A Tour for the Barbie Deprived

Neither my sister or I ever had a Barbie.  So today we decided to visit the Museum of Art and Design, which has an exhibition showing the fashion of Barbie.  Barbie made her debut in 1959.  We wandered through two levels of the museum seeing the fashion, body types, racial make-up ,and occupations of Barbie over the years.  We saw Barbie in a wheelchair, Barbie with Down Syndrome and Ken with a prosthesis.  

We saw Jane Goodall Barbie.

We were surprised to learn that Barbie has been running for president in every election since 1992.  In 2016, Barbie released an all female ticket.

My favorite Barbies were Paleontologist Barbie

and African Goddess Barbie.

Gayle was partial to the Tina Turner Barbie

and the first astronaut on the moon Barbie (which came out four years before a male astronaut walked on the moon).

I even got to sit in Barbie's Corvette.

Next we enjoyed the craft exhibit.  I loved the "Red Wednesday" piece.

We ended with the queer jewelry exhibit (jewelry created by queer artists).  I loved this necklace made out of 360 dollar bills.

We poked around in the museum gift store but it was too expensive for our blood.  We had reservations for ROBERT, the restaurant at the top of the museum. We were seated next to the window with a view of Central Park, Columbus Circle and Trump Tower.  

We ordered branzino, burrata with figs and roasted beets and coconut panna cotta with mango chutney.  Every dish was a work of art.  (Rating 90)

We returned to our hotel for a delightful afternoon nap.  When it is 15 degrees outside an afternoon nap is a requirement.  We ate dinner at Virgil's Real BBQ.  Their website said they highly recommend making a reservation.  They oversold how crowded they are.  The barbecue was good.  I ordered 1/4 rack of ribs and it must have been a very large pig.  I couldn't begin to eat all the food they brought me.  

Then we walked across the street to the Belasco Theater to see "Maybe Happy Ending".  

It is a musical about two "retired" robots that fall in love.  Oliver  (the lead character) is played by Darren Criss, who played Blaine Anderson in "Glee" and Hedwig in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch".  There are only four members in the cast.  "Maybe Happy Ending" is originally from South Korea, where it won numerous awards.  The musical deals with the truth that opening yourself to love means realizing that at some point  you will need to deal with loss.  I live that reality every day.  

The scenic design was amazing.  I am still trying to wrap my head around how they did what they did.  I guess if you are going to do a futuristic musical about robots your set design should be technological brilliant.  The execution of the musical was smooth.  The jazz component was nice.  (Rating 92).

Catching a taxi when hundreds of people are all spilling out of the same theater is a magical feat.  We finally gave up on our skills at hailing a taxi.  Gayle used the Curb app to get a taxi.  Thank God!  Have I mentioned how cold it is here?