"Hey now, hey now!"
Yesterday was possibly one of the most excellent days I've had in a while. I took the 11:57 train to Penn Station, which I did not have a seat on and I had the priviledge of listening to one woman's entire conversation because she was rather loud and I could hear her through my iPod, and proceeded to Broadway and 46th in search of the Palace Theater, which I could have sworn I had been to before, but since I didn't remember a theater being where it was, I came to the conclusion that I must be delusional. Since I was rather early, it being around 12:40 at that point and I knew Kim was still en route from Bellerose, I decided to find something to drink, considering I had only a small muffin and a cup of tea around 8 that morning. I find it truly outrageous that I had to walk an entire three blocks to find a Starbucks in Manhattan. Starbucks are supposed to grow on trees in Times Square. Apparently not. But I will say this: The Starbucks on 49th and Broadway makes the most orgasmic Mocha Frappichino I have ever had in my entire life. And the staff there was friendlier than most, which I thought near impossible in Manhattan. After finally sitting, because I didn't do that on the train, I walked back to the theater. At this point it was 1:20, and no Kim. I had left her a few voicemails, thinking she was underground and had no reception, even giving her directions in case she got lost. She showed up a few minutes later, telling me she forgot her cell phone and had planned to just walk down 7th and Broadway until she saw a 'Legally Blonde' sign.
Once in our seats, third row balcony, we noticed the entire left side of the balcony was taken over by an entire school on a field trip or something. But about 15 minutes before the show started, the first two rows in front of us were occupied by another school field trip, and the three rows behind us were as well. Clearly it was bring your school to the theater day and I didn't get the memo. The first act was filled with the kids in front of us leaning forward over the railing to see, obstructing our view, and Kim even tapped a few of them and asked them to sit back because we couldn't see, and clearly we were in our rights because we probably paid more money for our tickets than they did and technically they had better seats than we did, so yeah. But the show itself was really entertaining. The songs were very catchy, and I'm sure the dances were amazing, if I could actually see any of them. It reminded me of DRS in terms of the scenery, only it was more pink in this show. I thought Laura Bell Bundy and Christian Borle were in their elements, and Kim actually proceeded to fall in love with Christain as the show went on, but she maintains she always loves the Emmett character whether Luke Wilson or anyone else plays him. I thought there was a ton of energy that radiated throughout the entire cast and you could tell that they loved doing the show, which always is a must in my book. Orfeh shocked me with the power of her voice, and even though she sung a pretty pointless song entitled "Ireland" which had roughly something to do with her past relationship with Dewey, it was pretty awesome that in Act II everyone started Irish Step Dancing. I also found it hilarious that Orfeh real husband played Dewey. Aside from minor line alterations and slightly larger story altertaitons, such as Warner not proposing to Vivian until after they find out they got Callahan's internship and not meeting the UPS guy until after Act II, it was all good. I was upset that they weren't selling suvenior programs yet, so my collection will most likely go without one, but I am eagerly awaiting the soundtrack because "Omigod You Guys", "Better Than Before", and "Legally Blonde" have been stuck in my head.
After the show, Kim and I went to Fridays for dinner and. had some rather deep conversation and discussion. It always astounds me that the prices differ so drastically between Long Island resturants and Manhattan ones. I mean, if I get something for $12.95 on the island, it shouldn't cost $24.95 in Manhattan. Especially when there are like 3 Fridays within a five block radius of each other on Broadway. So, we got our food like within five minutes of ordering it, but we didn't get our drinks until after we asked for them a fourth time. Needless to say that the waitress was kind of a bitch. Then we walked over to 5th to the NYPL because Kim had some books of her aunt's to return. Then I walked to her back to Penn Station. (Now this part sets up the rest of my evening.) I had bought a round-trip Off-peak ticket because I'm really cheap. Kim had bought a peak return ticket, had work today, and didn't want to spend any more time in Manhattan that she had to. I sent her on her merry rush hour way and figured it wouldn't hurt to go back up 7th Avenue to see if there were any rush tickets for any 8 PM show. After practically being laughed at in the 'Spring Awakening' box office, I realized I would not be lining up at 5 AM for the box office to open at 10 AM and get tickets. 'Beauty and the Beast' weren't selling rush tickets, and I really wasn't interested in much else. I stopped by the Marquis theater and the box office guy told me that were doing a lottery at 6:30 for $25 front row tickets. I figured it couldn't hurt since the drawing was at 7, and if I didn't get it, I would walk back to Penn Station, grab something to eat and head home. But they pulled my name, so I got a front row ticket for $25. I figured I couldn't go wrong, and I had wanted to see 'The Drowsy Chaperone' for a while. So, got to my seat and there was a woman and her daughter who had also won the lottery sitting next to me. She turns to me and goes, "Were you at 'Legally Blonde' this afternoon?" When I said yeah, she goes "I thought so, because you look like my friend's daughter and that's why I remembered you." I apologized and said if I hadn't been trying to keep an eye on my friend or have been distracted by the numerous school children I would have remembered her, too. Apparently she was in the Orchestra, but they had set up like folding chairs or something and she had been upset because she had paid full price and she couldn't see at all, so she complained and the Box Office gave her $50 back, which was actually perfect because she said that $50 paid for the two front row tickets to 'The Drowsy Chaperone'. It astounds me how things can just work out like that. We chatted a little bit and they were very nice. We even joked that we would see each other at the next show we go to.
