On we march with our recap of the eleven-day trip I took recently with my stunning friend Amber to Las Vegas, Philadelphia and New York. We're in New Work now but before you read about Day 9, you'll want to read the summaries of Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, my Philadelphia Addenda, Day 7 and Day 8. Onward —!
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
This one'll be a lot shorter than Part 8. Heck, Angels in America is a lot shorter than Part 8. Anyway: Last year, I took Amber to Las Vegas and as I wrote back then…
Near Times Square in New York, there's an Italian restaurant I like called Carmine's and they've cloned it in Vegas. It's in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace and we went there Saturday evening for a dinner that felt like it wasn't served until Sunday morning. They brought the garlic bread immediately and then the entrees arrived — I am not exaggerating — an hour later. I complained to the manager who went off, investigated, then came back and said, "We screwed up" and told us the $100+ meal was on the house with his great apologies. Who says you can't win in Vegas?
Despite the piss-poor service there, Amber loved the chow when it did arrive and she asked if we could go some day to Carmine's in New York. So for lunch on Day 9, we met my pal Vinnie Favale at the one in Times Square and Vinnie brought along his son Jon. This is who Vinnie is and in case someone's reading this blog years from now and the link is dead, it explains he's a long-time exec in CBS's late night division who oversaw Late Show with David Letterman for most of its run and is now involved with Stephen Colbert's show. He's also been involved with Howard Stern's programs and other fun ventures.
We talked at length, mostly about the TV business and ate Carmine's Shrimp Parmigiana, which is indecently yummy. Vinnie is sharp and funny and he knows almost as much obscure Show Biz Trivia as I do. After Amber was suitably stuffed with shrimp, he was nice enough to indulge me with a trip down to the Ed Sullivan Theater from whence emanates Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
About that iconic venue: The place started life as Hammerstein's Theatre in 1927 — a legit house wherein the first play was a musical called Golden Dawn starring an actor named Archie Leach. After a while, Hammerstein's Theatre turned into the Manhattan Theatre, then into Billy Rose's Music Hall, then back into the Manhattan again. At the same time, Archie Leach turned into Cary Grant.
In 1936, the building turned into CBS Radio Playhouse Number 1 and thousands of radio broadcasts came out of it. In 1950, it was converted into a television studio, CBS's Studio 50. Among the hundreds of shows that would be done in there were The Jackie Gleason Show, The Merv Griffin Show, What's My Line?, The $10,000 Pyramid, To Tell the Truth and Password…but the biggie, which came outta that building from the early fifties through 1971, was The Toast of the Town, later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show. And in 1967, Studio 50 was renamed The Ed Sullivan Theater.
It has kept that name to this day, even after Ed's show went off in 1971. Game shows and other programming filled it and in the mid-eighties, the sitcom Kate and Allie graced its stage. It was during those Kate and Allie days that I got my first glimpse inside — a tour of a sad-looking studio with many, many things falling apart or in bad need of repair.
A Mr. David Letterman moved in in 1993 after the place was totally redone for him — an amazing transformation. I got inside around '95 or '96 and loved what had become of it. Colbert's occupancy in 2015 came after another complete makeover and this one removed some of the improvements made for Dave and put back some of the original architecture. It's just beautiful in there now.
Colbert's show was dark the week we were there, which was a good thing because we kind of had the run of the place. I got to talk to Pat Farmer, a stagehand who often turned up on Letterman shows in bits like reading Oprah Winfrey transcripts. His fondness for the shrine was evident and we swapped tales of its history.
The one thing that bothered me was that Colbert's set seems too big and busy and it felt like all the catwalks and its sheer height diminished the performing area…but maybe I wouldn't feel that way if I was there when a show was in progress. It was also kind of weird to encounter the ghost of Jackie Mason when he isn't even dead yet. Nevertheless, it gave me the finger. Much appreciated, Vinnie.
Thanks to Gilbert Gottfried having to cancel our podcasting date, Amber and I could have dinner that evening with my cousin David (author of this book and this book and this book and others) and his great wife Dini. We dined at Joe Allen on W. 46th Street and it's one of those restaurants where everyone dining there is either in a play or attending one so you can see parties finish eating and leave on schedules. If you go there, try the broiled chicken.
For our evening's entertainment, the four of us hiked over to the New World Stages on W. 50th, which is kind of a cineplex for live theater, to see what I'd been told was a particularly good version of Avenue Q. I'd seen the show before, though not this production, but Amber, David and Dini hadn't. It debuted on Broadway in 2003, ran six years there and has almost always since been playing Off-Broadway…and everywhere else. It has become one of the most-produced musicals of all time…and for good reason.
In case you don't know, it's a send-up of Sesame Street with puppets who curse and fornicate, set on a street where folks aren't cheery and happy and explaining the difference between Near and Far. The songs are bouncy and some linger in your head for quite a time after. This current production seems to be as fine as any with very good performers who got every possible laugh. Whenever you next get to Manhattan, go see it. It'll probably still be there.
Tomorrow: Our last full day before returning home. I'll tell you how Bernadette Peters was spectacular in Hello, Dolly! and how she wasn't even the best one in the show.