Open air theatre, films & jazz

The wonderful thing about NYC in the Spring/Summer is the number of open-air freebies happening all over the 5 boroughs. Every day, something new and interesting to experience. I love it! Most of the time, Alfie comes too.

Because of the amount of free stuff – https://theskint.com/ is the website to check every day – it is rare that I have to pay to see anything!
One paid event I did attend was thanks to my friend, Rick, who took us to see “Boys in the Band” a revival on Broadway with the lovely Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) who, coincidentally, was a guest on Stephen Colbert’s show when Ellie and I were lucky enough to get (free, again) tickets. It was brilliant.
Rick and I had a great typically American feast afterwards that included steak, salmon, ribs, sweet potato fries, coleslaw and mac & cheese!
The day before, and prior to another nice meal, I took Rick to Summit Rock in Central Park where we saw a great Shakespeare play by ‘She Doth Persist’
It was a lovely sunny evening and we sat on the benches in front of the rock enjoying the sweet young actors as they performed ‘All One Forest’ – an update on significant characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 12th Night and As You Like It who find themselves together in the forest. 
Alfie and I also went to a great Romeo and Juliet around one of the Central Park lake – where you move to 5 different locations every 20 minutes. The ‘all-free New York Classical Theatre’ are young and talented actors.
I think they cut their acting teeth by doing free theatre in NYC. 
After our second visit to Governor’s Island we made our way off the ferry to Castle Clinton to watch another young company – ‘Shakespeare Downtown’ perform a Midsummer Night’s Dream.
We had the dogs with us and sat at the front so the actors found different ways to incorporate their presence in the play, which was great fun!
Finally, Debbie being blind, we leap-frogged the enormous queue for free theatre tickets and on another beautiful sunny evening we saw Othello in the Delacorte Theatre, Central Park – I was struck by the beautiful costumes.
Open air films abound during this time of year in NYC. Alfie and I went to see Lady Bird in Harlem – where we met Holly and her dog and enjoyed free ice-cream and popcorn and Black Panther in another very lively area just behind the Lincoln Centre. 
Debbie and I went along to 2 jazz concerts on 2 of the piers on the Hudson: Pier 45 and Pier 86.
Both evenings were warm and pleasant and it was beautiful to see the sun set over the Hudson on both evenings. The dogs were really well behaved, too. 
Leaving the concert on Pier 86, we ended up walking past the Intrepid and then through Hell’s Kitchen to the subway. I love Hell’s Kitchen – it is so full of life and interesting shops and bars where you find stand-up taking place in the basement

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