Week 1: Unexpectedly Favorite Place

     This summer I went to a city I'd dreamed of since the summer before sixth grade brought hopes of Broadway to my eyes. I have (obviously) since given up on that dream and moved onwards to a new one, but it turns out I might just end up there despite myself. I visited the famous city of New York, New York this summer and came to a startling realization:

I was absolutely in love.

     Now, this was NOT the plan. I grew up in Oklahoma, and though a majority of my time was in Norman (with a few years in Broken Arrow scattered throughout) I still very much consider myself a bit of a country bumpkin. I never had the urge to 'go to college and get out of this tiny town!' I figured I'd probably live my whole life in Oklahoma, and I was okay with that. Honestly. I really do love this state. But then I went to NYC, and something just happened. 

     The roads are so dirty they turn to mud when it rains, you can see the smog all over, it's loud, it's rude, it's noisy ALL THE TIME, you feel like you need to bathe after walking around, even the stair rails inside are dirty, you're constantly accosted with fliers and buckets and tour guide offers and I just wanted to leave and the moment we touched down in Oklahoma I wanted to go back. 

(NYC skyline as seen from Battery Park

Photo taken by yours truly)

     First of all, the buildings. No, guys, you don't understand. Seriously, the BUILDINGS. I am an architecture nerd at heart and if it wasn't for the amount of math it required, I probably would have pursued that major. The buildings in New York are exquisite, and such a lovely hodge-podge of classic and modern styles. So many buildings had highlights of red or green lined about and it was just so quaint. 

(A neighborhood street in NYC, around Lexington Ave

Photo once more by the fabulous moi)

     Lots of streets had these adorable apartments that were super cute and lined with green window panes and staircases and so lovely with the window plants! It was all so Spider-Man, and I want to live in one of these cute things (even if they all do have basement levels - weird!) Lots of things about New York reminded me of super heroes, but that's probably (definitely) because I'm a geek who's been in love with the recent slew of Marvel movies which, coincidentally, happen to have scenes in New York. 

(The strange Red Stairs from Spider-Man 2! 

And I'm standing where Captain America stood when he came running out after he woke up!

Picture from 42nd and Times Square, taken by me again)

     We got lost in China Town, wandered all over lower Manhattan on foot, successfully navigated the subway system, and had a wonderful time. Of course, even if I hadn't loved the trip, it would have all been worth it simply because of one thing: 

(Kenneth Branagh as Macbeth, shown here

Photo by Johan Persson)

MACBETH!!!!!

     Starring the premier Shakespearean actor of our generation, alongside Doctor Who star Alex Kingston with a host of other fantastic people in the most revolutionary theater production yet. My favorite actors in my favorite play - I would have crawled to New York and sat on a rafter to see this thing. It was an intimate setting, with the actors right there at the bottom of the wooden bleachers you sat in as they poured their hearts out nearly face-to-face with the audience. The stage was minimally set, and right away you entered their world. You stood outside the doors to the old drill hall turned stage and declared your clan (given based on seating arrangements) before the cloaked guard rang a bell and stated "Welcome Lochaber, enter but remain on the path, and beware of witches." 

     The doors opened to a mist filled moor, and another cloaked man with a torch led you along a small stone path to your seats. It was like exiting the wardrobe into Narnia - the moment those large doors parted you entered another world. And when everyone was seated, the witches sprang from the moor to run to the pagan altar (mirrored on the other side by a Christian altar) to proclaim Macbeth's coming with their speech on thunder, lighting, and rain. And as if by summons there was thunder, there was lightning, there was rain (it rained INSIDE the theater!), and twenty men in kilts and battle armor burst into the now-muddy space in the middle with a war cry and began to slaughter each other with real swords that sparked and clanged. 

     It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life - this is how Shakespeare should be done. And because of their willingness to search out and bring new life to the usual way of doing theater and their love of the strange and the all-encompassing that allows such genius to flourish, the New York Arts Armory has truly become my favorite place on Earth.