December 1, 2012-NYC Today was a Triple-Show day! We got to NYC pretty early(gotta love the express train they run at Christmas!) and we went straight to the booth theatre to get Kristin her Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Ticket. Then we went to Dylan's Candy Bar, where I had to stock up on my Red Velvet Cake Candy Bars! We had taken the long way to Dylan's, up the gorgeously decorated 5th Avenue, so it took us awhile! We left Dylan's at 11:15 am. I had tickets to the Rockettes @ 11:30. On my way to the Rockettes, I realized that I had brought my receipt for the ticket and not the actual ticket! The Rockettes staff was awesome though, they figured out where my seat was and I only missed the first 5 minutes The Rockettes were amazing, it was their 85th Anniversary show, and they had changed some things which I really liked! I will go back in 5 years probably. Maybe every 5 years is perfect! Though the Rockettes really put you in that Christmas Spirit, I was sad I didn't get to spend more time walking around 5th Avenue and seeing the Christmas Decorations! After the Rockettes, I went over to see the Rockefeller Tree and the skating, and of course the angels and toy soldiers they had set up. Gorgeous as always! I couldn't stay long though, because I had tickets at 2 to A Christmas Story. A Christmas Story was fantastic! This was a new Christmas show for the season, and they didn't disappoint! They followed the storyline impeccably, and the music was fun. The cast was extremely talented! They even had real hound dogs on the stage! One of the best scenes was the leg lamp dance. Hysterical! However, in the show, one of the patrons several rows ahead of me had a stroke. She apparently has TIA, but they had to escort her out of the theatre on a gurney. Scary!! I'd never seen that happen before! Of course, I had to take my picture with the pink bunny suit! Great show! After A Christmas Story, I went over to Macys to meet the Man of the Season himself, Santa Claus! The line wasn't bad, (Though this was Dec 1, at around 430 pm!) The Enchanted Village was wonderfully done, as always! And I got my traditional picture with Santa :) After seeing Santa, I met up again with Kristin for a very special Lion King Exhibit. Lion King is celebrating 15 years on Broadway, so they had set up a pop-up exhibit of costumes and props, and you could take pictures with everything. It was only up for two weeks, so we were lucky to catch it! And it was for free! :) After the Lion King exhibit, we went to the gorgeous Bryant Park to see the tree and skaters, and then we went to see Annie(My third and final show of the day!) Annie was phenomenal! I really enjoyed it! Katie Finneran was awesome as Miss Hannigan!Very good revival! After that we boarded the train to come home. Busy but fun day! And it flew by so incredibly fast!

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!

