Inquiring minds want to know

Whenever I check my statcounter to see which Google queries have brought readers to my blog I often find that I've answered about 90 percent of their question. Close, but no cigar. I wish I could run after those people and say, "Wait, give me another chance!"

So as one of my blogging resolutions for 2009, I'm going to try to answer questions from readers on a more regular basis to supply that missing 10 percent. Naturally, I get a lot of questions about theatre and Broadway shows, which I can usually answer; a lot about violins, which I can't; and some random ones about movies, books or tv shows. (Apparently, the movie Ice Castles has a pretty big fan base.)

In the meantime, here are a few recent ones:

1.) Does Daniel Radcliffe come out after shows to sign autographs? I get a lot of queries about whether actors come to the stage door to sign Playbills after a Broadway show. Usually, they will, although matinees can be dicey. And this year, I've had some notable disappointments. But yes, I did get Daniel Radcliffe's autograph after an evening performance of Equus. You can read about it here. And to the person who asked, Leah Michele is DEFINITELY NOT mean at the stage door! Why would you think that? She was very nice to everyone when I met her after a matinee of Spring Awakening in the summer of 2007.

2.) Is the aisle seat good at a Broadway theatre? Well, for me, there's nothing like being smack dab in the middle of the orchestra, in the first few rows. But yes, I think aisle seats are generally good, especially if you think you'll need to make a quick exit. Although there's been a disturbing trend of shows charging more to sit on the aisle. Unless you have a medical reason or you want to reach out and touch the elephant during the parade of animals that opens The Lion King, (And who doesn't!) I'm not sure it's worth the extra money.

3.) Can Spring Awakening be saved from closing? January is going to be a very dark month for Broadway. A handful of long-running musicals are closing and other shows are finishing up their limited runs. At this point, I don't think any of them can be saved, including Spring Awakening. The last performance for the 2007 Tony winning Best Musical will take place on Jan. 18. But don't lose hope. You can still catch it, along with many other terrific Broadway shows, on tour. It's probably coming somewhere near you. Go here for more information.

4.) Can you take pictures at the Radio City Christmas Spectacular? Sadly, yes. At least at the performance I attended. While it clearly states on the show's Web site that photography is forbidden, (as it is in all Broadway theatres and probably all theatres everywhere) people were snapping away at will throughout the performance and no one appeared to be stopping them. But I did attend a 10 a.m. show and Radio City Music Hall wasn't very crowded. Maybe the ushers are more diligent later in the day.

5.) What does Johnna symbolize in August: Osage County? Good question. Johnna, originally played on Broadway by Kimberly Guerrero, is the Native American housekeeper hired by family patriarch Beverly Weston to look after his sick, pill-popping wife. The play takes place in Oklahoma and Johnna is a representative of the original occupants of the land. I think she also symbolizes the importance of family. Playwright Tracy Letts describes her role in an interview with The Times of London.

6.) Where did Carrie Bradshaw go to college? Did she have any family? Where did she grow up? Michael Patrick King, the executive producer of Sex and the City always kept the origins of Carrie and her pals a little mysterious, as if their lives didn't really begin until they moved to Manhattan. Carrie apparently mentioned in one episode that her father left her mother when she was 5 years old and she may have grown up close to New York and gone to college in the city. I'm guessing New York University, but that's just a guess. Here are some more hints.

7.) What's the town in Massachusetts in the Seinfeld finale? This is one of those questions where I smack my forehead (figuratively, not literally). I wrote about watching the final episode of the long-running NBC comedy for the first time this summer, 10 years after it aired. But I never mentioned the specific town in Massachusetts where it takes place. Duh! The NBC corporate jet that Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer are taking to Paris makes an emergency landing in the fictional town of Latham, Massachusetts in the final episode. Here's a rundown on the whole sad incident.

Tom's Diner

At the risk of sounding totally ignorant musically, I was surprised when a friend told me that there was a song about Tom's Restaurant. I only knew the Upper West Side diner, on the edge of Columbia University, as the exterior of the place where Jerry, George, Elaine and sometimes Kramer hung out in Seinfeld.

I'd never heard of the Suzanne Vega song "Tom's Diner." And I've still never heard the song. But I'm a big Seinfeld fan, so I made a pilgrimage to the diner in May, during a rainy morning in New York City. From the inside, it doesn't look anything like the tv show, but it was a thrill to see it anyway. (Yeah, I like seeing the places that have been used as locations for movies and tv shows.)

In today's New York Times, Vega has nice essay about how she came to write the song. Here's part of what she says:

"I got the idea for “Tom’s Diner” in 1981, but I wrote it in the spring of 1982, making the song 26 years old now. When I was at Barnard College in Manhattan, I used to go to Tom’s Restaurant for coffee, and after I graduated I also ate there before going to work. It was then a cheap, greasy place on 112th and Broadway, and it still is, in spite of its celebrity. ... I had been taking classes at Barnard with titles like 'The Dramatic Monologue.' I was in Tom’s and I thought it would be fun to write a song that was like a little film, where the main character sees all these things but can’t respond to any of it unless it relates to him directly."

