Advice Regarding My Upcoming Trip — Page 2

I’m also glad my friend and I (she’s joining me for first two nights of my trip) bought our tickets for Hadestown and Moulin Rouge! when we did back in May. Our Hadestown mezzanine seats that were $129.50 + fees each are now $249 + fees. Our Moulin Rouge! mezzanine seats that were $179.50 + fees each are now $259 + fees.

Updated On: 8/8/19 at 01:12 AM

OK I’ll post here about my shows yesterday as well as in the separate threads for each show.

Saw To Kill A Mockingbird at the Saturday matinee and then Moulin Rouge! Last night.

Still crawling out from under the stupor of my hangover of my Broadway overdose from yesterday so I’ll try to keep this short and sweet.

To Kill A Mockingbird - great production! Lots of humor to help with darker moments. That was an unexpected and welcome surprise. We had full cast. No standbys/understudies. Great performances across the board but my favorites were Celia Keenan-Bolger and Gideon Glick. Loved the set as well. Couple times the incidental music made it difficult to hear some dialogue. We sat Mezzanine Row E - seats 2 & 4. Great view, horrible legroom, grateful for my aisle seat. While I have a few minor quibbles with the production, I overall loved it. Loved the set as well. No one came out to stagedoor. That’s kind of expected for Saturday matinees I would imagine. Although they set up the barricades then eventually told us no one was coming out. I bought the program, mug, and magnet. I tried on the Trayvon hoodie but it didn’t look good on me so did not purchase Also, if you go and want a cocktail, go to lowest level lobby and get in Kristin’s line and ask for the Kristin Special (named by me). I think it included Pineapple rum and OJ. Yummy!

Moulin Rouge! - wow. I wasn’t prepared to love this as much as I did. Of course, the set and what they’ve done with the theater itself is amazing. Also, loved the guy in the thong during pre-show. He almost made me forget tall hot guy Timothy Hughes from Hadestown the night before. I also liked the incidental music they have playing during the preshow. I know some people have found it annoying. Songs that didn’t really connect with me on the cast recording totally connected with me in the theater when I understood them in the context of the show. I also found Aaron and Karen to have chemistry which was a nice surprise after all the grumblings on here. Aaron’s voice is so beautiful. Karen’s is SO POWERFUL!!! Danny Burstein is EVERYTHING. Give that man his Tony now!!! I full on sobbed (first time with trip) during Your Song and at the death scene. A lot of that with Your Song has to do with my history with that song if you recall an earlier post of mine in the MR thread. I also, didn’t find the mashup encore jarring at end as it’s pretty clear it’s the actors performing for us, not the characters. Maybe it’s my The Bohemian Writer cocktail (with absinthe) in first act and my Sparkling Diamond cocktail in Act 2, but I think this has a shot not only at aTony nomination for best musical, but maybe a win. I know it’s got a lot of competition coming next year so we’ll see. I just don’t know that it’s outside the realm of possibility. I also know that some of my buy-in comes from my goodwill carryover from the movie as well as the transcendent power of pop (at least for me) that helped me survive a pretty unhappy childhood.

As far as merchandise, I went crazy. I kept adding things to my pile. I bought the program, the coffee mug the latte mug, the bangle, the magnet, the window card, The heart shaped keychain.

As far as stage door, Aaron came out and a couple of the ensemble members. Funny moment- my friend accidentally handed Aaron her To Kill A Mockingbird playbill and he just nicely said “I’m not in this. Good show though.” and they had a good chuckle before she handed him the right playbill.

So far, all three shows this trip have blown me away with their set and lighting design.

Updated On: 10/7/19 at 11:44 AM

Love reading all your reviews! Do you bring an empty bag for all your new merch? :) I'm always scared to buy anything more than a magnet or shirt when I'm on the road and seeing a show.

Was there Monday night for Little Shop of Horrors. Great production! I don’t think I’ve actually seen the movie since it was in theaters so I was a little foggy on some of the details which made some of the events in the shows surprising which was a good thing. Lots of laughs. Everyone was great, but the standouts for me were Groff and Blanchard. Somehow they toned down Groff’s handsomeness (I guess it was the hat and glasses) and he totally embodied Seymour. Blanchard brought a vulnerability to her character. She acted it very well. I don’t have clear recollections of Greene’s singing, but I thought she did a lovely job with the songs. She brought vulnerability to the songs. Based on earlier reports, I think they must’ve lowered the songs because she didn’t seem to be straining to hit notes. Great puppetry as well.

I bought the magnet and window card. Very responsive audience. No cell phones going off or crinkling candy wrappers.

Stagedoor: most everyone came out except for a couple of the urchins. All of them signed my window card. I’d hoped I’d get to speak to Jonathan Groff at stagedoor and planned out the briefest way to say what I wanted to say.

So after the rest of the cast came out, he came out last. I was a few people back at the end of the barricades, but by time he got to us, people who’d met him left so I was able to get to the front and talk to him and tell him how much the HBO show Looking had meant to me and I started tearing up (I’m a “Patrick”; what are you?) and so he hugged me and then we talked a little. I told him how I’d missed seeing him in Hamilton because he was filming the Looking finale movie when I saw it. And I even told him about my failed attempt to get Looking renewed by having our fan club send glasses (because the show was called Looking; I know, lame) to HBO and I got so enamored I forgot to ask if I can have a picture with him but luckily he had stopped to do something with someone else and when I approached him and apologized for bothering him again, he said don’t be sorry and put his arm around me and we took a picture together. He also complimented my jacket.

What a great day it has been.

