Read part one of Sam’s adventures in NYC here.
Friday: Museum of the Moving Image
Friday, we kicked off the day by making a trip to the Museum of the Moving Image. There are a plethora of museums to go to in NY, and I would have loved to go to all of them, but we just didn’t have the time. I made this one a priority because it had a Jim Henson Exhibit.
They had some really cool pieces. Original sketches of characters like Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. There were actual puppets on display, props, pictures, and notes from Henson and people he worked closely with; they even had an area where you could pick a puppet and try your hand at puppetry as they played audio that you were supposed to match. Not to toot my own horn here, but Travis was very impressed with my handiwork.
A Quick Pizza Stop
After the museum, we were a little bit on a time crunch, so we snagged a quick slice of ‘za. It wasn’t one of the many recommendations I received; it was just a corner spot that was close because we needed something quick. It was great; I don’t know if it would qualify as traditional NY pizza or not, but it did the job.
Broadway Night: Moulin Rouge!
Now we had to get ready to see our first Broadway show, “Moulin Rouge!” Walking into the theater I immediately saw a poster of Megan as Zigler and knew I wanted to get one for my office. It was way more than I would have liked to have spent on a poster, but it was a great keepsake so I bit the bullet and paid the damn $30. (Jacki note: I have dropped a pretty penny on Broadway merch myself, and I do not regret it one bit. I wear my “Oh, Mary!” sweatshirt regularly, used my “John Proctor is the Villain” notebook for my morning pages, and choose one of my “Oh, Mary!” pens each morning before I work. Also, I have magnets from all the shows I saw. And scripts. I am a dork. And I really love Broadway.)
We both tried to dress fairly nice, but the weather wasn’t cooperating much and our entire trip was mostly cold and rainy or cloudy. There seems to be no real dress code. We saw everything from jeans and a t-shirt to women in corsets and stockings, some were even in fancy evening gowns.
As people were taking their seats, there was already some activity on the stage. There were performers slowly walking around the set or dancing, but if you weren’t paying attention, you may not have noticed. The room was fairly dark and the walls and ceilings were dripped in red velvet and there was a giant elephant on one side of the stage.
The show was fantastic! It had a lot of popular songs throughout the show and everyone was singing along and having a great time. Megan would add little “AHHH’s” here and there throughout the show which always got a little pop.
At the end of the show, they allowed Megan to perform a medley of her original songs. I got on my feet and started singing and dancing, I mean this may be the only chance I ever get to see Thee Stallion in concert cause girlies tickets are expensive as hell now.
As we left the theater, we saw a crowd of people waiting for Meg to come out and I contemplated it as well because I thought maybe I could get my poster signed, but it was taking too long and it was too damn cold.
Saturday: A Cold and Rainy Double-Show Day
Our Saturday was a cold and wet one. We had two shows to attend this day so we knew we didn’t want to burn ourselves out before them.
Death Becomes Her
Up first was a 2:00 pm showing of “Death Becomes Her”. HOLY SHIT. I had seen the movie for the first time either last year or the year before, I think but who the hell can keep track of time on this fucked up timeline we are experiencing now.
First off, I had no idea Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child fame was in this show. She came down this tall staircase in a gorgeous dress covered in sparkly, shiny thing. I mean, she looked like a goddamned angel! As soon as I heard her voice I looked over to Travis and asked, “Is that fucking Michelle Williams?!” perhaps louder than I intended.
Destiny’s Child may not have worked out, but I see that as a good thing because THIS is that child’s destiny. She absolutely killed it.
I am going to go ahead and spoil the fact that this was my absolute favorite show of the entire trip. The theater was great. I loved the setup, easy to get in and out to go to the bathroom, staff was so nice, merch lines were tolerable. It was a smaller theater and we had pretty good seats, so I’m sure that played a part as well but the show itself was 10/10. The writing, the costuming, the sets, the acting, the jokes, the PHYSICAL comedy! Oh my god, the staircase scene….unbelievably creative how they pulled that off.
I found myself getting a little emotional in the middle of the show not because it was sentimental, but because it made me so happy to see people being great at doing what they love. (Jacki note: I feel this every time I’ve been to NYC. Just being there in the middle of all those people making live theater happen fills me up in a way I didn’t know I needed to be filled.) These people have my dream job! Dress in fancy, sparkling gowns and sing and make jokes? Sign. Me. Up.
Dinner at The Long Room
We had a little time in-between shows so we made the most of it and stopped into one of the places I had on my list to try for dinner. We popped into a place near the theaters called The Long Room. It was a neat little spot. We had chicken pot pie empanadas and wagyu sliders, so yummy.
The Second Show: Going In Blind
Then it was on to the next show. This show (“Maybe Happy Ending”) was one that I knew absolutely nothing about going in, and everyone told me not to look up anything and just go in fresh. I saw it highly recommended on Reddit, and a couple of my friends also made it a point to mention it to me, plus it had just won Best Musical at the Tonys.
This was a cool, unique story-telling experience. I don’t want to give anything away either, so I won’t go too much into the plot. I will say the show is basically just two performers throughout the entire thing. There were a couple of short, minor appearances from other actors but very minimal. I found that to be fascinating to captivate an entire audience with just the two characters in front of you. It was done very well and there were definitely some onions being cut in that theater.
Tune in tomorrow for part 3 of ???????!!!
