At Sea

 

Had breakfast at Compass Rose including the regular Sunday treat of caviar for me.  Then to Coffee Connection for a visit with some shipmates before off to another lecture by Dr. Stephen Wessley on "Surviving Treasures of Portuguese Exploration".  Again, it seemed like a shotgun approach to lecturing, but interesting enough.  

For lunch they had a Greek buffet which was delicious, especially the lamb gyros.  Then an afternoon lecture by Producer Steven Rivellino on "The Business of Broadway".  This time I enjoyed learning about what a producer does.  That other lecturer a few weeks back about Hollywood seemed to be just a list of stars he has known. This time we actually learned who is now producing Broadway shows (mostly corporations) and how much they cost (around $68 million I think was the latest figure) and who gets the money if it's a hit.  Interestingly, labor costs for the crew is way more than the stars.  For example, Bloomberg did a report on salaries and reported that the guys who move the stage props around can earn $400+ a year including their benefits.  Considering all of the crew needed, those costs add up to more than the cast.  They have very strong unions in the business.

Did a bit more reading then off to Trivia.  Pathetic again at 6/15.  Since none of us are bible experts, when asked where Cain was sent after he killed Abel, our (have to put down something) answer of "to the corner" wasn't right.  The Land of Nod would have been a better (and correct) answer.  But we still have a lot of laughs so that's all that matters.

We had dinner at Setti Mari.  Fortunately, this time it wasn't as crowded or noisy.  The original show was to be a singer, but for an unexplained reason he won't be performing and they will substitute the magician again so we won't be going.  And they've put the showtime back to 9:30 instead of 9:15.  For some reason that extra 15 minutes seems to make a big difference.