top of page
Writer's pictureTerry Albarella

Broadway Here We Come!


Way back when Melissa Etheridge announced her Broadway show, we bought tickets for what we thought would be a quiet November weekend. It wasn't until we arrived that we realized that it was NYC marathon weekend. Ugh.


We had decided that since we were making a weekend of it, we'd also get tickets to another show on Saturday. We picked The Book of Mormon, because of the awesome reviews. Two Broadway shows should make for a great weekend, right? Well, for normal people anyway ... but of course, we got carried away. We were walking to dinner on Friday night and the restaurant just happened to be across from Six. Let's say that someone had only seen part of that show because of a misread start time.


During dinner we started talking about what we wanted to do over the weekend ... so hey, let's add another show or two. That led to some online searches (around our somewhat ok dinner) & the discovery that seats were available for both Hamilton and Six over the weekend. Once Terry determined that Hamilton had better seats for the Sunday matinee, we booked the extra tickets - for Six (front row) on Saturday afternoon and Hamilton on Sunday afternoon.


Following dinner, we headed over to Melissa Etheridge: My Window. The show was OK, a little disappointing probably due to expectations. But, hey, we're in NYC and now have 3 more shows to see!


Saturday morning dawned a bit late for us and we had to battle the elevators to get down to breakfast before it closed. Fighting through the masses at breakfast, we decided to get out of their way as fast as we could so we decided to wander around - first to the Nintendo store, where we felt right at home when Yoshi & Boo greeted us ... which happens when you name pets after video game characters!!


From there we saw the really cool installation outside of Saks on our way to the Diamond District, which was right near our hotel.


After successful purchases of earrings and a bracelet, we wandered around a bit more before it was time to head to Six. The line was around the block, but we were not going to be late! Front row seats for a most amazing show! Those songs are now a fixture in my head.

Instead of walking around more (because that was dangerous to our wallets,) we headed back to hotel and hung out until dinner. Better than the previous night, dinner was relaxed and gave us plenty of time to get to Book of Mormon. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but we seemed to be the only two in the theater who weren't hysterical the entire play. I thought the older guy sitting next to me was going to pass out - he was laughing so hard he couldn't catch his breath. With all our walking around and the excitement of the two shows, we were wiped out and while the city never sleeps, we did soundly.


Sunday morning was another interesting elevator challenge to get to the lobby. Our hotel was full of marathon cheer leaders, eager to get to their watching spots. At least that got them out of our way sooner. More shopping ensued (this time for clothes) and a trip to back to the hotel to check out. We also decided to move the Jeep closer to theater so we could make a quick exit home. On to Hamilton and another line to get in (although this time, we ended up near a spot where we could sit!) Upon entering, we found ourselves in line for beverages - and since they had souvenir Hamilton glasses, we decided we had to get those! Then we decided to get another set of drinks (for another two glasses) at intermission. Hamilton was incredible and our last minute seat purchase turned out to be a prime location.



The play just left us wanting more and not yet ready to call an end to the weekend. Hmm, should we just stay? Out came the phones and soon we had another night's stay booked (nowhere near the lot where the Jeep was though!) Well, since we were staying, we got crazy and bought tickets to the off Broadway show Friends. We found a diner for a quick dinner (that was probably our best meal there) and then headed to our next theater.


We knew we were in trouble when it was on the 3rd floor and seating was only 4 rows deep. Located only a block off Broadway, but with a performance that felt like miles. It was so bad that we left at intermission, having debated leaving way before that. Down the street, though, we saw the theater for Wicked - which started at 7 - since it was only 7:01, we checked to see if they had tickets available - they did - so we bought yet another set of tickets to another awesome show!!


The weekend tallies: 3 great shows (in rank order: Six, Hamilton, Wicked,) two shows we could have skipped (Etheridge: My Window, The Book of Mormon,) and a half of something that shouldn't even have been a show.


Embracing the crazy, we decided to just buy toothbrushes and make due with the clothes we had on us, which made packing up the next morning really easy. Monday morning dawned bright & sunny and we found a great coffee place, For Five, across from the garage. The trek home was made to the sound of show tunes.


Overall, it was an awesome, albeit crazy, extended weekend, and even though we saw 5 shows in 3 days, there are still more we'd like to see!


51 views

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page