under the Banner of Heaven, the last of which continued an ongoing fascination with Mormon fundamentalism, along with Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey. Adjacent to (and overlapping with) Mormon fundamentalism is true crime, an obsession I satisfied by watching the creepy and excellent Candy (Hulu), the chilling and well constructed The Staircase (Netflix), and season 2 of the now-named A Very British Scandal (Prime). And speaking of the which, British productions, actors, and accents populated my year as usual; standouts included season 5 of The Crown, season 2 of Bridgerton, Crashing, and the incredibly sweet Heartstopper (and, of course, Star Wars). I also watched Downton Abbey: A New Era which demanded a rewatch of the series as a palate cleanser. On the subject of rewatches, I finished my rewatch of Friends which I started last year after watching the reunion special, and I bookended it with another watch of the reunion.

      New (to me) series

      • And Just Like That (watched season 1 with neighbors, watched the documentary)
      • The Gilded Age 
      • The Mandalorian (seasons 1-2)
      • Broad City (seasons 1-2)
      • RuPaul's Drag Race (season 14 and All-Stars All-Winners, with neighbors)
      • Heartstopper
      • Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
      • WandaVision
      • Our Flag Means Death
      • Anatomy of a Scandal
      • Candy
      • The Staircase
      • Crashing
      • Uncoupled
      • Obi-Wan Kenobi
      • She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
      • Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey
      • The Other Two (season 1)
      • The Patient
      • Andor
      • The Book of Boba Fett
      • Under the Banner of Heaven (first episode with P&P book club, hybridly, the rest on my own)
      Movies and one-offs
      • Harry Potter 20th Anniversary
      • The Lost Daughter
      • The Eyes of Tammy Faye
      • Isle of Dogs (with neighbors, remotely)
      • Groundhog Day (rewatch)
      • Passing (with P&P book club, hybridly)
      • Encanto
      • Frankie and Johnny (with neighbors)
      • The Tender Bar (with P&P book club, hybridly)
      • White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch
      • Dear Evan Hansen (on a plane)
      • Great Performances: Keeping Company With Sondheim
      • Hannah Gadsby: Douglas (rewatch, with Louise)
      • Everything Everywhere All At Once (with Louise & Kathryn)
      • Persuasion
      • Obvious Child
      • Inside the Mind of a Cat
      • Westworld (1973 movie, with Cricket & Mark)
      • Bros (in the theater, on a date)
      • Downton Abbey: A New Era
      • Welcome to Kutsher's: The Last Catskills Resort
      • Enola Holmes 2
      • When Harry Met Sally

      Continued series and rewatches

      • Friends (rewatched seasons 9 and 10 and the reunion show)
      • Downton Abbey (all)
      • Better Call Saul (season 5)
      • The Crown (season 5)
      • Star Trek: Voyager (rewatched most of season 3, all of season 4, and the beginning of season 5 along with The Greatest Generation podcast)
      • The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (season 4)
      • Stranger Things (season 4)
      • Star Trek: Discovery (season 4)
      • Star Trek: Lower Decks (seasons 2-3)
      • Dead to Me (season 3)
      • Star Trek: Picard (season 2)
      • Bridgerton (season 2)
      • Hacks (season 2)
      • A Very British Scandal (season 2)
      • The White Lotus (season 2)