Our annual pilgrimage to NYC is upon us. Like last year, we traveled from San Diego to New York City during Veterans Day weekend to see as many shows as possible and then add another one for giggles.
Our flight left at 7 a.m., and Emily nearly missed it because security was so long. I got to the gate first and talked to the agents. Grant waddled on over to the gate after an extended bathroom break that could only mean he was doing one thing, and Emily was dealing with security. The announcement that the gate was closing in five minutes triggered me to run to find her at security, grab her bags, and run back to the gate. TSA precheck, Emily??
The plane ride was uneventful, except they were sold out of food within the first flight attendant pass. Grant didn’t get any food, so he was hangry by the time the flight landed.
Upon landing, Grant zipped past everyone for Shake Shack to chow down on some grub. Hanger subsided. We took the Air Train and subway into the city. We were there and ready to check in to the hotel in about an hour. Last year, we stayed at the Sheraton; this year, it was the Hilton. Sheraton was in a better location, but Hilton was bigger —so each has pros and cons. Whoever has the lowest price is where we will stay next year as we have no loyalty to either one.
Checking in took forever. I tasked Grant with grabbing slices for us at Ray's. It’s not good, but it was close. After 15 minutes, he returns to tell me he’s off to get pizza. Grant had instead gone to the bathroom all that time and came back to tell me as if he was a puppy wanting a reward for going outside. My anger went from 0-100, and I quickly knew I had reached a hangry state as he had previously. When he returned with pizza, my hanger had subsided.
We dropped our bags off and went to Emily’s Wagamama restaurant. There we ate pot stickers, udon, and ramen. Grant left early because he was seeing a show that was different from Emily's and my own. The schedule was crafted this year to meet everyone's needs, so dividing and conquering was implemented. Grant wanted to see Drag the Musical, but I would not see that show in a million years. He won a lottery and could grab a seat for $50 near the front.
Emily and I made the wiser choice of seeing Death Becomes Her. Based on the 1992 movie of the same name, this brand-new musical was in previews and very challenging to get tickets to. Somehow, I found tickets in Orchestra for $99 a few days before the trip and quickly snagged them. We are so lucky I did, as we quickly found out that shows this weekend were tough to come by and those that were available were EXPENSIVE!
Death Becomes Her was awesome! Funny, witty, and had great pacing. To me, it made more sense as a musical than a movie. It just worked, and I recommend seeing it if you have a chance. If you have seen the movie, you know what happens, but it’s a fun ride getting to the end.
After the show, Emily and I went back to the hotel. Grant wandered over to his second show, Drunk Dracula, which he said was more fun for the actors than the audience. Doesn’t seem like a play I will be seeing anytime soon. When he got back, I was kicked out of bed and relegated to sleep on the cold, hard floor with only a single pillow. Emily and Grant laughed about how comfortable their bed was in comparison. Emily, taking pity on me, threw me a pillow, but the cruel Grant refused to share anything…shivering on the floor — I slept the evening too afraid to wake the sleeping, snoring giants that lay above me.
Okay, that may not be how it happened.…at all. I can sleep anywhere and agreed to sleep on the floor with pillows and a blanket. Grant was kind enough to grab a pillow topper from Target (that I returned before we left), and I happily slept without an issue.
The following day, I got up early to get rush seats to Once Upon A Mattress. Rush tickets are a last resort ticket when the normal sale or lotteries fail to produce anything. Grant got a ticket to Water for Elephants, but Emily and I drew blanks. For rush, you show up to the theater the day of the show when the box office opens and fight for the seats unsold. This usually works, but with the holiday weekend, people got to the theater hours before the box office opened and camped out. One guy wore this poncho/towel— he clearly was a pro. I got there 20 minutes before the doors opened and got nothing. I had a wonderful conversation with a couple from Nebraska who sold me on the play McNeal, and before I left the other show’s box office, I purchased two tickets to that show. A shuffling took place, Emily took Grant’s ticket for Water for Elephants, and Grant agreed to come with me to McNeal.
Before the shows, we needed to eat—anything but pizza. Last year, I found Becco, an Italian restaurant in the Times Square area that serves great food. We went again, and it lived up to the memory. Their speck with polenta is delicious, albeit lacking any nutrition. We ordered the short rib and it was okay. Emily was brilliant and ordered the chicken, which was delicious. She also ordered a round of pasta, which allowed her to sample the three kinds of pasta of the day. We unabashedly ate some of her pasta off her plate as we were utterly envious.
We all departed, with Emily heading for her musical and us to our play. She went to see Water for Elephants, which did not have any memorable song, but the acrobatics were supposedly the main draw.
McNeal, which starred Robert Downey Jr., was phenomenal. Grant thought it was a bit dry, but he wasn’t into the AI or writer aspect of the play. He is extremely affable even in a role where you aren’t supposed to like him, and I was captivated the entire time. Some people just have that confidence or swagger to carry a play, and he did just that.
Immediately following this play, I had scheduled another play that was a bit of a trek. Emily took a cab and we took the subway to see Strategic Love Play. It was terrible. I read it was well acted and that the play had a twist. The twist was that the play abruptly ended and didn’t resolve any of the discussed issues. It was well acted for the one dimensional characters, but the writing/story left me wanting something more…anything more…just terrible.
We all gladly hopped back on the subway and left for our final evening play at the MCC Theater. Not to self— next time we go to NYC, check to see what is playing here. This theater is small, but the talent they pull is incredible. The show that was on tap was Shit.Meet.Fan. Heavy hitters like Debra Messing, Jane Krakawski, Constance Woo, and other recognizable actors were in it. The one lead that was out for this showing was Neil Patrick Harris, which was a bummer since his alternate was not stellar.
The play was about a group of friend who get together and open their phones up to calls, texts, and emails for the evening— revealing their secret lives. Depravity and hilarity ensue. I think everyone enjoyed this one, and it ranked high on their list of top shows on the trip. We slowly walked back to the hotel, grabbing various snacks to complete a hodgepodge of dinner. We watched a few minutes of SNL in the hotel room before being relegated to my cold, wet, unsanitary floor bed that Emily and Grant forced me to sleep on again.
Sunday was the only day that was a big question mark. Prices for tickets were insane, and availability was terrible. After striking out on finding a reasonably priced show online, we settled on attempting to get rush tickets to Left on Tenth. I think we were only able to get tickets because their target audience— people near death— could not get their walkers there fast enough. Thankfully, Grant has two speedy feet that were able to dodge and weave through the walkers to get to the box office and get 3 orchestra seats for $45. It was a steal considering what prices were going for. In the future, Grant is not allowed to hold onto paper tickets because he lost his before the show, but thankfully was able to recover it.
Since the show didn’t start until later, we ate at an Argentinian restaurant called Palermo. It was good. Tiny. It's about 6 tables, but it's good. Filled us up before the show began. The show chronicled Nora Ephron’s story of loss, love, and the power of email to rekindle romance. Also, her hate of Verizon made me laugh as I shared this disdain. It was okay, it was headlined by Julian Margalis, who I loved, but her performance was a bit off. Her falling in love was painful to watch, but her hospital scenes were lively and lovely. I enjoyed it, but it didn’t hold a candle to what we had seen previously.
That was it. 5 shows in 2 1/2 days. We squeezed in as much as possible in the short time we had. Had Emily had TSA precheck we may have been able to squeeze one more in, but alas she refuses. I seriously doubt we would have been able to see anything else, but I still will tease her until she uses her TSA gift card we got her. We got to the airport early, grabbed food, the plane was on time, and landed on time. Another year down, and many more to go.
