without a little lift, the ballerina falls
(ETA: Oh my god, this is so long and full of links and pictures and videos, I hope you enjoy my rambling)
I've basically been neglecting the ol' LJ something awful, spending most of my time over on tumblr, but I just got back from my graduation trip to New York to see 3 Broadway shows with my best friend Laura, paid for by my dad, and I'd like to document it. So I'm going to ramble about shitty airlines (don't ever, ever, ever fly Spirit), some fantastic shows (Next to Normal; American Idiot; Promises, Promises), what it's like to travel with someone who quotes just as many TV shows as you do, spotting Broadway/TV stars heading into theaters, and falling in love with a hot, adorable, 1-year-older than me Broadway star who's also on one of my Original Cast albums. (And has an interesting nose, and so now I've realized I sort of have a nose thing? I blame new Daniel Vosovic from Project Runway - his actual name is AJ, maybe? - because he has the EXACT SAME nose as actual Vosovic. And also looks exactly the same)
Anyway. My flight left California at 10 o'clock at night! I flew Spirit airlines, which was super-super cheap, but also charges you to carry-on a bag ($30 for anything that goes in the overhead bin) and charges you at the least an extra $10 per seat, even though you'd think that any seat that's not extra legroom (read: any legroom at all) or "first class" would be, you know, INCLUDED IN THE FUCKING COST. Oh god. We were packed in there like sardines, completely overbooked, and I had to fly through fucking DETROIT, which...it's Detroit. I was stuck there once on my way home from a 2-week trip to Europe when I just wanted to get home already. I took a muscle relaxer so I could actually sleep on the plane, but then I was so uncomfortable that I couldn't drift off, and over the 6 hours I spent in the air, I think I slept maybe an hour and a half.
But I made it to LaGuardia, landing at about 8:30 am which to me felt like 5:30. Laura, who was flying in from Chicago, wasn't supposed to get there 'til 10, so I had time to grab my bag from baggage claim and try to find her terminal to meet her coming off the plane. I thought she was flying Delta, so I took a trip around the entirety of the airport only to discover that there were no Delta flights in from Chicago that morning! So I checked her e-mail to me (on my brand-new smart phone, a Samsung Vibrant Galaxy-S or something, which I only mention because it was basically glued to my hand this trip, helping me update twitter and giving us directions and shit) and discovered she was coming in on American Airlines, which was a lot closer to the terminal I'd originally come in on.
Eventually she came out, and we hugged for an hour, and then we found a taxi and traveled into the city. We were staying at the Crowne Plaza Times Square, which is on 7th and 47th, aka basically the heart of Broadway. We dropped off bags and decided to take a walk to Rockefeller Center (which we'd passed on the way in) and check out the NBC store, where we both fell in love a lot. We also kept quoting that one episode of The Office where Michael goes into the city (Valentine's Day, maybe?). Like, the hotel's right across the street from a Sbarro's, where one can grab an authentic New York slice, and Laura tweeted about how going to the Empire State Building is too touristy - she goes to Times Square. Oh, and: New York, New York. City so nice they named it twice. Manhattan is the other name.
Basically, she is the greatest.
We were absolutely sleep-deprived, though, so the thing we were most looking forward to was checking into the hotel, so we decided to do early check-in. We then took naps. At around 5, 3 of Laura's siblings and one of her friends took us out to dinner (Laura's brother Bruce lives in New York, as does her friend Ally; Laura's sister Marie and brother Danny took a trip up from Philly to meet us).
After dinner, we went to our first show.
Next To Normal
I cannot even explain how I feel about this show. Laura first introduced it to me more than a year ago with this video from the 2009 Tonys:
And then I heard this song, and I fell right the fuck in love. I bought the soundtrack, cried in public while listening to it, and knew I needed to see it live. It was basically the reason I came up with this graduation trip. We had crazy crazy good seats, 2nd row orchestra, basically on the stage. It was a smaller theater, shaped a little less traditionally, so there was actually no one in front of us. It wasn't perfect, because the stage has scaffolds, and sometimes they did stuff on the 2nd or 3rd level we couldn't see, but everything on the 1st level was basically in our laps.
