4@15

Last night Alex and I went and saw 4@15, the four fifteen-minute original musicals produced by the UCI New York Satellite Program and the York Theatre Company. They were great! I knew almost everyone in the cast, which surprised me and also made it more fun. But also I was surprised and impressed by the quality of all four of the musicals! In the last few years, usually one or two have been very good and the others have been lackluster or weird and confusing, but this year they were all four engaging, understandable, creative, and - perhaps most importantly - made good use of almost all of the actors, which has also not always been the case.

Anyway, the first one was about couples shopping in IKEA. Despite this, it was surprisingly dramatically compelling and very fun, with lyrics and book by Amanda Yesnowitz, whom Alex and I saw at Birdland a few months ago! She is for real. We chatted with her after the show, and it was very exciting! I gave her my card - also very exciting!

The second was about a clown entertaining people on the 2 train uptown - but it took a surprising turn for the sad about halfway through, as we learned why one person wouldn't smile and how lonely everyone else actually was. Which makes it sound kind of pathetic and downer-y, but I promise it wasn't. My only regret is that they didn't make better use of the talented, cute, pseudo-Jamaican train conductor.

The third was odd and depressing and oddly, depressingly hilarious, about two lonely people who almost meet 1,000 times, during which time they decide to do their own dental work for their own bizarre reasons and to similarly unhappy results.

And the fourth was about the new, suave gentlemen in the Beth Shalom Retirement Home! That was probably my favorite, if only because of all the Jew jokes.

And then we had pizza, and went with Kelly and Kat and Kaitlin and many of the other Satellite people to a bar near their apartment at Lex and maybe 32nd, and I didn't drink because I was tired and hay feverish and also a pauper, but it was fun anyway, and then we bid them farewell and trained away home!

Next up: Flushing Meadow Park!