Exploring Massachusetts! 11.17.12 Fabi, Kristin, Melisa, and I had scored tickets to Next To Normal in Concord, MA. We were excited for the show, but I think I was MORE excited for the day we had planned prior to the show! We had planned to get up there early and tour the Orchard House(Louisa May Alcott house), Sleepy Hollow Cemetery(Where all the great writers were buried) and Walden Pond. Melisa, Kristin, and I have all lived in Massachusetts our whole lives. Fabi lives in Rhode Island. Out of the four of us, only Melisa had been up here! The day was gorgeous! We got up there and got right on the tour. Our guide, Nancy, was very informative. I enjoyed hearing about the family and the influence her sisters had on Louisa May Alcott's novel, Little Women. The house was filled with gorgeous pictures and paintings, most drawn by Alcott's youngest sister, May, who was portrayed as Amy in the novel. Beth's piano was there, there were two of them. The history was amazing. All I can say is, go to Concord and take the tour. It is worthwhile, and historical!

After, we went to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. We saw the stone of French, designer of the Lincoln Memorial and student of May Alcott. We also saw Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Alcott's stones. It was a very nice, pretty cemetery.

Finally, we went to Walden Pond. SUCH a pretty place! I can only imagine how gorgeous it is in the summer! So peaceful and quiet! I will be coming back!

We saw Next To Normal at night. I think the show was very well done with the cast members for the most part talented. The woman playing Diana may have been having an off day, her voice wasn't the best. I am hoping if I see her again I can hear how her true voice is. The guys playing Dr Madden/Dr Fine and Henry were HOT! Good production, I will be back for more!