The show itself is beyond powerful. It's a 6-person cast: Mom, Dad, Son, Daughter, Daughter's Boyfriend, Mom's Psychopharmocologist(s). The score is described as rock/pop, which I think just means there are a lot of drums and guitars and no horns. The whole band's on stage, some violinists and a pianist and a bassist (electric) up on the 3rd level who we could see really well 'cause he was on the edge the whole time. The songs are absolutely gorgeous, sometimes funny and sometimes heartbreaking and full of, like, rounds, and people singing different songs/tunes at the same time, in a way that is beautiful and makes sense. The story is about a mother who's been crazy for 16 years but is going through a major psychotic break, and how it takes a toll on her daughter Natalie (who's finding love for the first time) and her husband. We saw it over a year after it started, so obviously we weren't expecting to see the original cast, but we did get two original members: the doctor, who is actually 2 different doctors but 1 actor, Louis Hobson; and the boyfriend, Adam Chanler-Berat who, oh my god, is my favorite. At one point during the show I seriously thought, "I would move here and date this kid" (who is so sweet to Natalie, it's the greatest). At one point, Natalie shows up when he thought she wouldn't, and he said/sang "Hey, you came," in this way that I can't even explain, and he had this big smile on his face and it was amazing. And they're both on the soundtrack! That's so amazing, I can't even.
We also saw a real-life husband and wife play the husband and wife in the play, which is just a fun fact. I got to imagine that's got to be draining 8 times a week, though. It's a draining play, and will make you cry every time (unless you have no heart), but in a wonderful way. I have been singing it since I saw it on Sunday and listening to it non-stop since I got on the plane Wednesday afternoon (which makes me a little emotional, but whatever).
It's actually going on tour starting in November, starting here in LA and going to Chicago in late April/May, and I'm already planning on catching it again. Laura and I spent the rest of the trip saying how much we wanted to see it again a billion times. It was basically the peak of the trip.
But that was just the beginning. That night we had some drinks (I don't drink here, since I drive a lot/don't really have any friends to drink with) and Laura tried to get me drunk, and did suceed in getting me pretty tipsy. Then we got some cheese and worked on our night cheese, just like Liz Lemon.
Oh my god, we seriously just kept quoting The Office and 30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother and it was amazing. I also got both Christmas and birthday presents for my little sister because she loves Broadway and Wicked and there was this store right across the street from the hotel that catered to those interests.
Monday morning we took a walk down 7th to try and find Old Navy and maybe get a jacket (it was chilly/rainy/cloudy/drizzly the whole time, it sucked a bit). We made it to the fashion district, and I was like, We should go to Mood!
So we did! Oh man, I got really excited. We walked into the lobby and some old man was like, "I know where y'all are going!" When we got out of the elevator, it was Mood, and it was so fun! Laura and I took some videos: her pretending to be a designer running down the aisles, me talking about my love of wool and buttons, and her talking about how fucked-up my love of wool and buttons was. We were giggling up a storm, it was amazing. We also kept quoting Tim Gunn, but I'd just seen that ep of Parks and Recreation where they have to design a new mural and Amy Poehler imitates Tim, so I was imitating her imitating Tim Gunn, and Laura kept saying "Mood" like she was a cow or something, it was the greatest.
After that, Laura decided to go see her brother doing a play in the village, I think, so her sister Marie came with me to see
American Idiot
I liked it! Because I do love that album - that's the one that really pushed me from enjoying Green Day to loving them. I was not really a fan of John Gallagher, Jr: I felt he was trying too hard to be Billie Joe or Sid Vicious or someone. Granted, I've never seen him in anything else, so I don't know if it was a character choice, but it just bothered me. I liked the set-up, and I really enjoyed the way they did some of the harmonies to the songs. Also, at one point they did some wire work - dancing in the air - which I thought was FANTASTIC. And after the first bow, the entire cast got acoustic guitars and sang "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)", which I liked.
ALSO THE JONAS BROTHERS WERE THERE, AND WE WERE ONLY 11 ROWS BACK SO THEY MUST HAVE BEEN THE PEOPLE I SAW BEING TAKEN BACKSTAGE BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND CURTAIN CALLS.
Goddammit, boys.
That night, Marie and Laura and Bruce and I went to McGee's Pub, otherwise known as Carter and Craig's MacLaren's. It didn't remind me of HIMYM at all, but there were a few stills of the cast on the walls. I drank a lot, and called Don at one point just to sing "Voices" by Cheap Trick to him and quote "The Pineapple Incident" a lot. Marie and Bruce left us at about 1:30, and Laura and I got another drink and then got a little emotional, talking about how awesome my dad is and then how hard it is for me to be in California, but how I'm just paving the way for Laura to move out here eventually. We teared up a little, and cried, and I've really never been an emotional drunk - I'm usually just happy - but this shit got real, yo. I think it was good for us.
