Wetzon, a former Broadway dancer (gypsy), is now a partner in Smith and Wetzon, an executive search and management consulting firm that specializes in Wall Street stockbrokers. Small, slim, with gray eyes and ash blonde hair which she wears in a dancer's knot on top of her head, she still takes dance classes and, in her heart, never left the theatre. At the time of THE GROANING BOARD, she has just turned 40.
She grew up on a farm in New Jersey and graduated from Douglass College, class of '75, and came to New York to be a dancer. She is good humored, sympathetic, and enjoys working with stockbrokers. She is very much a New Yorker, rarely cooks, loves her Upper West Side apartment, her life, and her friends and her Maltese, Izz (Isabella).
Smith is two years older than Wetzon. She is tall, broad shouldered, beautiful, with short, dark, curly hair, olive skin, and hazel eyes, stays slim though has never taken an exercise class, cabs it rather than walks. She has a background in personnel. Smith and Wetzon were brought together by their attorney, who thought they would complement each other in business, which they do.
In personality, Smith is outrageous, narcissistic, manipulative. She is only interested in the rich and powerful and loses interest very quickly. But she is devoted to her son Mark, who is now attending Harvard. Her chief interest is in money, position and power. She thinks stockbrokers are the scum of the earth, even though placing them is what allows her to live well.
Smith has not been forthcoming on her past life; in fact, she will not discuss where she is from or anything about her marriage, if there was one.
Carlos is a Broadway dancer/choreographer and Wetzon's best friend. They met when they were gypsies, taking classes and auditioning for musicals. He is slim, not much taller than Wetzon, with dark eyes and dark hair, strikingly handsome. He wears a large diamond stud in his left earlobe, and does not hide that he is gay. He's had a relationship with Arthur Margolies, a trusts and estates attorney for many years.
Carlos loathes Smith and thinks Wetzon should come back to Broadway as his assistant choreographer.
Laura Lee is a very successful stockbroker, financial advisor, working for one of the top firms on Wall Street. She got her job through Leslie Wetzon and they became good friends. A native of Mississippi, Laura Lee came to New York to continue her music studies (the violin), but her Daddy refused to pay for any more lessons, so she went into a training program at Merrill Lynch and became a stockbroker.
She partakes of everything New York has to offer: theatre, concerts, ballet, opera, and museums and galleries. She is small, vivacious, with a dazzling smile, slim legs, with gold highlighted, short brown hair, dresses in fashionably, knows the best restaurants, and the best gossip about the best people. Her sense of humor is rich and enveloping.
Her apartment is near Lincoln Center and she continues to study the violin.
Now a NYPD lieutenant, he is the love of Wetzon's life, although they can't seem to sustain their relationship because they don't seem to be able to time when either wants to make a permanent commitment. He is the son of a cop who was killed on the job. He's dark, stocky, with a receding hairline and turquoise eyes. Although he has lived off and on with Wetzon, he's never given up his apartment in a Chelsea brownstone. Everyone calls him Silvestri because he refuses to share his first name.
Silvestri's mother, Rita, is an attorney specializing in cases of abused women. She likes Leslie.
