My Theatrical New York Week
Posted by Shawn Hann on Monday, July 18, 2011
Under: Treasurer
Hello All,
This is my first official treasurer blog post! So yay for that. I guess I'm here to tell you about my amazing week with my mother. Oh, and mom, if you're reading this, THANK YOU, it was an amazing week and thank you so much for all the beautiful shows you took me too. Really. I appreciate it. So anyways...It all started out on Sunday morning (more like night it was still dark outside) fast forward 6 or 7 hours BAM we're in New York, easy as pie.
On Sunday, lets call it day one. We didn't really do much, we met up with my cousin and aunt(I don't know why you would care) and had molecular engineered food (yum).
Okay Day 2: We met with my cousin and aunt(still don't know why you would care), spent the day in central park, row boated(got terrible blisters) and saw Hair. It was out for 10 weeks and we just happened to be in town. We got tickets last minute and I'm so glad we did. The cast was excellent, hilarious, and naked. Overall, I really enjoyed the show, my only problem was that for the first act the orchestra was overpowering the actors terribly, it was a shame. Act two though the sound was much better and the show was very enjoyable. I kind of want to be a hippie myself.
Alright Day 3: So we met up with my cousin and Aunt (need I even say it anymore), we spent the day together, we went to the Strand book store (amazing Shakespeare collection, with rare $900 copies of certain plays). Later that evening we saw Harry Potter himself in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Such a great show, the work Daniel Radcliffe put into his role was incredible. There was no hint of an English accent and his dancing was spectacular, as good as the ensembles, which is impressive because he had never danced before the production. His singing was good, nothing special, but still impressive. Now, here's something I think some of you may disagree with. I thoroughly enjoyed this production and I thoroughly enjoyed John Larroquette, but I think Joel Grey should have won the Tony for Anything Goes.
SSSSSSSSOOOOOOO Day 4: My cousin and Aunt left the city(I know you'll miss 'em) and we went to see the matinee of Anything Goes. Yes Sutton deserved best actress, and yes she belted for us(no words can describe). The cast was so on top of their game. Really an impressive show, although, I have to agree with Mr. Becker, the swinging doors on the nationals set was a great idea and I actually wish this production had it as well. Later that night, my mother and I caught Catch Me if you Can, another fun show. Not my favorite, but a really great cast. Norbert Leo Butz also deserved his Tony and Aaron Tveit is just really frickin' hot. In fact this whole show is kind of a great big pile of hot, what with the showgirls and Aaron...need I say more?
Day 5: A nice simple day. My mother and I just kind of walked around all day in the Columbus Circle and Central Park West area. It was nice refreshing, and I had the best spicy edamame at Sushi-a Go Go. We went to this thrift store called Housing Works, and then in the evening we saw Sister Act. I was a little scared for this one. I hadn't really heard anything about it and I was afraid it wasn't going to be so good, but it was. I mean, it took a little while to pick up, but once it did...WOW, it really picked up. The talent was incredible and I'm sure some of my enjoyment from this show came from being raised Catholic and having seen absurdly strict and stiff nuns and priests. Also, you'd be surprised by how much a costume designer can accomplish with simple nun habits.
Day 6: Good day. My mother and I headed over to 40th to go to The Drama Book Shop. What a wonderful place. We were probably there for 2 hours looking for scenes and monologues for my intimidating junior year.We saw Harry Potter at the Ziegfeld Theatre (which used to be a broadway theatre, but is now a movie theatre) and the house was practically empty. The movie was excellent, but there were like 900 empty seats, so when people clapped it felt kind of awkward. Later that night we saw the controversial Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark. Well.............it was..............something. Visually, it was amazing, so interesting to watch, the set and the fly system blew my mind. WARNING: THE NEXT FEW THINGS I"M ABOUT TO SAY ARE GOING TO BE VERY BLUNT. The music was terrible, what the heck was Bono thinking? He should've been the one to get fired. The dancing was practically lifeless, there was no energy. The costumes were, in my opinion, distracting. They were creative, yes, and I liked about half of the sinister six's costumes. Peter Parker had no transition and transformation into spider man, there was no arch, it was like, "I'm not spiderman, I am spider man." Both leads though had excellent voices, I'm not sure if I liked how they sounded together, but they both had very good voices. These are just my opinions though, some people actually really liked it. The show has a good message and again visually it's a masterpiece.
