Review of My Broadway Trip! =)

[myshikobit]

Posted: 5/17/09 at 4:14pm

It came as a shock to most of my theatre friends on Friday that I was experiencing my first Broadway trip (it's called being poor). Luckily, I had the best time of my life- every moment was amazing. I went with a large group from my school and we had a lifetime's worth of adventure and fabulous. So now I can recount it for you all =).

So when we got off the bus at 11:00 on Friday morning, I was just short of hyperventilating. Within five minutes I adjusted and was ready for the long and awesome day ahead.

I started off by going to Roxy's with 10 of the people from my 50 person group. I had a really good one pound burger and fries (and ate it all- =) ), effectively breaking my diet, but making me very happy inside. My friend ordered the largest corned beef I had ever seen- it was about two feet high.

So after that we took a stage combat class, which was very fun, and then we toured the Lincoln center. We saw a snippet of "Romeo and Juliet" rehearsal (the stars are gorgeous and the dancing is amazing), the Alice Tully Theatre, and the set of "South Pacific" (we almost got to see the set of "Happiness", which I was interested in). The tour guide was very nice, and gave me a big South Pacific program because I was interested (that alone would have made my day).

So then after that we went to Planet Hollywood, which was good service and okay food, and then went to go see "Wicked". It wasn't my first choice (too cliche), but it was surprisingly much better than I expected- the two stars really made the night as amazing as it was. The set, obviously, was amazing, and it seems we came on the right night , because the performances were right on. I really didn't expect Nicole Parker to be so good, being she's from a comedy background, but she could sing her ass off, and her added comic touches differentiated herself from Idina. Alli Mauzey was OH MY GOD AMAZING!!!! Her voice was dead on, her characterization was probably better than Kristen (perfect comic timing) and there wasn't a moment of her performance that had any flaws whatsoever =). Kevin Kern was a great dancer, his singing was okay and he was pretty solid- not amazing though (one of my friends particularly liked his ass). Rondi Reed was the weakest link of the cast- she spoke/sang everything, which detracted from the performance, and she didn't really have any highlights. Overall it was a great way to start my Broadway viewing experience (only kind of disappointed my first wasn't a Sondheim.

So after that we headed to a hotel in Jersey, and had a good night's sleep so we could enjoy the next day... which we did. We took the NBC/Emerald Curtain tour, and it was really good. We saw Bryan Williams' studio, Jimmy Fallon's studio and the set of SNL (amazing!!!). Then we did an interactive part where two people went to a fake news room and did the news and weather. I'm always the eager volunteer, and so I did the news, so now my face is on loop at NBC =).

Then we did the Wicked tour, which was okay. It was lead by the very funny Jerad Bortz, who's a member of the cast, and. It was okay- they just brought the props out to us- the name is misleading. It was cool.

Then we went to Stardust for lunch. It was the most flamboyant place I had ever been. I'm not sure if I liked it or hated it. I think I liked it. The service was incredibly quick, being that they had to sing and they still got the food out to us faster than any other restaurant I have ever been too. The food was good.

So, we had a choice between seeing Billy Elliot or Phantom, and I chose Billy (duhhh). We had some time before the start of the show, so we went to "Broadway Memories" and I got an epic "Sunday in the Park" poster that I am forever in love with. Then we saw the show, which almost lived up to the hype (in other words, very good). It was the debut of Tanner Pflueger, who made his Broadway debut after being in the London production. He gave an excellent performance- triple threat. The show dragged a bit ("We'd Go Dancing was hilarious though) up until "Expressing Yourself" (which is close to the most I have ever laughed). From then on the show was scene after scene after scene of mind boggling talent and great music, with the exception of "Electricity"- the song is cliche and poorly written, in my opinion. Standouts included the songs "Dear Billy", "The Angry Dance", and "Maggie Thatcher". Frank Dolce and Joel Hatch (whom I love in the Adding Machine soundtrack) were my standouts.

After that, my group hung out at Starbucks while waiting for the bus to come and take us home. It was awful having to leave that wonderful city, but I will work and coerce my way back ASAP. It was the trip of a lifetime. Oh, and if you saw a tall kid with brown hair in jeans, Samba's, a checkered shirt and a black tie on Fri. or a kid in dark tan slacks, Samba's and a white and blue shirt carrying a poster on Sat. you saw me =).

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 5/17/09 at 7:23pm

I'm extremely jealous that you got to see Tanner.

[morosco]

Posted: 5/17/09 at 7:30pm

I treasure the memories of going to NYC with my school to see Broadway shows. It was a loooong time ago. We were fortunate to have a teacher who was just as enthusiastic about the trips as we were. Glad to hear you had a swell time.

[BroadwayBelle2]

Posted: 5/17/09 at 7:36pm

Great review!
Glad New York was everything you thought it would be.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 5/17/09 at 7:37pm

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip!

[siny]

Posted: 5/17/09 at 7:47pm

You certainly picked the right shows to see ! Although next time when you come back I hope you'll have better food, lol.