NYC Day #2 - Parades and Phantoms

Well, today didn't quite start out like I had planned.  Plans were to meet Ashley, Meena and Hannah at 6:00am near Lincoln Center to get a spot to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Well, I pretty much didn't hear my alarm this morning so I woke up at 7:20am, and paniced.  Of course I had a few text's and a phone message for Hannah, who was there pretty much on time.  I took a quick shower and grabed a LYFT and made it up to Lincoln Center and somehow, found Hannah and Ashley.   Meena turned out to not being able to join us.  We watched the parade from beginning to end.  I've never been so happy to see Santa in my life!!!  

After the parade, we caught up with Meena and her friends and had lunch at the Cosmic Cafe, and we talked and talked - and when we thought we were done talking, we talked some more!!   It was great seeing friends from home when you are away from home for Thanksgiving.

After we parted ways, I took the subway back to the hotel and took a nap and watched some TV.  

I took the subway back to Times Square and went to Roxie Diner for a quick dinner before Show #3.

I've seen "The Phantom of the Opera" 13 times.... but never in NYC, so this was like the first time all over again.   What a glorious show it still is.  The original production is in great shape, with a BIG orchestra and all the special effects.  After the show, I hung out at the stage door (once I found it) and waited for Jeremy Stolle, an actor I did a show with at BBBay a few years ago,  We caught up and then he had to run to get on a plane to California for Thanksgiving with his family.  I then waited for the conductor, Kristin Blodgette to come out, as I wanted to introduce myself in real life as we are Facebook friends.  That was a really cool to get to meet her and say hi.

I took the subway back to my hotel and here I am.

Just a few thoughts about Thanksgiving and the whole shopping thing.  I'm a little sad that Thanksgiving seems to be less and less important in the retail world.   All afternoon, I saw commercials about stores opening on Thursday at 6:00pm. and most of the stores in Time Square were open as well.  

I guess things are getting less and less sacred.

Tomorrow, meeting a few friends, and 2 more shows.

NYC Day #1 - The Ham and I

Hello!!!

Let's catch up.  The flight to NYC was quick, quiet, and uneventful.  I took a LYFT from the airport to the hotel... I don't reccomend that to anyone.  I think it's cheaper to take a cap.   I got early check in a the hotel (Grand Hyatt) and took a nap.  I got up and headed out.   I walked to the Broadway and walked around and oriented myself again, it's been 9 years since my last visit.  I got some lunch at the Cranberry Deli, recommended by a local, and was good, cheap and fast.

First show of the day was "Hamilton" at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.  The last time I was at the Richard Rodgers theatre was in 1999 to see "Footloose" and the outside of the theatre was green.  Lots of shows have been through those doors since then including "In The Heights" - the first musical by the creator of "Hamilton".   Upon first listning of "Hamilton", I was quite underwhelmed as it sounded way to much like "In the Heights" and I was having issues with the "old" story and the rap/hip hop music.  Modern lyrics coming out of these historic figures mouth.   Couldn't get passed that.  Until I saw it.

Everrything works.  The music, the lyrics, the staging, the costumes, everything.  That's not to say it's perfect.  Because it's not.  The music is still quite repetivtive, and I know, you can say the same for Sondheim and Lloyd Webber, but it was, and I guess it works. The lyrics are clever and sometimes brilliantly funny.  If you listen carefully, you can catch some other musical theatre references.  The costumes were a mix between period and modern that made it look like they were period.  I can understand why there is such a hype for this show as the storytelling is top notch and it's history told in a modern way and I guess people that don't normally like musical theatre music can "relate" to this style of music.

After "Hamilton" I headed over to TKTS and got a ticket for "The King and I". I went back to the hotel to drop off my "Hamillton" swag and then walked to Lincoln Center.  It tuned out to be quite a long walk.  I walked up 5th Ave, which may have been a mistake because there were a lot of people on Fifth Ave.

I made it to Lincoln Center and took my seat for "The King and I".   First of all, the show had a FULL orchestra using the original orchestrations.   No keyboards to be found - and they were amazing.  I finally got to see Kelli O'Hara in person, and she did not dissapoint.  In fact, it was a perfect production. The sets and costumes were top notch.  The cast was incredible.  I wish this current King was their oriignal king when the show opened because the chemistry between the King and Anna was perfect.

I walked home a diffeent way this time, hoping it was be quickier, but it wasn't. And so, here I am.

I must end this quickly as I have to be up at 5:00am to get to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade route by 6:00am.  I'm hopong for a nap tomorrow.

Matt

I'm gonna be a part of it......

I finally got to the blogger - with not much time to write.

I'm here at Oakland Int Airport, waiting for my JetBlue flight to NYC.  A whirlwind trip of about 3 days and probably 5 shows and the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  I'm excited to get waway for a while before the Christmas season begins.

For those who will ask, I'm seeing "Hamilton" tomorrow afternoon, "Phantom of the Opera" on Thursday and "Fun Home" and "School of Rock" on Friday.  I have one slot open tomorrow night to see something else if I'm up to it.  I'd love to see Kelli O'Hara in "The King and I" but I worry that I may be too tired to stay awake.  At least I know my limits.

I hope to see a few friends and eat a few good meals, also.  So who knows what might happen!

More tomorrow!  It's nice to blog again.

