What to do with the kids now?

With almost every school in New York closed, parks closed and almost any outdoor activity out of the question, it will be hard (but not impossible) to find ways to entertain the kids over the coming days. Here is a short list of some ideas on where to go with them. Hope it will help!

Museums:

• American Museum of Natural History - reopens Thursday November 1st;
• Children's Museum of Manhattan - reopens Thursday November 1st;
• Moma (they offer some family programs over the weekend) - opened normally;
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art - reopens Thursday November 1st (they offer some daily family programs, check their website for date and time);
• Whitney Museum of American Art - reopens Thursday November 1st (they also have some family programs);

Shows/Theaters/Concerts:

• The New Victory Theater - reopens Friday November 2nd;
• Puppetworks - normal showtimes on Saturday and Sunday;
• Movie Theaters - most of them are operating normally. Check Fandango for more information;
• Jazz at Lincoln Center - Family Concert: who is John Coltrane - Saturday at 1pm and 3pm;

Death of a Salesman - Too good to be missed

Philip Seymour Hoffman as Willy Loman, in the play Death of a Salesman, written by Arthur Miller and currently directed by Mike Nichols

The story is depressing. At the end of the play, the actors are so depleted of energy that they can barely stand in front of the also exhausted public to receive their well deserved "standing ovation". It's indeed a very good production.

The play is so intense, so well interpreted that you, as a spectator, end up participating in the suffering of the characters and that is why you're completely washed out at the end. You actually want the tragedy to end, but at the same time you are curious to know how those people found themselves in that situation. It is so real, so well played, that is almost as if you were living the whole drama under your skin. As if you became one of them.

According to my husband they screamed too much. I agree with him. At some point it was unbearable and I just wanted to ask them to stop arguing. But I don't think it's an exaggeration of the actors, I think it's part of the play. They want you to feel uncomfortable with their pain and their choices in life. You almost feel like a voyeur. You shouldn't be in their house, looking at their problems. Don't you have your own back at home? Why are you judging them? 

The actors are fantastic. I already admired Philip Seymour Hoffman for his work on screen, but seeing him on the stage was priceless. In my opinion, he's by far one of the best actors of the moment. And Linda Edmond is so credible, she makes us feel that acting is easy. 

Death of a Salesman, directed by Mike Nichols is currently being played at Ethel Barrymore Theater, here in New York and I definitely recommend to buy the tickets early because they are selling fast and the play only goes until June 2nd. 

The Weekender - Reflexions

Réflexion from Planktoon on Vimeo.

If you're a woman, you've probably already felt like this before. This short film is fantastic.

Any plans for the weekend? We are going to see the play "Death of a Salesman", by Arthur Miller, starring Philip Saymour Hoffman. It's suppose to be excellent.

There's also another Lollipop concert this weekend. And the theme is one of my favorite ones: Peter and the Wolf. So I'm probably taking the kids to listen to some Prokofiev.

Have an excellent weekend!

Marionnettes at the Swedish Cottage - Don't even bother...

This morning, P and I went to see Little Miss Muffet's Monster-Sitting Service, at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre in Central Park, with a friend and her son. The day was beautiful, not too cold and the theatre is one of the most charming places in New York to take kids. Nonetheless, thankfully, our sons were too young to understand the story (the performance is actually recommended for ages 3 to 9). But the older children in the theatre, who were around 5 or 6 years-old were at some point bored (because the story is too complicated and some dialogues are too long) and then even frightened.

The scenarios are very well done, the musics are nice and the crew is really talented. However, the story is completely wrong. From beginning to end. 

Here's why:

1. A six year-old girl, Molly, arrives home ALONE and finds a message from her parents who have left for the weekend. There's no one at home. Her grand-father is suppose to arrive at some point (from Alaska) to take care of her. But, of course, he doesn't make it, so he sends his old friend a giant spider (that was actually amusing and the spider is one of the best characters). 
2. There are monsters in the story. If they were funny, that would be alright. But they are not. There is even a dinosaur growling very loud that was quite scary.
3. There is this malicious  and creepy german monkey that lives in outer space. He's actually Ham, the chimp that was sent to space back in the '50s (if you're interested, here is the footage explaining his mission) and he now wants some revenge by destroying the human race. The Cold War has been over for more than 20 years now, so why do we still need to stereotype the "bad guys" by being Germans?! This should be completely over by now.
4. The chimp sends a terrible plant that grows during the night into a gigantic and malefic plant and starts to destroy the city (New York). At this point, the curtains are down and we can only hear the sounds of the destruction and people terrified screaming on the top of their lungs and the lights behind the curtains are all red (imagine the reaction of the kids in the theatre). So, little Molly takes command of a huge robot, like a Transformer, and after a ferocious fight destroys the malevolent plant. 
5. Moral of the story: plants are evil, because they destroy the city; so we should exterminate them. Oh, and let's not forget History, Germans will always be bad. 

I might sound naive, but children are children. Childhood is already such a short period of our life, so why would we want to accelerate it and throw the children into adulthood too early? There are some jokes or some sarcasm that the kids just don't get and that are not appropriate for them. When I go with my children to see something (either a play, or a movie, or a concert) that is for their age, I expect to see content adapted to their age and that's it. Of course, I want to have fun as well. But usually just by looking at their happy faces I'm already spending a good time. And when I want to have fun as an adult, then I call a babysitter and go to the movies with my husband. What I'm trying to say here is that parents have to adapt to their children needs and amusement level and not the other way around. Like we say in French chaque chose en son temps.

We weren't already very convinced about the play last summer (The Secret History of the Swedish Cottage), but this one was a total disappointment. They have the technique, the talent and certainly the imagination. Why can't they just stick to more traditional or children appropriate stories?

Picture of the Swedish Cottage taken from here. And the pictures from the play were taken from Backstage and Time Out New York Kids - the reviews are pretty good, although they agree with me that this is not a great play for children.