I’ve generally been going with the flow lately. We’ve been settling into our (temporary) apartment, work’s not bad, I go to chorus rehearsals on Tuesday night, I haven’t been to the gym in ages. (There’s no New York Sports Club within walking distance of our new place.)

We managed to get in several Broadway shows before the stagehands’ strike. I should point out that we see most shows for cheap because Matt works in higher education and gets great discounts – I’d never be able to see all this stuff at full price. In the past couple of weeks we’ve seen:

The Little Mermaid. Disney musicals really aren’t my cup of tea, but it was better than I’d expected. Certainly better than Tarzan, which isn’t saying much, and somewhat better than Mary Poppins, too. Colorful sets and costumes, catchy new tunes. Call me a theater snob, though, because I hate the audiences that show up for these things. Everyone cheers and shouts as the lights go down (you’ve never seen theater lights go down before?), and a totally undeserved standing ovation at the end (though that seems to happen at every show these days). The couple sitting next to me in the very last row of the balcony was a guy and a girl from either New Jersey or Long Island. I could tell by the guy’s accent. He was sorta hunky, and when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him put on his glasses right after the lights went down, he got a tiny bit cuter.

Cymbeline. One of Shakespeare’s late plays. I’d never read or seen it before. Great cast, although Phylicia Rashad talked like she was wearing dentures. This is a long show – it ended at just about 11:00. After it ended, I said to Matt, “Well, it’s still in previews, so maybe the writer will make some cuts.” Some weird set choices toward the end. I more or less liked this – it was just long.

The Seafarer. A new Irish play by Connor McPherson. There’s a twist toward the end of Act One that virtually every news article about the show has given away — even a Playbill article about the show gives it away. The play is spooky, with some terrific acting, but it doesn’t have much of a plot and the second act goes on forever. I liked McPherson’s previous play, Shining City, better.

The Drowsy Chaperone. We saw this for the second time, for free, as part of a trip with some of Matt’s coworkers. Currently starring as Man in Chair is Bob Saget. Although he’s no Bob Martin, he was better than I thought he’d be – this is still an enjoyable show. Matt thought that Beth Leavel has become a bit too carried away as the Chaperone, but I still liked it.

The Farnsworth Invention. This is Aaron Sorkin’s newest, about the invention of television. (Eat your heart out, David!) Fast-paced in that “West Wing” way. I really enjoyed this. Lots of fun.

Young Frankenstein. I liked this more than the critics seem to. I’ve never seen the movie, so I don’t have any comparison. It’s not The Producers, but it’s still probably the funniest new show this fall.

The other day we optimistically ordered tickets to see August: Osage County late next week, hoping that the strike will be over by then. At this point it’s looking unlikely. Hopefully we can get a refund.

As for the other strike: with no new “Daily Shows” or “Colbert Reports,” I’ve been getting to bed earlier. So that’s nice.