Next door

It is not really next door as the the door next to our apartment but it is th building next door. It's the Walter Kerr Theatre and that's where A Catered Affair is playing. I finally bit the bullet and got organized to go, and go I did today. Ticket and keys in my pocket I took the elevator to the lobby and headed next door- the queue to get in was snaking back to our buildings door and was pretty slow moving so I went back into the foyer out of the sun and waited in the cool lobby watching to see when I could get in quickly.
The synopsis of the play does little to indicate the pathos of the story.
A Catered Affair is set in The Bronx, 1953. Funny, heartbreaking and oh so human, the musical reveals relationships strained to their limits when a couple must decide whether to spend their life savings on a family business or to launch their only daughter's marriage with a lavish catered affair. Harvey Fierstein's book and John Bucchino's score seize the opportunity to explore the meaning of family and the need for love, both new and reawakened.

It is a musical but the songs blend in with the dialogue far more than other musicals and in the case of A Catered Affair I think it works really well. I cried as did the woman next to me who sniveled significantly after one particular moment.
The costumes were great especially the bridal store's sales assistant and the wedding outfit for the bride. The set was an interesting depiction of NYC life (read the Bronx) but I found it confusing in some aspects and a little difficult to suspend belief with a couple of the scenes especially the conversations through windows and then moves on to the fire escape but despite all this it did bring me to tears.

As for the audience they almost brought me to tears too! I can't imagine why anyone would choose the moment after the mother has sung an amazingly emotional song to stand up and leave. They were mid row down the front- the cast must have noticed and the show was nowhere near over. The leaving meant half the row stood up too and a woman near me (other side of the aisle) chose that moment to rummage in her glad bag for a lolly to suck on. Glad bags make almost as much rustling noise as lolly papers- I know we all needed comfort after the song but this was ridiculous.
Some poor bloke about four rows back found it all too slow (the show that is) and nodded off but also managed to snore fairly loudly. Then there was the mother and teenage daughter in front of me who insisted on showing their love for each other by arms around the neck playing with hairstyles and flicking hair to get comfortable resting on each others shoulder.

All this however does not dim my enjoyment of the show. I thought it was great despite the critics saying it wasn't up to snuff. I think it worked really well and was worth the wait.