Then we went back to the hotel and made plans to maybe get up early and see Scott Pilgrim because we like seeing movies together and I had a free ticket, but it was almost 5 by the time I got out of the shower and passed out. We woke up at the alarm, talked about how we were still tired, and didn't end up getting up until after noon. We talked a little about Next to Normal and how amazing it was, and how much we loved Henry. Then we went for a walk to the west, instead of the north or south, ending up on 9th street where food looked to be much cheaper. We talked about how much we felt like we were in You've Got Mail, and I pulled out my iPod and put on "Dreams" by the Cranberries, and we recreated this sequence.
We. Are. Awesome.
It wasn't long after we made it to 9th that a cute boy with a pretty distinctive nose walked past us. I looked at Laura. She looked at me. "Was that?" "Yes!" I said. "We were just talking about him!" "We should follow him," she said. I looked at her. She looked at me. Off we went. We only followed for about half a block, but oh my God, Adam Chanler-Berat, the only celebrity we saw out and about. Of course, he's not really a celebrity, but we both call him our boyfriend and greatly enjoyed spotting him.
Then we went back to the NBC store so I could buy some t-shirts (Michael Scott Paper Company, one with the doodles from Community's opening credits, and "Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose.") and a TGS hoodie - it says TGS staff! I should just wear my fake glasses from Claire's all the time, with my hair in a ponytail and maybe accidentally drop some Trix up the sleeves, just so I can fully embrace my Liz Lemon-ness.
And then it was time to head for our last show.
Promises, Promises
This was the first show I was going to see not because of the show or the music, but because of the people in it. If someone gives you a chance to see Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway as close as you can get, you fucking take it. And we were pretty close: 5th row, left orchestra. At one point, Cheno was seriously 20 feet away from us, belting out a ballad and giving me chills.
Before the show, we grabbed our tickets and then headed down a street to try to find dinner and happened to be passing the stage door where a tiny, smile-y, blonde bundle was heading in. That's right, we got to see Kristin Chenoweth, live and in person on the street. She was short and looked very happy and it was awesome.
The show itself is very old musical, set in the 60s and very much a "now I'm going to break into song" sort of musical. Which is totally fine - if I didn't love musicals, this trip would have been stupid. It was the kind of show where Sean Hayes, the main character, spoke directly to the audience, which I enjoyed if only because it really gave him a chance to be funny. He also did some physical comedy, which he is fucking aces at. He's also a pretty good singer, and there was not one thought of sexual orientation on my mind, that stupid article about how no one can see him straight be damned.
At the beginning of the 2nd act, Katie Finneran, also known as the sister from Wonderfalls, shows up for a cameo (that earned her a Tony) that is absolutely hilarious. She and Sean's character are supposed to be very drunk, and then they have this drunken dance that is pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen. Everyone was DYING. At one point, Sean had to sit on a bar stool and he went a little wide and sat on it crazily, and he absolutely broke - it wasn't enough to ruin the scene or anything, he just laughed a little too much, and so everyone else did too. It was FANTASTIC - seriously, one of my favorite SNL skits ever is the one where Sean and Jimmy Fallon are snobs in a clothing store and Horatio Sanz is the guy they make fun of Will Ferrel shows up with a tiny cell phone and at one point they all break.
After the show, we waited outside the stage door to maybe see Cheno, but that place was a madhouse. We did see Sean come out and sign some stuff, and an older lady asked him what he planned on doing next, "maybe a TV show?" and his response was, "I'm actually doing this again tomorrow!" which is a story I've now told everyone I've talked to since then. I guess I just found him endearing!
We tried to head back to Next to Normal to catch our new boyfriend Adam Chanler-Berat, but we were too late and the theater was dark. So we just got some night cheese and headed back to our hotel, and the next day it poured and we got some Dunkin' Donuts (which I don't have here) and some coffee and then ate Thai food with Laura's friend Ally before going to the airport, where everything was delayed an hour and I took 12 hours to get from the hotel to my apartment.
I miss Laura already, but I had an absolutely fantastic time and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Also I'd like to see Next to Normal again and again and again.
There are spoilers in this song, but it's nothing too terrible. The way Gabe (Son) sings "Catch me, I'm falling," gets me every time, and the point where the music drops out and it's just this beat, like a heartbeat, seriously haunts me. Man, seriously, this entire show is beyond, I can't even.
