Lucky in New York

On Saturday, June 22 Kevin and I flew to New York City! We left Colorado Springs at 6:30am and arrived in NYC around 3:00pm. We took a taxi to the hotel, dropped off our bags and went out into Times Square. Our hotel was on 48^th Street between 10^th and 11^th Avenues, which was a great location for us. It was nice to be a little removed from all of the chaos of Times Square, but still be close enough to walk there within 15 minutes. We stopped to get some pizza on our way to the Matilda lottery and were feeling hopeful! Matilda was nominated for 11 Tony Awards this year and it is definitely a HOT ticket to get. I wanted to see the show when mom and I were here in March, but she wasn’t too interested in the show at that time. After the Tony’s she regretted that decision. The lottery began at 6pm and unfortunately our names were not called. I was really hoping to see a show that evening so we re-evaluated our plan. We tried for tickets at Spider-Man, Rock of Ages, Annie, Once, and Peter and the Starcatcher, but the prices and/or seats were not appealing. I remembered that Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike had a Youth Rush (anyone under 35 can get 2 tickets for $37 each) so we tried our hand at that. This show won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play, and starred David Hyde Pierce and Sigourney Weaver, so I didn’t think we would have much luck getting discounted tickets, especially since it was so late in the day. To my great surprise, they had 2 tickets available! The only downfall was that the seats were not together. I decided this was the show I wanted to see, regardless of the seat situation, and I bought our tickets. This was another show that mom and I wanted to see in March, but it didn’t make the cut. I was excited! We walked over to my friend Ryan’s restaurant and had a few drinks before going back to the theatre at 8pm. The show was very funny and entertaining! I have learned that I enjoy plays, but I much prefer musicals. That being said, this play was wonderful! We went to the stage door after the show and surprisingly the entire cast came out! They were all incredibly gracious and it was awesome to meet them! We finished up around 11pm and went star stalking at other theatres. We stopped at the Pippin stage door to see if Andrea Martin came out (she didn’t come out in March when mom and I saw it) but she didn’t. Instead I got an awesome picture with Terrence Mann and his on AND off-stage wife Charlotte D’Amboise (who didn’t come out last time either). It was awesome! We decided to go back to the hotel around 11:30pm because we had to get up and go to work the next morning. We fell asleep around 1am. It was a great start to the weekend!

Panorama of the crowd at the Matilda lottery. 

2013 Tony Award winner for Best Play, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at the Golden Theatre

My sneaky attempt at photographing the stage. This was the set for the entire show. 

Tony Nominated Billy Magnussen aka Spike.

Tony Nominated Kristine Nielsen aka Sonia.

Tony Nominated David Hyde Pierce aka Vanya.

Sigourney Weaver aka Masha.

Tony Nominated Terrence Mann and Charlotte D'Amboise from Pippin!

We woke up around 8:30am on Sunday morning and were on the ship around 10am. Our hotel was only a block away from the port, so it was nice to walk there instead of hailing a taxi. Our inspection was on a brand new ship so I was apprehensive that there would be a lot of extra work to do and we would be working for most of the day, but to my surprise, we finished work by 12pm! This meant that we had the possibility of going to see a Sunday matinee! I decided I wanted to try our luck again at the Matilda lottery. The lottery began at 1pm so we had just enough time to drop off the tool bag, change clothes and enter our names in the drawing. They had a total of 20 tickets available and Kevin and I got 2 of them! They called MY name! I could not believe it! It was turning out to be an incredible weekend! I purchased our tickets for $27 each and then Kevin and I went to Shake Shack for lunch. We still had some extra time so we went back to Ryan’s restaurant and had a drink before the show. While we were enjoying our cocktails, my friend Chelsea walked in. I didn’t even know she was in New York and it was a great surprise to catch up with her. Matilda started at 3:00pm and was amazing! The kids in the show were so talented, even Kevin was pleasantly surprised. After seeing Matilda and Kinky Boots, the two contenders for Best New Musical, I definitely think Matilda should have won. Kinky Boots was definitely a fun show, but Matilda was much better all around. I was just so happy that we were able to see it, and didn’t have to spend a ton of money. Of course we went to the stage door after the show. Only about 6 cast members, out of 25 or so, came out the stage door. None of the kids came out; I don’t know if that is because of their age, or contract or what, but it was OK because I saw the people I really wanted to see! 

The cruise ship had an ice bar so we had to check it out!

The winning ticket!

My friend Chelsea, from high school!

Matilda the Musical at the Shubert Theatre.

The incredible stage! The stage was made up of hundreds of these scrabble like blocks and letters. It was awesome!

Ryan Steele! I fell in love with Ryan when I saw him in Newsies! He is one of the best dancers I have ever seen! It was such a great surprise to find out he was in this show!

Tony Award winner, Gabe Ebert! Gabe is a Colorado native and a friend of a friend! He played Mr. Wormwood and was brilliant! 

 Tony Nominated Bertie Carvel aka the Trunchbull! He originated the role in Stratford-upon-Avon and London and it was incredible to see him in New York! You would never guess that this charming man could create such a nasty character!

We finished up around 6:15pm and hopped in a taxi to Union Square. Before we even left for New York I had made the decision that if we didn’t see any other shows this weekend, we would for sure be going to see an Off-Broadway show called Murder Ballad. Most shows on and off Broadway are dark on Sunday nights but this show had a 7pm performance so I was excited we would be able to see something on Sunday night. This show stars 2 of my current favorite Broadway actors, Caissie Levy and Will Swenson. They both starred in Hair together and I fell in love with them at that point. We got to the theatre around 6:30pm and bought 3 tickets for $31 each (my friend Ryan was able to join us)! I love cheap theatre tickets! The show was incredible! It was a rock opera with no intermission and it had you on the edge of your seat the whole time! The theatre was small and intimate and the cast interacted heavily with the audience. There were about 20 cabaret style tables with chairs in the midst of the stage and the rest of the seating surrounded the stage on 3 sides. It was very unique and added so much to the feel of the show. This was by far my favorite show of the weekend and I would recommend it to anyone in the New York area! Because this was an Off-Broadway show, the stage door experience was a little different. There were no barricades and there were fewer people waiting for autographs. The cast members came out the entrance to the theatre and were so happy to see “fans” waiting for them! The cast members had a meeting so it took them a while to come out (about 45 minutes) but the true fans waited it out, and it was totally worth it! We went out for dinner and drinks with Ryan after the show and then took a taxi back to the hotel. We had an early morning flight so we packed our bags and fell asleep around 1:00am. It was an incredible day!

Murder Ballad at the Union Square Theatre!

Advertisement for the show.

Will Swenson just before the show began.

Rebecca Naomi Jones. She was incredible! Mom and I saw her in American Idiot a few years ago, and she was just as great in this show as that one!

John Ellison Conlee. This was the first time I have seen him onstage and I hope it was not the last!

WILL SWENSON!! He is my mom's favorite Broadway star and I would have to agree with her! He is so good!

 Caissie Levy! Boy does she have some pipes. I bought the soundtrack for this show and was very sad when Caissie was not on it. The show is so much better with her in it! 

The boys with Caissie. They like her about as much as I like Will! 

I love spending time in New York. It is one of my favorite places in the WORLD, and if you know me and follow this blog at all, that is saying something! I feel alive in the city and I love the theatre experience.  I love that Kevin and I were able to see THREE Broadway shows for under $200! I look forward to many more trips to the city with my mom and Kevin and one day with my own child! I will always be a theatre junkie!