Occasionally Interesting, often not

Yet another quick trip, this time to New York City. Red eye on Friday night. Fortunately, room available early at the Eventi Hotel (www.eventihotel.com). I had called them earlier and the person who answered was the expected abrupt New York person one expects, who told me that I'd just have to show up and see, but that they weren't booked up on Friday night, so chances were good. But it seemed to have made a difference, because when we arrived, the bellhop told us that a few people were already waiting for rooms to open up; however, we were immediately presented with keys upon checkin. Thus, we managed to sleep for a while, which was fortunate, because we had a busy day, starting with the 2pm showing of The Merchant of Venice at the Broadhurst Theatre, featuring Al Pacino as Shylock. I had stumbled on good tickets on Stubhub while looking for tickets to something else. Good timing. The show was sold out and was really very effectively staged. The lines were delivered in a way ...