Looking for Culture

I have exited the heat of the city for the heat in the Hamptons.  Sultry is an understatement.  Last night we were looking for culture.  The movies are either bad or awful.  Not a good summer for movies.  I hope the rest of August gets better.  We opted for tickets to see a play at the Bay Street Theater.  Great idea. 

In the many years we have been coming to the East End of Long Island we have never been to the Bay Street Theater.  Quite impressive place.  The theater is small and there isn’t a bad seat.  Walls are covered with black and white photos of past performances.  Pretty impressive host of actors have performed there. 

Viva La Vida was the play last night.  Mercedes Ruhl is the star.  She is such a great actress that we thought that it would be fantastic.  Wrong.  The story is about the life of Frida Kahlo.  Just a recap of the movie a few years back.  The production was like a mediocre High School production except the actors were better.  Diego Rivera is played by Rene Pereyra.  There was absolutely no chemistry between him and Mercedes Ruhl.  He was just so over the top it truly was like High School. 

After the first hour there is an intermission.  We all looked at each other decided that perhaps we should leave.  We sort of hemmed and  hawed.  But we decided to find out how long the second half was.  It was another hour so we opted to leave.  Then we got out on the street and it all came out.  That was awful.  Bad production.  So disappointing.  This morning when I spoke to my friend the first thing she said was "How awful was that play last night"?  I was thinking the same thing.

So, if you are in the Hamptons and doing what we did.  No movies worth seeing perhaps the theater.  Take a big pass and chill by the pool.