It was the first true summer evening in Manhattan, long and pleasant, and on West 45th Street, a large crowd gathered to watch stars of the stage and screen walk the red carpet to the Booth Theater.
It was opening night on Broadway for the Gate Theatre production of Brian Friel's Faith Healer and, as the camera bulbs flashed, the playwright - in New York for the occasion with his wife, son and daughter, and flanked by the play's producers, Michael Colgan and Sonya Friedman - ventured a cautious smile. Advance bookings have been strong and there was a full house for last night's performance, with Hollywood actors Frances McDormand and Holly Hunter in the audience.
Christopher Meloni of Law and Order fame, who starred last year in the Gate production of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge, came with Tamara Tunie, his co-star. Also in attendance were director Neil Jordan, actor Gabriel Byrne, novelist Joseph O'Connor, U2 manager Paul McGuinness and dancer Jean Butler.
Afterwards, Friel was introduced to two playwrights whose work is also storming Broadway: John Patrick Shanley, author of Doubt, and Martin McDonagh, whose play The Lieutenant of Inishmore opened the previous night at a neighbouring theatre following a successful off-Broadway run. Surveying the gathering was prominent US producer Gerald Shoenfeld, who owns and operates several theatres on Broadway.
Inside the packed theatre, the atmosphere was warm and eager, and the cast members - Ralph Fiennes, Cherry Jones (in the role played in the Dublin production by Ingrid Craigie) and Ian McDiarmid - were greeted with loud applause and a prolonged standing ovation. Flowers for all three actors were thrown to the stage by audience members.
At the after-party in a Bryant Park restaurant, reporters from New York television stations greeted the arriving artists. Having done his duty for the photographers, Friel retreated to the back garden, chatting with family, friends and well-wishers and smoking a celebratory cigar with Colgan.