So how was my day yesterday? Just fine, thank you. Bill-the-Honeybear and I headed into The City yesterday with what is for me a very loose agenda. In order: (1) see the new Spanish film Bearcub at the Angelika Theatre down on Houston Street; (2) try to get into the free opening day at the Museum of Modern Art; (3) have dinner; (4) work for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids at Avenue Q; (5) work for BC/EFA at Wicked; (6) go home.

Bearcub is one of those films that everyone should see. Amazing for a nominally Catholic country like Spain, the film takes homosexuality so matter-of-factly that it just doesn't exist as an issue. Basically, it's a bonding movie -- a gay dentist living in Madrid agrees to take care of his 11-year-old nephew for two weeks while momma and her current boyfriend travel to India. But momma gets busted for drugs and thrown in the Indian slammer -- which means uncle and nephew will have to be together longer than either one had planned. Toss in momma's mother-in-law and uncle's circle of friends (mostly humpy bears, but including the landlady's teenage daughter) and you can probably write the basic plot in your sleep. But...the film treats all its characters as full and flawed and trying-their-best human beings, lifting what might be another trite plot into an unexpectedly touching movie. Right now, it's only playing at one theatre in New York. If you have an "art film" theatre near you, bug them until they schedule a run. It was well worth the inflated NYC ticket price.

MOMA? Fahgeddaboutit. Something free going on in New York? Already an expected crowd. Combine that with the fact that as of today MOMA admission is $20? Expected becomes guaranteed. Foolish me, I thought that by going later in the day (like 6 pm; MOMA was open yesterday from 10 am to 10 pm) the lines might be more reasonable. Forget that! So we did not attend opening day at the newly renovated MOMA. (Nor will we buy the inevitable snob-appeal t-shirt that says we did attend.)

Dinner was at a deli on 7th Avenue up around 52nd Street. The less said, the better. Not bad food, not bad service, not bad decor. Just nothing really good about it.

Next stop: Broadway! Or, to be specific, the Royale Theatre, where Avenue Q is playing. We went in the stage door and up to a small office where we could watch part of the show while listening to the stage manager reading off the light cues. Then we were taken to the mezzanine lobby. Bill got to stand at the left staircase with a bucket. I was selling souvenirs -- autographed posters, Christmas CDs, pins, and "Lucy" necklaces (as worn by one of the show's characters, puppet bombshell Lucy T. Slut). The posters were the big sellers last night, the most popular being one with the character Trekkie Monster on it (the other posters featured Rod, Lucy, and Kate Monster).

Then the hundred-yard dash to the Gershwin Theatre, home to Wicked. This time we were in the main lobby with collection buckets. Not a lot of action here -- mainly because cast members were working the upper lobbies (in costume and makeup) selling their own souvenirs. Still, the relative respite made up for the really quick walk from 45th Street to 51st Street.

Our nightcap consisted of coffee and dessert at my favorite theatre district restaurant, Barrymore's on 45th Street. Then back to the car, then home. "And so to bed," as the famed diarist Samuel Pepys would say.

But wait -- there's more! Today, I'm working at the Lyceum Theatre, where Whoopi Goldberg is doing her one-woman show. That's at 4:30. I'm also working next Friday afternoon, Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon. After that, there's one more weekend of collections, followed by the "Gypsy of the Year" show where the show that raised the most money during these last five weeks is honored with an award. Maybe this year I'll go -- even though it is on Monday night.