We were in the presence of grace and beauty on Sunday evening when my friend, Niki Wolf, had dinner with us! Niki and I have been friends since middle school, when I introduced myself to her on the bus to the summer arts program we attended together. She was a year ahead of me, but we were able to perform in a number of shows together (in Brighton Beach Memoirs, I played her over-worried mother and she the beautiful daughter with dreams of Broadway — perfect choice!) Now Niki and husband Jeff are triple threats working in the Big Apple. Among other things, Niki works as a Rockette (she’s the one on the left in the picture here, and the one cheering here), choreographer, and often travels to be a guest judge for dance competitions. Which is what brought her to New Orleans. (She’d made it once before, too!)
Because we were out of town for Itzhak Perlman, we thought we were going to miss each other. But Saturday night, I got a surprise email from Jeff saying that Niki was going to be back early from judging in Jackson, MS, and could do a late dinner on Sunday. Hooray! So, we connected via phone and on Sunday night, Paul, Will, Kate and I waited outside Niki’s hotel for her limousine to arrive. Being the classy people we are, we took her to Mothers for dinner (that’s a pun, just in case readers aren’t familiar with the establishment). We had a great time and like always, we connected as if we talk everyday. I adore seeing her, loved that she was able to see the kids, and hope to someday see her perform again. (I would have loved to see her play Lola with Jeff as Joe in Damn Yankees — scroll down this link to read a brief show review.) 
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