Poetry and Shakespeare

This weekend was pretty busy in that I went to a couple of performances.

Saturday night my roommates and I went to see a Poetry Slam by a poet named Carlos Andrés Gómez. Monica knew who he was because she's seem him perform before and he went to the same high school she did (though not at the same time).  He was performing and she convinced us to go.

I was actually pleasantly surprised.  I'm not usually one for poetry like that but he told little stories that went along with his poems and was a very captivating speaker in general.  It was different and not something I probably want to do all the time but it was a cool experience.

Then on Sunday, Kari and I used our awesome waiting in line skills to wait for tickets to see Shakespeare in the Park.  We woke up at 5am, were in line at 6am, and got tickets at noon.  The wait seemed to go much faster this year, though that could have to do with the fact that it wasn't pouring rain all morning.  The weather held up and we got our tickets!

Front of the line from where we were

So excited! (and tired)

We were around 12th in line so we ended up getting amazing seats (2nd row!).  The show was Comedy of Errors and had Jessie Tyler Ferguson (from Modern Family) in it and also another actor who I had seen perform in a play called Seminar a while ago.

Everyone was amazing and the show was a lot of fun!  One of the most surprising and fun parts was that during all of the scene changers there were swing dancers who came out to change the scenery.  They were so much fun to watch and did all kinds of tricks and fun dance moves.

picture from the show's website

The Tonys!

Since, as you know, I'm a huge theatre fan, what better night is there than the Tony Awards?  I feel like this was a really good year for the Tonys with a lot of good performances and NPH was just as grand as ever.  Monica, Kari and I came up with our predictions ahead of time so those are below.  We initialed our picks and then the winners are in bold.  Kari definitely seems to know what the Tony voters want as she got the most correct picks with 15.  I came in second with 9 and Monica had 6, but she didn't know most of the shows anyway.  I think my issue is that I sometimes picked who I wanted to win, not necessarily who I thought would probably win.

BEST PLAY

The Assembled Parties Author: Richard Greenberg

MC Lucky Guy Author: Nora Ephron

The Testament of Mary Author: Colm Tóibín

KB AM Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Author: Christopher Durang

BEST MUSICAL

Bring It On: The Musical

A Christmas Story The Musical

KB Kinky Boots

MC AM Matilda The Musical

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL

A Christmas Story, The Musical: Joseph Robinette

KB AM MC Kinky Boots: Harvey Fierstein

Matilda The Musical: Dennis Kelly

Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella: Douglas Carter Beane

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATRE

A Christmas Story, The Musical: Music and Lyrics: Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Hands on a Hardbody: Music: Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green Lyrics: Amanda Green

KB AM MC Kinky Boots: Music & Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper

Matilda The Musical: Music & Lyrics: Tim Minchin

BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY

Golden Boy

Orphans

KB AM MC The Trip to Bountiful

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL

Annie

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

KB AM Pippin

MC Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY

Tom Hanks: Lucky Guy

KB AM MC Nathan Lane: The Nance

Tracy Letts: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

David Hyde Pierce: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Tom Sturridge: Orphans

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY

MC Laurie Metcalf: The Other Place

Amy Morton: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

AM Kristine Nielsen: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Holland Taylor: Ann

KB Cicely Tyson: The Trip to Bountiful

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL

AM Bertie Carvel: Matilda The Musical

Santino Fontana: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

Rob McClure: Chaplin

MC KB Billy Porter: Kinky Boots

Stark Sands: Kinky Boots

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL

AM Stephanie J. Block: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Carolee Carmello: Scandalous

Valisia LeKae: Motown The Musical

KB Patina Miller: Pippin

MC Laura Osnes: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY

Danny Burstein: Golden Boy

MC Richard Kind: The Big Knife

AM KB Billy Magnussen: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Tony Shalhoub: Golden Boy

Courtney B. Vance: Lucky Guy

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY

Carrie Coon: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Shalita Grant: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Judith Ivey: The Heiress

