\n<\/p>\n
After more than 30 years in Los Angeles, Alfred Molina is enjoying his newly minted status as an Upper West Sider.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife and I have bought an apartment here, and we\u2019re slowly transitioning to New York,\u201d he said last month at Lincoln Center Theater before a rehearsal for the Chekhov classic \u201cUncle Vanya,\u201d which opens on Broadway on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Molina, 70, has been nominated for three Tony Awards, for \u201cArt<\/a>,\u201d \u201cFiddler on the Roof<\/a>\u201d and, most recently, \u201cRed<\/a>,\u201d in which he starred as the painter Mark Rothko in 2010. \u201cVanya,\u201d in which he plays the pompous professor Alexander Serebryakov, is his return to a New York stage after nearly 15 years.<\/p>\n The play is \u201ca chance to work with some fantastic people,\u201d he said of the cast, which includes Steve Carell as Vanya, Jayne Houdyshell as Vanya\u2019s mother, and William Jackson Harper as the local doctor Astrov. It is directed by Lila Neugebauer, and after Molina saw two other plays she worked on this year, \u201cAppropriate<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe Ally<\/a>,\u201d he said, \u201cthey both just knocked me out, so it was a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Molina, who is originally from London, shared his favorite walk in New York, why he loves the subway, and a Jonathan Groff-inspired song lyric that he came up with seemingly on the spot. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n 1<\/p>\n I like to start my day with something bright and fast, like Art Pepper or Dexter Gordon. I\u2019ve listened to jazz since I was a teenager \u2014 I wasn\u2019t good at sport or popular with the girls, but I loved music, particularly Black American music. I used to read the music papers \u2014 the weekly Melody Maker, the New Musical Express \u2014 and whenever a review of a band or album used the word \u201cjazz,\u201d I would try to listen to it.<\/p>\n 2<\/p>\n My go-to is a large coffee and a bagel from the cart at 65th and Broadway, near Lincoln Center Theater. Four dollars for the best breakfast in New York!<\/p>\n 3<\/p>\n The old-school rides make the place feel like a walk back into history. And it was where I had my very first taste of saltwater taffy, which I\u2019ve been slightly obsessed with ever since.<\/p>\n 4<\/p>\n I love walking around the reservoir, particularly around 7 or 8 o\u2019clock in the morning, before all the joggers are out. It\u2019s so peaceful watching the way light plays on the water, all the bird life. The North Woods are also gorgeous.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nJazz in the Morning<\/span><\/h3>\n
Street Cart Dining<\/span><\/h3>\n
Coney Island<\/span><\/h3>\n
Central Park<\/span><\/h3>\n