Several months ago my friend Stephanie told me she wanted to come visit and really wanted to see something on Broadway while she was here. She just graduated with her Doctorate in the spring (see that back here) and both of us celebrated our 30th birthdays this summer. So we decided to do something more than an ordinary city visit in celebration.
A few months ahead of her visit, Stephanie picked two currently running shows, Chicago and Finding Neverland. Both shows offered general rush tickets. I'll explain more about that tomorrow but basically some shows offer a standard price ticket at steep discount for the same-day performance. You can buy the ticket, in cash, as soon as the box office opens that day. Tickets are typically less than $40 and are always in the front of the theater, usually first 5 rows. It's a fantastic deal but the only catch is you HAVE to get to the theater before the box office opens and there is a limited number so the earlier you arrive the better chance you have.
We found out at the end of June that Finding Neverland was closing the very weekend Stephanie planned to visit and I was worried that would dramatically limit our chance of getting rush tickets so I had her pick a third show alternate which was Les Miserables. While I was coordinating the plan of attack for getting rush tickets I was worried that we might not get to see anything. You aren't guaranteed a ticket with rush and that's the risk. The cheapest tickets for Les Mis were only $47 (that was only $10 more than the rush ticket price) so I decided to surprise Stephanie with tickets to see Les Mis at the Saturday matinee and at least guarantee that we saw one show during her visit. With one show in the bag I only had to worry about risking two other shows.
So, on Friday morning I woke-up bright and early and got to Times Square by 8:00 am. I arrived at the theater for Chicago and I was third in line. Well, technically I was first because the two other people there were standing in the wrong area. I told them that and they walked over to where I was. I felt bad since they were there first so I let them go ahead of me. But anyways, I sat there for two hours and watched the city wake up while waiting for the box office to open. Look! The Playbill truck!
At 10:00 am I got our tickets for that night. 4th row only $37 a ticket. Nailed it!
I had three hours to kill before Stephanie's bus arrived so I went Downtown to meet my other friend, Amanda, who also happened to be in the city. We got coffee, walked around, and then headed back to Midtown to meet Stephanie. It was rather serendipitous because although we hadn't planned anything for the three of us, both were visiting the same day and knew each other! I introduced Amanda and Stephanie back in 2009 and they roomed together at UD for a year. We had lunch together and then escorted Amanda back downtown.
Stephanie and I spent the next several hours with bubble tea, window shopping, and catching-up. At 8 pm we were in our seats for Chicago.
The last time I saw this show was 2008 when I spent the summer in the city as a history scholar. My friend Shira and I stood in line for rush tickets and then we stayed after the show by the stage door to meet the actresses!
Our seats on Friday were on the far right side. Close enough to see the spit fly! It was great and we loved it. It has currently been on Broadway in this theater for 20 years which is really impressive. It's a different type of show since the orchestra is on stage. There is no real scenery or many props and no costume changes. The vocals really have to carry the show and they did not disappoint.
Les Miserables was astounding. The cast, the staging, the whole thing. Unlike Chicago, the cast is huge, there is a ton of movement on stage and props changing and special effects. That didn't make it better or worse but just a different experience. All of it was amazing. It has always been one of my favorite musicals and seeing it on Broadway was perfect. The show closes in September so we caught it just in time.
After the show we grabbed dinner followed by Magnolia cupcakes.
And then it was time for our final show. The grand finale!!
Our seats on Friday were on the far right side. Close enough to see the spit fly! It was great and we loved it. It has currently been on Broadway in this theater for 20 years which is really impressive. It's a different type of show since the orchestra is on stage. There is no real scenery or many props and no costume changes. The vocals really have to carry the show and they did not disappoint.
After the show we hurried back to Bay Ridge to get as much sleep as possible before getting up early to stand in line for tickets to Finding Neverland.
On Saturday we brought Dan along with us and got to Times Square around 8 am again. We were surprised to see a lengthy line had already formed and I was more worried we wouldn't get tickets (they are first come first serve). We played cards and chatted and the wait time went quickly.
On Saturday we brought Dan along with us and got to Times Square around 8 am again. We were surprised to see a lengthy line had already formed and I was more worried we wouldn't get tickets (they are first come first serve). We played cards and chatted and the wait time went quickly.
Fortunately there were two shows for that day and more than half of the people in front of us went in the matinee line. We had no trouble getting three tickets for the evening performance and all of us were giddy!
We had a picnic in Central Park and then got caught in two surprise downpours on our way back to Times Square.
We had a picnic in Central Park and then got caught in two surprise downpours on our way back to Times Square.
Fortunately we were able to dry off inside the theater while the storms passed.
Since I bought these tickets, full price, we had seats in the way back. I actually prefer to see shows from the mezzanine because you can see the everything on stage and everything comes together more fully.
Les Miserables was astounding. The cast, the staging, the whole thing. Unlike Chicago, the cast is huge, there is a ton of movement on stage and props changing and special effects. That didn't make it better or worse but just a different experience. All of it was amazing. It has always been one of my favorite musicals and seeing it on Broadway was perfect. The show closes in September so we caught it just in time.
After the show we grabbed dinner followed by Magnolia cupcakes.
And then it was time for our final show. The grand finale!!
Our tickets for Finding Neverland were on the right side, third row but we could see everything including the sweat on the actors and their microphones, we could even see backstage a tiny bit! The show was absolutely incredible. The cast was outstanding and there were four young boys that played primary roles. Broadway child stars are amazing, shows with little kids in them are my favorite. There were a lot of special effects and props and choreography. It was awesome to see all of it up close.
Neverland ended up being my favorite show of the weekend because I had no idea what to except and it was just a really magical performance and totally captivating. I wanted to buy some of the songs afterwards but the recording wasn't nearly as good as the live performance, which is generally not the case. The show closed on Sunday so we were really glad we saw it before it left.
Overall, the weekend was one for the memory books and we had a great time. It was tiring for sure since we had early mornings and late nights and the days were filled with walking around the most crowded part of the city but it was all worth it. Three more shows to add to our Broadway roll and one great weekend with a great friend.
Overall, the weekend was one for the memory books and we had a great time. It was tiring for sure since we had early mornings and late nights and the days were filled with walking around the most crowded part of the city but it was all worth it. Three more shows to add to our Broadway roll and one great weekend with a great friend.
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