KB Judith Light: The Assembled Parties

AM MC Condola Rashad: The Trip to Bountiful

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL

Charl Brown: Motown The Musical

MC Keith Carradine: Hands on a Hardbody

Will Chase: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Gabriel Ebert: Matilda The Musical

AM KB Terrence Mann: Pippin

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL

Annaleigh Ashford: Kinky Boots

KB AM MC Victoria Clark: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

Andrea Martin: Pippin

Keala Settle: Hands on a Hardbody

Lauren Ward: Matilda The Musical

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY

Pam MacKinnon: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

KB AM MC Nicholas Martin: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Bartlett Sher: Golden Boy

George C. Wolfe: Lucky Guy

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL

Scott Ellis: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Jerry Mitchell: Kinky Boots

KB AM Diane Paulus: Pippin

MC Matthew Warchus: Matilda The Musical

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

AM Andy Blankenbuehler: Bring It On: The Musical

Peter Darling: Matilda The Musical

KB Jerry Mitchell: Kinky Boots

MC Chet Walker: Pippin

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS

Chris Nightingale: Matilda The Musical

Stephen Oremus: Kinky Boots

Ethan Popp & Bryan Crook: Motown The Musical

KB AM MC Danny Troob: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY

KB AM MC John Lee Beatty: The Nance

Santo Loquasto: The Assembled Parties

David Rockwell: Lucky Guy

Michael Yeargan: Golden Boy

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

KB AM MC Rob Howell: Matilda The Musical

Anna Louizos: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Scott Pask: Pippin

David Rockwell: Kinky Boots

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY

MC Soutra Gilmour: Cyrano de Bergerac

AM Ann Roth: The Nance

KB Albert Wolsky: The Heiress

Catherine Zuber: Golden Boy

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Gregg Barnes: Kinky Boots

Rob Howell: Matilda The Musical

Dominique Lemieux: Pippin

KB AM MC William Ivey Long: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY

Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer: Lucky Guy

Donald Holder: Golden Boy

KB AM MC Jennifer Tipton: The Testament of Mary

Japhy Weideman: The Nance

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Kenneth Posner: Kinky Boots

KB Kenneth Posner: Pippin

AM Kenneth Posner: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

MC Hugh Vanstone: Matilda The Musical

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY

John Gromada: The Trip to Bountiful

Mel Mercier: The Testament of Mary

AM KB Leon Rothenberg: The Nance

MC Peter John Still and Marc Salzberg: Golden Boy

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL

Jonathan Deans & Garth Helm: Pippin

MC Peter Hylenski: Motown The Musical

KB John Shivers: Kinky Boots
AM Nevin Steinberg: Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella

Catch Up

I am so far behind in my blogging!  I know, kind of a ridiculous statement but I've been wanting to write about all of this for a while!

So let's begin, shall we?

My birthday was on May 18th!  I love my birthday, its always such a happy time :)  My coworkers were so sweet and surprised me on the Friday with cupcakes and a card and then we all went out for drinks afterwards.  Then on Saturday I went to Karaoke with friends and then we had cake and my apartment.  And man, was this some incredible cake!  Kari made me a cake that looks like hogwarts!

Birthday Festivities!

Roses from Seth :)

I couldn't help it, I wanted to be a birthday princess!

My Birthday Dalek now has a place of honor on my desk at work

The week after my birthday I had a visitor in the form of Tanya, a friend of mine from Willamette.  She was down in the city because her senior thesis film (she just graduated from film school) was being showcased in a gallery.  So I had a lot of fun hanging out and visiting with her and then we got to go to the opening reception of the gallery!  It was definitely fun to see Tanya's films (we were also treated to an exclusive Q and A later on) but I think several of the other artists works made me realize just how much I don't understand art.  Especially when it's contemporary art.  But oh well. It was fun to see everything.

Yay Tanya!

One of the art pieces I did not understand

Roommates being classy

Long Day

Me with the artist!