I've basically been neglecting the ol' LJ something awful, spending most of my time over on tumblr, but I just got back from my graduation trip to New York to see 3 Broadway shows with my best friend Laura, paid for by my dad, and I'd like to document it. So I'm going to ramble about shitty airlines (don't ever, ever, ever fly Spirit), some fantastic shows (Next to Normal; American Idiot; Promises, Promises), what it's like to travel with someone who quotes just as many TV shows as you do, spotting Broadway/TV stars heading into theaters, and falling in love with a hot, adorable, 1-year-older than me Broadway star who's also on one of my Original Cast albums. (And has an interesting nose, and so now I've realized I sort of have a nose thing? I blame new Daniel Vosovic from Project Runway - his actual name is AJ, maybe? - because he has the EXACT SAME nose as actual Vosovic. And also looks exactly the same)
Anyway. My flight left California at 10 o'clock at night! I flew Spirit airlines, which was super-super cheap, but also charges you to carry-on a bag ($30 for anything that goes in the overhead bin) and charges you at the least an extra $10 per seat, even though you'd think that any seat that's not extra legroom (read: any legroom at all) or "first class" would be, you know, INCLUDED IN THE FUCKING COST. Oh god. We were packed in there like sardines, completely overbooked, and I had to fly through fucking DETROIT, which...it's Detroit. I was stuck there once on my way home from a 2-week trip to Europe when I just wanted to get home already. I took a muscle relaxer so I could actually sleep on the plane, but then I was so uncomfortable that I couldn't drift off, and over the 6 hours I spent in the air, I think I slept maybe an hour and a half.
But I made it to LaGuardia, landing at about 8:30 am which to me felt like 5:30. Laura, who was flying in from Chicago, wasn't supposed to get there 'til 10, so I had time to grab my bag from baggage claim and try to find her terminal to meet her coming off the plane. I thought she was flying Delta, so I took a trip around the entirety of the airport only to discover that there were no Delta flights in from Chicago that morning! So I checked her e-mail to me (on my brand-new smart phone, a Samsung Vibrant Galaxy-S or something, which I only mention because it was basically glued to my hand this trip, helping me update twitter and giving us directions and shit) and discovered she was coming in on American Airlines, which was a lot closer to the terminal I'd originally come in on.
Eventually she came out, and we hugged for an hour, and then we found a taxi and traveled into the city. We were staying at the Crowne Plaza Times Square, which is on 7th and 47th, aka basically the heart of Broadway. We dropped off bags and decided to take a walk to Rockefeller Center (which we'd passed on the way in) and check out the NBC store, where we both fell in love a lot. We also kept quoting that one episode of The Office where Michael goes into the city (Valentine's Day, maybe?). Like, the hotel's right across the street from a Sbarro's, where one can grab an authentic New York slice, and Laura tweeted about how going to the Empire State Building is too touristy - she goes to Times Square. Oh, and: New York, New York. City so nice they named it twice. Manhattan is the other name.
Basically, she is the greatest.
We were absolutely sleep-deprived, though, so the thing we were most looking forward to was checking into the hotel, so we decided to do early check-in. We then took naps. At around 5, 3 of Laura's siblings and one of her friends took us out to dinner (Laura's brother Bruce lives in New York, as does her friend Ally; Laura's sister Marie and brother Danny took a trip up from Philly to meet us).
After dinner, we went to our first show.
Next To Normal
I cannot even explain how I feel about this show. Laura first introduced it to me more than a year ago with this video from the 2009 Tonys:
Click to view
And then I heard this song, and I fell right the fuck in love. I bought the soundtrack, cried in public while listening to it, and knew I needed to see it live. It was basically the reason I came up with this graduation trip. We had crazy crazy good seats, 2nd row orchestra, basically on the stage. It was a smaller theater, shaped a little less traditionally, so there was actually no one in front of us. It wasn't perfect, because the stage has scaffolds, and sometimes they did stuff on the 2nd or 3rd level we couldn't see, but everything on the 1st level was basically in our laps.
