Part one of Tuesday’s Escapade. <<<<<Read this first.
Then read this ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓
And On the Road to Hell
… there was a railroad line (mm)
And a lady steppin’ off a train (mm-hmm)
With her stop, uh, one stop behind
Oh, Jacki, that’s meeeeee (mm, mm, mm)
Okay, I mixed a couple of different verses in there, but it works enough to make me giggle, so I’m keeping it. Now, if you don’t know what I am talking about, I recommend you listen to the Hadestown OCB in its entirety. And if you don’t have the time for that, at least listen to “The Road to Hell.” Okay? Okay.
So, yeah, I missed my stop on my very first time riding the subway by myself. Oops. And, y’all, that’s all it was to me. It was an oops. Five years ago, hell, two years ago, that would have been a billion panic loops and frantic googles until I figured out what to do.
Not this time. Because of all the massive work I’ve done with and on my brain in the last few years, I knew I didn’t need to panic, because I prepared myself for this, down to handwritten instructions if I needed them. I did not, because I remembered that I could just go up over the stairs to the train that was going opposite me and get on it and then get off at the VERY NEXT STOP, which was the stop I was supposed to get off of in the first place.
Once I popped my whole body out of the Subway and emerged onto the street, I headed straight for the Box Office at the Walter Kerr Theater to procure my Hadestown tickets. D told me she had luck once going straight there and seeing what tickets they had available for that evening. If this didn’t work, I had been stalking the tickets online and knew I could get a decent seat for about $150. Since there was only one of me going, I figured a splurge was worth it.
All that ticket stalking was definitely a waste of time, y’all. I got a fifth row orchestra seat for a less than that. Not center, but still, good ass seats. Like, $600 seats (I stalked the tickets a lot, y’all).
Bread, Candy, Chablis (not necessarily in that order)
I had about two hours to kill and I didn’t want to leave the general vicinity of the theater so, in the spirit of being repeatery, I made my way over to 30 Rock. Okay, that’s a lie. I planned to go there. Lil Sweet Treat has a HOLD on me. Plus, there was lots of neat lil businesses down in the labrythins of the building that houses SNL. I was sure I’d find something to nibble on before the show. And if not, I could always go back to Ace’s Pizza Spot. Hit both locations in the same day, you know?
First stop was candy, though. I wasn’t buying only for myself but for, like, four different people. I walked in there like I knew where it was (I didn’t) and what I wanted (I did). The first thing I did was make a loop around the (small) store.
There were three things I was looking for:
- Hitschies
- Sour Hitschies
- Anything cola flavored
In my giddy perusal of that days candy, I learned that 2 out of my three requests would be granted. I took note of some other delights I wanted to slap my tongue on and then considered the people I was buying gift candy for.
I don’t know their specific candy preferences, so I would feel weird picking each bag individually. And responsible for any tastes that didn’t delight them. This was a professional candy store, so I asked if they had pre-mixed bags so that people like me don’t have to get stressed over candy. They did, in two varieties: sweet and sour, so I got an even number of each.
Then I got to pickin’ for myself. This is the place that I splurged for myself (aside from theater tickets, of course). I remembered how much I loved this candy last time and how quickly I ordered backups to be delivered to the house. I was gonna pack this trip’s bag FULL, y’all.
What I got (I will not tell you how many pounds it was or how many dollars it was or how it is already all gone and how sad I am):
- Hitschies
- Sour Hitschies
- Iced Tea Lemonade Sips
- Fizzy Fruit Picnic
- Fizzy Apples
I was very intrigued by the fizzy candies, which were listed as sour. One of them, however, seemed to be without sour salt (what I call the citric acid/sugar mixture), so it made me curious. I am a candy scientist after all.
They. Were. Incredible. The Fizzy Fruit Picnic was the star here. It was the one sans sour salt, but it lived up to its name… it was sour as hell and, yes, fizzy. Like lightly effervescent candy. I would like these in cola flavor or champagne!!!