Day 7: We had a late breakfast and went straight to our matinee of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Three drag queens road tripping through Australia. It was certainly entertaining and it won best costumes for a reason. The story was engaging in the beginning of the show, but not carried out very well. It was a flashy, glitzy, and glamorous production but it's not one of those shows that you would want to see again. It was fun, but only fun. Later that night we went and saw War Horse at the Lincoln Center, guess who happened to be going to the same performance? Ms. Hann! What a small world. All I have to say it that this was the most beautiful, engaging, inspiring, tear jerking show I have ever seen. Brilliant theatre, brilliant production, amazing show, it deserved best play. I wish I could share this production with everyone I know. This show is why I do theatre and it's this kind of show that gives me inspiration.
Day 8: This was our last day in the city. My mother and I desperately wanted to see Book of Mormon, so like a week before we left we searched the internet everywhere for seats that weren't $800 each. Finally, we came across two seats, that weren't next to each other, and that had partially obstructed views. We figured, why not try our luck at the seat drawing lottery? We had to get to the theatre 2.5 hours before the performance, stand around with 300 other people trying to win tickets, and put our name into this huge basket. The first 14 seats drawn would be given the front row, and the next 8 would be given slightly obstructed box seats. Believe it or not my name was drawn 3rd and my mother and I received 2 tickets front row center! I never win anything, so this was a miracle to be sure! Ms. Hann took our extra seat and checked her texts just in the nick of time to make it! We sneakily sold our other ticket to a woman waiting in the cancellation line for available seats. The show was crude, crass, hilarious, brilliant, and wonderful. It was everything I thought it would be and I'm so happy that I got to see it. Really, a great show. It's one of those shows that just puts you in a good mood.
So, that was my trip. It was really lovely and I'm so glad that I can write about theatrical things on here. I want to thank my mom again for such a fantastic time. I guess before I post this I'll rank my shows in order of favoritism....
1: War Horse
2: Book of Mormon
3: Anything Goes
4: How to Succeed
5: Sister Act
6: Hair
7: Catch Me if you Can
8: Priscilla
9: Spiderman
Nothing was bad at all, but if I had to order them, that's what I would rank them. Have a fantastic rest of your summer. Cant wait to see you all again soon.
-Marlo :)
This is my first official treasurer blog post! So yay for that. I guess I'm here to tell you about my amazing week with my mother. Oh, and mom, if you're reading this, THANK YOU, it was an amazing week and thank you so much for all the beautiful shows you took me too. Really. I appreciate it. So anyways...It all started out on Sunday morning (more like night it was still dark outside) fast forward 6 or 7 hours BAM we're in New York, easy as pie.
On Sunday, lets call it day one. We didn't really do much, we met up with my cousin and aunt(I don't know why you would care) and had molecular engineered food (yum).
Okay Day 2: We met with my cousin and aunt(still don't know why you would care), spent the day in central park, row boated(got terrible blisters) and saw Hair. It was out for 10 weeks and we just happened to be in town. We got tickets last minute and I'm so glad we did. The cast was excellent, hilarious, and naked. Overall, I really enjoyed the show, my only problem was that for the first act the orchestra was overpowering the actors terribly, it was a shame. Act two though the sound was much better and the show was very enjoyable. I kind of want to be a hippie myself.
Alright Day 3: So we met up with my cousin and Aunt (need I even say it anymore), we spent the day together, we went to the Strand book store (amazing Shakespeare collection, with rare $900 copies of certain plays). Later that evening we saw Harry Potter himself in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Such a great show, the work Daniel Radcliffe put into his role was incredible. There was no hint of an English accent and his dancing was spectacular, as good as the ensembles, which is impressive because he had never danced before the production. His singing was good, nothing special, but still impressive. Now, here's something I think some of you may disagree with. I thoroughly enjoyed this production and I thoroughly enjoyed John Larroquette, but I think Joel Grey should have won the Tony for Anything Goes.
SSSSSSSSOOOOOOO Day 4: My cousin and Aunt left the city(I know you'll miss 'em) and we went to see the matinee of Anything Goes. Yes Sutton deserved best actress, and yes she belted for us(no words can describe). The cast was so on top of their game. Really an impressive show, although, I have to agree with Mr. Becker, the swinging doors on the nationals set was a great idea and I actually wish this production had it as well. Later that night, my mother and I caught Catch Me if you Can, another fun show. Not my favorite, but a really great cast. Norbert Leo Butz also deserved his Tony and Aaron Tveit is just really frickin' hot. In fact this whole show is kind of a great big pile of hot, what with the showgirls and Aaron...need I say more?