The show itself is beyond powerful. It's a 6-person cast: Mom, Dad, Son, Daughter, Daughter's Boyfriend, Mom's Psychopharmocologist(s). The score is described as rock/pop, which I think just means there are a lot of drums and guitars and no horns. The whole band's on stage, some violinists and a pianist and a bassist (electric) up on the 3rd level who we could see really well 'cause he was on the edge the whole time. The songs are absolutely gorgeous, sometimes funny and sometimes heartbreaking and full of, like, rounds, and people singing different songs/tunes at the same time, in a way that is beautiful and makes sense. The story is about a mother who's been crazy for 16 years but is going through a major psychotic break, and how it takes a toll on her daughter Natalie (who's finding love for the first time) and her husband. We saw it over a year after it started, so obviously we weren't expecting to see the original cast, but we did get two original members: the doctor, who is actually 2 different doctors but 1 actor, Louis Hobson; and the boyfriend, Adam Chanler-Berat who, oh my god, is my favorite. At one point during the show I seriously thought, "I would move here and date this kid" (who is so sweet to Natalie, it's the greatest). At one point, Natalie shows up when he thought she wouldn't, and he said/sang "Hey, you came," in this way that I can't even explain, and he had this big smile on his face and it was amazing. And they're both on the soundtrack! That's so amazing, I can't even.
We also saw a real-life husband and wife play the husband and wife in the play, which is just a fun fact. I got to imagine that's got to be draining 8 times a week, though. It's a draining play, and will make you cry every time (unless you have no heart), but in a wonderful way. I have been singing it since I saw it on Sunday and listening to it non-stop since I got on the plane Wednesday afternoon (which makes me a little emotional, but whatever).
It's actually going on tour starting in November, starting here in LA and going to Chicago in late April/May, and I'm already planning on catching it again. Laura and I spent the rest of the trip saying how much we wanted to see it again a billion times. It was basically the peak of the trip.
But that was just the beginning. That night we had some drinks (I don't drink here, since I drive a lot/don't really have any friends to drink with) and Laura tried to get me drunk, and did suceed in getting me pretty tipsy. Then we got some cheese and worked on our night cheese, just like Liz Lemon.
Oh my god, we seriously just kept quoting The Office and 30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother and it was amazing. I also got both Christmas and birthday presents for my little sister because she loves Broadway and Wicked and there was this store right across the street from the hotel that catered to those interests.
Monday morning we took a walk down 7th to try and find Old Navy and maybe get a jacket (it was chilly/rainy/cloudy/drizzly the whole time, it sucked a bit). We made it to the fashion district, and I was like, We should go to Mood!
So we did! Oh man, I got really excited. We walked into the lobby and some old man was like, "I know where y'all are going!" When we got out of the elevator, it was Mood, and it was so fun! Laura and I took some videos: her pretending to be a designer running down the aisles, me talking about my love of wool and buttons, and her talking about how fucked-up my love of wool and buttons was. We were giggling up a storm, it was amazing. We also kept quoting Tim Gunn, but I'd just seen that ep of Parks and Recreation where they have to design a new mural and Amy Poehler imitates Tim, so I was imitating her imitating Tim Gunn, and Laura kept saying "Mood" like she was a cow or something, it was the greatest.
After that, Laura decided to go see her brother doing a play in the village, I think, so her sister Marie came with me to see
American Idiot
I liked it! Because I do love that album - that's the one that really pushed me from enjoying Green Day to loving them. I was not really a fan of John Gallagher, Jr: I felt he was trying too hard to be Billie Joe or Sid Vicious or someone. Granted, I've never seen him in anything else, so I don't know if it was a character choice, but it just bothered me. I liked the set-up, and I really enjoyed the way they did some of the harmonies to the songs. Also, at one point they did some wire work - dancing in the air - which I thought was FANTASTIC. And after the first bow, the entire cast got acoustic guitars and sang "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)", which I liked.
ALSO THE JONAS BROTHERS WERE THERE, AND WE WERE ONLY 11 ROWS BACK SO THEY MUST HAVE BEEN THE PEOPLE I SAW BEING TAKEN BACKSTAGE BETWEEN THE FIRST AND SECOND CURTAIN CALLS.
Goddammit, boys.
That night, Marie and Laura and Bruce and I went to McGee's Pub, otherwise known as Carter and Craig's MacLaren's. It didn't remind me of HIMYM at all, but there were a few stills of the cast on the walls. I drank a lot, and called Don at one point just to sing "Voices" by Cheap Trick to him and quote "The Pineapple Incident" a lot. Marie and Bruce left us at about 1:30, and Laura and I got another drink and then got a little emotional, talking about how awesome my dad is and then how hard it is for me to be in California, but how I'm just paving the way for Laura to move out here eventually. We teared up a little, and cried, and I've really never been an emotional drunk - I'm usually just happy - but this shit got real, yo. I think it was good for us.