NYC 11.3.12

Today, Kristin and I went to NYC. I was a little nervous because Hurricane Sandy had just hit, and devastated most of NY and NJ, but Midtown was good, only saw a couple of ATM's shut down. Times Square was pretty deserted for a Saturday, though. We already had our show tickets, so we went around looking for tickets for Dec 1, and I got Rockettes, A Christmas Story, and Annie :) The city is getting ready for Christmas :) Our first show was The Mystery of Edwin Drood. This was written by Charles Dickens, and he passed away before he could finish it. It was sort of a Murder-Mystery, and the audience got to pick who the murderer was. The plot was about Edwin Drood, played by the wonderfully talented Stephanie J Block, who was the nephew of Jasper, played by Will Chase. Drood was betrothed to Rosa Bud, played by Betsy Wolfe. Jasper was infatuated with Rosa, and wanted Drood out of the picture. Rosa lived in a Nun's House because she was orphaned, and a tempestuous woman named Helena, played by Jessie Mueller, was orphaned,moved in and became friends with Rosa. Her brother Neville, played by Andy Karl, was in the hands of Rev Crisparkle, played by Gregg Edelman, to be his apprentice. Neville, who was known to have a violent side, fell instantly in love with Rosa. Jasper had a little habit of going to Princess Puffer's Opium Den(Princess Puffer was played by the always amazing Chita Rivera) and one of the times there, after he got high, he yelled out Rosa Bud's name, which alerted Princess Puffer to possible danger. Meanwhile, Jasper met with the local cemetery keeper, Durdles,played by Richard Creighton, to see the crypt of the mayors wife. Sneakily, he steals the key to the crypt, which is big enough for the Royal Family. Later that evening, Rosa and Edwin call off their engagement, vowing to keep it a secret for the moment because it was the holidays. They go to Jaspers house for Christmas. When everyone is ready to leave, they all part ways, Neville with Drood, Crisparkle with Helena and Rosa, Jasper on his own. The next day, Drood was missing, with it appearing to be Neville as the murderer. Act 1 ends. Act 2 begins with Princess Puffer and a new character, Dick Dratcher, as sleuths trying to crack the case of the murder.It comes down to 7 potential murderers: Jasper, Princess Puffer, Neville, Durdles, Crisparkle, Helena, and Rosa. Now the fun part! The audience got to pick the murderer! Our audience chose Rosa, and she sang a wonderfully wicked song about how it happened and it was meant for Jasper, but Drood was wearing Jaspers coat and in the dark she didn't know it wasn't Jasper. The next part was even better, as the audience got to pick which of the remaining lead males and females got to be lovers. Our audience chose Helena and Neville!! They are brother and sister! They had to sing a love song and they improvised it, one of the funniest improvs Ive ever seen! I kind of want to go back and see it with all of the possible endings and choices, but it is a limited run show, sadly! It was hysterically funny, and looked like such a fun show to do! The cast confirmed that at the stage door! Stage door was wonderful, got pretty much the entire cast except Chita Rivera, because she was in physical therapy. A little disappointing, but in the long run can't complain! There were also a couple of interesting twists :) All I can say is, DEFINITELY WORTH SEEING! I also want to mention there was a character named Deputy,played by Nicholas Barasch, the son of Durdles, who was a secondary character. He was the youngest member of the cast, at age 14. He performed well, and was very sweet and professional at the stage door. I look forward to seeing him in future productions! Our second show was called The Performers. It was a 90 minute show, with no intermission. This show promised to be funny, and it did not lie! The cast consisted of 6 people: Mandrew Roddick, played by Cheyenne Jackson Peeps, played by Ari Graynor Sundown LeMay, played by Jenni Barber Lee, played by Daniel Breaker Sara, played by Alicia Silverstone and Chuck Wood, played by Henry Winkler. Do the names of the characters give you any idea as to what the show is about yet? No? Read on! First, I do want to say for parents, don't let your children under age 16 see this show! So. The Performers is about 6 people, 4 of them are actors in the adult industry, and the other two are an engaged, relatively normal couple. The show opens with actor Mandrew Roddick doing an interview with his old high school friend Lee, who is a reporter for the New York Post. Mandrew is preparing to fly to Vegas for the Adult Film Awards, along with his wife Peeps, who is also in the industry. Mandrew is explaining the plot to one of his recent films, and encouraging Lee to join him in recreating a scene so he got the idea. He is also bemoaning his personal life with Peeps, who he said is a dinosaur-literally. She has been seeing a therapist for her problems, and the therapist encourages her to roar like a dinosaur to work through her emotions. As Mandrew is explaining this, the door flings open with a loud roar. Peeps bursts through, upset that a friend of hers in the business got implants, which means she will get more jobs, while Peeps is stuck in more matronly roles. Mandrew tries to comfort her, but only succeeds in making her more upset. Mandrew convinces Lee to join them after the awards for the after party, which Lee begrudgingly agrees to. Scene changes to Lee and his fiancee Sara's room. Lee and Sara are having a discussion about being an ordinary couple with not much spontaneity. This soon turns into an argument, as things that are said are misconstrued. Sara was supposed to take in a Barry Manilow concert in Vegas while Lee went to the Adult Film Awards to finish his interview on Mandrew. She expects to see Lee after the awards, but is dismayed to find out that he will be staying for the after party. She leaves the room in anger. Back in Mandrew and Peeps' room, she is practicing her lines for