10.6.12 Leah, Kristin, and I all went to NYC. The plan for Leah and I was to see Rock of Ages matinee, a 6pm Naked Boys Singing, and an 8pm Forbidden Broadway. Kristin was going to do Forbidden Broadway with us. Being a huge fan of Forbidden Broadway for years now, this was the show I was most excited about. It was one of those days where you couldn't catch a Rush break. Leah and I got in line for Rock of Ages(yes, I said line!! Last year, Alaina and I went to Rock of Ages after the Hair matinee...around 5 pm and got rush tickets no problem. This year, because of the damn(suckish) movie, we had a line.) So there are two girls in front of us, who didn't have cash. They told the box office rep they would be back. Leah and I get up there, and he says he has one rush ticket left. I let her have it, as I had seen the show many times before, and I was not willing to spend $69(the next cheapest tier.) Leah later told me those girls who had left had come back...they were two rows ahead of her. They aren't supposed to hold rush tickets, it's first come first served. I shoulda called him on it. So this left me trying to find a show. Went over to Nice Work If You Can Get It(solely because I love Matthew Broderick). Of course, nothing was left. So I am wandering down the streets, going to meet up with Kristin, who is at Newsies(and scored 3rd row center for a pretty decent price!) and I end up on 42nd St. Scrolling through my phone, looking for discounts and shows on my "must-see" list. I end up across the street from an off-broadway show called Cock. I had been intrigued by Cock for awhile, but I had thought it had closed in September. I look at the marquee, and by sheer luck, saw that Cock was actually closing today! I was like well, it doesn't hurt to check it out! So I stayed outside the theatre for a half hour, only to go in to be told I had to wait ANOTHER half hour, til 1230, before I could rush.(So far, I had spent most of my day in line!) So I finally go in, and I scored a matinee ticket for $25. My show didn't start til 230, so I met up with my friends for a quick lunch and then we all went to our respective shows. Cock was about a gay couple. The first scene they were in love, and everything was fine. Next scene they are arguing, and one calls it off, much to the shock of the other. The next scene, the one who calls it off is telling his ex lover that he met someone and they are great but he's not over him, and SHE would very much like him to be, so they could be together. This shocked the partner, and he flips out over this. Then its almost a rewind, and it shows how the partner who ended it, John, met this girl and how their relationship has progressed to the point where she wants to sit down with John and his former partner to discuss the future. So we are brought up to date, and John, his new gf, his ex bf, and his ex bf's father are all discussing matters, and ultimately it ends with John being forced to make a decision. The story was actually hilarious! It was British humour, which I love I laughed through most of it! I don't know why the show is closing, the theatre was filled, it was a tiny theatre, with bleacher style seats made of wood and the stage was a circle. It was 90 minutes, no intermission, and those seats aren't the best! You will notice I only called one character by name. John was the only character who HAD a name. Not sure why. I would love to get a script. All I know is, it was hysterical, and I really enjoyed it! So after Cock, Leah still has about 20 minutes before her show ends, so I head over to Naked Boys Singing. I did get tickets for $21.50. I go and meet Leah, find Kristin, and we all go to Starbucks. Naked Boys was funny, and exactly what it sounds like. I had seen it before, in Provincetown a couple years ago. One of the guys I had seen up there was actually in this performance! I love the songs, they are so entertaining, and you don't really notice the naked after awhile. And of course, the guys are all good looking! Another quick, 90 minute show. So it is FINALLY time to try and get tickets for Forbidden Broadway(It is 730pm now) and we head over to 47th St. We go in, first we are told that they had student rush, then they told us they wouldn't take our ID's because of NO EXPIRATION DATE!!! That was bs. How is it our fault that our schools don't PUT expiration dates on them?! She offered us one seat for $29, and 2 for $70. We passed, I refuse to spend $70 on off-Broadway! What to do?! We didn't have a backup plan. We tried Chicago, they laughed at us(shows were starting in 30 minutes!) so we chose Mamma Mia. We scored standing room tickets for $27. Mamma Mia was excellent, as always. We stood the first half, and then an usher found us seats for the second half, 11 rows from the front! Awesome!! A long but fun day....with unexpected shows. I am glad Rock of Ages turned out the way it did, because I got to see Cock. Still not happy with Forbidden Broadway's treatment of us, and because of that I am MUCH less inclined to see the show now. We will see. To round out the year, we are planning on The Mystery of Edwin Drood Nov 3 matinee($22, we already got them because we belong to a program called Hiptix for people under 35!) and Annie, which we will probably have to buy in advance, as they are not offering rush, just lottery, and lottery is rigged on Broadway(they suck!!!) and I refuse to pay $70+ for Annie. Dec 1 we are also hopefully planning, and that day my MUST see is A Christmas Story. After deliberating, I think I am going to try to get tickets for Newsical. That closes Jan 6, and it sounds hilarious. As always, I have backup plans, but I will buy Christmas Story in advance if I have to....no way am I missing that one! Things can change though. We will see!

10.5.12 Roger Williams Zoo Jack o Lantern Spectacular I go yearly to this event! This year's theme was shows from the Stage and Screen, so naturally I was excited! They did this IMO the best this year...things were more organized with the majority of the really awesome, intricately detailed pumpkins on one side, and the regular carved pumpkins on the other, so it wasn't a mass cluster. I also went the 2nd day after it opened, around 8 pm. There was no lines, and only a little bit of waiting once inside. As always, I was not disappointed! I love this yearly tradition!

Alaska 9.9-916.12

So we went on a cruise to Alaska! We started the trip in Seattle, WA. We went to the Boeing Factory, where we learned such things that it takes 3 million parts to make a Boeing plane, and half of those are nuts, bolts, screws, etc. We got see planes-in-the-making, for the new Dreamliner series. We werent allowed to take pics in the factory. It was a nice, sunny day. I wish I could have seen more in Seattle, but I will def be back!

