Off Broadway: Let Me Down Easy

Category: Tickets & Events

By Keita Williams

The glittering lights of Times Square always humble me. While the allure and mystique of the theatre district secretly beckons me. Wading through the many people from the furthest regions, feeling the occasional subway train rumble at my feet and absorbing the opulence of the evening air keeps me awestruck.

Seeing Anna Deavere Smith’s Off-Broadway show, “Let Me Down Easy” allowed me to once again revel in the neon lights of the theatrical New York experience. Embracing this historic occasion, I nearly floated into the theatre. Before I even found my seat, the incomparable Jessye Norman was waiting patiently in the lobby. Mesmerized by her Diva Glow, I hoped she would be seated near me.

A string of adjectives and superlatives simply will not capture the flawless fluidity of Anna Deavere Smith’s performance. I was completely captivated…I repeat completely captivated. A slave to my ever-buzzing blackberry, tied to my twitter, tentatively anticipating the next email or status update, I was completely consumed (I would have tweeted notable quotables during the show, but an overzealous usher sternly reminded me to put my cell phone away).

Ripe with poignant dialogue and a rich range of emotions, Anna Deavere Smith envelopes on the audience like warm winter blanket. Twenty thought provoking characters with distinctive personalities and idiosyncrasies flowed together in an honest confession of illness, death and dying. This performance provoked me to examine my own mortality, evoked uncomfortable laughter and literally stirred my soul. I left the theatre feeling full…

Show is extended until January 3, 2009!