Posted: 6/15/15 at 1:26pm
We are at the airport, our flight is delayed, so I decided I would go ahead and give our trip report. We saw 4 new productions and 2 that we had seen before. I'll list them in the order we saw them.
Curious Incident....: Taylor was in as Christopher. He was fantastic, as was the rest of the cast. I loved the staging. The whole production was gripping and powerful. We sat about 9th row, center orch, which is perfect for this show. Grade B+
American in Paris: the final ballet alone made this worth the price of admission. Possibly the best-danced production we have seen in many years. The orchestra was beautiful--it's fantastic to hear such a huge sound in a Broadway theatre. This is a big, lavish, old fashioned musical, and we loved it. We sat 4th row, center orch, which is a tad too close. Grade: B
The Visit: our favorite production of this trip. Completely enthralling from start to finish. What an outstanding ensemble! And of course Chita can do no wrong. She received the longest entrance applause I had ever witnessed. I'm very sad that this is gone now, but also so thankful that we got to see this (thank you, producers!). This is the OBC album I'm most looking forward to hearing! Grade: A
Fun Home: I expected to like this more, since I'm a huge Tesori fan. Don't get me wrong, it was a very strong production and I'm thrilled a difficult piece like this is getting this type of recognition. I think that in our case we should have added something more lighthearted (Something Rotten?) in the middle of all of these heavy pieces. Even so, much of this was thrilling. Ring of Keys gave me goosebumps (I had only heard it at the Tonys; it was much more powerful live, in context). The cast were all stellar. We sat in 100's row D. Nice seats. Grade: A-
Hedwig: this was our second time seeing this (first was with NPH). Darren was much better than expected, especially the last 3 songs. Rebecca was fabulous. We sat at very far right row C (obstructed view but not bad for us since we had seen it before). Grade: B
Chicago: this was a last-minute add-on because we wanted to see Brandy. We were front-row center, which we got at discount through Travelzoo! Great seats to see her and the cast "up close." Brandy is amazing, and puts her own spin on Roxie, which was a refreshing change. Grade: B+
All in all this was a great trip, with no bad productions in the bunch. I would recommend any of them, without reservations.
Finally, Maritime Hotel is a great value in the meat packing district. It's an easy walk to the Highline, West Village, and Soho. It's right across the street from Chelsea Market and 3 subway stops from the theater district. Free wine and cheese every evening and a nice complimentary continental breakfast everyday. Nothing fancy, but highly recommended!
