Sleepless in Manhattan

by Aditha Dissanayake in US

New York at night need not be X-rated to be exciting. Especially if you decide to spend a night at the American Museum of Natural History! Here is the chance in a lifetime to turn yourself into a travelling paleontologist when the doors of the museum close behind you and with flash lights in your hand, you and your group are given an overdose of nocturnal adventure.

As the lights dim, we begin our expedition by staring into the eyes of a wild buffalo in the Hall of North American mammals. Climbing the stairs onto the fourth floor, standing beneath a 65-million-year-old T. rex we enter the Age of Dinosaurs.

Letting our imaginations run riot we explore the exhibition titled Mythic Creatures and find ourselves pleasantly surprised when we come across two gems -corundum sapphires with the title, Sri Lanka printed beneath them, among the stone collection.

Having, however, watched the documentary 'Dinosaurs Alive' in the LeFrak IMAX Theater, and challenged ourselves with one of the fun Museum Quests, instead of letting the night come to a magical close by falling asleep in the darkened halls beneath the 94-foot-long blue whale, next to the Alaskan brown bear, or at the base of a volcanic formation, we let ourselves out of the museum in search of yet another kind of magic.

The magic of the Broadway. Running all the way to Albany, making it the longest street in the world, Broadway could surely be the street most sung about, immortalized in countless songs like "Lullaby of Broadway," "On Broadway" and "A Lamb Lies Down on Broadway." It is said that there is a broken heart for every light on Broadway, or is it a broken light for every heart?

Mmmmm...probably the later for as we watched Mamma Mia, at the Winter Garden Theater on Wednesday night, courtesy our sister, Preeni whose generosity knows no limits and who had bought two tickets for us, we were acutely aware of our hearts bursting to the seems with sheer joy.

Though we were thoroughly drenched from a summer storm by the time we reached our seats in a packed auditorium where the seats and the carpets reminded me of the balcony at the Regal Theater back home, Catherine Johnson's musical, shaped around no fewer than twenty two ABBA hits kept us mesmerized and almost dancing in the aisle to such all time favourites as "Super Trouper", Dancing Queen", "Thank You for the Music", "The Winner Takes It All", and "SOS".

Though the title of the musical is taken from the group's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia" the story has nothing to do with the story of ABBA and revolves around a twenty one year old girl called Sophie and her mother, Donna.

Sophie is about to marry her fiance, Sky, and wants her father to give her away at her wedding but is not sure which of three possible men he might be. Feeling she will instinctively identify her father when she sees him she invites all three to the wedding without her mother's knowledge.

Unlike the soulless, mindless compilation musicals which were screened at the other theatres we were glad we had chosen to watch, Mamma Mia because this musical based on Catherine Johnson's book had a great deal of heart, thanks largely to the way the writer had cleverly incorporated ABBA's songs into the tale offering a sensitive observation of youth, middle age and familial relationships.

At times hilariously funny, and at times heartbreakingly moving, due to the radiant performances of a uniformly excellent cast, by the time we stepped out onto the Broadway, once more, though the night air was chilly and a slight drizzle made us shiver, for in our hour of exuberance we had forgotten to retrieve our umbrellas from under our seats as we left the theater, we found the atmosphere around us as warm and vibrant as a bright summer day. By the way, the long sentences were intentional to make you feel out of breath so that you will empathize with what follows.

Side stepping the puddles, yes, even New York gets flooded after a summer storm, even though the time on our watches stood somewhere close to midnight it seemed natural to extend the night by exploring 43rd street because the sights here are said to be best seen in the dark.

Finding our way was no problem because the streets mainly run in straight lines and meet at right angles, and you can usually get where you're going just by following your feet.

If you enjoy people-watching 42rd street is the right place to be because here the pedestrian traffic covers people from every corner of the world so much so that it would be safe to say if you cannot find them here then they are extinct. Under towers like the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building which look gray and business like during daytime but which transcend into a fiery forest of glowing lights at night, 42nd street is bold, brash, beautiful and benign at the same time.

Having sipped numerous cups of coffee bought from Starbucks and MacDonald's to keep ourselves awake, and having stared at the Reuters building to my heart's content, day dreaming of working inside that fiery forest of verticality one day, by the time we walk past numerous clubs from which emanate rock music capable of burning holes in our ears, and catch the train to Forest Hills we find we have missed the last bus home. No regrets though.

It feels good to see New York in silent mode, without the jammed traffic, without the dust, grind and smoke, recharging her batteries before the ritual rush begins once again... as we walk along the deserted Jewel Avenue with nary a soul in sight it is hard not to break into poetic raptures. O. Henry was right when he said 'there is more poetry in a block of New York than in 20 daisied lanes.' Especially at three o clock in the morning.

Catch you next week from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on a voyage to St. John, Brunswick, Canada. Any advice on how to survive seasickness, when I leave the shores of New York, is most welcome.

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