【Sushi with Cicely Tyson】#repost from my hubby✨🍣👇🏻
On February 29th, 2012, my wife Minami was set to join the second national tour of Mary Poppins. This was her first Equity Production contract which is a big milestone for any actor. We decided to celebrate with a nice sushi dinner on Manhattan's East Side.
Seated at the sushi bar, there was only one other person a few seats away. It became apparent that the woman at the end of sushi bar was a regular of the restaurant and had known the sushi chef for decades, but there was a language barrier. Gradually, Minami started to translate allowing these old friends to communicate more fully.
Soon, we were ordering a la carte and sharing sushi recommendations. Asked if she'd like sushi or sashimi, it was always sashimi. "Rice makes you fat!" She said emphatically.
As we dined, she mentioned coming back from the west coast and how concerned she was about Bobby-Kristina after the death of Whitney Houston among other polite conversation.
As the evening was coming to a natural conclusion, we shared that Minami was heading on the road and I was playing trumpet for the broadway run of Porgy and Bess. She said, "My husband was a trumpet player."
"Oh really?" I replied. Still not realizing to whom I was speaking, I said, "You know, it's a small world. What was his name? Perhaps I have heard of him."
"Miles Davis." She said with a little smile.
My mind started to race through the pages of the Miles Davis autobiography I read in college. This was Cicely Tyson I shockingly realized. Her west coast trip was for the awards season for the movie "The Help." Her concern about Whitney's daughter wasn't because she was a fan, she was family.
I did my best to try to regain my composure even admitting to her "There are a thousand things I'd like to ask you, but I'm trying to be cool."
Minami and I grabbed a cab back to our apartment while I replayed the dinner back in my head to make sure I hadn't said anything completely stupid.This was truly an "only in New York" type of story. I like to think that Ms. Tyson enjoyed having a conversation with us as regular people before revealing that she was royalty.
#rip #cicelytyson