We left on Sunday for Vancouver, Canada, where we picked up our boat, Holland America's Statendam. The water was very rocky that first day, and almost everyone wasn't feeling well. By about 4 pm on Monday, the water had calmed down. We had quality entertainment on board, and the first night was Tiffany and the HALcats, and they were great, they did a bunch of cover songs. Tiffany was amazing! Ollie, a guitarist who sang back up vocals on some songs, was awesome. I loved watching him play, he was hot, and he was into his music which was fantastic to watch! On Monday night it was formal night, and the entertainment was Showroom at Sea. They consisted of Nathan Holland, Jordan Miller, Joseph Alhomora(sp?), Carenza Laguerre(sp?), Robyn Gayle, and Sean Samura. They were amazing! All of them! Wonderful voices and talent...Broadway should snap them all up(or put them back on, in Nathan's case!) ON Tuesday, we were in Ketchikan, AK. It was raining, so we pretty much went shopping and saw The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. It was funny, kinda hokey. Not my usual idea of a good time, but the audience seemed to love it! Back on the boat we saw a comedian named Mike Robinson. He was a ventriloquist, and very good and funny!

On Wednesday we were in Juneau. STILL raining lol but we went on a Musher's Summer Sled, got to pet the husky dogs and the puppies, and learned about the Yukon and Iditarod races. Very interesting experience! After that we went to Mendenhall Glacier(such a pretty area, even in the rain!) we saw the Glacier and a rainbow trout and a salmon and a porcupine. No bears though! Then we took Mount Roberts tramway 2500 feet up a mountain. We saw a movie about the Tlinglit people, and a family of string performers who were excellent. We also saw an eagle, she was in captivity because she lost her eye and some of her beak. Her name was Lady Baltimore. Back on the boat we saw Showroom at Sea performers as "Four Corners", a show pretty much based on The Four Seasons. A shorter Jersey Boys type show. It was very good! Such talent!

On Thursday, we were in Skagway, AK. Raining AGAIN(and this rain all week was not nice light rain mind you. It was cold, torrential rain.)I loved Skagway. It was a cute town! We saw a show, Days of '98, about the gold rush and Soapy Smith. We went on a Ghosts and Goodtime Girls tour, about the prostitutes and red light district during the gold rush. The interesting thing during that tour, we went to an area where there were three ghost stories told to us. I started snapping pics all over that area, hoping to snag some orbs. When I looked at my pics after, not ONE of that area even showed up on the role! So freaky! We also went to a museum that had a lot of scrimshaw pieces. It was free, and nice. Our ship entertainment that night was another comedian, he did impersonations and he was funny!

Friday we were supposed to go thru Glacier Bay. However, the weather was going to be hurricane force winds with 28 foot swells, so our captain decided to skip Glacier Bay(much to my dismay) and get us docked safely at Seward. So Saturday, they scrounged to get us some shore excursions. We went to the Sea Life Center and climbed Exit Glacier in the freezing cold torrential rains. They had given us an option to either wade through rivers to touch the glacier or climb 200 feet up to get the best shot of the glacier. We opted for the second option, thinking we would stay dryer. NOPE! From the waste down we were soaked! And freezing! But it was an accomplishment to get to the top! When we got back, the boat had a blackout. I was in the shower when that happened. I managed to finish my shower and get dressed in the dark. It was pitch black, and they had nothing but egg salad sandwiches for us to eat.(Gross!) The entertainment on Friday was Carenza and Jordan performing different songs. Both had operatic voices and it was delightful to hear them! Saturday was like a cabaret, had a little bit of talent from Tiffany and the HALcats, Showroom at sea, and the comedian. An excellent show!

Sunday we took a shuttle to the Anchorage airport. We stopped at an overlook and at the Wildlife Center. Arriving at the airport, it was sunny. Go figure. We dropped off our luggage and went to the Anchorage Museum and the mall. Anchorage had apparently had a power outage for two days. United had cancelled a flight and bumped passengers to Delta. We didnt get on our flights. While waiting for ma to get us rescheduled, I noticed a girl had my name on her boarding pass. I questioned her about it, (there is a possibility she has my name after all) and it turns out she did not have my name. NO IDEA how TSA let her in when her id wouldnt match her boarding pass! Long story short, we ended up living in the airport for a couple days. Delta had jacked their flights up to $4400!! We took Alaska Air for $771. Well worth it to come home! My luggage had arrived before we did, and luckily none of my snowglobes broke! It was an interesting trip, I was excited I managed to leave during the day and not at night like I was supposed to. I got awesome shots of glaciers and mountains, not to mention a gorgeous Seattle sunset and amazing Boston sunrise as we left and arrived!