back from my trip...8 shows in 5 days...whew!

So the line up was as follows and is in order. OF MICE AND MEN. Thought James and Chris didn't a really great job. REALISTIC JONES. I'm still trying to figure out what that was about. Only thing I could come up with is the two men slowly swapped their issues/personality. Hmmm. MOTHERS AND SONS. Loved this show. Best over all acting I saw this trip on Broadway. CINDERELLA. Great costumes and singing and dancing. The actual songs were pretty boring. CABARET. Fun show with a message. Really good cast from top to bottom. ROCKY. I surprised myself and ended up liking it the best of the eight shows! I feel it is very underrated. IF/THEN...good songs, good performers, but over all pretty boring. HEDWIG and the ANGRY INCH. Massive fun! It really was more of a concert then anything else. A really fun evening at Hedwig! All in all the shows were very well done. It was an exhausting five days, especially when you through in going to a Katie Couric taping. Can't wait to come back in November and do it all again.

Many of you on here gave me tips for certain shows, and I tell you what.....they all most all worked! Didn't win Aladdin lotto, but did win If/Then lotto. Rush tickets were easy. And having the TDF membership is a must. Great seats through TDF.

How did you enjoy the shows?

Boy, you were both pretty ambitious. Good for you!

Out of the 8 shows, Rocky is the one I want to see again. Kind of a surprise, but true. It was much better then I expected.

I enjoyed everything I saw!

iLuminate was such a different theatre going experience and I really appreciated the creativity behind it all. Such a cool experience!

Kinky Boots was a little disappointing for me. The premise was original, but the content was cliche and corny.

Phantom also left me wanting a little more.

But otherwise, everything was simply amazing.

My trip last month included Matilda, If/Then, Violet, Hedwig, Lady Day and Cripple of Innishmaan. Really enjoyed them all with If/Then as my least favorite and Hedwig/Matilda being the ones I want to see again. May try to get back in the fall to see The River, Gentleman's Guide, On the Town and Curious Incident.

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Just back from our NYC trip. Saw 7 shows in 6 days. I will give a brief review of each show we saw (in the order that we saw them).

As an aside, don't you guys think that having a "trip report" thread like this is a good idea? It keeps all the trip reports easily accessible, which I think would be very convenient for people trying to decide which shows to see.

Now, on with the countdown:

After Midnight - what a great way to start our trip. We had just found out shortly before we saw this that it was going to be closing soon, so we weren't entirely sure what to expect. Everyone in that cast was totally on point. This was the best band we've heard on Broadway in some time, and also some of the best dancing! Not to mention how incredible Patti was in the role of guest star. I still can't believe this is closing. I think it should run on Broadway for years, and if I lived anywhere near NYC I'd see it several times more.

If/Then - the least favorite of all 7 shows we saw on our trip. I love Idina (saw her in Wicked and in concert) and she was in fantastic voice, but that score was just so boring to us. I was really hoping for so much more....

Cabaret - I saw the last revival 2 different times, but this was my first time seeing Cumming in the role. I was so happy to finally get to see what all of the fuss was about. This was one of the best performances we saw on our trip. I'm also in the camp that Michelle nailed it as Sally. I am so glad that this is back, and it deserves another extended run.

Here Lies Love - this was my favorite production of the whole trip, and we didn't even get to see Ruthie. Her replacement was stellar (sorry I don't have her name, haven't unpacked my playbills yet). I loved every single song, I loved the concept, I loved the staging, I loved everything about this show. Did I mention that I LOVE Hear Lies Love?

Rocky - I liked this much more than I expected. For me, the set design alone was worth the price of admission, and I'm not talking about only the last ten minutes. I do realize that a couple of the songs fall flat, but I still don't understand why there's so much hate for this show. I found myself feeling more emotional watching this show than any other that we saw the entire week (except maybe Lady Day)

Finally, last night, the amazing double header (Lady Day at 8:00 PM, and Hedwig at 10:00 PM):

Lady Day - what can you say that hasn't already been said about this stupendous performance? I know that it is one that I will be talking about for years to come. Audra made me feel things that I had never felt at a show before. I felt such sadness and empathy for her. It was so realistic, I wanted to find her and comfort her after the show. I don't know how she does that night after night. Truly amazing.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch - extremely enjoyable. The funniest show that we saw the entire trip. NPH was as good as advertised, and the ending packed a great emotional punch.

All in all, this was one of our better trips to NYC in awhile, which actually seems ironic, after reading so much negative things about this past season. There are several shows that we will definitely revisit (Cabaret, Here Lies Love, and Lady Day, if it's still open).

BTW, if you try the Lady Day/Hedwig double header, I strongly recommend walking down 50th Street to 6th Ave, then walking from there to 44th. This was suggested to me in an earlier post, and I completely forgot about it in all the excitement. Slogging through Times Square at 9:45 is not a good idea, if you need to get anywhere in a hurry. We made it in time, but it was an adventure!

Updated On: 6/22/14 at 09:58 PM

I'm heading up to NYC on Thursday (through Sunday) for my annual mother/son trip - can't wait. The show itinerary is:

Queen with Adam Lambert (Thu)
Matilda (Fri)
Swan Lake (Sat Mat)
Hedwig (Sat 10pm)

Thinking of doing Here Lies Love on Friday at 5pm in balcony seats (mom can't stand for 90 min, or so she says). Based on the comments, I think I'm going to pull the trigger on this one.

If it was just me, I'd also try to squeeze Lady Day in before Hedwig, but she really does not want to see it (not a fan of the style of singing). It also seems like you could squeeze Violet in before Hedwig, but we saw that here in NC a few years ago with Lauren Kennedy (great small production), so she doesn't want to see it again.

Oh we'll, I should be happy with the line-up as is, but as someone mentioned earlier, it's so hard to make the trade offs when you only make it there one a year.

Finally, I like the idea of a trip report thread.

I love everyone doing "Binge Theatre Weekends" as my friend and I call them! We are having one ourselves in late July. I will be seeing Patti LuPone as 54 Below Friday night, Violet Saturday afternoon, and Beautiful Saturday night. We usually see a show Sunday as well but our mothers are coming with us this time so Sunday is saved for "tourist" day. They just like to complain that we've been to NYC so many times and never leave the theatre district.

I think it's so cool everyone is seeing so many shows in just a matter of days. I can't wait to do that when I'm older! I am planing a trip to broadway August 22-24. We plan to see Aladdin, Hedwig and the Angry Inch(I'm so excited for!) and something else. Some suggestions would be great! I was wondering how most of you were able to see so many shows? Did you buy for tickets before, or get them from the Lottery or a Rush? Thanks guys!