New York City: Da'Umberto (May 2003)

My spouse and I dined at Da'Umberto in May 2003. Da Umberto's low-key Chelsea facade belies the
extraordinary Italian offerings inside. Getting a table is no small task, especially in the evening. This is a Euro–New York crossroads. A mad cacophony of laughter and chatter in Brooklynese and Roman. Don’t dress down.

Theatre: Life x 3 (May 2003)

Trois versions de la vie (literally Three versions of life) is the fifth play (written in 2000) by French writer Yasmina Reza. Its English translation under the title Life x 3, premiered in 2000.

Life x 3 is a slice-of-life affair that shows three different views of the same event. The events covered in it are seen three times over, each instant replay viewed from a slightly different angle. To underline this aspect of the 90-minute script, the setting of a contemporary living-room (including a divan, a chaise, and a number of children's toys) shifts position. 

The topic that Reza raises and pretends to address in some depth is marriage. The two couples she introduces as representatives of the beset institution are both having a tough go. In the midst of an evening at home, former lawyer Sonia (Helen Hunt) and astrophysicist Henry (John Turturro) cannot get their obstreperous six-year-old off to sleep. The argument they have about the best approach to quieting the whiny tyke, whose annoying presence is sound designer Christopher T. Cronin's achievement, reaches a nasty peak just as Hubert (Brent Spiner) and Inez (Linda Emond) show up for a dinner that Sonia and Henry have completely forgotten was on the agenda. 

When the four unfed diners settle in as much as they can with a child carrying on elsewhere in the house, they try to act as if all is peachy. They do not succeed. Despite the flowing Sancerre, or maybe because of it, Hubert brings into the awkward conversation a scientific paper he's learned about that might preempt a similar article being prepared by Henry. Hearing about this, Henry becomes increasingly agitated; he needs the paper he's publishing after a three-year lull to make a splash so that he can get a promotion. His display of nerves provokes an edgy response from Sonia, who disdains her husband's obsequious behavior around Hubert. The charged atmosphere also upsets Inez, a woman extremely distressed by her husband's treatment of her at parties. Within a short time, the four dispirited partygoers are on an attack-and-defend spree. The gathering turns into a hostess's nightmare: too little food and too much dissension. 

Reza's objective must have been to create a hard-hitting picture of marital tension. In her introductory scene, she does so with fast strokes. The first line of dialogue is "He wants a cookie" and it instantly has the audience chuckling -- especially as spoken through clenched teeth by John Turturro, a master of clenched-teeth proclamation. Even Turturro's hair seems, as always, to be clenched. Sonia's response, "He just brushed his teeth," touches off more chuckles thanks to one of Helen Hunt's signature declarative readings. Reza immediately proves that she can pull an audience in: As she piles resentment on aggravation, she paints the recognizable picture of a couple running out of patience with each other and a second couple demonstrating the deleterious effects of connubial stress. In his role as Hubert, Brent Spiner is quietly unctuous. Linda Emond, with streaked hair and a dull brown suit (Thompson also did the costumes), is thoroughly convincing as a woman who has a run in her stockings and cannot stop thinking about it. 

Having hurled her characters at each other, Reza runs the same basic scenario twice more, with only music and lights to separate the inconclusive vignettes. Once again, Sonia and Henry are annoyed with each other when Hubert and Inez show up unexpectedly. But during the second and third go-round, Hubert becomes romantically turned on by Sonia and she's reluctant to give in only because she does not want to be caught; the two of them have apparently been sharing a fling that is not mentioned initially. Then, Sonia seems disinclined to give the smug Hubert the time of day, much less a surreptitious smooch. As scenes two and three play out, Henry is less overtly concerned about the threatening article, and the off-stage kid is less and less intrusive. The only sounds coming from the previously obstreperous Henry are muted pleasantries and the only sounds coming from the boy's room are the soothing murmurs of a Fox and the Hound cassette.

Reza is showing three moderately different versions of the same disturbing scene as a tease for the audience, subliminally challenging us to examine our own responses to each of the scenes and to decide which version is the one we believe to be the episode that actually takes place. She seems to be saying that whichever one chooses implies a negative or positive attitude towards life.

New York City: Crowne Plaza United Nations (May 2003)

Situated near the quaint Tudor City area, the Crowne Plaza at the United Nations is home to a small
army of diplomats and heads-of-state from around the globe. In order to cater to its international
clients, the hotel staff speaks over 13 different languages. Each of the 300 guest rooms is furnished
in a classic, European tradition, with marble floors, handmade carpets, and hardwood reproduction
furniture upholstered in brocades and velvets. There are even bidets in the bathrooms for a very
European touch. The 20-story building was built in 1931 as the Tudor Hotel and is now a
recognized historical landmark.