NYC Day 2

It was a difficult nights sleep in our room- Jackie's dad had a terrible cold that forced him to sleep sitting up- after huge coughing jags where we thought his head would turn inside out. But, we woke up on Wednesday ready for the day's adventures. I headed out to get breakfast (a NY tradition that Jackie enforces every trip) at the deli across the street. I ran into several students who all commented that NYC was expensive- and that today's weather seemed much better.
We met in the lobby around 9:30am and we were off for our first, 64 person subway ride. The #1 on the redline takes you exactly to Lincoln Center so we all loaded up OK. After many NYC commuters looked at our group in horror (and quickly switched cars) we got all 64 in the same car and we were off 3 stops uptown to Lincoln Center.
I was sad that Lincoln Center was undergoing major renovations- the cool fountain (from The Producers film among others) was completely covered and all of the performing arts gift shops were undergoing remodeling. We had to divide our group into groups of 19 and at 10:30am all of the groups headed out in different directions for guided tours of the complex.
Our group had a nice middle-aged male tour guide (who's main claim to fame was that he ALMOST made South Pacific sound enjoyable enough for Jackie to see it- that is major salesmanship).
Lincoln Center has the northern most Broadway theatre- which is currently showing the first revival ever of South Pacific. As we went in the theatre, I saw these cool South Pacific programs and I helped myself to one. Later, as we were in the concert hall I showed it to Jackie and she said, "Did you pay for that? They're a dollar." I made a $1.00 contribution in the lobby of Avery Fisher Hall- so I'm not a thief.
It was great going into the home of the American Ballet Theatre and seeing their amazing hall- and all of the pictures of Jerome Robbins (it's a year long tribute to his ballet works). We ended at Avery Fisher Hall- where we witnessed techies setting up a high school graduation.
We then loaded up the group to take the subway to Times Square. This afternoon, everyone got to choose their own matinee performance. Students were encouraged to go to the box office first and try to get student rush tickets for $26- if that didn't work they could go to TKTS and get 1/2 price tickets. I helped a few students get $26 front row seats to Cry-Baby (which closes today) and it seemed everyone got into a show they wanted to see (Phantom of the Opera, Passing Strange, Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Mamma Mia, Legally Blonde, A Chorus Line, August: Osage County, Gypsy with Patti Lupone and Rent were a few students went to). Jackie and I went and got 1/2 price tickets to last year's Tony Award winning Best Musical, Spring Awakening. After helping my 4 techie students get their tickets to the funk musical Passing Strange, they said they had heard of an amazing pizza place down the road. We all went there- and Jackie and I sat at the bar. We ate an amazing wood fired thin crust pepperoni pizza- while I counseled our waitress on how she could overcome stage fright. She enjoyed my help so much she invited me to have a beer on her- but Jackie and I needed to race to the show. Before we left, I met a nice middle school teacher from Sacramento, CA that was there with 120 middle school students. They were doing a 2 week tour of the eat coast- they had already done Boston and Washington D.C.- and now they were in NYC. If I had 120 students on a tour, I would have also probably been drinking a lot at lunch.
We arrived at Spring Awakening (smelling of left-over pizza that we had in a plastic bag) and sat right behind two of my senior boys. The show was good... but not what I thought it was going to be. The music, set and concept was great (as was the acting), but the script/book had problems under developing the characters. From reading the original script (written in the late 1800's- and has the privilege of being one of the most banned plays ever written), there was more character development- and the leading character's transition from smart school boy to radical was a little undefined, but it was ok (plus, it is embarrassing watching simulated sex right behind 2 of your students- but hilarious that they are sitting next to two people over the age of 80). Just get the soundtrack and you'll be ok.
After the show, we told our group if anyone wanted to see the NYC Public Library (famous from Ghostbusters, The Day After Tomorrow and Men in Black) to meet us at TKTS. We took a small group down 42nd street- and into the library's famous reading room (except me- I still had pizza).
After that we went down the street a bit and into the famous Grand Central Station. We were going to walk students up 5th Ave. to Rockefeller Center, but we were too pooped.
We called the Coxes (chaperones) and Jackie's parents to meet us at a cool restaurant called Eatery on 9th Ave. We all met up there, had a great dinner (Jackie's mom had a bug in her organic salad...) and then it was off to Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein.
Our seats were in the back center orchestra section (in the massive Ford theatre) and, so far, the Young Frankenstein was winning best costumes, set and lighting of any show we've seen so far. Christopher Fitzgerald as Igor and Andrea Martin as Frau Bleucher were also hilarious. My favorite number was the Puttin on the Ritz tap number. Despite the abundance of Mel Brook's humor (as Jackie calls it, boy humor), we all enjoyed the show- even Jackie. After being severely chastised by my Aunt Tammy for seeing a "Triple RRR musical" (Spring Awakening) we stayed after the show for a talk back. We got to watch a genie lift go up to what appeared to be 150 feet to fix a technical problem while the stage manager and 3 ensemble members talked to us- when Megan Mullaly (from Will and Grace and the Madeline Kahn character in the show) came out and talked with us for a bit. She was funny and very matter-of-fact (she talked about how Mel didn't know who she was and she had to sing two contrasting songs for her audition- just like everyone else).
After that, it was time for a quick snack (Jamba Juice) and I was followed by a homeless man who was threatening to slice my throat- so we ducked into a perfume store so the huge bouncer could deal with him- a summer night in NYC!