Today is Sunday, September 10, 2023. I was absent yesterday from my blog because I was out with our good friend “Gene” seeing an off-broadway play about the personal turmoil of America’s sweetheart, Doris Day, who was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 3, 1922. The play was called Doris Day: My Secret Love, written by Paul Adams, starring just two actors, Tiffan Borelli as Doris Day and David Beck portraying a host of characters in the long life of Ms. Day who died at the age of 97 in 2019, including bandleader Les Brown, several of Day’s husband’s (she was married a total of four times), and even Terry Melcher, her only son. The play lasts about 90 minutes, with no intermission and went on at the Emerging Artists Theatre, at 15 West 28th Street. I was able to purchase two tickets at a very reasonable price the day before, on Friday, on TDF. I believe I paid $54 for both tickets.

Before we took the subway into Manhattan, Gene and I had a quick dinner at Avellino Ristorante & Pizzeria in Rego Park, where we shared a veal franchise with salad and a slice of broccoli rabe and mushroom pizza. From there, we walked right to the subway and boarded an R train, taking it all the way down to 28th Street, instead of switching to the E on Roosevelt Avenue. This proved to be the best way to get to the theater since there was a notice that the E train was not working at peak performance because of signal issues. Actually, Gene recommended that we remain on the R and I reluctantly agreed with him to stay on the local train. We arrived at the theater in enough time to pick up our tickets, which took the form of the Playbill magazine, and to sit in the lobby for a short time before curtain rise.

The play brings home the darkness hidden under the sunny persona of the star who captivated America for six decades. Day starred in many lighthearted comedies, especially with her most favorite costar, Rock Hudson, in three films made in the early 60s. The conceit of the play is Day is being honored by a retrospective of her life and career, where slides are shown of intimate moments in her life. The actress who portrays her, Tiffan Borelli, accurately captures the sunny disposition of what we expect when we hear the name of “Doris Day,” though she reveals the cracks under that facade when she talks about her many husbands and her troubles. Her longest marriage, to producer Marty Melcher, is revealed to be rife with abuse from her husband concerning his control over her and her career.

During the course of the comprehensive retrospective, we learn that while working with Brown, Day recorded her first hit recording, “Sentimental Journey,” released in 1945, which soon became an anthem for World War II servicemen. During 1945-46, Day (as vocalist with the Les Brown Band) had six other top ten hits on the Billboard chart.

It was Day’s pushy mother, Alma, who arranged to have her daughter receive singing lessons from a renowned vocal coach, and it was this coach who said that Day had “tremendous potential.”

In the 90-minute play, Borelli sings many of Day’s recognizable hits, including “Sentimental Journey,” “Embraceable You,” My Secret Love,” (from Calamity Jane), “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” (from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much), “Lover Come Back,” Pillow Talk,” “The Superstition Song,” and “This Can’t Be Love.” I thought her voice was serviceable.

Beck as Borelli’s costar does yeoman work as several men in Day’s life. He was particularly affecting as Terry Melcher, Day’s only son, in one scene where he is recuperating from a motorcycle accident in a hospital who is visited by her famous mother. Here Beck castigates his mother as unfeeling and only interested in her image. It seems that Day and young Melcher had a stormy relationship since Terry was associated with the drug world early on and was actually associated with crazed serial killer Charles Manson during the turbulent late 60s.

As we view the many events that made up Doris Day’s long life, we realize that she didn’t have the one thing that was denied her: the love of one man. No wonder she turned her energies late in her life to the rescue and welfare of our four-legged friends, cofounding Actors and Others for Animals, the Doris Day Pet Foundation, and the Doris Day Animal League.

A funny aside to watching this performance: as Gene and I entered the elevator to take us to the 2nd floor to see the play, we saw a middle-aged woman standing next to us. I think one of us asked if she’s going to see the Doris Day play, and she said she directed it. So we met Melissa Attebery, the bona fide director of our Doris Day production all by chance.

For those who would like to know a little more of the actress/singer known as Doris Day, make a pilgrimage to the Emerging Theatre, between now and October 29, 2023. The play will run for two months.

Today was another fun day, as Elliot and I left the apartment close to 10:30 in order to pick up Elliot’s Israeli cousins who were visiting the Big Apple for several days. We drove to 39th Street in the pouring rain where we picked up “Rae,” her mother, “Basheva,” and a cousin of Basheva’s, “Soledad.”

From there, we drove all the way to Staten Island, where we went to United Hebrew Cemetery, on Arthur Kill Road, to visit Elliot’s aunt, Esther, and her husband, Charlie. Miraculously, as we entered the cemetery grounds, the rain let up for a while. At least until we were able to eventually find the two graves, which took awhile. We had a map of where the graves were located and we still got lost. It’s so typical in cemeteries that this happens. But, thanks to me, and my being able to find the fraternal organization where both plots were located, we were able to find who we were looking for. We said Kaddish by the graves and put stones on the top of the graves which is time-honored custom within the Jewish religion.

Then we drove back to Park Slope to Tava, the Turkish restaurant where we dined with Gene just two days ago after seeing the coming-of-age film, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, at the Alpine Cinema in Bay Ridge. I believe our Israeli guests throughly enjoyed the cuisine at this neighborhood gem of a restaurant since the only doggie bag requested came from me since I couldn’t finish my chicken shish kebab meal. This is the second time I had this dish.

From there, we drove to the East Side where we took a drive down memory lane where Elliot pointed out his childhood home on the East Side and where other family members lived.

We then drove over the Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhattan to drop off the three ladies at their hotel.

The day was filled with anecdotes concerning New York’s history provided by the best tour guide in the city, Elliot. If the three ladies’ heads weren’t spinning after we dropped them off, then they weren’t seriously listening.

So it’s getting late here, and I’m fading fast.

Have a good week.

Tomorrow marks the 22nd anniversary of 9/11. May we never forget!

Stay safe and be well.