mattlawyue

Almost a month ago I read a story in the New Yorker about the playwright Katori Hall, and her upcoming play The Mountaintop. This is the official description of the play:

Taking place on April 3, 1968, THE MOUNTAINTOP is a gripping reimagining of events the night before the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After delivering one of his most memorable speeches, an exhausted Dr. King (Samuel L. Jackson) retires to his room at the Lorraine Motel while a storm rages outside. When a mysterious stranger (Angela Bassett) arrives with some surprising news, King is forced to confront his destiny and his legacy to his people.

I saw it this past Sunday, ironically, on the dedication to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.

I will not pretend to be a theatre boy or a Broadway kid - I vaguely remember the Lion King on Broadway from my youth, thinking, this sucked so much compared to the movie. How come Mufasa hasn’t fallen to his bloody death, and why can’t I watch Simba stare fear in the eye? It really is a fucked up movie that I will watch on repeat with my niece whenever she wants to.

But the Mountaintop was fantastic. I wouldn’t know how to judge a good play from a bad one to write a credible review. I’ll just say by the end of 90 minutes, I was standing on my feet applauding Jackson and Bassett for God knows what reasons. They were believable? The way they enunciated their lines? Their chemistry? Who knows. I enjoyed myself, and I’ll leave it at that.

And it was certainly worth taking a couple hours out of my Sunday to walk along Broadway on a breezy fall afternoon, jacket and aviators relaxing on my body, a playbill in my hand, inhaling a beautiful New York City afternoon.

But you best believe if there was a Knicks preseason game I would have been home fucking glued to the TV, picking apart why I’m still against the Amar’e and Melo duo.

Maybe there’s more to New York in the winter than basketball after all…