As you may remember, I’ve been a fan of TV’s Glee. That may be ending, as I am
becoming more and more tired of the characters and the story arc – or lack
thereof. The singing is still quite amazing most of the time, though I could
have done without last night’s School’s
Out and especially the guitar-driven version of The Rain in Spain.
More irritating to me though has been a spoken line from a few
weeks back. When the kids are asked what they dream of, Mike, the best dancer
of the group, replies “the first time I dance at Carnegie Hall.”
Well, I hope he never wakes from that dream because Carnegie
Hall is NOT where dancers dance. It’s a hall for music. Dance happens at the
David H. Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center, home to New York City Ballet. Or at
the Met, where American Ballet Theatre holds court. Or at City Center on 55th
Street. Or, almost every night of the year, at the intimate Joyce Theatre on 8th Avenue in Chelsea.
There has been dance at Carnegie – I wrote not long ago of
Ransom conducting Solisti New York from the orchestra floor while the Lar
Lubovitch Company performed the amazing Concerto
622 – but that was in 1986. I guarantee you, no real dancer anywhere in
America has ever said “I can’t wait til I get to dance at Carnegie Hall.”
A week or so later one of the kids said something about how
Tony Manero of Saturday Night Fever dreamed
of getting out of Brooklyn and moving to New York City.
Excuse me? Last time I looked Brooklyn WAS New York City, or
at least one of the five boroughs that make up the Big Apple.
Then tonight this rampant disregard for reality took hold of
Smash, a much better show that I
think of as Glee for adults.
The cast leaves New York for a Boston tryout and we see them
traipsing through Grand Central Terminal and out on to the platform where a
Metro North train sits waiting. That’s all well and good, and one COULD do
that. All it entails is taking the Metro North train to New Haven, a two-hour
trip with stops at Harlem/125th Street, Stamford, Noroton Heights, Darien,
Rowayton, South Norwalk, East Norwalk, Westport, Green’s Farms, Southport, Fairfield,
Fairfield Metro, Bridgeport, Stratford and Milford. Then you’d have to transfer
to an Amtrak train for the two to three-hour ride to Boston.
As I said, you could do that, but no one would. Instead
you’d take Amtrak from Penn Station in New York, straight to Boston.
I’m guessing the creators of Smash chose to use the much more photogenic Grand Central rather
than the dim, dark, crowded Penn Station. That’s fine; poetic license I get.
But come on, TV producers, there are New Yorkers and East Coasters out here who
are watching your shows. And to this New Yorker, you just look stupid.
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