Updated On: 10/7/19 at 01:31 AM

dmwnc1959 said: "Such a wonderful trip you’re having so far!!! Thank you for sharing all of your show experiences here and on other threads. Four more days, is it? Enjoy the Madonna concert tonight. What other Broadway activities are on the schedule for the rest of the week? Oklahoma and Tootsie? Anything else....Beetlejuice, hint hint :)"

Yes, today plus 3 more days. It’s been a great trip! Tonight is Madonna. Tomorrow is Betrayal/Oklahoma! Thursday is Madonna again (front row!). Friday is Tootsie.

Didn't want to reply to the long message but totally agree about the Moulin Rouge house music. I really dug it. Enjoyed the reviews, glad you had fun.

Okay so Tuesday night was my first of two Madonna concerts. Visit my report on the off topic thread for my impressions - I loved it!

Today was a two show day. Matinee of Betrayal followed by evening performance of Oklahoma!

Started day with one of my favorite brunch spots - Philip Marie in the West Village. They have the best omelets and drinks.

Headed over to Jacobs Theatre for Betrayal. I actually had an extreme side mezzanine front row partial view $25 seat, but checked with box office and for $24 was moved to Row M9 left orchestra. Great view. Only at one point when Ashton and Cox were performing a scene was Hiddleston far left and I could only see half of him. Lots of sporadic empty seats in back half of orchestra.

As far as the production itself, all three gave stellar performances. I’d say Hiddleston gave my favorite performance. I just felt like the play itself isn’t maybe as profound as Pinter thought it was or maybe I missed it. Also, I didn’t detect all this crying, snot running others have mentioned. Maybe because I accidentally left binoculars in my hotel room. Still a very good day at the theater. Much humor was mined out of such a dark subject. I will say at one point I discovered a solitary tear angling down my left cheek. They don’t stagedoor matinees which was fine as it’s hard for me to stagedoor after a depressing play. I bought a magnet before the play began and a Hiddle Me This cocktail. Yummy! I did mention to bartender that when the usher welcomed me with “Welcome to Betrayal”, it reminded me of something Stefan on SNL would say about some new bar. The bartender said that would now be stuck in his head and I said you’re welcome. Oh and about the audience, besides a little candy wrapper noise in my section, two separate cell phones went off to the spontaneous verbal disgust of people in our section myself included. I swear it’s almost a given that if you see a quiet play cell phones are going to go off no matter how much they warn them.

Went to Joe Allen. I know their menu is limited right now so I can’t judge it based on what it usually is like. It was okay. The beet salad that my server recommended was phenomenal though. That’s saying something since I hate beets. I had a cheeseburger and it was good, and certainly nothing earth shattering but good. I didn’t have room for dessert.

Headed over to CITS. Maybe one of these days I’ll remember that my map always takes me to the wrong place when I get directions to Circle in the Square. Anyway finally found it with some assistance. Before the show I bought the program and then they had a deal where you can get the magnet, mug and keychain all for $20 so I did that. I thought about the window card but held off. I’ve already bought 4 window cards this trip and I’m running out of wall space as it is.

Regarding Oklahoma!, I first have to say I don’t think I’ve ever seen the movie. And I’ve only seen one stage production that was done locally every summer at an outside theater venue outside of Tulsa. And that’s probably been 20 years ago so my memories of it are pretty vague. All of that is to say that I wasn’t overly wedded to what I thought the show has been or should be. I thought it’s a really brave production and I even liked the dream ballet once I understood what it was which was when it was over. I thought everyone gave stellar performances and I was lucky that all the principle cast were in. I was so glad to see Ali Stroker again after seeing her in Spring Awakening. But...

I found both shows really easy to admire immensely, but not easy to necessarily “love” if that makes sense. Oklahoma! was great on so many fronts. It’s hard to believe this was ever considered a feel good musical. The dark themes are there and explored extremely well.

I will admit I’m a little down in the dumps and I’m not sure if it’s because my trip is nearing its end (always hard to say goodbye to NYC) or because I saw two depressing shows today. Either way, that may have affected my enjoyment of both shows a bit. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because I missed the chili and cornbread. As soon as intermission began I ran to the bathroom and I was the second one in there so got in and out quickly. That was one of the advantages of being seated in K110 (which also afforded good views). But the disadvantage was by the time I got back the line for chili was really long and they ran out of chili or they just quit serving before I even got close to getting chili. I suppose in retrospect I should’ve stood in line for chili and then going to the bathroom but I wanted to make sure that my bladder took precedence. Not gonna lie. I was pretty bummed even though I wasn’t hungry. I just wanted to have the full experience. There’s a chance I wouldn’t have liked the chili anyway since I’m from Oklahoma which is a place that prides itself on having really good chili although I know people said this chili is good. I also have been operating on three hours asleep after the Madonna concert the night before and so I’m sure that’s affecting my mood as well. I had some trouble staying awake during act one of Oklahoma! Due to being tired and the show being depressing, I did not stagedoor afterwards. Took the subway back to my hotel in Brooklyn and I’m getting ready to pass out here in a minute and try to get a good night’s sleep.

I know it’s been mentioned that some of the people don’t get that the ending of Oklahoma in this production is not joyous and I’m not sure how anybody would not get that but as I looked around I saw older women singing along or mouthing the words in a very joyous manner at the end.

I’m glad I have an opportunity to to see Madonna again tomorrow from the front row and then Tootsie on Friday night which will be a feel good musical to end my trip.

Updated On: 10/7/19 at 12:36 AM

Enjoy Tootsie! I thought it was hysterical.