Trip to NYC

Moms' trip to Manhattan was this past weekend!  This year me and Shanda included my sister.  Shanda went up on Wednesday night and stayed till early Sunday morning.  Megan came in Friday night and left early Sunday morning.  I went up on Friday AM and stayed till Sunday night.  We stayed at the W Times Square which was really nice and had lovely staff (all of whom seem to know someone playing something on Broadway) and a great bar.

I like NYC.  If I had to pick a favorite city I am fairly confident it would not be it.  It is so crowded.  We were there for St. Patty's day and we saw a girl being pealed off the sidewalk and put into an ambulance.  Every place on Times Square was a mess with crowds.  Most of them were downtown for the parade on Saturday so the morning was quieter.  There are people pan handling everywhere.  And in Times Square there are people in costume that if they see you taking pictures they take your phone from your hand "I'll take a picture! I'll take a picture!" And then they won't give your phone back till you tip them.  This happened to us/me last year.

This year I didn't get my phone out and one of them still approached me and looked like he was about to put his arm around me and I said quite sternly and super loud ... "DO NOT TOUCH ME." I was ready to drop kick whoever was in that costume.  I was checking my pockets all day after they accosted us last year.  Never again.

So, just because last year I also went through what the rest of the Broadway season looks like ... I'm going to do that too.

To finish out the post from last season ... I did not love the production of Into the Woods.  I loved Finding Neverland and Something Rotten.  So funny.  We signed up for the 17/18 season some time in June I think.  And this was what they promo'd.

So turns out, we were wrong about which venue in Dallas was going to get Hamilton.  DSM (probably because it seats more people) won out.  And now, probably because of that.  Everything is going to DSM, and Fair Park Music Hall.

So far The Color Purple was good, but not memorable.  On Your Feet was amazing and so fun.  Really that quote there has it.  It's just fun.  And a great story about Cuban Americans, and Americans and Latin/Pop cross overs.  Which we know a fair amount about here in Texas (Selena).  But Gloria Estefan is still the most successful cross over artist of all time.  And her story is inspiring and fun.  And the actors that toured with it in Dallas were amazing.  The man who played Emilio also played him on Broadway and the woman (Christie Prades) was selected by Gloria herself after seeing her sing something else.  She just walked up to her and said "you need to do this show."  And there you go.

Next up is Waitress on the 30th.  I am so excited to see that show again.

Lion King I love.  The last time I saw it was probably 2006 when we took my niece.  This year I paid big bucks to get all of my children Orchestra aisle seats for the Thursday Matinee.  Yup.  Yes I did.  And my mom and dad are coming to and now Uncle Brian and Aunt Valerie.

So because of Hamilton, and probably the dearth of cash flow DSM has now that they've selected their 2018/19 season ... we had to renew for 18/19 in January.  And this was the promo for that ...

Can you say wrong 2/2?  Because I really thought that DEH would go to Winspear.  But nope.

This season looks good too, but it's massively over prized.  Our tickets went up like 60%.  They say it's for Hamilton, but I don't believe them.  I think they are capitalists.  I'm most excited about Anastasia (more on that in a minute), Aladdin and Hello Dolly, Elf and Fiddler.  I will not add BoM, but I'll get Elf tickets for my family around Christmas time ... pending they do well at Lion King.  And that I feel like spending the money.  It's not a cheap venture.  Which is another post about the elitist nature of theater lately.  I love that Hamilton has revitalized theater and Broadway ... but ... people are already scalping tickets here in Dallas for $450 a piece.  That's more than I paid to see the show in Chicago.

Tickets in NYC still routinely go for four figures.  We've had three different Hamilton's since LMM left.  And it's still selling out to resellers faster than it can go to actual theater goers.  I don't know how you fix all that.  Hamilton was part of a pyramid scheme where these two guys made millions of dollars buying up tickets and reselling them and half the time they sold tickets they didn't even have so they just took peoples money.  And now you have to be so careful about fake tickets.  The new thing to do is stand outside and try to scalp tickets but they are almost always fake.  Buyer beware I guess but geez.

And you know what?  All the hype and the rise in prices?  It's ruining the show for me.  I mean I liked it, it's amazing.  But it's become this mega-machine and it's hurting the brand for me.  I am sincerely hoping that after both (yes both) National Tours kick off that some of this dies down.  Because it's just obscene.

