NYC Adventure (2010 Days 6 & 7)

Sunday morning- 1st goal: matinee tickets. We helped kids get tix to West Side Story and other shows (Our Town!!) after getting a delicious pastry at a famous French bakery Petrossan. While Jackie walked the street with everybody and their Puerto Ricean flag for the huge parade going down 5th. While she hit H&M and other stores, I (while grabbing a quick Magnolia Bakery lemon cupcake for sustenance) raced over to get matinee tickets for Sherie Rene Scott's show, Everyday Rapture. After scoring our rush tickets ($21 a piece=awesome) and racing back to get Jackie at Rockefeller (while watching CBS set everything up for the Tony Awards broadcast at Radio City, we shopped on the street for a bit to get stuff for Millie and Ellis.

We both really liked Everyday Rapture- a autobiographical show about how Sherie was raised Mennonite and how they don't believe in really performing (unless it's church hymns) and how she was always torn between her faith and her love of singing. The songs were great (esp. her two backup singers) and the show clipped along.

After that, we walked out into pouring rain and realized we were far south enough to try a famous cupcake place- The Cupcake Cafe- by the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The cupcakes all were like mini works of art and I got to eat a huge sweet potato doughnut.

We went back and dropped off our stuff and went to go eat dinner at a great Greek restaurant on 9th. We got the tasting platter for two so it had a big mix of everything Greek and we were the only people in the restaurant. We people watched everyone trying to get out of the rain (and I saw famous Broadway director Jerry Zaks) while some actors were running to the Tony Awards at Radio City.

After that, our group got to see our final show, Billy Elliot. Our seats were better than when Jackie and I had seen it earlier and I still loved it. Some of my students were confused by the fact that it was a drama but also funny (they couldn't figure out if it was a musical comedy or not)- but most people loved it (I think it was my mom's favorite).

After that, it was a stop at a pizza joint for a late night snack and we got to see Memphis get awarded the Tony for Best Musical.

Monday, we had to get up early to pack AND go to the NBC Studios Tour. Some of group opted out of the tour (it was early), but most of us staggered down to the NBC Studio store in Rockefeller to begin our tour. It was fun seeing the Saturday Night Live set (and Dr. Oz's set), but the best was afterwards eating with the Cox's at our famous French chocolate place in Rockefeller Center. We got gourmet hot chocolate with some cake and chocolate truffles.

After that, we packed up and headed back to JFK (where, JetBlue has the nicest terminal with the nicest food)- decompressed from the week, talked to our group about favorite shows (Memphis, Fela!, Our Town were all mentioned) and had an event free flight home to SLC!

Thanks for a great 2010 trip NYC- we'll see you in 2012 (where I am considering doing two trips- a student trip and an adult trip- let me know if you're interested!)

Brilliant

This is genius- (but it does have a naughty word):

NYC Adventure (2010 Day 5)

I woke up early on Saturday morning to take a group of students down to Union Square to get student rush tickets for Fuerzabruta a crazy show that takes place on the ceiling above your head (while you stand). I thought their box office would be open at 9:00am- but I was wrong. The box office didn't open until 1:00pm- which was cutting it really close to our 2:00pm matinee performance of Lend Me a Tenor- but I told them to play around Union Square and get their tickets fast at 1:00pm and meet us at the theatre for Tenor. Well I was wrong again because they didn't sell student tickets until an hour before the show- and they waited in Union Square all morning for nothing (but I did show them where crazy Max Brenner's chocolate shop was).

At the same time, Jackie was with people helping them get Sunday matinee tix at the TKTS at the Seaport. They sell matinee the day before- but a lot of what people wanted to see were not available- so after hanging out there a bit, us and and Coxes headed over to S'Mac- a tradition that cannot be missed whenever we're in NYC. I ate what I always eat- the Moroccan mac & cheese and I never regret it.

After that, we were off to the matinee of Lend me a Tenor- which had it's fun moments (but Boeing-Boeing in 2008 and Noises Off in 2002 were funnier). After that, I ran to the Drama Bookstore to grab a bunch of scripts for my drama room.

We met my family at In the Heights to help them get lottery tix. Nate was the first one called so he got 2 front row tickets- which he used with my mom, leaving my dad to sit up in the balcony with strangers. Then they helped us get tix for Rock of Ages- which we saw that night. What I liked about Rock of Ages:

1- Our usher. Best usher ever in a Broadway house- he was hilarious and had NO FEAR when it came to putting drunken middle-aged women who were sitting in the wrong seats (and were adamant that they weren't) in their place.

2- The mom of one of our students LOVING every song that came up that reminded her of her high school years (this show uses every hit hair band song from the 80's that you could think of- in other words, my mom's version of hell).

3- The cast of the show. They were having a ton of fun (and I don't know how they sing that way 8 shows a week) and Constantine (from American Idol) was really good.

4- The way that a beer vendor would come out and show his wares whenever a hit song was about to begin. I'm going to start this at my high school during our shows. Great fundraising opportunity.

My only issue is that I couldn't understand some of the dialogue- I don't know if it was me or the speakers. But I was partially deaf when the show was over. A successful Saturday night in NYC (except for the students that didn't make it to Fuerzabruta- but they went to Serendipity instead).