#birdland

[tyger-land]

[rn-deliabusby]

flickr

[coolthingsguyslike]

[bringonthevices]

Megan Hilty at Birdland photos by kevin alvey

[birdlandarcade]

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Trumpeter Max Kaminsky (left to right), saxophonist Lester Young, trumpeter "Hot Lips" Page, alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, and pianist Lennie Tristano perform together at the newly-opened Birdland on Broadway, December 26, 1949.

Photo: Bettmann Archives/Getty Images

[widgenstain]

Birdland in 2025

Now that my thoughts are slightly more ordered, I'm writing some of them down digitally as well. I've scribbled 10 handwritten pages though, so there's a lot more from where this comes from! 😅

First of all, how did I see it? As some of you might know, the V&A Museum keeps recordings of plays in their archive. They're accessible for free and for anyone, provided that you watch them at their facility in East London. They're all digitised, they're all on the same server, you don't even have to order the specific play, you just make appointment for the morning or afternoon and they'll usher you into this very sterile, kinda cold room full of screens and headphones where you can basically watch any play in their collection. It's also video surveillanced and there is no real computer outlet for someone to dock on in case one might want to... uhm... liberate the recordings. In my case I was in there alone, probably making very funny faces, noises, and aerobic figures in my seat.

Why did I make them? Because I was fully emerged into this absolute BRILLIANT fucking play. This may just be the best thing I've ever seen Andrew do.

I love Simon Stephens, that's nothing new, but this is just excellent and I think this play - provided there were some slight changes to the ending - would have even more impact nowadays than it did 11 years ago.

It's the most brutal thing I've seen by him. It's still funny at points, very much so, some great laughs in this and I think at one point the actor playing Johnny even corpses a bit. But it's also much rougher than anything else I've seen by him, more vulgar and to say that Paul is not a nice character is the understatement of the century.

And fucking hell does Andrew deliver!! It's sometimes so bizarre to see what brings people wide-spread accolades, because while I LOVE Vanya of course, duh, #vanyaonstageforlife, this is just as good, if not better, since he gets to work his theatre magic with other actors, who can match him at points. Special shout out to Nikki Amuka Bird here!

The ENERGY that's created on this stage, the way he goes into Paul's coke driven moments of bravado and then abruptly drops it again in the span of a second! These switches that make Vanya so great are totally there already, and I think that's why Simon loves him so, he writes amazing mood changes and Andrew translates them FLAWLESSLY.

Also there are moments from AOUS Adam, the tiny glimpses of vulnerability Paul allows himself, the boyishness, it's almost like watching a child. And the sexy chemistry of course, I mean, that's a whole other post, it's not ok what this man does with his stupid lower lip, NOT OK YOU HEAR ME! And I think I can safely say that he's a way better dancer than singer, JESUS, that NYT dude putting him on the best dancer list wasn't lying!!

Plus there are some moments when he visciously explodes, fucking hell is that scary and I can only imagine how that hit during peak JM fandom times!!

So yeah, amongst many many other things, what fascinated me most about his performance was that you could already see all the things that would get him finally lauded, it'sall there already and brilliant, yet they're somehow not the same thing.

I know I've said it before, but one of the things that fascinate me so about this actor is that he keeps doing similar things sometimes, yet they're still always new and INTERESTING! And fascinating and heartbreaking and just a ridiculous ride of brilliant emotions and horrible human depths.

That's not even slightly all, but I need to sleep in my tiny hostel bunk bed and my fingers are done tapping around on my phone 😂

[brendanpatrickhennessy]

so, uh... just out of innocent curiosity, when are bell and bridget's birthdays? asking for a friend...

this one's canon!