My January Trip

I am returning to NYC in January for 5 nights. I have my trip pretty much planned including shows for my 7 slots:

• Phantom of The Opera
• Merrily We Roll Along (matinee) - Ticket Secured
• Into The Woods
• A Strange Loop 
• & Juliet
• The Piano Lesson
• Take Me Out 

Unless some shows seem to disappear from TKTS, TKTS is the plan for all the shows I don’t currently have tix for. I only have tix for Merrily. Not sure as I’m seeing the last week of ITW if demand will go up & it’ll disappear from TKTS.  Also, won’t know about demand for TMO until it re-opens.

However, my main issue is now I’m possibly rethinking & Juliet and thinking of a possible replacement  

Possible replacements: 

• Kimberly Akimbo 
• Topdog/Underdog
• Leopoldstadt
• Death of a Salesman 

I have a longer list of replacements, but these are my top 4 (currently). The list constantly rotates. 

Also, as someone who loves Basquiat, I’m intrigued by The Collaboration, but who knows? My gut says it will be a miss despite a great cast which takes me back to the 4 shows above.  

Plenty of time to decide, but open to suggestions on which of the four above you’d suggest in place of & Juliet? And/Or if you saw & Juliet in London, your thoughts on keeping it in the lineup or skipping it. 

Thanks! 

Updated On: 11/7/22 at 12:23 AM

&Juliet is what I call a cotton candy musical ... all sugary goodness in the moment, but it instantly disappears and I've never thought of it again ... sort of escapist fun. 

If Akimbo is still around, you like Victoria Clark, and/or you simply want to add a musical, I'd opt for it. 

If a musical isn't a driving factor, I'd probably pick Leopoldstadt.   It was filmed for NT Live though, so at some point it will likely be broadcast in the States and or available at the NT at Home site ($12.95 for a month's subscription).  But seeing it in person will likely have more of an emotional impact.

Sounds like a great trip! I am going next month and so far have tickets for Into the Woods, Funny Girl with Lea Michele, and & Juliet. I can't decide what my 4th show will be. Right now it's between Almost Famous and Some Like It Hot. Waiting on Some Like It Hot to begin performances before deciding...

You should grab your ticket for Phantom in advance since you are looking to go a month before it's closing.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Interesting that no one suggested Death of a Salesman so far. It’s been up and down my list in order of my interest. It was lower on my list after I read reports on here during previews especially regarding André De Shields’s (who I adored in Hadestown) performance, but then some of the reviews (including the one from NYT) on opening night had me moving it up my list. 

Leopoldstadt has also been up and down my alternate list. I just added Topdog/Underdog to my list. 

Briefly looked at some Kimberly Akimbo videos on YouTube. Not enough there for me to tell if I’d like it despite so many rave reviews. 

As far as 1776, when I started composing my list (even before I started planning a trip), it was one I thought I’d want to see. But the mixed reviews plus reports on here have me thinking it’s maybe missable for me even though I’m a big fan of Carolee Carmello. It’s still on my alternate list, just right below Death of a Salesman.

And also thanks on the advice to possibly get Phantom tickets ahead of time once they release discount codes for January dates. I am keeping an eye on what shows are showing up at TKTS the most often and if that changes closer to my trip. Shows I think are more likely to not appear on TKTS that week I’m there are Phantom, Into The Woods and Take Me Out. I wasn’t checking TKTS much the last two+ years, but I know the TMO revival was a hot ticket in its initial run and I don’t recall it being on TKTS much, if at all.

Anyway, thanks again for suggestions. Keep ‘em coming! 
 

P.S. I did listen to part of the & Juliet London Cast Recoding and while I liked it at first (especially the opener Larger Than Life and I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman), I found myself skipping ahead on some songs until I eventually just switched over to Britney’s greatest hits. Lol 

 

 

Wick3 said: "I saw Take Me Out on TKTS this past spring. Not everyday but it was definitely there.

do you have plans to come back to nyc in May/June? If so, you can probably see Leopoldstadt, &Juliet, and hopefully Kimberly Akimbo since they’re likely to still be open.

