Fun Weekend - Lots of Shows

Every year there is a conference in New York where tons of promoters and agents run around and try to get venue managers to book their shows.  Every few years my dad will come which is great because 1) I get to see and visit with him and 2) I usually get to see a bunch of the shows with him.  This year he came out and we had a blast!  I saw a lot of great shows (and some not so great ones) but all in all it was a fun weekend and felt very much like a mini vacation.

THURSDAY

Dad arrived Thursday night so after work I walked up to his hotel.  We had dinner at a nearby Irish pub called McHales and then went for our first show, called Murder for Two.

Murder for Two was pretty interesting, though very slow.  It was 90 minutes but somehow felt like 2 and a half hours.  It's basically a murder mystery with 2 actors where one actor plays the detective and the other actor plays all of the suspects.  They both also play the piano to accompany all of the songs.  They were clearly very talented, the show just dragged in a few places.



FRIDAY

On Friday morning my dad and I had breakfast with a friend of his before I headed off to work.  The commute from the hotel to my office was about 10 minutes, which was great!  My dad then came a little later, had a quick tour of the office, and we went out to a nice lunch.

Posing with the TARDIS in the office

The show planned for Friday night was Disaster the Musical.  It ended up being really entertaining.  It's basically a very campy parody of 70's disaster movies set to 70's music.  The music was woven in really well and made for a fun evening!  I heard it might move to Broadway which would be exciting.

Before the show my dad and I stopped at a little Tapas restaurant for a glass of sangria :)

Cheers!

SATURDAY

On Saturday we saw so many showcases that I can't even remember them all!  We saw some comedy shows, some Elton John, a little dance, a little music, just a little of everything!  We also had dinner with some other friends of my dad's and basically had a great time!

SUNDAY

Sunday was the day with the BEST showcases.

First up was a dance show called Shaping Sound that stars alums from the tv show So You Think You Can Dance.  I recognized quite a number of the dancers, plus they were all very amazing and entertaining.  It was at the Roseland Ballroom, which is where I saw Darren Criss perform.  We got to sit in chairs though, thankfully.  It was fun to be at Roseland with a slightly more relaxed setting though.

Waiting for the show to start in our reserved seats

In front of the stage at Roseland

After Shaping Sound I got to meet one of my childhood idols, Lambchop!  Yes.  She's a puppet.  I grew up with this character that was on a show called Lambchop's Play Along created by Sherri Lewis.  After Sherri Lewis passed away, her daughter Mallory took up the act and now performs across the country.  It might be silly to be star struck by a puppet, but I had as much fun at the show as all of the little kids.

We also sang a very well known song together, as seen below

Sunday night we saw a showcase performance of an acapella group called VoicePlay.  They were most recently a finalist on this season of The Sing Off (the acapella group singing competition).  They were AMAZING.  I had so much fun that I didn't want their showcase to end but, alas, it was only 20 minutes.

VoicePlay!

I managed to corner one of the members for a picture after the show

MONDAY

My dad left on Monday, but he had one more show to preview that he sent his proxies (aka myself and my roommates) to go see Monday night.

We saw Neil Berg's Rock & Roll Decades.  He also does a show called 100 Years of Broadway that I've seen before at the Elsinore.  It was very similar, as it was basically a musical review of all songs from the 50's, 60's, and 70's.  I can't say it was the most amazing show I've ever seen, but it definitely wasn't bad.

Overall I'd say my dad and I had a pretty fun and successful weekend!