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After the show . . .


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Just like Violin Concerto -- home or supermarket -- or just linger on a Broadway corner for a nice, extended performance rehash with friend/s.

Once or twice a season, I used to go with a few friends for dessert at Opera Espresso. We need to find reasonably priced, convenient place since that place is no longer there.

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I would love to go grocery shopping following an evening performance, but I can't think of any grocery store around my area that stays open that late (unless it's a hole in the wall 24-hour deli, which aren't usually my first choice). To answer your question, it's home. If we don't need to be home immediately, then we sometimes stop by French Roast or a bubble tea cafe in Chinatown.

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Grocery shopping? No that is the furthest thing from my mind after something like ballet or opera.

We drive down from southern Westchester and have to work in the AM.... so we use the drive to drift back down to the mundane from the sublime... usually listening to some opera along the way.

Our fav stop for a snack on the way home is Gray's Papaya on 72nd. Yes...It would be interesting to meet some of the brilliant BT posters up close... If someone organizes an apres ballet cafe.. do post it... We'll be there!

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Virtually always, I just pick up the car and head home. Excitement consists of getting the traffic reports on 880 and 1010, then playing whatever CD I've brought along that day. If I use the garage on 59th just west of Columbus I might stop before I hit the road and pick up a snack at Starbuck's.

I know.

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Back in the 70s, my gang and I would kill the hours between matinee and evening performances at O'Neal's Baloon. For $0.75, we could order a bottomless cup of coffee and schmooze for a few hours. I guess these days, if we were still up to double dippings on a regular basis, we'd be doing pretty much the same at one Starbucks or another. No free refills, and far less comfortable, alas!

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I usually go to the post-performance Q&A's. I'm always interested in what Peter Boal has to say, as I loved listening to Francia Russell. It's also fun to hear the speaking voices of the dancers.

A wonderful advantage is that by the time the Q&A is over, the parking lot has emptied and it takes me 15 minutes instead of 45 to get home :thumbsup:

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Not every city could support one, but I love the idea of a ballet opera cafe which was full of memorabilia / photos etc of ballet and opera and was the actual hang out for balletomanes, opera buffs students, corps and stars.. a kind of mix it up place were people expect to intereact with fellow arts lovers over cafe and croissant... and it was filled with lovely music.

When I think of the community of ballet and opera... as a opposed to some other "genres" like tennis or films... it seems that ballet and opera fans are very attached to their artists and for whatever reason... yet there remains a barrier between the audiences and the performers and even each other. My impression of most Met Opera and ABT (not NYCB) audiences is that only few in the audience are passionate lovers of what they are seeing... this is especially true for the la di dahs down in the orchestra seats... who seem to attend because... well... it is the thing to do and say at the board meeting or the country club the nect day.

My most interesting experience with audiences were at publicity events (not galas... been there done that and won't again)... an Anna Netrbeko one and the NYCB R+J free ticket give away... where, standing in line I met two wonderful, intelligent and knowledgable lovers of ballet and opera... both of whom are friends now... And the reason these interactions took place was that we were able to as we were not focusing on taking in a performance... so the idea of a mixing place for audiences... an informal one... as in a cafe... seems like an interesting idea.

When we visted Lucca some years ago, we took a coffee at Pucini's bar... that is, the one he frequented when he was alive and living in Lucca. Imagine how cool it would be were there a cafe where you might encounter BT people, dancers, ADs, oprea, singers and so on... and maybe strike up aconversation... that might go on for hours. How cool would that be!

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Not every city could support one, but I love the idea of a ballet opera cafe which was full of memorabilia / photos etc of ballet and opera and was the actual hang out for balletomanes, opera buffs students, corps and stars.. a kind of mix it up place were people expect to intereact with fellow arts lovers over cafe and croissant... and it was filled with lovely music.

O'Neal's Baloon, mentioned by carbro, used to be somewhat like this, with a big painting of some NYCB stars on the wall, and Peter Martins and other NYCB dancers would often be in there. I imagine there are slightly more diffuse versions of this in the immediate Lincoln Center area still, but I don't think it's something that could be planned--mainly because the stars would go only if they didn't think the place was too touristy (even in the local sense of balletomanes), and anyway, people can't ever be expected to interact, or it seems like a workshop. Cafe life has to be informal. Best to just have 'your gang' as also described, and meet some new balletomanes, here at BT or elsewhere. Also, even Lincoln Center does not have quite the festive excitement it did when younger, which has nothing to do with the great performances still coming from there. If they could get something that was profitable in that same place where O'Neal's was, it might happen again to some degree, but like stars in all fields, the 'star aura' is not there in the same sense it once was, even in the cases in which the actual artistry and expertise may have well surpassed what used to be done. Nureyev used to cause a stir just walking down 57th Street, but even though many people may think dancers much greater are working now, there aren't any that people chase around in the same sense.