So, the opening of 'The Drowsy Chaperone' was hilarious. Just sitting in the dark listening to the monolouge, I was beside myself. I was really excited that Jannie LaMania had taken over Sutton Foster's role because I loved her in 'Suessical' and 'Candide', and I was excited to see her at the stage door. (Except she just walked out the door, ignored all 10 of us standing there and walked down the street. I thought about this in retrospect, and thought that maybe she was having a bad day or something, but I don't know. It disappointed me because I wanted to just tell her how much I admired her. Oh well.) The show itself was hilarious and I liked the fact that there was no intermission because it's true, the intermission pulls you out of the action for 20 minutes. The show was just like a classic 20's musical with a commentary. Usually commentary bothers me, but it was really comical, so I didn't mind so much. Beth Level was absolutely brilliant, and I couldn't help but notice that she looked in my direction a few times. It was such a character show, and by that I mean that even the lesser characters had more than a moment, which they should. All in all, I thought it deserved the Tony because it was different and extremely entertaining. I went to the stage door, and I really wanted to talk to Jannie, but we know what happened there, and I wanted to talk to Beth, but apparently she had been the first one to leave because she had a previous engagement. I met a few of the other castmates and they were gracious and very humble. There was this really annoying teenage girl at the stage door who I wanted to punch her in the face. I could have sworn I met her before, but I didn't say anything, she she was all like "OMIGOD I WANT TO MEET BETH! OMIGOD THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE, SHE'S MY IDOL! I'VE SEEN THIS SHOW THREE TIMES! OMIGOD, IF I SANG TO HER WOULD THAT BE TOO STALKERISH?!" Yeah, I wanted to kill her. And then she found out I got the lottery tickets because I was talking to one of the actors about how I hadn't even known I was going to see the show, but I was delighted that I had gotten the front row ticket, and she had to but into the conversation and go "FRONT ROW? LUCKY! I WAS ALL THE WAY UP IN THE BALCONY!" And I wanted to look at her and go, "...Okay, do I care?"
So, I walked back to Penn Station, got some Iced Coffee, hopped on the 11:03 back to Mineola, and then my mom had to screw up the night by playing "Guess Which Side of the Station I'm Parked On", and that really pissed me off because she INSISTED on picking me up. She couldn't let me walk the 10 minutes in Mineola back to our house, but I can walk 14 city blocks at night to Penn Station? Yeah, my Mom's insane.
I'm getting better at this driving thing. My K-turns and my parallel parking are really good, my turns still need room for improvement, but hey, I have some time yet. Hofstra in a week. WHEEEEE!
Loving you,
Shannon
Once in our seats, third row balcony, we noticed the entire left side of the balcony was taken over by an entire school on a field trip or something. But about 15 minutes before the show started, the first two rows in front of us were occupied by another school field trip, and the three rows behind us were as well. Clearly it was bring your school to the theater day and I didn't get the memo. The first act was filled with the kids in front of us leaning forward over the railing to see, obstructing our view, and Kim even tapped a few of them and asked them to sit back because we couldn't see, and clearly we were in our rights because we probably paid more money for our tickets than they did and technically they had better seats than we did, so yeah. But the show itself was really entertaining. The songs were very catchy, and I'm sure the dances were amazing, if I could actually see any of them. It reminded me of DRS in terms of the scenery, only it was more pink in this show. I thought Laura Bell Bundy and Christian Borle were in their elements, and Kim actually proceeded to fall in love with Christain as the show went on, but she maintains she always loves the Emmett character whether Luke Wilson or anyone else plays him. I thought there was a ton of energy that radiated throughout the entire cast and you could tell that they loved doing the show, which always is a must in my book. Orfeh shocked me with the power of her voice, and even though she sung a pretty pointless song entitled "Ireland" which had roughly something to do with her past relationship with Dewey, it was pretty awesome that in Act II everyone started Irish Step Dancing. I also found it hilarious that Orfeh real husband played Dewey. Aside from minor line alterations and slightly larger story altertaitons, such as Warner not proposing to Vivian until after they find out they got Callahan's internship and not meeting the UPS guy until after Act II, it was all good. I was upset that they weren't selling suvenior programs yet, so my collection will most likely go without one, but I am eagerly awaiting the soundtrack because "Omigod You Guys", "Better Than Before", and "Legally Blonde" have been stuck in my head.
