NYC Day #3

Again, I got breakfast for me and Jackie (and some cherries from a friendly street vendor) and it was off to the Museum of Natural History at 9:30am. Again, we loaded up the subway car- and, because I was too busy counting heads (and Jackie was running behind with some latecomers) we accidentally got on an uptown express line. Bradley Moss (a chaperone) and his car noticed right before we left, but our car (containing Brent Cox and about 25 people) did not. It wasn't until we stopped at 125th Street (we were aiming for 81st Street) that we noticed. Luckily we got off, turned around and got on the next downtown train and arrived at the same time as Jackie.

I was excited about the Museum of Natural History- because I have read many a horror novel (Relic? Anyone?) that took place there. Well, our group ascended on the museum at the same time as 55 New York City elementary schools. A staff person at the museum said the last week of school, all of the schools bank up their field trips- so the week we were in NYC is when ALL of the schools take their field trips. After our travel agent had a crazy time getting all of our tickets, Jackie and I managed to get everyone (but ourselves) into the IMAX theatre show. While everyone was in there, we grabbed maps for everyone to distribute after they got out of the show. We then went to the Space Show where Robert Redford lulled everyone to sleep talking about meteor showers.

We then gave everyone an hour to look around the museum (with, at this point, 100 elementary schools each bring 100 school children). Though some rooms were cool, I kept thinking this would be an awesome museum to bring little kids too- not necessarily 64 high school theatre students and adults... and several students kept saying, "it doesn't look anything like A Night at the Museum in here- except the dioramas with little people).

Jackie and I told everyone we'd be willing to take people through Central Park and around the Upper West Side a little- we didn't know how many people would take us up on that- and everyone showed up. We took them past the Dakota (a ritzy building where lots of celebrities live and where John Lennon was shot), over to Grey's Papaya (where we shocked the locals by all 64 of us getting in line to get the $3.50 recession special- 2 hot dogs and a papaya juice) and then over to Magnolia Bakery where everyone got some sort of baked good (we got the banana pudding- which was awesome).

After that, it was through Central Park with a stop at Strawberry Fields (sadly, restoration gates were up preventing artists putting flower petals on the design) and then over to Bethesda Fountain (where there is NO SHADE). After hanging out there for a bit, we sent people to Serendipity, 5th Avenue, etc. (while some people fell asleep and then woke up lost...)

Jackie and I hit the subway and went down to the East Village.

We had heard about this awesome noodle restaurant called Momofuku- and we couldn't find it to save our lives. After walking around for a bit (and asking a native for directions), we ended up in an almost empty restaurant and got the house specialty of homemade chicken raman noodles. They were awesome and left us with room for dessert. Earlier we had walked by a place called Chik-a-licious which, I had read on a blog, was an all-dessert restaurant. We went over and realized it was a takeout only place- but that the sit-down restaurant was across the street. Jackie and I went over (again, the only customers) and each had a three-course dessert menu. I had amazing coconut soup with homemade pineapple sorbet, with brown sugar cookies (as my main course). It was awesome.

After wandering around the village for a bit, we headed back up to the hotel to meet up for Mary Poppins.

As much as I love the theatre district in NYC, I become depressed when I have to take a group below 46th street to a show- by this point I just hope everyone knows uptown from downtown, because trying to keep a group of 64 together through the maddening crowds of people between 42nd and 46th street is impossible.

More than a couple of times I would start a conversation with someone next to me that I thought was a student, only to turn around and see the students were blocks away and I was talking to a large, hairy man in a tank top and shorts going to Bubba Gumps.

I didn't know what to expect with Mary Poppins, but I loved the set and the choreography. I would like to play Burt (who was the original from London) or the butler of the family that sings one solo in Spoon Fool of Sugar totally drunk on rum punch. The person that stole the show for me was the little boy that played Michael Banks- his voice was phenomenal. Also, credit must be given to Disney for the amazing job they did with The New Amsterdam Theatre. In the 20's it was the theatre Flo Ziegfeld built for his Follies shows (Funny Girl) and in the 70's, the theatre fell in ruins (and became a porno theatre among other things). In the 80's it was abandoned and homeless people were squatting in it and a large tree grew out of the orchestra pit (where it was the home to many a bird). All of 42nd Street was scary in the 80's and in came Disney who, at the cost of millions, restored the theatre to it's glory from the 20's, opened Beauty & the Beast, The Lion King and Mary Poppins in it. It was fun showing my MDT students the theatre we talked about in class.

So, to sum up the day: Express Subway: Very fast and efficient. Need to learn to read subway maps more closely.

Museum of Natural History: Fun, but not great for high school students. Next time, we'll do the Met Museum (although I'm glad we've been there once)

Momofuku and Chik-a-licious: Awesome!!

Mary Poppins: If you're a parent and have a heart or soul (not necessarily both), you will be touched by the show. If not, Burt tap dancing on the ceiling is pretty cool.