A Few Questions For My Trip To NYC (Review of my Trip on the 2nd Page) — Page 2

fosca3, Thanks for the heads up! My friend and I are booked in the 51st St. Pod for the last week of July for a few nights and we're going to rebook to 39th St. later tonight when I get home from work. We're both just a year out of school and in our first jobs and so any money-saving tips are great! (I went to school on Long Island so I never had to worry about hotels - now I live back at home in Massachusetts and it's SUCH a hassle and SO expensive to go into the city for just the day - I stayed at the EconoLodge in May but it was expensive for what it was, though clean and in a great location)

What?s the best place to buy rare cast recordings and solo albums in NYC? What is the average price for a CD there.

Academy on 18th St. is a good place to buy used cast albums. Decent selection and worth checking out several times if you are there a week or more as the stock keeps changing. Out-of-print items can be found there at slightly higher prices ($20 for a used copy of RUTHLESS.) Generally available titles are in the $8 to $12 range.

Also on 45th Street between 6th and 5th is a store that offers used CD's, DVD's and books. The shop is called BOOK IT. Cast albums are generally $10 to $15 and even out-of-print items. I found GOODTIME CHARLEY there for $14. (It has been out of print for 10 years or more.)

There are a number of smaller used CD stores in the village area but that means an afternoon of strolling around and popping into one when you come across it. Sadly with Footlight closed there isn't anything rally comparable any more.

Avoid Colony. The selection of truly hard to find items is very limited. They will often have copies of out--print items long after everyone else because they initially price discs well above standard retail prices. You also have to contend with snarly staff who do everything to discourage browsing. They want you to know what you want, buy it and get out. The LP collection which used to be fun to browse has been decimated. For LP's you do better searching on E-bay.

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frontrowcentre2-Thanks for your advice! I will visit Academy instead of Colony. Like I said in my first post, I'm a long time lurker of these boards so I'm always super-impressed by your vast knowledge on cast recordings. I got a bit excited that you decided to share a bit of your ``wisdom`` with me.

I also don't think Colony is overpriced for sheet music. But, I could be wrong. And, unless you sing or play an instrument, I guess looking at that stuff doesn't make sense.

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I'm seeing Nice Work tonight and just bought the tickets last week and got orch row k a little to the side, for around $109 from broadwaybox.com. Not 1st 10 rows, but close.

SI ferry is awesome, but about a half hour subway ride from midtown to South ferry when you factor in the walking and waiting. You might want to spend some time exploring lower Manhattan as long as you're there, South St seaport, WTC, Wall St, etc.

Enjoy!

There's actually a brank spanking new Pod Hotel on E 39th and I'm staying there next month. All the rooms at the new one have private bathrooms and they're probably cubbyholes, but if you're looking for a bed and shower, there ya go. They're still in the midst of a soft opening...rooms during my timeframe were going from $105-125.

I'm a J&R Music World fan, but there are still some very cool stores in the Village. Colony is a rip-off to me but it's true that it's one of the few outlets left.

12.) I would highly doubt that would be an issue. I have heard of minors being able to produce a written/signed note by whoever's name the credit card is in with permission to use the card so you may want to look into that but I highly doubt that would be necessary.

13.) At what time would you be able to rush? Since you're under 18, I presume you're a student. If you're available to rush Saturday morning, jump on that opportunity. That will certainly get you the cheapest tickets. Evita's student rush has tickets for $38 and are often good orchestra seats.

14.) Yes, that would be fine. They may get annoyed if you sit there for hours with one slice of cheesecake but order a slice of cheesecake isn't an issue. I think you can also get cheesecake to go? That might be a better option if that's all you want.

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Ooh go to Hangawi for dinner! Nothing boring about that.

And I haven't seen Chaplin, but there's a better chance of you enjoying Avenue Q than Evita. Though I would recommend Peter & the Starcatcher and One Man Two Guvnors over that.

12 - You should have no problem but they may ask you the name that is on the credit card which is what they did to my daughter in a similiar situation years ago.

14- Others have responded about the cheesecake and while some types may be very filling, don't know if I would classify it being good enough for to count as a meal. Guess it depends on your appetite.

I just got some frames at the store located under the Marriott/ Marquis in times square.

My trip was last weekend (August 24th-26th), so here's my review of it:

The first sight I saw of NY was a Rock of Ages Broadway poster. Out of all the shows on Broadway, it is probably the one I LEAST want to see, but I still grinned because it meant that we were getting close to New York. We arrived at the bus station at around 3:30PM, and we had to get to the Pod Hotel on 39th Street to put our luggage there. A lot of people were, I guess, coming back from work so I got to experience first-hand the famous New York fast walking style. I usually really like to wander and look around, so it was a bit exhausting, but fun!

