Sleep no more…

The boys babysat Buddy one night so the adults could have a night on the town. Zeb booked us reservations at the Gallow Green rooftop restaurant followed by a “night” at the McKittrick Hotel for the “Sleep no more,” theatre production. After walking the Highline, a raised rail line turned in to a beautiful modern and architectural walkway (a treat for the designer in me) we sat down to dinner on a lovely ivy-covered rooftop. We sipped two bottles of sparkling wine over a variety of cured meats, salads, and a sundry morsels as we watched the sun sink below the skyscrapers.

This theatre production was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. After dinner, we “checked in” to the hotel and were given a room key and ushered into a dimly lit 1930s speak easy bar. We ordered drinks and waited for instructions. As our “rooms” were called we were ushered into a curtained room, issued vintage masks and offered a few instructions.

1. Don’t take off your mask

2. No talking

3. Explore on your own

4. Fortune favors the bold

Then we were led through a door to a dark stairwell and sent on our way to explore the hotel with an ominous drone of sound effects. Now I’m not one for scary movies and although I can tolerate a thriller every once in a while, it always keeps me up for days. This took a lot of courage for me not to just turn right around, head back to the bar and order another cocktail. But I pressed on…into the darkness…OMG.

You could go up, down, anywhere you wanted. Just go. You could rummage through desk drawers, read hospital charts, get lost in a forest, explore bedrooms and old dark rooms with developing photos hanging from the ceiling. If you were lucky, during your wandering you might happen upon a radio playing swing music and seemingly random scenes being played out by dancer actors. It was a story being told through dramatic dance. It was beautiful. There were fist fights, heartbreak, swing dancing, poker games, murder, lovers and if you were bold, you had a front row seat to it all.  It was as if you were looking through the lens of the camera and you were the only audience. The actors carried on like none of us were there so you could get up close and change positions for a different view point. Wiggle your way to the front or wander off to other dark corners looking for action or perhaps preferring the darkness and the solitude.

As soon as you are released into the hotel, you scatter. Your experience is your own and you can follow the crowd or go your own route. After two hours of exploring, somehow we managed to all make our way back to the bar. Sharing experiences, we realized all of us had completely different accounts of the night. We pieced together the story line and then pretty much processed the whole thing over the next few days. It was moving, terrifying, touching and remarkable all wrapped up in one. If you go to NYC, go. It’s theatre but like you’ve never experienced. It’s truly brilliant.

After the “show” we meandered back along the Highline with our masks in tow looking like crazy people. We took a pit stop at a Biergarten and played a few rounds of ping pong. Justin got lots of attention for his orange pants which I thought was pretty funny. I think Zeb, known in our family for his sense of style, was a bit jealous. 😉 We laughed a lot. Pondered the hotel a lot. And were just plain silly. We taxied back to Brooklyn to the boys and their dog. Everyone had such a great time. What fun!

#funny #art #curiosities #food #fun #family