After the show, Kim and I went to Fridays for dinner and. had some rather deep conversation and discussion. It always astounds me that the prices differ so drastically between Long Island resturants and Manhattan ones. I mean, if I get something for $12.95 on the island, it shouldn't cost $24.95 in Manhattan. Especially when there are like 3 Fridays within a five block radius of each other on Broadway. So, we got our food like within five minutes of ordering it, but we didn't get our drinks until after we asked for them a fourth time. Needless to say that the waitress was kind of a bitch. Then we walked over to 5th to the NYPL because Kim had some books of her aunt's to return. Then I walked to her back to Penn Station. (Now this part sets up the rest of my evening.) I had bought a round-trip Off-peak ticket because I'm really cheap. Kim had bought a peak return ticket, had work today, and didn't want to spend any more time in Manhattan that she had to. I sent her on her merry rush hour way and figured it wouldn't hurt to go back up 7th Avenue to see if there were any rush tickets for any 8 PM show. After practically being laughed at in the 'Spring Awakening' box office, I realized I would not be lining up at 5 AM for the box office to open at 10 AM and get tickets. 'Beauty and the Beast' weren't selling rush tickets, and I really wasn't interested in much else. I stopped by the Marquis theater and the box office guy told me that were doing a lottery at 6:30 for $25 front row tickets. I figured it couldn't hurt since the drawing was at 7, and if I didn't get it, I would walk back to Penn Station, grab something to eat and head home. But they pulled my name, so I got a front row ticket for $25. I figured I couldn't go wrong, and I had wanted to see 'The Drowsy Chaperone' for a while. So, got to my seat and there was a woman and her daughter who had also won the lottery sitting next to me. She turns to me and goes, "Were you at 'Legally Blonde' this afternoon?" When I said yeah, she goes "I thought so, because you look like my friend's daughter and that's why I remembered you." I apologized and said if I hadn't been trying to keep an eye on my friend or have been distracted by the numerous school children I would have remembered her, too. Apparently she was in the Orchestra, but they had set up like folding chairs or something and she had been upset because she had paid full price and she couldn't see at all, so she complained and the Box Office gave her $50 back, which was actually perfect because she said that $50 paid for the two front row tickets to 'The Drowsy Chaperone'. It astounds me how things can just work out like that. We chatted a little bit and they were very nice. We even joked that we would see each other at the next show we go to.
So, the opening of 'The Drowsy Chaperone' was hilarious. Just sitting in the dark listening to the monolouge, I was beside myself. I was really excited that Jannie LaMania had taken over Sutton Foster's role because I loved her in 'Suessical' and 'Candide', and I was excited to see her at the stage door. (Except she just walked out the door, ignored all 10 of us standing there and walked down the street. I thought about this in retrospect, and thought that maybe she was having a bad day or something, but I don't know. It disappointed me because I wanted to just tell her how much I admired her. Oh well.) The show itself was hilarious and I liked the fact that there was no intermission because it's true, the intermission pulls you out of the action for 20 minutes. The show was just like a classic 20's musical with a commentary. Usually commentary bothers me, but it was really comical, so I didn't mind so much. Beth Level was absolutely brilliant, and I couldn't help but notice that she looked in my direction a few times. It was such a character show, and by that I mean that even the lesser characters had more than a moment, which they should. All in all, I thought it deserved the Tony because it was different and extremely entertaining. I went to the stage door, and I really wanted to talk to Jannie, but we know what happened there, and I wanted to talk to Beth, but apparently she had been the first one to leave because she had a previous engagement. I met a few of the other castmates and they were gracious and very humble. There was this really annoying teenage girl at the stage door who I wanted to punch her in the face. I could have sworn I met her before, but I didn't say anything, she she was all like "OMIGOD I WANT TO MEET BETH! OMIGOD THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE, SHE'S MY IDOL! I'VE SEEN THIS SHOW THREE TIMES! OMIGOD, IF I SANG TO HER WOULD THAT BE TOO STALKERISH?!" Yeah, I wanted to kill her. And then she found out I got the lottery tickets because I was talking to one of the actors about how I hadn't even known I was going to see the show, but I was delighted that I had gotten the front row ticket, and she had to but into the conversation and go "FRONT ROW? LUCKY! I WAS ALL THE WAY UP IN THE BALCONY!" And I wanted to look at her and go, "...Okay, do I care?"
So, I walked back to Penn Station, got some Iced Coffee, hopped on the 11:03 back to Mineola, and then my mom had to screw up the night by playing "Guess Which Side of the Station I'm Parked On", and that really pissed me off because she INSISTED on picking me up. She couldn't let me walk the 10 minutes in Mineola back to our house, but I can walk 14 city blocks at night to Penn Station? Yeah, my Mom's insane.
I'm getting better at this driving thing. My K-turns and my parallel parking are really good, my turns still need room for improvement, but hey, I have some time yet. Hofstra in a week. WHEEEEE!
Loving you,
Shannon