New York New York: Day 4

Today was Macy's day... a day I had been dreading as O loses all judgemental faculties after walking through it's doors. Actually it wasn't too bad... purchases were made. Then it was up to the top of the shop for their Christmas Lane - the centre of a whole floor given over to trees, balls, baubles, tinsel, trimmings, huge nutcracker dolls and Christmas cards. It was fun trailing around after himself who judged each potential purchase with the wisdom of Solomon and the happiness of Larry.
Lunch found us again at the Heartland Brewery and we then ventured uptown to Tower Records on Broadway at Lincoln Center. I always say I hate Tower but I always end up buying a heap of stuff! Three cds and five dvds to be precise. The dvds were incredibly cheap. If I had a bigger suitcase I would have bought more!
In the evening we went to the Minskoff Theatre to see FIDDLER ON THE ROOF starring the king and queen of Broadway gaydom Harvey Feirstein and Rosie O'Donnell. I have never seen the show before - on stage or screen - so this was a good opportunity to see it. First off I must give the thumbs up to the Minskoff's major selling point: as you go in the theatre and up an escalator you find yourself in a large foyer with a double-story block long window onto Times Square - quelle wow! We were alarmingly close to the stage - about 4 rows back so much of the choreography was lost on us. Sadly the auditorium wasn't full.
I am still slightly puzzled by the show's huge 41 year success - I think more is projected onto it by audiences than is actually contained in the book which struck me as repetitive and obvious. However the show has an old-fashioned warmth and craft especially when compared to the coldly calculative emotion of WICKED. David Levaux's production appears to have divided people - some critics saying it lacks the emotion of the original Jerome Robbins production while others like it's stripped-down revisionist approach. I must say the set and lighting reminded me more of a Gorky or Chekhov play and was a bit austere to frame some of the more rambuncious numbers. 
Looking back now I can appreciate the warmth and chutzpah of Harvey F's Tevye - his scenes with Tevye's daughters were very tender and loving and that totally original voice - like a velvet curtain wrapped around rocks - socked over IF I WAS A RICH MAN.  
Rosie O'Donnell seemed somewhat muted in the role of Golde but then the women's roles are fairly badly-written. In the few scenes where she is called upon to express fire she sounded more Brooklyn than Anatevka but I liked her - she conveyed genuine distress at Tevye's banishment of Chava and her duet with Harvey "Do You Love Me?" showed their empathy and obvious respect for each other. So all in all, I enjoyed seeing the show. 
It transpired we hit Broadway for the week of it's AIDS/HIV charity BROADWAY CARES so each show ended with one of the leads having to quiet the audience down to do a pitch for donations. Harvey did this and it resulted in me buying an extra Playbill signed by Harvey and Rosie for $20 (makes mental note to return $20 to O).