Also the week after my birthday I had jury duty for the first time.  It wasn't all that terrible actually.  I got quite a bit of reading done and it was pretty fascinating to see the judicial system is action.  I didn't get called for any cases but I got to watch the jurys being picked for 2 cases.  One even settled halfway through picking jurors!

The fog made the skyline look really cool

This is where I had lunch.  Fitting, right?

Seth and I spent an enjoyable afternoon walking around Central Park.  And discovered some crazy things deep in the heart of it!

There was a face etched onto the rock!

Seth also invited me to the wedding reception of some childhood friends of his.  I had met them a couple of times and they are so nice!  So it was fun to celebrate with them.  The reception was at this fancy country club in Westchester.  The food was great, I got to hang out with Seth and meet a bunch of interesting people.

My roommates and I also had bought tickets to see Annie because Jane Lynch (of Glee and other fame) is currently playing the role of Miss Hannigan.  I had already seen Annie a few months ago, but it's such a fun one I was happy to see it again, especially to see such a talented actress in the role.  It was so much fun and I even was able to get her to sign my playbill at the stage door afterwards!

Phew! I think I'm finally caught up with the past couple of weeks!

Speak To Me Manhattan

Sunday night I went to see a performance that was done by a friend of mine who I used to do theatre with in high school.  I saw him perform several months ago, but this time not only did I see Blake, but I also saw Rachel, another Youth Rep theatre alum, who sang as well!

It was all original music sung by extremely talented performers.  I had a blast and was so glad I could be there!

This was the opening song, Blake sings first and then about halfway through Rachel sings. Plus I really like the song she sings.

Jekyll and Hyde

On Friday night Kari and I decided we would try entering the Matilda lottery.  As you may have guessed by the name of this post, we did not, in fact, end of seeing Matilda.  Our names were not called so it was not to be.

As we were walking around, we thought we might check out the half price ticket booth, just to see what was available when we passed by the Jekyll and Hyde theatre.  This is a show that did not do amazingly well, as it is closing this weekend (and was originally supposed to close in August).  I figured that of all the shows that have a rush ticket policy, this is probably the only one where we could show up 2 hours before the show started (instead of when the box office opens) and there might be tickets still available.  Taking a shot, we asked and it turned out there was!  It's also possible the guy working the box office figured he might as well fill 2 empty seats even if it was at a severely discounted price.

After we bought our tickets, we wandered around Times Square and also ended up buying tickets to see Annie in a couple of weeks.  Jane Lynch (from Glee) is going to be playing Miss Hannigan and so we were super excited to see her.

Jekyll and Hyde was...interesting.  I really like the music, but the plot is pretty terrible.  They were good singers, except that there was so much vibrato in their voices that you could barely make out the words.  And they all had the most ridiculously terrible fake British accents.  It was more or less a similar train wreck as Spiderman was, but with better music.

The Last Five Years

Saturday night (before I got a cold and spent all day Sunday in bed) I saw a really awesome show!

The Last Five Years is a revival of an off broadway show from a few years ago.  It's a 2 person cast, a guy and a girl, and tells the story of their failed marriage through song.  The girl starts from the end working backwards and the guy starts from the beginning forwards. They meet in the middle where they have their only duet.  Otherwise only one person is singing at a time and singing to someone who isn't there.

It's a little strange of a concept, but the way it played out was amazing.  I had heard a lot of good things about it by Kari (who saw a production a while ago) and so I was pretty interested in seeing it as well.  I have to say, this production was seriously amazing.  Not only were the actors wonderful singers and talented at acting while they were singing, it also struck me that the sets and the lighting was amazingly done.  First of all, the orchestra was in plain sight at the back of the stage.  They were raised at different levels, which created a fun picture.  The set pieces were fairly minimal, but rolled on and off the stage by themselves (ok, well presumably by some kind of rolling contraption on the floor).  And the lighting really added to the different songs.  Basically I was awe-struck the entire show and I can't say enough good things about the performance.  I'm so glad I went!