Day 5: A nice simple day. My mother and I just kind of walked around all day in the Columbus Circle and Central Park West area. It was nice refreshing, and I had the best spicy edamame at Sushi-a Go Go. We went to this thrift store called Housing Works, and then in the evening we saw Sister Act. I was a little scared for this one. I hadn't really heard anything about it and I was afraid it wasn't going to be so good, but it was. I mean, it took a little while to pick up, but once it did...WOW, it really picked up. The talent was incredible and I'm sure some of my enjoyment from this show came from being raised Catholic and having seen absurdly strict and stiff nuns and priests. Also, you'd be surprised by how much a costume designer can accomplish with simple nun habits.
Day 6: Good day. My mother and I headed over to 40th to go to The Drama Book Shop. What a wonderful place. We were probably there for 2 hours looking for scenes and monologues for my intimidating junior year.We saw Harry Potter at the Ziegfeld Theatre (which used to be a broadway theatre, but is now a movie theatre) and the house was practically empty. The movie was excellent, but there were like 900 empty seats, so when people clapped it felt kind of awkward. Later that night we saw the controversial Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark. Well.............it was..............something. Visually, it was amazing, so interesting to watch, the set and the fly system blew my mind. WARNING: THE NEXT FEW THINGS I"M ABOUT TO SAY ARE GOING TO BE VERY BLUNT. The music was terrible, what the heck was Bono thinking? He should've been the one to get fired. The dancing was practically lifeless, there was no energy. The costumes were, in my opinion, distracting. They were creative, yes, and I liked about half of the sinister six's costumes. Peter Parker had no transition and transformation into spider man, there was no arch, it was like, "I'm not spiderman, I am spider man." Both leads though had excellent voices, I'm not sure if I liked how they sounded together, but they both had very good voices. These are just my opinions though, some people actually really liked it. The show has a good message and again visually it's a masterpiece.
Day 7: We had a late breakfast and went straight to our matinee of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Three drag queens road tripping through Australia. It was certainly entertaining and it won best costumes for a reason. The story was engaging in the beginning of the show, but not carried out very well. It was a flashy, glitzy, and glamorous production but it's not one of those shows that you would want to see again. It was fun, but only fun. Later that night we went and saw War Horse at the Lincoln Center, guess who happened to be going to the same performance? Ms. Hann! What a small world. All I have to say it that this was the most beautiful, engaging, inspiring, tear jerking show I have ever seen. Brilliant theatre, brilliant production, amazing show, it deserved best play. I wish I could share this production with everyone I know. This show is why I do theatre and it's this kind of show that gives me inspiration.
Day 8: This was our last day in the city. My mother and I desperately wanted to see Book of Mormon, so like a week before we left we searched the internet everywhere for seats that weren't $800 each. Finally, we came across two seats, that weren't next to each other, and that had partially obstructed views. We figured, why not try our luck at the seat drawing lottery? We had to get to the theatre 2.5 hours before the performance, stand around with 300 other people trying to win tickets, and put our name into this huge basket. The first 14 seats drawn would be given the front row, and the next 8 would be given slightly obstructed box seats. Believe it or not my name was drawn 3rd and my mother and I received 2 tickets front row center! I never win anything, so this was a miracle to be sure! Ms. Hann took our extra seat and checked her texts just in the nick of time to make it! We sneakily sold our other ticket to a woman waiting in the cancellation line for available seats. The show was crude, crass, hilarious, brilliant, and wonderful. It was everything I thought it would be and I'm so happy that I got to see it. Really, a great show. It's one of those shows that just puts you in a good mood.
So, that was my trip. It was really lovely and I'm so glad that I can write about theatrical things on here. I want to thank my mom again for such a fantastic time. I guess before I post this I'll rank my shows in order of favoritism....
1: War Horse
2: Book of Mormon
3: Anything Goes
4: How to Succeed
5: Sister Act
6: Hair
7: Catch Me if you Can
8: Priscilla
9: Spiderman
Nothing was bad at all, but if I had to order them, that's what I would rank them. Have a fantastic rest of your summer. Cant wait to see you all again soon.
-Marlo :)
In : Treasurer