Charles Dickens died while in the middle of writing a mystery novel. So the world will never know the truth behind "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." In the 1980s, Rupert Holmes wrote a musical version of this mystery tale. It premiered as part of Central Park's Shakespeare in the Park and then moved to Broadway where it played for about 18 months. And now, until March 2013, the Roundabout Theater Company is producing a mostly wonderful, but slightly confusing limited run revival at Studio 54. The action takes place at London's Music Hall Royale, in 1895, where a troupe of thespians is presenting "their" version of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. This is part of the confusion in the show, since the actors are playing both the actors in the troupe, as well as the characters ... read more

Remember when I said we'd talk more about security? Well, let's do that now. Airports in India are even more security conscious than NYC ones. You can't get into the terminal without showing ID to friendly Indian Army dudes. Then your luggage is X-rayed and tagged. THEN you finally get to check in to get your boarding pass and seat assignment. And don't forget to put a tag on your carry-on luggage. You don't have to write anything on it, but you'll need it later. Oh, and regarding carry-on.... Don't put your extra camera batteries in your carry-on, apparently they don't like them here. Once you're checked in, it's off to security. Gents on one line, ladies on another. Why? Because everybody gets wanded and frisked, but us ladies get to be groped in private. At ... read more

Well, our official sightseeing has come to an end. This morning we visited the city palace museum. Not a place for the claustrophobic amongst us, the stairs are very narrow and steep and the doorways are low. After that we visited the "crystal gallery." It's not a gallery made of crystal, but rather a collection of crystal ware that was purchased by a maharana who passed away before it was delivered. Next stop was a garden/park with pretty fountains and then a stop at a place where we saw a demonstration of how they paint the minature paintings that Udaipur is famous for. Free this afternoon and then farewell dinner. Free tomorrow morning then 2 pm flight back to Delhi and then hopefully 1 am flight back to NYC.... read more

just a quick note.... trip is going well, but i'm a bit concerned about flying home friday night/saturday morning. can't really get any info yet about air india flights. highlights so far: taj mahal, baby taj mahal, festival in varanasi, temples in khurajahoe (okay, that's spelled wrong probably). low lights: steps in varanasi covered with mud, 7 hour drive from jaipur to udaipur due to kingfisher airlines bankruptcy, worry about friends and family in NYC, etc during the storm.... read more

Hey... Sorry for the delay, but we had a long day in Delhi and I wasn't realy up to going back to the basement internet cafe near the hotel there, and didn't realize there was a free business center in the hotel in Varanasi.... I'm doing this from memory, so if it'll be an overview, and if I miss something, i'll come back to it when I can.... First thing in Delhi was a visit to Humayan's tomb. It was builtfor the 2nd Mughal emperor by his wife. it was originally intened to hold only him, but now holds 100 or so bodies. I walked around it, while Haviva walked up the stairs to the roof. After that we went to the Iqtub (okay, that's the wrong spelling) minaret which is really tall, and surrounded by ... read more

we went to bed really, really early last night (to the confusion of the housekeepers who wanted to turn down our beds). up at 7 this morning, then we had breakfast. some western food, some indian food. lots of different kinds of bread. group met up at 11 am. 17 people in the group, mostly married couples, a couple of moms with daughters and a three single women traveling alone. one of them is actually a globus employee from australia. the rest of the group is american, and seems nice. due to a bankruptcy/de-licesnsure of an airline, we'll be going from jaipur to udaipur by bus, rather than flying. while that means a very long day, i'm happy to have one less flight. first stop today was ghandi's cremation site. after he was cremated they built ... read more

greetings from delhi, where everything seems to smell like cigarette smoke. flight was long, but since i had an aisle seat, not too unbearable. landed a bit early, and customs went fine, but then we had to wait for our luggage. thankfully, my luggage is distinctive, so it was easy to spot. about an hour's drive to the hotel, and we are not wandering from here, as the area around the hotel does not look like where 2 tourists should be wandering. i thought we had tomorrow morning free, but apparently we're meeting our guide at 11 am. security here is no joke, they checked the car engine when we came through the gates. and yeah, it's as crowded here as i was warned. i've been up for most of the past 24 hours, so gonna ... read more

Looking at the title of this blog, you might wonder what a 19th century Norwegian play and a movie based on a book by Dr. Seuss might have in common. Well, the first thing is the fact that I saw them on the same day. An Enemy of the People was the Manhattan Theatre Club's production at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The Lorax on DVD from Netflix. The second common thread is that both deal with a collision between economics and environmental concerns. In An Enemy of the People, we have Dr. Theo Stockman (played by the wonderful Boyd Gaines) discovering that the water supply to the baths that are the economic foundation of his town is contaminated. Dr. Stockman is idealistic and intelligent, but naive and lacking in political skills. He believes that his ... read more

At intermission of this musical biography of Charlie Chaplin, I turned to my sister and said "Tell me when the movies become color." One of the creative conceits of this show is that for the bulk of the time, the costumes and sets are shades of gray. Even the skin-tones of the actors are muted. To me, this effect got a bit tiring to look after a while; downright annoying during a scene incorporating Russian and US flags. Movies were shot in black and white (and silence) because of technical constraints not creative ones. And Charlie Chaplin might have worked in black and white, but his life was very colorful. Several marriages, moves from studio to studio, a partnership with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and others that gave us United Artists Studios (an event left out ... read more