Then we went back to the hotel and made plans to maybe get up early and see Scott Pilgrim because we like seeing movies together and I had a free ticket, but it was almost 5 by the time I got out of the shower and passed out. We woke up at the alarm, talked about how we were still tired, and didn't end up getting up until after noon. We talked a little about Next to Normal and how amazing it was, and how much we loved Henry. Then we went for a walk to the west, instead of the north or south, ending up on 9th street where food looked to be much cheaper. We talked about how much we felt like we were in You've Got Mail, and I pulled out my iPod and put on "Dreams" by the Cranberries, and we recreated this sequence.
We. Are. Awesome.
It wasn't long after we made it to 9th that a cute boy with a pretty distinctive nose walked past us. I looked at Laura. She looked at me. "Was that?" "Yes!" I said. "We were just talking about him!" "We should follow him," she said. I looked at her. She looked at me. Off we went. We only followed for about half a block, but oh my God, Adam Chanler-Berat, the only celebrity we saw out and about. Of course, he's not really a celebrity, but we both call him our boyfriend and greatly enjoyed spotting him.
Then we went back to the NBC store so I could buy some t-shirts (Michael Scott Paper Company, one with the doodles from Community's opening credits, and "Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose.") and a TGS hoodie - it says TGS staff! I should just wear my fake glasses from Claire's all the time, with my hair in a ponytail and maybe accidentally drop some Trix up the sleeves, just so I can fully embrace my Liz Lemon-ness.
And then it was time to head for our last show.
Promises, Promises
This was the first show I was going to see not because of the show or the music, but because of the people in it. If someone gives you a chance to see Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway as close as you can get, you fucking take it. And we were pretty close: 5th row, left orchestra. At one point, Cheno was seriously 20 feet away from us, belting out a ballad and giving me chills.
Before the show, we grabbed our tickets and then headed down a street to try to find dinner and happened to be passing the stage door where a tiny, smile-y, blonde bundle was heading in. That's right, we got to see Kristin Chenoweth, live and in person on the street. She was short and looked very happy and it was awesome.
The show itself is very old musical, set in the 60s and very much a "now I'm going to break into song" sort of musical. Which is totally fine - if I didn't love musicals, this trip would have been stupid. It was the kind of show where Sean Hayes, the main character, spoke directly to the audience, which I enjoyed if only because it really gave him a chance to be funny. He also did some physical comedy, which he is fucking aces at. He's also a pretty good singer, and there was not one thought of sexual orientation on my mind, that stupid article about how no one can see him straight be damned.
At the beginning of the 2nd act, Katie Finneran, also known as the sister from Wonderfalls, shows up for a cameo (that earned her a Tony) that is absolutely hilarious. She and Sean's character are supposed to be very drunk, and then they have this drunken dance that is pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen. Everyone was DYING. At one point, Sean had to sit on a bar stool and he went a little wide and sat on it crazily, and he absolutely broke - it wasn't enough to ruin the scene or anything, he just laughed a little too much, and so everyone else did too. It was FANTASTIC - seriously, one of my favorite SNL skits ever is the one where Sean and Jimmy Fallon are snobs in a clothing store and Horatio Sanz is the guy they make fun of Will Ferrel shows up with a tiny cell phone and at one point they all break.
After the show, we waited outside the stage door to maybe see Cheno, but that place was a madhouse. We did see Sean come out and sign some stuff, and an older lady asked him what he planned on doing next, "maybe a TV show?" and his response was, "I'm actually doing this again tomorrow!" which is a story I've now told everyone I've talked to since then. I guess I just found him endearing!
We tried to head back to Next to Normal to catch our new boyfriend Adam Chanler-Berat, but we were too late and the theater was dark. So we just got some night cheese and headed back to our hotel, and the next day it poured and we got some Dunkin' Donuts (which I don't have here) and some coffee and then ate Thai food with Laura's friend Ally before going to the airport, where everything was delayed an hour and I took 12 hours to get from the hotel to my apartment.
I miss Laura already, but I had an absolutely fantastic time and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Also I'd like to see Next to Normal again and again and again.
There are spoilers in this song, but it's nothing too terrible. The way Gabe (Son) sings "Catch me, I'm falling," gets me every time, and the point where the music drops out and it's just this beat, like a heartbeat, seriously haunts me. Man, seriously, this entire show is beyond, I can't even.