The Pod Hotel was really lovely. The lobby was very pretty and modern and the rooms, while pretty basic looking, were really clean and functional. No bedbugs! We opened the TV when we got there and the first thing we saw was that they had been a shooting at the Empire State Building. I felt kind of bad for my poor mother back home. She has never been away from me for more than a day, so she was already super nervous about me being in New York and then, of all days, there was a big shooting there.
Afterward, we went to Time Square to wait for Porgy and Bess. It was a lot more laid-back than the East Side. I had a great laugh over the mascots, some of them were so cheap (and borderline terrifying) looking. I took pictures of the big Broadway Billboards and then headed to Shubert Alley to check the theater stores. Broadway New York was by far my favourite. They had a nice variety of stuffs, and I liked how they had some older items. They didn’t really have anything that I was interested in and couldn’t be found online, so I just bought a bookmark for my mom and a golf ball for my dad.

I ate at Maoz Vegetarian. I had eaten a few oatmeal cookies on the bus, so I wasn’t terribly hungry. I ordered a Junior Falafel Pita with Sweet Potato Fries on the side. The pita itself was very good (very thick and moist) but the falafel were a bit too crispy and seasoned. The fries were AMAZING! They were just crisp enough, perfectly salted and not too greasy. The portion size was pretty big, so I left out a good quarter of it. I would recommend ordering a full size sandwich (plus the fries) and sharing it with someone. I give the meal 4 out of 5 stars.

Porgy And Bess was amazing. I bought the cast recording when I got to the theater. I got surprised by how many ushers they have. In Montreal, they have someone to rip your ticket and you are own your own to find your seat. I felt like royalty by having someone direct me directly to my seat. Funny story: there was an advert for a cruise ship starring Patti Lupone in the Playbill, and the woman sitting next to me asked me if ``It was the girl from Glee?``. I know that Patti guest starred in one episode, but the word ``girl`` is a good indicator that she probably had Lea Michele in mind. =P I loved how the preshow announcements was spoken out loud by an usher instead of pre-recorded on the speakers. I felt like I was back in the 1930’s.

Hearing the orchestra playing the overture was absolutely thrilling. Usually when shows come to Montreal, it’s never shows that 1) have overture 2) people would care whether or not THERE’S an orchestra .So I was quite amazed at how luscious the orchestra sounded. I noticed that there was TV’s showing the conductor at the back of the theater. Are they always there? Or did they install them to help the actors follow the difficult score for Porgy and Bess?

What I Iiked the most about Porgy And Bess was that it was so unlike anything that comes to Montreal. Most people here would NEVER buy ticket for a semi-operatic drama with limited sets and costumes. =) Also, when show comes to MTL, they have been on tour for so long that, most of the time, the performances aren’t the best. So it was super special to see 5 times Tony Winner Audra Mcdonald! It was her first day back from vacation, and she looked and sounded amazing! She really got into the character. However, I have to say that Norm Lewis gave my favourite performance of the evening (and, to be honest, the best performance I ever witnessed). He was so perfectly touching and intense! I haven’t seen Once, but I can’t imagine how Steve Kazee could have given a better performance, Norm should have won the Tony. Him shouting ``Bess, you got a man now! You got Porgy!!!!!!!!`` was the highlight of the show. There was an understudy for Crown, but I would have never guessed if there hadn’t been a slip in the Playbill! He was so terrifying!

I had only seen the Tony Award performance prior seeing the show, so I chuckled so much when I found out what Plenty of Nothings was really about. =P I really liked knowing next to nothing about the plot, there’s so much going on in Porgy And Bess, so I was always on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next! Especially during the fight scenes, they were so physical and realistic, I could never guess who was going to die. Hearing all these great songs for the first time was awesome too! It’s really a great score! I swooned so much inside when Audra and Norm had duets. Their voices together are just magic!

I got surprised by how little people applaud at the curtain call in New York. In Montreal, people will give a standing ovation and scream for minutes, even if it is just the ensemble’s turn to take their bows. It was weird that the audience didn’t start to stand up until Norm and Audra came up. And even then, only half of the audience stood up and only clapped for a few seconds. I liked the little Rodgers and Hammerstein exhibit that they had at the exit of the theater. I wished that they had more cool memorabilia though, instead of just promotional stills for the original productions and movie version of their musicals. I waited at the stage door, but not that many cast members came out. About 20 minutes later, we were told that Audra had already left. Most people, including myself, decided to wait for Norm but he never came out either.

The next morning, I decided to do a bit of shopping on 5th avenue. I didn’t want to adventure myself too far south, because I wanted to be sure to be at the theater on time. I got a little disappointed by what I’ve seen. I expected to see a lot of cool American stores, but I didn’t see a lot of stuffs that couldn’t be bought for cheaper in Canada. I bought the new cast recording of Follies at Barnes and Noble because, for some odd reasons, albums released under the PS Classics label never seen to be available in stores in Montreal and I fell in love with the big album booklet in the Porgy And Bess recording so I wanted to see the one for Follies too.

