Oh no. Nononono. Say it isn’t so. Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have finished their double dose of Broadway, starring in back-to-back productions of No Man’s Land and Waiting for Godot. And that means they’re leaving us. Leaving us. Why would they do such a thing? And what can we do to stop it? Fair warning: we will consider kidnapping.
The Stewart/McKellen dream team closed their last Godot/No Man’s Land performance on March 30. (Our critic was only sorta impressed with the show, noting “neither piece offers a particularly incisive interpretation of the script.” However, she added, Stewart and McKellan’s joy in performing “infects the audience like a virus of sheer jubilation.”)
But the fun isn’t quite over: to celebrate their time on Broadway together, the two men released a series of insanely wonderful photos on Twitter of themselves doing touristy things: a stroll down Coney Island’s boardwalk, posing next to the Wall Street bull’s, er, hindquarters, standing hand-in-hand in front of the Stonewall Inn, and, as you can see above, bro-ing out with their arms around each other in front of our old building on Cooper Square.
Since the show began, Stewart has occasionally shared adorable photos of the two men, always under the hashtag #gogodididonyc (we don’t know what that means either). In honor of the show’s closing weeks, he decided to share some of the “outtakes,” sharing one a day. The cumulative effect is quite breathtaking:
As it’s @TwoPlaysInRep last 2 weeks we thought we’d share all the #gogodididonyc “outtakes”…1 for each show left. pic.twitter.com/kQn66Pq4rH
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 19, 2014
Skeeball! (Our trip to Coney last fall made for so many great pics, more to come) 15 shows left! #gogodididonyc pic.twitter.com/Km1rBUIKNE
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 19, 2014
Liberty! #gogodididonyc 14 shows left! pic.twitter.com/oP5PdOvkDE
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 20, 2014
Wonder Wheeeeel! #gogodididonyc @TwoPlaysInRep 12 shows left! pic.twitter.com/3ckgJ0y1Gd
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 21, 2014
Phoneboxes! #gogodididonyc @TwoPlaysInRep 11 shows left! pic.twitter.com/IyhJYByPKo
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 22, 2014
Skyscraper! #gogodididonyc @TwoPlaysInRep 10 shows left! pic.twitter.com/4ezBQRfmdd
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 22, 2014
Newspaper! #gogodididonyc @TwoPlaysInRep (forgot to post this *before today’s show, so 8 shows left!) pic.twitter.com/jI9OnyfvmK
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 23, 2014
Auctioning our Coney souvenir T-shirts to benefit @CityHarvest #gogodididonyc Take a look! http://t.co/pmkEwTGWpk pic.twitter.com/kUzXqO2tnu
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 24, 2014
Tshirts from Coney are being auctioned by @ebay http://t.co/pmkEwTGWpk for @CityHarvest #gogodididonyc 8 shows left! pic.twitter.com/z9fm9pIFiC
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 25, 2014
Bum! #gogodididonyc @TwoPlaysInRep 7 shows left! pic.twitter.com/Pqao17Ilm8
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 26, 2014
No hands! #gogodididonyc @TwoPlaysInRep 5 shows left! pic.twitter.com/lsK3oADHzu
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 27, 2014
Duchess! #gogodididonyc @TwoPlaysInRep 4 shows left! pic.twitter.com/y2vw3YpNm1
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 28, 2014
Stonewall! #gogodididonyc @TwoPlaysInRep 2 shows left! pic.twitter.com/WaXTGYX3dR
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 29, 2014
Last show done! #gogodididonyc @TwoPlaysInRep pic.twitter.com/Qy4kyFtQpX
— Patrick Stewart (@SirPatStew) March 30, 2014
Technically, they’re not both leaving town: Stewart lives in Park Slope with his wife, jazz singer Sunny Ozell, where he spends his time rescuing birds, posing as a lobster in his bathtub and, from the looks of things, partaking in some really fine weed.
But McKellen lives in east London, and these photos, goofy and wonderful as they are, have an air of finality about them. A sense of moving on. A beautiful wave goodbye to the city and their time together. Oh God. My heart.
In closing, though, we’ll note that it’s not too late to visit us at our new office in the Financial District. We promise not to burst into floods of sad-happy tears until after you leave.
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