Someone in the TKTS booth line (discounted tickets) asked them if they ever get Wicked or Frozen.  The guy all but laughed at her.  Never wicked and Disney never discounts their seats.

Why would they?  They don't have to.  They have Aladdin, Lion King and now Frozen in three big marquee theaters on Broadway.  And I've only seen three of four Disney productions and all are big budget and amazingly produced.  They are slick and glossy and beautiful.  It's a fun night at the theater.  Which brings me to ... my weekend ... 

This is right after Megan arrived.  Waiting in the lobby before we braved the cold to go see Mean Girls at August Wilson.

I took a picture with the police horse to send to Julia.

When I got into town I met up with Shanda for lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and then we went to Madame Toussard's and saw some wax figures!

These are in no particular order.  So I'm just going to talk randomly.

Friday night we ate the Hourglass Tavern which is on restaurant row and then we waited for Megan at the hotel and went to Mean Girls down on 52nd street.  Our hotel was on 46th.  Everything is a quick walk from 46th street.

Mean Girls was okay.  It was kitschy and fun, there were some really funny lines.  There were a few great performances but Regina / Cady were not two of them.  Cady in particular felt almost like a caricature which is maybe what they are going for.  The teens around us loved it.  So ... being a parent that finds the whole thing disturbing ... I may just not be the mark.  It wasn't bad theater.  It just wasn't great theater.

The next day we got up and had breakfast and looked in some shops some.  Then we had brunch/lunch at Juniors.  Then we went back to the hotel bar and sat with the bartender till it was time to walk to Carousel.

Carousel is an old musical.  1940s old.  I wanted to see it since I heard Jessie Mueller was playing Julie Jordan and Josh Henry (Hamilton as Aaron Burr) was going to be in it.  Jessie is always good.  It wasn't Waitress for me ... but if I had to pick it was the best performances we saw.

After that dinner at Carmines before killing time walking around before Frozen.

Frozen was amazing.  It was really fun and I enjoyed the changes they made to the story and how it really did seem to be all about getting the sisters back together.  The movie kind of loses that for me (especially in comparison).  They changed the trolls to nymph kind of beings, and the mother is kind of magical too (because she grew up with the nymphs too, a la Kristoff) and the story flows much better and the music fits better.

Let it go.  I feel for anyone who has to sing that song.  Dear Caissie Levy (who has pretty much follow Idina's career, staring in Rent/Wicked etc) ... you did great!  and I love that you / they rearranged some of the notes to make it your own.  I'll be interested in the cast album when that's finished because the only note that I missed was the let it go / and I'll rise like the break of dawn but it still really worked for me and I loved how they managed that scene.

Again, just really well done theater.  That show was really beautiful and the sets are huge.  Huge.  I can't to see when that one tours.  Julia should be about 5 and I think she'd love that show now so if she is still into Elsa and Anna then ... well obviously we have to see it!

Brings us to Sunday.  Megan and Shanda shared a cab at 6am and headed to the airport.  I flitted away my morning with coffee and a walk to central park.  I thought about going to the Natural History museum but the line was out the door.  I was going to walk to Empire State building but the NYC Half was that day and the city was divided at 7th and Broadway.  It wasn't easy to get around that morning.  So I walked and walked.  Ended up back at the hotel and the TKTS booth.  They had Anastasia tickets for 3pm at 40% off.  It was cutting it close for my flight home.  If there were any issues at all I'd be late and miss my flight.  But if I left at intermission I'd have plenty of time.

So I bought that and had lunch at the Marquis, then walked to the NYC library and read some in Bryant Park before heading to the theater.

I could have stayed and seen the whole thing.  I half regret not doing that.  But missing my flight would have worried me and I wouldn't have enjoyed the rest.  I'd have been staring at my watch.

The first act was beautiful and I saw Christy Altmore and Derek Klena, who's leaving next week.  Which is the whole reason I decided it was worth it to me.

I don't know.  We've made a convert out of my sister.  Who was like ... Uh, I won't see all those shows.  But who ended up getting discounted seats for Carousel and did see all the shows.  By the end of the weekend she was looking up season tickets in Louisville.  It's fun thing to do.  It's not budget friendly.  It's like blowing six months of entertainment budget in a day.  And you have to budget for it.  We started planning and paying for this trip in  August.  And if it weren't for flight and hotel points, I couldn't do it.  There's no way.  It would be way too expensive to spend on just myself.

Even now I have guilt.  It's just a lot to spend on just myself.  But it's so fun!  A good time was had by all.