The first stop on our Connecticut trip was Mohegan Sun, one of the two mammoth casino resorts that anchor the economy of this part of the state. It’s an enormous, labyrinthine place, where the casino floor snakes around a circular corridor filled with shops, restaurants, a huge arena, and the hotel towers where guests stay and convene.
We enjoyed a couple of early evenings in each of the casinos (one is called Earth; the other, Sky); Arthur did well at the slots while I managed to lose pretty consistently. We ate at a restaurant called The Shed, which turned out to be nicer than I expected it to be. The fine dining options (such as the Tuscany, whose elaborate entrance is pictured above) are very pricey, while the numerous casual/snack options are just that (we partook of one of the Krispy Kreme outlets).
The shops are likewise on the expensive side. We enjoyed browsing at several of them, especially the menswear store Robert Graham where the shirts are truly magnificent (I guess I’m too much of a proletarian to have ever heard of this chain which has locations all over the world including nearby Short Hills, New Jersey–it was new to me!). We told the salesman that if we won a lot of money at the slots we’d be back to buy a shirt. He told us we were not the first people to tell him that. (He added that a few even actually did come back).
We closed out our first night at Mohegan by visiting the enormous Arena, which is a hockey rink and concert venue. There we saw Blue Man Group: a more high-tech edition of the show I saw years ago when I was reviewing for nytheatre[dot]com. I was impressed at how interactive they made the show within such a large space. Their work remains impressively musical (such terrific drumming, in particular!), often witty, and sometimes hilarious. It made for a fun and lively end to our first day in the Nutmeg State.
