Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Holy hell, was this show ever funny! I bought the tickets on a whim for my cousin, my mom, and myself. They had a "Youth rush" so I got the tickets for $37 a piece. I had to ask some kind Canadien man on the street to assist me in buying them as I was only allowed 2 tickets. Yeah for him, whoever he was. This show had everything you could ever want from a Christopher Durang play; outrageous characters and scenarios, and a HOT ass actor half naked for the entire show! Sigourney Weaver was hilarious as a selfish Masha, David Hyde Pierce was great as a tired and angry Vanya, Kristine Nielson was superb as Sonia (not to mention Maggie Smith), and Billy Magnussen was the best eye candy on stage since Nick Adams! 

 We sat LAST row mezzanine which was fine. Sure we were far back, but the Golden is one of the smallest broadway theaters and therefore gives off a super intimate feel. For the price you can't beat it. I've sat in this theater many times now and never had a bad seat.

 One of the best scenarios on stage was deciding on what costumes to wear to a costume party. As the picture shows, there's a lot of Snow White theme going on. I loved every character and I'm planning on going back in less than a month.

Cinderella

A Lovely Night, A Lovely Night...Yes, I had a great time at Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. But oh, has it changed. Yes it has. So much in fact that I left a little disappointed. The changes that were made to this musical were the book and a few songs to include new characters and their motivations. They added a revolutionary character and I COULD.NOT.STAND.HIM! He had a lame ass song DURING "The Prince is Giving a Ball", a song that I normally detest, but I LOVED this version and every time he sang I wanted him to shut up because he was legit ruining the song! Also, it is no longer about Cinderella vs her stepmother and 2 evil stepsisters. Oh no! One of them is sweet to her and actually finds love. WTF, whoever wrote the book?! No one gives two shits over whether or not the stepsisters find love. Ann Harada played the only evil stepsister and her one liners were HILARIOUS! (I hope she gets a tony nomination for this role) Laura Osnes was magical as Cinderella.  But again, the changes to the book were my only complaint. They changed her name to "Ella" and it was "Prince Topher" instead of Christopher. The best part of this show hands down was the costume changes. Whoever did costumes for this show is definitely getting a nomination and very well may win.

Seriously, the costume changes were flawless. Victoria Clark as the fairy godmother had a wonderful quick change and Laura Osnes did not 1, but 3 quick changes. The chorus was WORKING it out! I loved every big choral number! LOTS and LOTS of high kicks and pirouettes! Just what I like.

 I sat in row K of the mezzanine and it was a bit far away. I brought my binoculars for once and I was all good. At intermission, I moved up to row F of the rear mezz and it made somewhat of a difference. I tried to move to the right box which was CRAZY close, but the usher said no. I noticed that she let some other people move down there after me. How lame!

All in all, I'd see it again, but I would be cringing with the book. The music is really just so good and now that I know what to expect with the costume changes, I'll be sure to keep my eyes wide open.

Hands on a Hardbody

" A new musical?!" is what I thought when I saw this listing on tdf. "No way!" We very quickly got excited about this show. Also, it helped that a guy I went to high school was one of the set builders.  It's based on a true story and also a documentary about said story. Pretty basic story; 10 people trying to win a truck. Last person to lift their hands from the truck wins it. I was a little worried about what the choreography would be, since it would include a huge ass truck and no one could let go of it. But I was pleasantly surprised when they did a "Stomp-esque" number and did aerials. However, this show falls flat. I couldn't tell if it was trying to be kitschy or dead serious. NY audiences I feel will be just as confused as I was. Aaron had a good idea. "What if they opened on Broadway with the intention of closing early just so they could tour?" I could definitely seeing this show having a place in Middle America.

Here's the truck and some of the hopefuls. Hunter Foster was in the show but I don't think he added much. Maybe I was just really bothered by his shitty hair cut, tie dye shirt, and fanny pack. Pretty run down looking. 

We sat in the rear mezz which I found odd to be that far back in the 3rd day of previews! C'mon TDF! I would've loved to have been closer! Most recently, we saw Peter and the Starcatcher here.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

I love this show. I had a blast the last time I came. Interactive and filled with laughs. However, this time around, it was not so fun. I brought Aaron and my friend Betsy to see it and there were about 20 teenage French girls sitting directly behind us. This show is hard enough to understand when English is already your first language. I can't imagine trying to see it in another language....so yeah, there was talking throughout the EN.TI.RE thing. Pivotal points were pretty much lost because of this. I had a great time but even with having seen it before, I still lost stuff. I guess it's the type of show where you won't get it or the lyrics until you do it (or look it up online)

We sat in the rear mezz, row F I believe and I would've definitely liked to have sat closer and farther away from the frenchies!

Evita

 I'm so glad we got a chance to see this show on Broadway before it closes next week. We arrived at the theater all excited to see Ricky Martin on stage and we learned in the will call line that he had just called out. You should've seen the disappointment in that line. So many people were refunding their tickets. Poor understudy! No matter. I would've liked to have seen him (even though I heard he was horrible and the understudy is actually better) but I wasn't about to go home because he wasn't in it.  I'm glad we stayed. The Evita was very powerful, though she was a terrible dancer. I could only focus on her crappy footwork whenever she did a tango. Peron was wonderful (Michael Cervaris) and yes, the Che was good as well. The cast didn't really wake up until act 2 but when they were awake, they were great.

 We had excellent seats (row J in orchestra) so we were close yet far enough away that I couldn't see any lace fronts on those wigs.

I like getting a history lesson whenever I go to the theater and promptly after leaving, looked up Evita's wikipedia page. So sad that she died at 33 years old. Previous to this show, we saw Follies, Wonderland, Crybaby, and Thoroughly Modern Millie here.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Wow, what a magnificent show! I laughed my ass off and was pleasantly surprised at how this show works. This is the show where the audience chooses the ending. Based on Charles Dicken's last novel (he never finished because he died and they make sure to point that out in the show) with the same name, the show comes to a halt when it becomes the audience's responsibility to pick out 3 things; who is the mysterious man that's been lurking about, who killed Edwin Drood, and who should the lovers of the show be? The night we went, Bazzard (the man who wants a bigger part) was awarded the role of mystery man. The killer was Helena Landless. And the lovers (ah my favorite part of the night) were Princess Puffer (Chita Rivera) and Neville Landless who upon hearing this news, stared at each other and it became very apparent that Neville forgot his lines and just said "we don't do this very often."

 We had excellent seats in the mezzanine. Row C in the house left side. Aaron was supposed to go with me but he got sick last minute so I took Lauren instead, which just means that I have to go again because I had a marvelous time!

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.