The Morgantowner: Greenbelt, "On The Town," "Treyf" and "Hamilton"

In the six years since I moved to Morgantown, Joe and I have become closer to my sister Robin, who lives 208 miles from us, in Greenbelt, Maryland. She bribes us to visit her, this time by offering tickets to "Hamilton" at Kennedy Center in Washington. Joe and I both love live theater, and we try to go often in Morgantown, but we are wrapped up in meetings, services, teaching and chores and don't always get out.

We had good weather to drive to and from Washington last Thursday and back this past Monday. I've been reading The Washington Post on Sundays, and I saw in the paper that "On The Town" a World War II-era musical with music by a 25-year old Leonard Bernstein was playing at Olney Theater in Maryland, sixteen miles from Robin's house. We arrived at her house in time for a nap, and she made us dinner. We got out to the 8:00 show in Olney. The music is glorious, and while the choreography wasn't the original Jerome Robbins move, it was great. In the show, three sailors arrive in New York at 6 A.M., with twenty-four hours leave. There's a line from two about how the third had saved their lives, and at the end they go back to an uncertain future on a warship in 1944. Meanwhile, they sing and dance, have fun and meet girls. I saw this show at UCLA years ago; Joe had never seen it. There is a movie, but most of Bernstein's complex score was cut, and many of the songs were replaced with generic pap. We both loved this fun, charming show with gorgeous music.

Joe and I walked around Greenbelt Lake Friday morning, then hit the local mall, shopping for discount clothes at Burlington Coat Factory and buying Joe's favorite coffee at Giant supermarket. Our Morgantown friends, Dan and Daya Solomon, who now live in Greenbelt, asked if we would be at Mishkan Torah, Greenbelt's synagogue, Friday night. We agreed to go. We were happy to see Dan and Daya and greet the rabbi hired last summer, Saul Oretsky, who was a member before he went off to rabbi school. He was my nephew's bar mitzvah tutor thirteen years ago.

It was cool and not raining Saturday, so I went walking around more in Greenbelt. Robin got us tickets to "Trayf," which means "not kosher," a play at Washington's Jewish Community Center. We had the adventure of driving into Washington, like driving and parking in San Francisco.. "Trayf" is a small play, with only four characters, about two black-hat Jewish men, each nineteen, and about to go their separate ways. It's a moving tale of faith (or lack thereof) and friendship. We dined at Silver Diner, our go-to place in Greenbelt. Growing up in Maryland, at a time where every place was segregated, I love being at a restaurant with a multi-ethnic staff, a great menu, and where everyone is welcome.

Sunday was our big day. We got to Kennedy Center at noon for a 2:30 show, and ate in the cafe on the top level. Our seats were marked "obstructed view" which meant they were sold late and for five hundred dollars less than seats down the row. I have the two CD cast album from the show, and Joe and I listened to it in the car on the way to Greenbelt. We couldn't see one corner of the stage well in our cheap seats, but it didn't dampen our enthusiasm. "Hamilton," if you haven't heard about it is a fast-moving depiction of the life of Alexander Hamilton, where the main characters, Hamilton, George Washington, Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, Lafayette and the sisters, Eliza and Angelica Schuyler, are portrayed by African-American, Caribbean or Mexican actors. The music, operatic in its scope, is modern rap and hip-hop, with a few ballads and novelty songs thrown in. Only King George III, played for broad comedy, is European-American.

It seems like it shouldn't work, but it does, and beautifully. That the actors don't look like their pictures on American currency, and the twenty-first century music makes everything seem more real, not less. If you've seen "1776" where the characters are stiff and the music trying to sound old, you can tell the difference. The dancers, men and women, are all dressed in the same outfits and perform the same steps. They are the townspeople in New York, where "Hamilton" is set.

This play opened before the last election, but it seems more relevant than ever-the intrigue, the political games, the infidelities are not different now. I even thought of the power struggles in Morgantown, of our young Council questioning the status quo, and the possibility of shifting alliances in our second year in office.

I haven't talked much about spending time with my sister, but I do enjoy being with her. She has been kind and generous to us both, and introduces us as "my brother and his husband" or "my brother and brother-in-law." Not everyone is that open about us with their friends. She and Joe are well-matched competitive Scrabble players.

We drove home after breakfast Monday, stopping for lunch in Cumberland, Maryland, at Queen City Creamery. Tomorrow (Friday) we're off to Buffalo to spend time with Joe's family and visit Canada.