20th century

No matter what’s happening in the world, it’s nice to have a proper Saturday. This past Saturday, we went to a hockey game in the afternoon, and left a bit early to meet our sons at the Elephant and Castle for an early dinner. Then we went for a quick drink just before our 7:30 showtime at the National Theater, where we saw “The Simon and Garfunkel Story” for the third time. It’s a wonderful show. 

*****

It’s been months, but I still can’t get used to seeing the National Guard in the Metro stations and out on the streets. We didn’t walk past the Justice or Agriculture or Labor buildings, so we were spared the sight of giant North Korean Trump banners. The area around the White House, though, is an absolute mess, cordoned off for a several block radius. We could barely see Pennsylvania Avenue past 14th Street, and the National Theater is at 13th Street. I know that some crazy person tried to breach the gate last week, but I think they’re also just scared to let people anywhere near the place. 

*****

Well, I didn’t want to see the gaping hole where the East Wing used to be anyway, so it was just as well. There was plenty else to do and see. The weather was beautiful, sunny and mild, and lots of people were out and about. In the little blocks of time before the game, and between the game and dinner, and between dinner and the show, we walked around enjoying the day, like free people without a care in the world. 

It felt like we knew everyone. People smiled and we smiled back. Women, especially older women, nodded and smiled at me in a friendly, conspiratorial way. We all saw each other. We all knew each other. 

*****

“The Simon and Garfunkel Story” is a hybrid concert/play, with singer/actors playing Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, along with a small backing band. They tell stories and play Simon and Garfunkel songs against a huge photo/video backdrop featuring American scenes of the 20th century. 

The stories and songs and images work very well together, establishing Simon and Garfunkel’s place in American life in the 60s and 70s. The cast changes costumes and looks throughout, beginning with the band’s “Tom and Jerry” buttoned-down look of the late 50s to their folk beatnik era in the 60s to their mod 70s style. 

We first saw the show in 2018, and we saw it again five years later, in 2023. The performers were different, but the show was exactly the same both times. The performance we saw last week, which was by far the best of the three (though the other two were quite good) featured a few new-to-the-show songs, and a few story changes, with most of the same 20th century Americana images and film clips. In 2018, those images evoked nostalgia. Now they evoke grief. 

*****

The first two performances we attended were very good, well-produced and very polished. The band remained in the background until the actors introduced them just before the final number. The performers all worked well together and probably went their separate ways after the curtain went down. Which is perfectly fine. 

This last performance was different. The performers seemed less rehearsed, but they were still perfect, hitting every note and every mark with the excitement and joy of musicians who love the music they're playing. Everyone on the stage was young, and the stars shouted out the band members frequently and sincerely. And the energy between Simon and Garfunkel was easy and genuine, like the two were friends in real life. 

And they are. At the end of the show, Jonah Bobo (Paul) introduced himself and Brendan Jacob Smith (Art) and told the audience that the two were theater kids and close friends at the same high school and had remained friends and musical collaborators ever since. They write and perform their own music, as well as performing covers at small venues around the East Coast. Their love for the music and for their band mates and their excitement at playing a prominent venue came across very clearly. They were a joy to watch. Just before they left the stage, they announced that they’d be in the theater lobby after the show to meet fans and take photos and sell their self-produced CDs. “No obligation on the CDs,” Smith said - “we just like to meet the audience.” 

These two young men were so sweet and patient with the line of older people who wanted to chat and take selfies. I didn’t need a selfie, or even to meet the performers, but I make it a point to buy people’s self-produced CDs, so I got in the line. Their manager, a young woman who is obviously also their friend, was working the crowd, and when she got to me, I told her that I just wanted to purchase a CD, and that the performance that evening was the best of the three times I’d seen the show. 

“Jonah,” she yelled. Jonah Bobo turned toward us, and she told me “Tell him!” When I told him that we’d seen the show three times, and that this was the best of the three performances, he broke into a huge smile. “Really?”

“By far,” I said. “Well, it’s not a competition,” he laughed, “but I’m glad we won.” 

*****

That was almost a week ago. It’s Friday now, and my mom has been here all week, so I’ve been too busy to document every detail of my days. She arrived on Sunday morning, and we’re taking her home tomorrow. 

My mom is a Simon and Garfunkel fan. She was young, barely 20, when she had me, and she always listened to pop music at home - sometimes the radio, but more often an album from her collection. She had several Simon and Garfunkel albums, including “Wednesday Morning 3 AM,” which I’m pretty sure I listened to in utero. They’re all octogenarians now - Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, and my mom. They were born at the height of America’s importance in the world. But everything is different now, and nothing is what any of them could have expected. Paul Simon is nearly deaf in one ear now, and Art Garfunkel walks with a cane, and my poor mom is literally falling apart. They were children of the American century, and the American century is over now.

“It’s all right, it’s all right / You can’t be forever blessed.” We can’t be forever blessed.