Theater Of The Absurd

It wasn't enough that Ayhan and I traipsed up to the Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center to Lina Koutrakos' CD signing and performance for her disc "The Low Country"—only to find out that the event is actually next Wednesday. It was truly to be a comedy of errors last evening.

Ayhan and I were invited to the English-language debut of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus' hit Swedish musical "Kristina," in a concert staging at Carnegie Hall. The four leads for the performance were Helen Sjöholm, who originated the role in Sweden; popular British tenor Russell Watson; Broadway vet Kevin Odekirk ("Les Miserables"); and our beloved Louise Pitre, a favorite of Benny and Bjorn, who commandeered the lead role in "Mamma Mia!" on Broadway in 2001, and received a Tony nod for the role."Kristina," originally staged in Sweden in 1995, winning four Swedish Tonys, is adapted from "The Emigrants," a series of renowned novels depicting the story of an extended family that departs Sweden for the wilds of Minnesota in the 1850s. The two-night performance at Carnegie Hall is obviously a hopeful lead-in for the production to ultimately end up on Broadway.Ayhan had seen the original production—in Swedish—and warned me that it was three-and-a-half hours long. Seeing it staged in a concert setting, admittedly, was somewhat trying at times, particularly since I held little empathy for the lead character, who just seemed to bitch a lot about how dry it was in Sweden, only to then complain when the family searched out "greener pastures" in the States. It didn't help that despite nearly starving to death, she kept popping out kids like corn on a cob. I mean, live within your means, sister, you know?

Anyways, Ayhan and I were invited to the after-party event, and when the production peaked after 90 minutes, we were delighted to storm the stairs for champagne and the opportunity to see his idols, Benny and Bjorn. We joined some 75 folks... there's Bjorn, where's Benny?... and why does this woman keep parading around the room, smacking on these bells, for god's sake?

After little more than 10 minutes, we were good and irritated when the room was cleared. "So that's it? That's the champagne toast?" Boy, what a letdown that was... Ayhan and I stopped by the restroom and headed for the door... As we heard music and saw a screen at the entrance, he asked, "Wait, was is that?" I replied, "They must be playing a DVD of the show... wait, isn't that in English?"

Sure enough, we two were witnessing... Act II! Boy, it certainly seemed like the story had peaked when we took our leave... but no, there was another 90 minutes ensuing! Oops! We shyly returned to our seats, giggling like buffoons, and realized the error of our ways. And guess what? There was a full-on second champagne event at the end—the real end, complete with the full cast and an award presented to Benny and Bjorn. We also got to chat with Louise, which is always fun; she is quite the broad.

Only one way to sum it all up: Dumb and Dumber! But a good time was had, nonetheless.