So I headed down to the Theatre District to eat some cheesecake at Juniors. I ordered the Devil’s Food Cheesecake because Cheesecake and Devil’s Food Cake are both my favourite dessert so I thought that, together, it would be a match in heaven, but I ended up being quite disappointed. The frosting was ALL fudge. I like fudge when there’s an ½ inch carefully placed layer inside a cake, but three 1 inch layers was way overkill. I prefer a much fluffier frosting and this one was thicker than the cheesecake part. The cheesecake part itself wasn’t that good either. I don’t mind desserts being rich if they have an awesome creamy texture, but in this case it was so heavy that I just felt like I was chewing on a big brick of butter. The thing I love most about cheesecakes is the mix between salty and sweet, and it tasted neither salty nor sweet. The chocolate cake part tasted alright (a bit too dry, though) but it definitely wasn’t enough to save the cake. I couldn’t get myself to eat even half of it, and I had no appetite for 2 days afterward. I really wanted to like this cake, but I have to give it 1 and a half star out of 5.

It was noon by then, so I wandered around the theater district for a while and took pictures of the marquis. I LOVE how almost every theater has a video display of the show outside, or at least songs from the show playing near the box office. It’s insanely cool!

The seating space inside the Imperial Theater was so small, for both shoulder room and leg room. I considered myself lucky to be an average sized 5 feet 4 inches young female, because the seat were JUST right for my size. A few seats away from me, there was a man who appeared to be in his seventies and he had to lay his legs sideway into the aisle because he didn’t have enough space in front of him. I felt so bad for him. The décor of the theater worked so well with the show though.

The show was absolutely terrific. I never had this much fun in my entire life! The online clips do not do justice to how much energy and fun there’s on stage. Matthew Broderick was on vacation, so I saw Will Chase. He definitely seems to have a lot more stage charisma (and dancing skills) than Matthew, but there’s a few scenes (notably the title song and the ones with Estelle Parsons) that mentions Jimmy being a lazy drunk, so these scenes probably work better with Broderick’s take on the role. You would never guess that he is only a replacement for a week , his chemistry with Kelli O’Hara was really great. Kelli is my favourite Broadway star, so I was super excited to see her perform! She definitely did not disappoint. The role of Billie really seemed to be tailor-made for her! I really liked the number Treat Me Rough, who knew that she was so good at physical comedy?! I was sitting in the center left of the third row of the orchestra, so during Will You Remember Me when she is sitting in the left side of the orchestra she was practically in front of me. Kelli is already truly gifted at connecting with her audience, but having her practically singing right into my face was a truly unforgettable experience! I felt like I was having a private concert for a moment! Judy Kaye and Michael McGrath both got Tony for their performances (and justifiably so, they were both HILARIOUS), but I wish that the whole cast could have gotten a shared nomination, everyone was on fire and there truly was no weak links.

Most of the jokes in the beginning show were pretty predictable, but about 45 minutes into the show, it turned into pure screwball perfection. Screwball comedies and musicals are my two favourite genres, so I thought that mixing them was absolute bliss (and so much better than mixing my two favourite desserts together =P ). I was impressed by how seamlessly they integrated all those great Gershwin songs into the script, it almost seemed like that they were written for the show! I really love fashion from the 1920’s so I loved looking at all the BEAUTIFUL and colorful costumes and sets. All the numbers were very creatively choreographed, Kathleen Marshall is definitely one of the most talented director/choreograph on Broadway these days. As much as I like when musicals dare to be darker and more edgy than what people expect, this is truly the type of show that made me fall in love with musicals when I was a kid. I applauded so much that my arms were aching by the end of the show!

Pretty much everyone came out at the stage door, except Estelle Parsons. I got my Playbill signed by everyone and took a picture with Will and one with Kelli. I’m not used to having my picture taken in crowded space, so I look super awkward on both of them, though. =P Debra Messing (and a young boy whom I assume is her son) sneaked out of the stage door.

I was hoping to win the Into The Woods lottery (my sister and I both entered our names on Friday and Saturday, so statistically speaking, we should have had between 40 and 200% chances of winning over the weekend) but we didn’t. So we went to the TKTS booth in the hope of getting discounted tickets for either Sister Act or Bring It On but, by the time we got there, the only tickets they had left were in the 80$ range and neither of us had that much money left on us.

After having seen two Broadway shows in a row, everything else in New York seemed so bland and boring. (I’m aware of how ridiculous this statement is, and I fully authorize any of you to send it to First World Problem =) ). I wanted to take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry, but it was very cloudy and we were afraid that it was going to rain. So we decided to head down to the hotel and leave on Sunday morning.

In conclusion, I enjoyed my trip to New York but, next time, I’m going to fill every single moment with Broadway shows because it is the best thing to do in this city.

You're so lucky you got to see Will Chase! I was dying to see the show, but alas, I was out of town. Glad you had a fun time! Thanks for the report. Do come back soon!

Updated On: 8/30/12 at 08:33 PM