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On June 3rd of last year, I met a friend (let's call him Myron just to piss him off) in New York City. Myron and I are best buds and we used to have coffee together all the time while working together in L.A., but then he had to go and move to Florida.

Jerk.

(Just kidding, Myro. He hates it when I call him Myro.)

Anyway, it just so happened that we'd both be in Manhattan on June 3rd. We had the whole day, so we crammed as much fun as possible into it: Bagels and coffee and the Staten Island Ferry...



...and coffee and lunch at the Seinfeld Coffee Shop...



and coffee and Central Park and more coffee, and lord knows what else. It was a hot and humid day, so we tried to limit the outside activity. But by the evening, it had cooled off and started to rain, so I darted into some cheap-ass department store near St. Mark's Square and snagged some jean jacket on sale. I think it's been hanging in my closet ever since, cursing me and the day I was born. Hey man, that thing is lucky I bought it. I mean, how many times did it have to be marked down before it finally caught a clue? "Nobody wants you, OK?" That jacket just needs to get over itself.

Anyway, Myron had a couple of longtime friends who had a musical theatre show at The Public near NYU. He'd already seen it the night before, but really wanted to see it again. We lucked out on some last minute tickets and thoroughly enjoyed the show.

The theatre was small with a square stage and the audience sat around it in a U-shape. Maybe 100 seats in the audience? The "orchestra" consisted of four people, each person seated on each side of the stage. They rose out from the floor at the beginning and sat at half height the whole show.

Afterwards, I met Myron's friends, Stew and Heidi, who cowrote the music and performed in the show. I told them and any other cast member I met how fabulous they were. I remember one of the actors, Daniel Breaker, telling me how they'd been workshopping this show for 4 years, and how they'd performed the show in Berkeley before coming to New York. He was still sweating, and looked exhausted and energized simultaneously. Ah, youth. I wanted to pat him on the head and tell him how wonderful he was and how I'm sure he'd go places, but why get his hopes up? I mean, what are the chances? It's show business, right?

At the time, we caught what we thought was the last show of the run. Then it got a great review in the New Yorker the next day and was promptly extended.

Then in February of this year, they opened the show on Broadway, at the Belasco Theatre.

Then, in March, I heard Stew and Heidi in an interview on NPR.

Then, yesterday, the cast appeared on The View to sing a medley of their songs.

Then, this morning, the show received 7 Tony award nominations.

My guess is, by the end of the summer they will have double-handedly acheived world peace in the middle east and cured cancer, all for a song.



Is it just me, or when Stew belts out the line "Welcome to Amsterdam" for the third or fourth time, do you find yourself swaying too?

If you ever have the opportunity, the show is called Passing Strange.

Oh yeah, and that little Danny Breaker kid? He was nominated for a Tony, too. I guess he's going to go places after all.