As for the rest of the restaurants in that area, I wish they had better food and didn't charge so much for it, so I go straight to the subway usually.

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Carbro, you bring back memories. O'Neal's Balloon was the place to go. Followed by a wait -- often huddling in the cold -- for the cross-town bus. :)

Helene, Villella here in West Palm does his talk before each performance. NOTHING -- except possibly a spectral visitation from Pavlova or Nureyev -- would keep our audiences from running away to the valet parking and the multi-tiered garage. Even those with walkers and in wheelchairs really MOVE to get to those cars.

A few times, with a small group of others similarly interested, we've strolled over to the restaurants in nearby City Place. Nice. But not New York.

Or even Lucca. (P.S. My paternal grandfather came to the U.S. from Lucca, so I'm a Lucchese twice removed. Oddly, there was a restaurant called Puccini's across from City Center on 55th (?) Street when NYCB was still peforming there. Great place for before the ballet.)

It seems, also, that not a few of the BT regulars run home to the computer while their thoughts and feelings about the performance are still fresh. :FIREdevil:

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If they could get something that was profitable in that same place where O'Neal's was, it might happen again to some degree, . . .
PJ Clarke's just opened in that very spot. I haven't looked at the menu,* but it could turn out to be a slightly more upscale version of its late, lamented predecessor. At the other end of the block -- well, at one end or the other of almost every Manhattan block :FIREdevil: -- is Starbucks.

A salon for balletos existed for a brief while, but it was all the way over on First Avenue. Not that there weren't many ballet lovers on the East Side, but there was no nub of related action to draw them there, other than a little nosh. The owners apparently skipped the first three rules in real estate: Location, location, location.

*Since posting I have looked at the menu. The tables look comfortably placed.

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P.J. Clarke's just opened in that very spot. I haven't looked at the menu,* but it could turn out to be a slightly more upscale version of its late, lamented predecessor.

Oh, that looks like it may be a real solution, and that will mean there are maybe 4 places where you can even get good draft Guinness. This is more practical--than Iridium and a whole jazz club-- for the purpose O'Neal's used to serve; and it doesn't need to be too elegant, maybe the emphasis should be on brash and somewhat rushed and occasional touches of classic New York Rudeness! In this case, pedestrian food is not desirable, but that's mostly what we got at O'Neal's, and that's not why anybody went there.

A salon for balletos existed for a brief while, but it was all the way over on First Avenue. Not that there weren't many ballet lovers on the East Side, but there was no nub of related action to draw them there, other than a little nosh. The owners apparently skipped the first three rules in real estate: Location, location, location.

Probably the location, but literary salons have often grown up for just awhile--like where Susan Sontag and Brodsky used to argue a lot, I think, in the mid-90s. Admittedly, ballet lovers are a smaller group, but that is the best idea for some real kind of balletomane club, even though it ought to be on the Upper West Side so that it has a better chance of lasting, and there would be bound to be some dancers come from time to time.

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.. If someone organizes an apres ballet cafe.. do post it... We'll be there!

Ditto :FIREdevil: Or some sort of established place for balletomanes to visit afterwards would be lovely, too.

My uncle told me he sometimes goes to Cafe Mozart after performances at Lincoln Center. He took me there one afternoon for hot chocolate. I haven't had the chance to go there after a performance (yet!), but I hear they have great desserts.. :)

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P.J. Clarke's just opened in that very spot. I haven't looked at the menu,* but it could turn out to be a slightly more upscale version of its late, lamented predecessor.

Oh, that looks like it may be a real solution, and that will mean there are maybe 4 places where you can even get good draft Guinness. This is more practical--than Iridium and a whole jazz club-- for the purpose O'Neal's used to serve; and it doesn't need to be too elegant, maybe the emphasis should be on brash and somewhat rushed and occasional touches of classic New York Rudeness! In this case, pedestrian food is not desirable, but that's mostly what we got at O'Neal's, and that's not why anybody went there.

I loved it when Iridium was there, because when I'm in town I always head to a jazz club afterwards, usually the Village Vanguard, but elsewhere depending on who's playing. Gray's Papaya, another important stop, comes after the club. I'm sorry O'Neals is gone because of the mural, but the only reason.