This clip is from the two characters duet in the middle of the show:


And here's a little bit longer of a preview where you can see some of the interaction between the characters and the set and lighting:

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

Last weekend Seth took me to see my first ever Mets game!  (Baseball for anyone who might not know).  There are 2 New York baseball teams, the Mets and the Yankees.  Seth is a huge Yankees fan, but likes baseball in general so enjoys seeing the Mets play too.  It was a lot of fun actually!  I ate 2 hotdogs and french fries and, after all, isn't that really the point of going to a baseball game?

Seth brought me a Yankees cap!
I love that the logo is pink!

The outside of Citi Field

Still outside of Citi Field

The inside of Citi Field

Sitting waiting for the game to begin

I think we had pretty good seats! We were right behind home plate

Matching caps!

The big round bright thing towards the right is the moon.
It was a crazy shade of orange when we left but doesn't really show here

I made this collage using an app on my new phone!

The other fun thing that happened is I got a fun new phone!  It's an iphone which I LOVE, and I found the best case for it that I also LOVE!

It's Harry Potter! (Of Course)

Dancing Queen

Kari's family is visiting this week which is a lot of fun!  They've been playing tourist all over the city and last night I ended up going with them to get rush tickets to see Mamma Mia.  I knew that Mamma Mia is a fun show and I had never seen it on Broadway before, only on tour.  The songs were as fun as I remembered them and I actually thought the singers were pretty good.

Kari's family with the Mamma Mia poster

We all wanted to pose with the poster and make the same motion!  Ok actually I wanted everyone to pose with the picture and make the same pose as the woman in the poster...and everyone said ok.

This is the original cast from the Tony Awards.  This is definitely not the same cast I saw but its the same music!

Subways and Groceries

For a long time Seth and I kept talking about how we wanted to go to the MTA museum.  It's close to his apartment in Brooklyn and so it always seems like a good idea.  It's a museum that is in an old subway station and basically shows the history of New York transit including buses and subways.  They have a whole sections with old subway cars from different eras (with the advertisements to match!) and they even had a section of how the turnstile has changed through the ages.  It was a pretty interesting couple of hours and I think I learned a little more about the city where I live!

Ticket please?

This was one of the old ads that made me laugh

The other crazy thing I did this weekend is I took a trip down the rabbit hole into the world of ordering things on the internet.  In NYC, one of the things one can do is order their groceries online.  I've been thinking about it for a while, but I finally decided I would try it out and maybe order some of the heavier items that I would normally not enjoy carrying back from the grocery story.  I also found some good introductory coupons so I saved quite a bit of money.  My order was delivered today!  It was pretty fun to just have someone show up at my door and then all of a sudden have a ton of food!

Groceries!

Eastergiving!

You probably know this, but over the weekend was Easter!  My roommates and I decided that since we didn't have a chance to have a roommate Thanksgiving since we all were doing our own thing, we would instead have dinner on Easter.  And thus, Eastergiving was born.  We had the best time cooking and hanging out and then eating, oh the eating!  The food was delicious and I was pretty sure I would never eat anything ever again...until it came time for dessert...

We also decorated the apartment some this weekend!

The hallway is so much more colorful now!

Our apartment is now so whimsical!

Kari also made hot cross buns for breakfast.  I've never had hot cross buns before!  They were kind of like cinnamon rolls, only in bun form.  I also didn't want a cross on mine so I got a swirl that sort of melted into a giant pool of frosting.

And then we get into the main part of Eastergiving.  We all decided to wear Easter dresses too, so that was a lot of fun.

How to make a turkey: 1. Buy a turkey 2. Put in oven for 4 hours

Peeling potatoes!

Kari making potatoes au gratin in her cute apron

Turkey!

potatoes getting ready to be mashed

mmmm turkey

mashing potatoes

Stuffing!

Monica's pretty Easter dress that she stole from Kari!

Yaaay friends!

Sitting down to a well deserved meal

And then of course there was pie.