I enjoyed &Juliet. I watched it in London without listening to any of the songs beforehand so hearing familiar tunes was a surprise for me. I was a teenager in the late 90s so I definitely enjoyed the music a lot! Lol.

good luck on your decision!

"

Good to know about TMO on TKTS. Thanks!

Regarding & Juliet, when I listened to the London cast recording, it struck me that it appeared that overall they haven’t done any bold re-imaginings (at least musically) with most of the songs like Moulin Rouge did. I hope to be proven wrong. It reminded me in some ways of the music and arrangements of Six although of course in that case we were dealing with original-ish songs. I was not a huge fan of Six the one time I saw it. 

Well, Delta moved my flight on the 3rd to landing later around 1:30 (still not bad), but knowing how things go with January flying into New York City I was afraid that they would keep delaying it especially on the day of (had that happen before) so I called and was able to rebook my flight for free so now I’m flying in on Sunday, the 1st. Still flying out on 8th.

Only three options (that interest me) that I can see for a possible Sunday night show and since I’m saving Phantom to see with with my friend and she doesn’t still fly in until Tuesday, there’s really no shows that I can see available on Monday night.

I could’ve just flown in on Monday but I figured if I was flying in early I might as well try to get an extra show in.

My Sunday evening options: Take Me Out (7:00) & Juliet (5:00) The Collaboration (7:00). 

Do you know if any of the cast of TMO is scheduled to be out on January 1? 

Telecharge site appears to be locked up and the TMO site seems to have limited info.

TMO is a must see for me on this trip, but I’d wait til later in the trip if some of the main cast is out on January 1st.

I did go ahead and get tickets to see A Strange Loop on Wednesday, January 3rd. And already had a ticket for Merrily… Wednesday matinee.

Still waiting for shows to release discount codes for January before deciding about buying ahead or doing TKTS.

No Funny Girl??  

"Leopoldstadt" is really an absolute Must See. It is stunning in every way.

George in DC said: ""Leopoldstadt" is really an absolute Must See. It is stunning in every way."

I’m really torn. I would ideally like to see all of these: 

• Death of a Salesman 
• Kimberly Akimbo 
• Leopoldstadt
• Topdog/Underdog

If I can see TMO on Sunday night, that potentially opens up two slots if I skip & Juliet. 

I’m really wanting to see Salesman as I have never seen a filmed or staged production before & this production (especially the acting) sounds fantastic. 

That still leaves one more slot. Probably between Leopoldstadt and Kimberly Akimbo. My other friend who is coming in for my Friday/Saturday really wants to see KA so that may decide it. 

Luckily, I have until early January to decide. After the last three years, it is nice to have a plethora of choices to pick from. 

Updated On: 11/7/22 at 01:47 PM

I saw Beetlejuice right before the pandemic started. It was an enjoyable night. But don’t feel need to repeat seeing it on Broadway. 

I actually didn't want to see Beetlejuice, so it was a pleasant surprise for me. I saw it recently, and I live in NYC so you can tell I wasn't really interested.

I'm going to KPOP next week, it's the most excited I've been to see a show in a long time, but I love dancing, the dancing has a very high level of technique, so I'm pretty sure I will love it. I haven't seen it, but to me it's a priority this season. If you're not a big fan of dancing, don't bother...but if you are, I think you should prioritize KPOP.

So my tentative schedule now:

Sunday 1/1 - Take Me Out (Ticket secured)

Monday 1/2 - Chicago or Six

Tuesday 1/3 - Phantom (probably)

Wednesday 1/4 matinee  - Merrily We Roll Along (Ticket secured)

Wednesday 1/4 evening - A Strange Loop (Tickets secured)

Thursday 1/5 - ITW (probably)

Friday 1/6 - Death of a Salesman (probably)

Saturday 1/7 matinee - Piano Lesson (probably) 

Saturday 1/7 evening - Kimberly Akimbo (probably)

That leaves out Topdog/Underdog and Leopoldstadt unfortunately, but I’ve crammed in as much as can into this trip.