Comedy and gospel in the Big Apple

On Saturday night we went to the theatre to see The Play that Goes Wrong. It was the most hilarious play ever! An Agatha Christie type murder mystery done as slapstick. Talk about Faulty Towers on steroids! Anything that can go wrong does go wrong and always at the worst possible time. What a great night out.

On Sunday we took our Harlem Gospel Tour. Having seen pretty much only negative things about Harlem on TV we were surprised to find how nice an area it is. Mostly nice housing and surprisingly little high rise. We were told that Harlem is no longer the scary place it was 20 years ago as it is now much better policed and more prosperous. In the 1980’s there was approx. 20,000 police on the beat compared to 35,000 today.  It even features New York’s oldest mansion, the Morris Jumel House, built in 1765 on Sugar Hill (see photo).  Following on from the tour we went to the Yankee Shop to buy tickets to a MLB game.  The Yankees are at home on Mon, Tues and Weds.  The only remaining tickets start around $275 each across all 3 matches.  Needless to say we will be watching them play on TV!!  The upside is that now we have a few more nights to go to the theatres again!!!

As part of the tour we spent an hour at the Greater Universal Baptist Church and enjoyed their rockin’ gospel singing. Check out the photos.

Photos:

1 and 2. Apollo Theatre, South Bronx. Many stars launched their careers by winning the weekly Amateur Night here. Check the poster.

3. Street art in Harlem. Often businesses actually ask a local artist to paint these murals on their security doors.

4. Must have been washing day :) Fortunately this sight was rare.

5. Church entry. Cars are allowed to double park outside due to the lack of parking as long as the drivers leave a note saying they are at church and will move their car on request. Seems to work.

6. Service leader.

7. All church notices are displayed on a screen.

8. Note how most people are dressed in white. Church officers such as deacons also wear white hats or other head coverings. The congregation was mostly older women.

9. The Morris Jumel House.