The beginning of the end of Summer 2015

I started this blog about a year ago in order to document my trip to Europe and I was pretty successful in doing just that.  However, almost a year has gone by and there hasn't been an entry.  Thanks to the Facebook, I'm able to keep track of little trips or excursions I've done in the past year.  A trip to Chicago, a few trips to Disneyland - one with the entire family - and that's about it.  Far cry from 2 weeks in Europe.  I still dream about the passageways of Venice, the vastness of St Peter's and the laid back persona that is Amsterdam.  Not to mention the German production of "Starlight Express".  A new cast recording of that show was released late last year and documents the show in its current incarnation - and you know, even though it's in German, I remember everything.

So here we are, August 13, 2015. A year ago I was enjoying Venice, this year, I'm spending a few days at my get-a-way of choice, Disneyland.  This is my 3rd outing this summer enjoying what the 60th anniversary of the Happiest Place on Earth has to offer, and it still does not disappoint.   Earlier in June, I came down to Disneyland to spend a few days with Amy and her mom and boys and then spent 3 days with the kids from the Hillbarn Theatre Conservatory.  Both arms of that trip were exciting in themselves.  The Hillbarn kids did a few classes with Disney and got to play in the park for a few days.  During that trip, I saw my first "Paint the Night" parade - which is the new Disney evening spectacular.  Briefly reminiscent of my beloved Main Street Electrical Parade, Paint the Night immediately had my attention with its soundtrack and its amazing brilliantly lit floats - not to mention friends that are in this parade - it has become my new obsession.

Here is the link to the parade, if you wish to watch it.

I came down again with my pal Asa over the 4th of July Holiday.  We had a great time which included a great dinner at the Carthay Circle Theatre Restaurant.  It was a fun few days.

Between the trip with Asa and last Sunday (August 8) I opened 3 shows - "West Side Story", "Cinderella" and "Rent"  All were great and all had extremely talented casts.  It was my first time running mics for a show (Cinderella) and that was fun also.  I got to do "West Side Story" with my niece, which was fun!

So, here I am, again, in sunny Anaheim.   So, what's happening this weekend?  Funny you should ask.

For the first two trips this summer, I drove down to Anaheim.  This time, I decided to fly.  I think having those two trips so close together (2 weeks apart) and driving both times really encouraged me to fly.  Don't get me wrong, I love the drive to Anaheim, maybe a little too much, but two weeks like that was too much.  So, I booked a Southwest flight out of Oakland.

Oh, I moved to Union City in April this year... that's a whole other blog post.

Anyway, I decided to fly out of Oakland, so I booked a flight out of Oakland.  I figured since I lived near a BART station, I would BART to the the airport.  Then I thought I'd try a super shuttle, and that was WAY too much $$.  Then I thought I'd take the "Uber" or "Lyft" plunge as I've avoided using these services as I thought I'd feel weird getting into someones car.  So, in the end, I took BART to the airport and it was just perfect.  So perfect, that when I went through security, I ended up in the pre-checked line and basically walked through.  No questions asked!   The flight was easy.  When I got to Orange County, that's where the adventure started.  I decided to call for a "Lyft" - and I'll tell you.... it was the easiest thing in the world, and much cheaper than a taxi and more reliable.  I may be sold.  I'll be using them on the way back to the airport

I check into the Candy Cane Inn - my hotel of choice - and got settled, went to 7-11 for supplies and then did some work before I headed into the park for the evening.

Work.... well, that's another blog post soon, I promise.

I went into Disneyland and headed to the back of the park and found a place for Mickey's Soundsational Parade.  It's a great parade, full of energy and great music.  One of my favorite things at Disneyland  - especially if James and/or Clarissa are in it - which they weren't this time :-(.   After the parade, I went on It's a Small World and of course sent my usual bevy of text's to friends while on the ride.  I've been doing that for a quite a long time now.  People actually track me down and ask why they didn't get their text from It's a Small World if they know I am here.  Afterward, I got in the single rider line for Splash Mountain.  Single rider lines are sometimes longer than the real lines these days.  However, I got on pretty quickly.  I just love this attraction, it's always a lot of fun.

After Splash, I went and picked up some pins.... oh, the pins.  Maybe I should talk about the pins for a bit....

I've never been a huge Disney pin collector, but I have my share of pins and last summer, Veronika and Michelle helped me put them in order.  In doing that, I kinda became a pin collector.  However, I'm rather picky about the pins I buy.  Usually, they are things like Splash Mountain, Mickey Heads, Main Street Electrical Parade, Olaf, Resorts, etc.  So, when Disney came out with Paint the Night pins, it was very exciting.  However, in true Disney style, there was a catch.  There are 12 pins in the collection, and 6 are revealed and 6 are mystery.  So, one box has two pins in it, one you can see, one you can't.  And of course, I have 10 of the 12 and the two I don't have are mystery pins.  So, I took the chance and bought 2 more boxes - and in one of those boxes, I got one mystery I didn't have.   So, now I only need one more mystery pin (Belle, if you must know).  Today, I tried again and got no where.  I'm going to have quite the collection of Paint the Night pins to trade if I don't get Belle soon!!

Anyhow, after some pin shopping, I met Rosie for dinner at the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ - this dinner is 4 years in the making and we finally went.  It was all you can eat, and very yummy.  After dinner we walked around and watched the fireworks near It's Small World and then got in line for Peter Pan.

And that's it for today.

I'm out...