New York Philharmonic

2 1/2 hours. That's how long Handel's Messiah runs. Yup. It was beautiful. But long.

The girl next to me thought it was long too. She kept updating Facebook. The women behind me also thought it was long. They kept talking and after the Hallelujah chorus, they left.

I would've liked it more had it been 45 minutes shorter.

We had great seats (somewhere in the first alphabet) before row U. I guess seats here are not so important because the acoustics are so good and we're not watching anything in particular.

The Philharmonic seems to be something Aaron prefers more than I do.

NYC Ballet Nutcracker

The Nutcracker is something that always comes at Christmas. I remember loving the music as a kid. We went to see this production with my cousin and her beau. He had never seen a ballet and Aaron didn't like ABT's version a couple years back. We weren't starting off good. Lo and behold, what a great production. Balanchine's choreography was so much better than ABT. The snowflake waltz was magnificent. SO much fake snow was on the stage. I know many people don't think about how hard it is for the ballerinas. The kids were great, though we should always remember that the Nutcracker is heavily for kids. The first act is almost ALL children's choreography. 

 These seats were an experiment. We sat in the 4th ring. We were WAY up there. We could see, but you couldn't really see any facial expressions. Lucky for us, ballet acting is always over the top.  I always forget to bring my opera glasses. I don't think I'd buy seats up there again. Aaron even mentioned that the 5th ring (side seats) would be better because they're closer and they are lower in the theater than our seats were.

I appreciated that NYC Ballet had Clara (or Marie as she was listed in the playbill) not be on pointe. If she's on pointe, it means she's around 15 years old and honestly, the love for a doll at that age is just not accepted in our society. It is much more endearing and believable from a little 10 year old girl.

Glengarry Glen Ross

I wanted to not love this show. There's not a single female role in it and from what I've read, there's only one minor walk on role for women in the film. But alas, the show is a great show. Entertaining, powerful, humorous. I can't wait to see the movie since Al Pacino switched roles, taking on the older big shot role this time. In the film, he was the hot shot that ran the place. Pacino was pretty good though at times, his timing was pretty much begging the audience to applaud him more like a clap whore. Bobby Cannavale really stole the show. I hope he gets a tony nomination for this role. Unfortunately, it's a limited Broadway engagement which means that the voters will not get another chance to see it. Also, ticket prices have been outrageous (Ive heard they're going for over $200, but luckily,  I got them for $110 on stubhub!)

 We had GREAT seats, second row mezz, center section right on the aisle. The only bad part about these seats was the Pacino fanatic sitting in front of us who hadn't showered in days, was the size of a boulder, and had crack for days. Everytime he stood up we got a whiff of him greasy locks and ominous crevice.

I can't say enough about this show that's great. I'm sorry that it's going to close so soon. Previous to this show, we've seen Bonnie and Clyde, The Motherfucker with the Hat, and A Chorus Line here.