After Kennedy Center matinee performances, the KC Cafe has sweeping views of the city, and the lounge and bar in the Watergate Hotel have a lovely posh atmosphere, pleasant staff and, last but almost not least, good free nuts.

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I loved it when Iridium was there, because when I'm in town I always head to a jazz club afterwards, usually the Village Vanguard, but elsewhere depending on who's playing. Gray's Papaya, another important stop, comes after the club.

kfw--sometimes do try the venerable Lenox Lounge at Lenox between 124th and 125th, because they have a wonderful soul food restaurant, the Zebra Room, and always good players, even if not necessarily as famous as the Vanguard. Always take a cab, of course, as there is some drug traffic around there--but once you get in there, it takes you back to the old days, or as old as you can get now: since Small's Paradise closed in 1988, none of the Golden Age clubs are still there in their same housing, e.g., The Cotton Club. The Showman's is also oldish, but I don't think it's quite as mellow and elegant as the Lenox. The Vanguard and the Blue Note are always good, of course, and both just down the street from me.

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kfw--sometimes do try the venerable Lenox Lounge at Lenox between 124th and 125th, because they have a wonderful soul food restaurant, the Zebra Room, and always good players, even if not necessarily as famous as the Vanguard. Always take a cab, of course, as there is some drug traffic around there--but once you get in there, it takes you back to the old days, or as old as you can get now: since Small's Paradise closed in 1988, none of the Golden Age clubs are still there in their same housing, e.g., The Cotton Club. The Showman's is also oldish, but I don't think it's quite as mellow and elegant as the Lenox. The Vanguard and the Blue Note are always good, of course, and both just down the street from me.

Thanks for the tip, papeetepatrick. By happy accident I stopped in there one afternoon a few years ago; I think it was before they started booking groups again. Yes, it's a beautifully preserved or renovated place and that put me in mind of the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge in Chicago and of a Jacob Lawrence print I have in my study, Cafe Comedian. And of course Minton's Playhouse, to which I've made pilgrimages on several occasions, is open again too.

Another place I enjoyed, for its liveliness and its food, that seemed appropriate after NYCB, was Russian Samovar on 52nd street.

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Anyone remember the Saloon? It was on the NE corner of 64th & B'Way. It had pretty good food. I remember going for a liitle post perf. celebration for JM Carreno's B'Day. It was a very nice place. I am even remember the old Empire Hotel's Coffee Shop & Bar. :(:clapping:

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http://www.onealsny.com/1-about-ourstory.htm

Here's a good description of O'Neal's Baloon, which was itself called 'Saloon' at first, due to a blue law, necessitating the change which resulted in 'Baloon'. Patrick O'Neal, the actor, and his wife, Cynthia, had been chiefly responsible for making it this dancers' place, there is detailed description of the mural. I skimmed the article, but movie buffs will remember Cynthia O'Neal in her uncanny performance in Mike Nichols's 'Carnal Knowledge', in which she played the tough and beautiful Cindy--toward the end of the film, she is first seen playing tennis. It's quite a startling, one-of-a-kind performance, and yet she made no other major film appearance. She was one of Nureyev's best pals in the early 70s.

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Carbro, you bring back memories. O'Neal's Balloon was the place to go. Followed by a wait -- often huddling in the cold -- for the cross-town bus. :(

Helene, Villella here in West Palm does his talk before each performance. NOTHING -- except possibly a spectral visitation from Pavlova or Nureyev -- would keep our audiences from running away to the valet parking and the multi-tiered garage. Even those with walkers and in wheelchairs really MOVE to get to those cars.

A few times, with a small group of others similarly interested, we've strolled over to the restaurants in nearby City Place. Nice. But not New York.

Or even Lucca. (P.S. My paternal grandfather came to the U.S. from Lucca, so I'm a Lucchese twice removed. Oddly, there was a restaurant called Puccini's across from City Center on 55th (?) Street when NYCB was still peforming there. Great place for before the ballet.)

It seems, also, that not a few of the BT regulars run home to the computer while their thoughts and feelings about the performance are still fresh. :clapping:

I took class in west palm at Ballet Florida, nice studios.

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For those who didn't see it, O'Neal's protest against the "no-saloon" blue law was simple, but effective. They just superimposed a "B" over the "S", but left the latter in place, leading people who didn't know about the post-Prohibition infringement on free speech to assume correctly, "The law is a oss, a idiot!"

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