I have to admit, the only other Suzanne Vega song I even remember is "Luka," and the subject matter, an abused child, always made it a very difficult song for me to to listen to. But now, I'm really curious to hear "Tom's Diner."

The Seinfeld experience

I'm a big Seinfeld fan. I just finished watching all nine seasons on DVD, and on my last trip to New York, I made a pilgrimage to Morningside Heights to see Tom's Restaurant, the exterior of which was featured in the series.

So I really hope this makes a stop near me.

A 60-foot-long bus filled with memorabilia from Seinfeld is embarking on a tour of 26 college campuses to try and drum up a younger audience for the now-syndicated show. It's starting off in Central Florida but I don't know any of the specific stops.

"Seinfeld has been America’s favorite shows for some 20 years. We are trying to take on more fans, younger fans," says Bob Oswaks of Sony Pictures Television.

Among the items you can see on the bus, according to this story, are Jerry's puffy shirt, the "manzier," a bra for men; a 1993 Emmy for best comedy series; and a doll that looks like Jerry’s mother. (I thought the puffy shirt was in the Smithsonian, so maybe this is a replica. Or maybe there was more than one.)

You'll also be able to watch your favorite episodes, eat candy featured on the show, sit in a replica of Monk's Diner and play a DVD-based Seinfeld trivia game that's being released this fall by Mattel.

Save me a seat!

The Seinfeld finale at last

Okay, I know I'm a little late with this - 10 years and nearly 2 months late, actually - but I've finally seen the final episode of Seinfeld, which finished up its nine-year run on May 14, 1998. An estimated 76 million people tuned in to NBC that Thursday night, making it the third most-watched sitcom finale in television history, behind M*A*S*H and Cheers. I was living in Israel when the last season aired, so I never got a chance to watch it.

Although Season 9 was released in November, and I've had it for a few months, I've held off watching it. I guess I just wanted to keep the sense of anticipation going a little longer. In the last episode, a two-parter, the idea for a televsion series about "nothing" that Jerry and George came up with years ago gets picked up by NBC. The network offers them a trip anywhere they want on the corporate jet, so Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer head for Paris.

Unfortunately, the plane has to make an emergency landing in the small (fictional) Massachusetts town of Latham, where the foursome are arrested for violating the "Good Samaritan" law after they stand by and watch while a man is being carjacked. They wind up in jail and go on trial. Their lawyer is the fast-talking and nattily attired Jackie Chiles, played by Phil Morris.

The prosecutor calls a parade of witnesses who've appeared in past episodes to testify that the foursome's lack of character wasn't an isolated incident. (The Bubble Boy, the elderly woman Jerry fights for a loaf of rye bread, Elaine's old boss Mr. Pitt, George's old boss George Steinbrenner, all make appearances). It was funny, but the whole thing went on a bit too long.

I had kind of mixed reactions to the finale. For one thing, John Pinette, the standup comedian who plays the carjacking victim, is morbidly obese. It was kind of uncomfortable watching the four of them standing across the street while this is going on, making fun of his plight. (Kramer's even videotaping it).

The way they reacted just seemed out of character for them. Whatever Jerry, Elaine George and Kramer were, they were never intentionally cruel. Clueless - yes, thoughtless at times - yes, wacky - often, but not mean-spirited the way they appear in this episode. They're basically good people, and I don't believe for a second that that their characters would have reacted in such a callous, uncaring way. (Well okay, maybe George would have).

Still, there were some good moments and I did laugh. There's a conversation between Jerry and George that reprises their very first conversation, so it's a fitting way to come full circle. And I liked the standup routine that closes out the episode, with Jerry now in his bright orange prison jumpsuit.

One thing I've realized after watching all 175 episodes is that although it's called Seinfeld, in many ways Jason Alexander's George Costanza is the best character and the heart of the show. (There's nothing funnier than watching George interact with his parents, the wonderful Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris.) That's not surprising, considering that George is modeled on series co-creator Larry David.

Sure, I love Jerry Seinfeld, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. But George is the one who seems to get into the wackiest, most outrageous situations, to which the other characters are often reacting. He's constantly coming up with some kind of scheme that almost always ends badly. (A sitcom staple since I Love Lucy). He's constantly getting tripped up in his own lies. He's lovable loser who can never quite seem to get his life in order.

I've bought every season of Seinfeld as it came out on dvd - something I've never done before with any television series, and I've really enjoyed them. I probably remember more quotes from Seinfeld - "yada, yada, yada" and "not that there's anything wrong with that" come to mind - than from any other tv series.

Sure, there were some episodes where I laughed more than others, but really, there were plenty laughs in every season - right up until the end. In my opinion, Seinfeld is one show that never jumped the shark. And honestly, now that I've finished watching, I could start over again from the beginning.