Trip to NYC and 8 Show Reviews

[chenothegood]

Posted: 5/3/10 at 7:05pm

Alright everyone, so i just got back from my NYC trip and was lucky enough to see 8 shows (could have been 9 but we left times square because of the bomb threat). I saw In the Heights, Mary Poppins, Hair, Wicked, Promises, Promises, Sondheim on Sondheim, Everyday Rapture, and Mamma Mia.

My friends and I won the lotto for In the Heights our first night. There were not many people doing the lotto, maybe only about 10 people didnt win. The show was great Corbin did a great job. Courtney Reed was on for Vanessa, I found she acted it kind of bitchier than Karen did when i saw it two years ago, but her voice was great! I just didn’t end up wanting Usnavi to fall for her in the end. Gabrielle Ruiz was on for Nina and she was wonderful! She reminded me so much of Mandy, well voice wise she did. Doreen was on for Daniela and I thought she did a great job. Overall the show was just as fun as i remember it being.

I ended up getting Mary Poppins last minute after my friends won the Next to Normal lotto, again there werent very many people at this lotto either but more than there were at ITH. I got a rush ticket for Mary Poppins 10 minutes before the show started and was in row C of the Mezzanine. I thought the show was alright. To be honest i was kind of bored when Laura of Christian were not on the stage though. The second act was much better and Step in Time was awesome!

My friend and I did the lotto for American Idiot and ran over to Hair while waiting, a woman there told us that the lotto had just finished but that she would sell us her tickets she won if she won the lotto for Next to Normal. We ran back to American Idiot and found out we had won that but my friend decided she would rather go to Hair so we went to that. We were in the front row of the boxed seats and I was really scared about the cast coming out in the audience especially since we were right by the stairs and the ladder, but after the first 10 minutes I realized it wasn’t bad and actually started to enjoy the audience interaction. I was sad when in the second act they didn’t come out! Haha I thought the whole cast did such a great job Ace was great as Berger and had a smoking body :) and Diana can belt like crazy!! Annaleigh was fun just to watch her when she wasn’t featured in a scene, I remember just watching her in LB and laughing and did a lot of that in Hair! I enjoyed Kyle too he was wonderful!

For Wicked and Promises, Promises I had bought my tickets in advance, and had partial view front row for Wicked and row N orchestra for PP. I was slightly disappointed by Wicked this time, it was my third time seeing the show and was really excited to see the new cast. I wasn’t a big fan of Andy as Fiyero, I just didn’t think his voice was that strong, I thought Katie was wonderful though she was adorable and I was really routing for her for most of the show. I love Mandy’s voice but wasn’t too keen on her acting in act 1, I thought she really shone in act 2 and her no good deed was one of my favorites! Promises, Promises was a lot better than I was expecting, I had really only wanted to see it so I could see Kristin. Sean Hayes was hilarious though! I loved when he would talk to the audience! I do agree with what everyone has been saying about Kristin being miscast, my friends said that it could have been any blonde actress and it wouldn’t have really made a difference and I have to agree. And as much as I just wanted to keep hearing her singing, Say a little prayer and a house is not a home were kind of randomly placed. I did get excited every time she would come on the stage though and thought she did a great job, but that could just be because I love her! Haha Kate Finneran did steal the show though as Marge! She was hilarious!

We tried the AI lotto again but lost so we went to Sondheim on Sondheim and got rush tickets for 21.50$ we were in the front row of the rear mezz and they were great! Studio 54 was a pretty small theatre! I really enjoyed the show! It was really interesting and the cast was so good! Vanessa Williams is such an elegant classy woman! Tom Wopat’s Epiphany was excellent and I LOVED Norm’s Being Alive I got major chills from it and that usually only happens when female singers sing for me! Haha! The show was so much better than I was expecting it to be! I thought they did a great job with it!
**Side note, two girls walked by the theatre after the show and looked up at the poster and said “Wow Bill Murray is in this? Damn he looks old” I thought it was pretty funny!

After losing AI again, I went to Everyday Rapture and got 21$ ticket for second last row in the Mezz, seeing as there were only like 8 rows in the mezz in total it was a great seat! I think this was my favorite show that I saw. I had “listened” to the show a lot before so I knew all the jokes which kind of ruined it a bit for me, but I still loved it! Sherie is incredible! Everyone was laughing so much! Sherie can definitely run a (almost) one woman show! Betsy and Lindsay were wonderful as well. Eamon had some hilarious moments as well! It was such a great night I had a lot of fun!
**SPOILER**
My favorite parts were the Judy Garland part (because I love Judy :) ) and the Youtube part, I also loved the Ernie the cat story.

We bought our tickets for Mamma Mia in advance as well and were 5 rows back in the Orchestra. It was also a really fun show! Beth Leavel was a great Donna, I loved Slipping Through My Fingers and The Winner Takes it All. I don’t know how I felt about Alyse Alan Louis, her singing was beautiful but I found she over acted a little bit and played the role almost too childish. Corey was a great Sky! One funny story from the show had to do with him. During the final wedding scene, when Sam is explaining to Donna that he left because he thought it was the right thing to do, well when that line was said a man in the audience thought it was hilarious and burst out laughing. Which caused an awkward silence in the audience and cast followed by the audience laughing and then clapping and the cast just standing there in silence! You could tell that Corey was on the verge of bursting out laughing he was trying so hard to stay in character but you could tell he was having a really hard time! It was a great end to the show!

We tried the AI lotto again that night but lost for the third time. I went and bought rush tickets for a Behanding in Spokane. Right before the show started was when everything was happeneing with the car bomb. My friend and I did not want to hang around there just in case something happened and the man at the box office was so friendly! He let me return my tickets and we left Times Square. It was kind of a crappy ending to our week but it was better safe than sorry.

I am sorry I rambled on for so long haha but just wanted to share my show experiences! If anyone has any questions let me know! Thanks for reading this if anyone does! :)