presenting at the show. Mandrew is more concerned with his reaction faces. Peeps tells him she is pregnant, and Mandrew is thrilled. However, he chooses this time to tell her he kissed her best friend, Sundown LeMay. The already crazy Peeps can't handle this information, even though her and her husband are both involved in adult entertainment, because kissing is the one thing they kept sacred between them. This is more than Peeps can handle, and she panics, wondering how she can possibly present side by side with her friend after knowing what she did with her husband. Enraged and wishing to hurt him, she informs him that she looked in the envelope and her husband doesn't win best male performance, another actor named Chuck Wood does. In the lobby of the awards theatre, we see Sara having a drink. In walks the famous Chuck Wood, with Sundown LeMay on his arm. He sees Sara and pours on the flattery of how he likes her "natural" look. Sara wasn't into it at first, but then sees her husband and decides to use Chuck for her newfound spontaneity, and accepts Chucks invitation to the awards, front row, and also to the after party, much to Lee's dismay. Lee is left with Sundown LeMay, and both of them are confused as to what just happened, how his wife left with Chuck, and how Chuck was Sundown's date for the evening. At the Awards, we see Sundown practicing her lines, and Peeps comes in. They have a discussion where Sundown tells her that her newest "additions" were done spur of the moment, and she hadn't had the opportunity to inform Peeps before it was done, she wasn't trying to hide it from her. Peeps is still angry, so during the presentation they end up wrestling on the floor in anger. As Peeps promised, Chuck Wood won best male performance. Mandrew is beside himself, but he and Lee go to the after party as planned, but Lee with a plan of finding his wife before Chuck Wood convinces her to join his repartee. Meanwhile, Sara has headed back to her room and has collapsed on the bed. No sooner has she shut her eyes, but there is a knock on the door. Peeps enters, claiming she needed to use the bathroom as hers is clogged. Sara allows her to use her bathroom, and the Peeps reveals she just wanted to talk to her because she seemed to have it together with her relationship. Sara tells her that she is uncertain and scared that what if Lee isn't enough for her, or her for him? The women form a strange friendship, and decide to switch places, Peeps wants to be more like Sara, with her "boring" life and Sara wants to spice up her life. They change clothes in the bathroom. While doing that, Mandrew and Lee show up, Lee is blindfolded. Mandrew is trying to make him feel better, so as a surprise he has Sundown LeMay show up to give Lee a night he won't forget. With incredibly bad timing, Sara exits the bathroom with Peeps in tow, only to see Sundown give Lee a passionate kiss. Upset that Lee is "cheating" on her and not realizing that he had nothing to do with it, she runs from the room. Lee is furious at Mandrew. Mandrew ends up in the hotel lounge, where he finds Chuck Wood. Chuck gives him some valuable advice, and Mandrew leaves in search of his wife, to try and make things up to her. Sara ends up drunk, in Peeps' and Mandrew's room alone. There is a knock at the door, and it is Chuck Wood, looking for Mandrew. Feeling depressed that Lee "cheated," she tries, in her drunken state, to chase him around the room and unsuccessfully seduce him. Peeps returns from her errand, and all three end up watching Mandrew's latest video, looking for clues that he indeed did have a thing for Sundown. Chuck tells her that Mandrew is only acting, and that the scenes he does with her are the real deal, because of their passion and love for her. Peeps is very happy with this information. Just then, Lee bursts in looking for Sara. She tells him he "cheated" on her, so she "cheated" on him with Chuck. Sundown is also in the room at this point, and Lee and Sundown explain to her that he never cheated, it was her, and Lee was a perfectly respectable fiancee, who wouldn't even touch her. Chuck explains to Lee that he never touched Sara. Sara and Lee make up. Finally, the man of the hour, who everyone has been searching for, finally shows up. He had bought Peeps a present, a picture frame for the baby. They make up. Everything is back to normal, and the show ends. Doesn't sound so bad, right? What have I left out? Many f-bombs, for starters. And some of the BEST one-liners I have heard in a long time, none which are suitable for printing, at least not on this blog! If you have a great sense of humor, go see this, it is nonstop laughing. If you are stuffy and can't handle things that are off-color, skip this one. Most of my friends would find this hysterical! Stage door was EXCELLENT! They all came out, and were all incredibly nice! Ari Graynor as Peeps probably stole the show, she was kind of like Brittany from Glee. Alicia Silverstone was very softspoken and sweet. Jenni Barber was super sweet. Daniel Breaker is a favorite of mine, I saw him in Shrek 3 years ago and he was fantastic in that also as Donkey! Cheyenne Jackson is GORGEOUS, and really nice! But my favorite was Henry Winkler, aka The Fonz! He was so personable and kind! I told him I had seen him perform with the Boston Pops several years ago in Hyannis, and he said he liked doing that :) For 71 years old, he is still going strong and is fantastic! :) I did feel bad for him during the show, when he was running from Sara they ran across the bed and across a nightstand, and the nightstand(which moved to indicate different hotel rooms) gave way with Henry on it, and he fell. He was down for several seconds, but then got back up and even tried to fix the defective nightstand! At the stage door, he was asked if he was okay from his fall, and he was like, "Oh yea! I'm fine!" Such a trooper, as it was a hard fall! Hopefully that doesn't happen again! Not sure how long this show is running for, but I would definitely see it again!