New York City continued

Wednesday, March 24:

The 9th grade and I went to the Cloisters museum to see the Medieval art. It is very quiet and peaceful there.

The 11th grade went to the New York City museum in the morning and did the backstage tour of the Metropolitan Opera in the afternoon. We met up with them at Lincoln Center to head to the West Village for dinner and "Our Town." We got to meet two of the actors after the show because of a connection Jodie has. The general consensus of the performance (as revealed in the meeting in Betsy's hotel room that night, discussed over Ethan's birthday cake) was that is was AMAZING. The audience felt like participants in the performance.

Thursday, March 25:

The 11th grade attended a rehearsal of the NY Philharmonic. The report was that it was really interesting to see the interactions between the musicians; the hierarchy was visible. The musicianship was outstanding. But the highlight of the day for them was the show going on at the MOMA, where they spent the afternoon. Giada took this illicit photograph:

Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present was the artist sitting with viewers, saying nothing, for as long as they could stand it!

The 9th grade and I returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We studied Rembrandt's paintings and had an impromptu drawing lesson on a bench in one of the Rembrandt rooms. That was a highlight for me: I love it when learning moments happen spontaneously. After that we examined and imitated paintings from Renaissance to Impressionism.

Thursday night's performance was "A View from the Bridge" with Scarlett Johanssen and Liev Schreiber.

Friday, March 26:

The 11th grade had their free day, and the 9th grade, Jodie and I went to the Frick Collection. At lunchtime we ate our sandwiches while watching a movie being filmed on Madison Ave. Nolla went up to the famous young actor and asked what the film was. He told her it was called "Homework," but we have reason to believe it will be called "The Beautiful Miscellaneous" (which we like better).

Friday night's performance was "Aida" at the Metropolitan Opera. Wow. Huge.

Saturday, March 27:

Since we got back so late from the opera Friday night, we had our nightly review meeting the next morning. After lunch at Niko's we caught a matinee performance of "In the Heights." I think everyone enjoyed the high energy dancing and "feel good" nature of the show.

After the matinee we split up: Betsy, Miron and the 9th grade went to grab dinner and see "Mary Poppins" while the 11th grade, Greg, Laurel and I went to see "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson" after dinner at Veselka's. "Bloody Bloody" is a show that Tara alum (and my sister) Catherine Barricklow is working on as production assistant. It is a very irreverent look at the 7th president Andrew Jackson, depicting him as an emo rock star. I thought it was hilarious.

Sunday, March 28:

We all attended a Palm Sunday service at St. Thomas' Episcopal church. The music with the famous boy's choir was beautiful. I never got to hear what the students thought of it because after lunch I went to the airport. I returned to Denver a day early because of a teacher training conference I didn't want to miss. So I missed the evening's performance of "The Fantasticks" and the trip closing the next day. Perhaps I can get someone who was there to give a brief report.