The Hitschies were the one repeat I got, and they are still my favorite offering at Lil Sweet Treat. Yes, even more than the sour Hitschies, which surprised me. Sour stuff is my jam, but the textural delight of eating a regular hitchies just, uh, hits better.
And the Iced Tea Lemonade sips also had my taste buds tap dancing.
I love candy so much, y’all. And it’s obvious that the owner of Lil Sweet Treat does too.
Massive bag of candy procured, I made my way to find something somewhat substantial to nibble on.
Bread, Bread, and More Bread
Now, I think my second favorite thing after candy is probably carbs. I love pasta, I love bread, just give it to me directly, please.
I didn’t have to walk far before stumbling upon this place:
The bar area was empty and opulent and had two seats with my name on them. One for me, one for my giant bag of candy. And that above? That was the menu.
The waiter was attentive, Italian, and adorable. I asked him for a wine recommendation, specifying dry, but nothing more. He poured me a white wine, and I immediately judged myself (like… I wasn’t giving off red wine vibes?! that’s what I drink!), but then I sipped it, and it was the crispest thing I ever tasted.
When I got home, I was telling Mickey about this experience and how surprisingly perfect this wine tasted, and the only words that made it out of my mouth were:
”It tasted like an iceberg.”
Mickey: “A what?!”
Me: “an iceberg!”
I dunno how it translates to someone who didn’t taste this specific glass of wine at that specific temperature, but now, I think iceberg, and I taste this wine on my tongue. I’m so glad I don’t have taste aphantasia.
The wine was Chablis, btw. And, yes, of course I ordered a breadplate. With the bonus items. And it was incredible.
All told, I sat at that bar for two hours, occasionally talking to the bartender, but mostly just eating bread and drinking wine (my second glass was orange, and it was also spectacular.) Twas a true delight. Most of the time, I was alone at the bar, but for a little while, there was a fella there with a laptop.
It also seemed like there were a lot of employment interviews going on all around me, which I found interesting.
About ten minutes before I had to head back to the theater for my show, the fella working at a laptop approached me.
”I made way too much bread today. Would you like some?” He asked.
”Yes! Can I take it home with me? The folks I’m staying with will love it!”
He beamed, said yes, and headed to the kitchen, where he emerged with a bag filled with Ciabbatta and Sourdough (the sourdough came home with me in my bread bag that was meant for bagels).
Then he promptly turned to leave.
I leapt off my barstool and yelped, “Excuse me, sir! I have a trade for you!” and accosted him at the door with two lollipops.
I love playing the Lollipop Fairy, y’all.
Hadestown (for real, this time)
Well… there is one more surreal thing I need to mention before I get to the show.
I’m honestly so mad that I didn’t take any pictures of it, but it really felt like I stepped into a different universe.
Okay, so I was huffing my way back to the theater from 30 Rock and was confronted with a very colorful store with an extremely long name. I could see the theater, which was home to my seat, which I direly wanted because I made a fuckup with my socks and tights combo on Monday and my feets hurt.
But this store was like a magnet, drawing me in. It looked like the candy store in a wizarding world. Or a joke shop maybe? It was colorful and the ceiling was talllll, and there was neon everywhere.
I didn’t catch what the name was before I was drawn in (and in fact didn’t even know it until I got home and looked it up when telling Mickey this story, which I had honestly forgotten about until someone mentioned tinned fish). I had no idea what I was looking at; I just knew it was in tins and was surprisingly expensive.
Then my eyes focused, and I saw tinned sardines as far as I could look. Not only were there tinned sardines, but I saw tinned codfish, tinned octopus, tinned shrimp scampi (!), tinned spicy lobster, tinned mussels (my biggest “did not get” regret), tinned pate, and even vegetarian options like tinned chickpeas or oatmeal balls(?). It was honestly overwhelming.
The staff, like the tinned fish, were everywhere, and they were extremely excited about their wares. Not in a “I’m being paid to act like this” way, but in a way that truly feels like they are giddy about fish in flat cans.
Eventually, the spell was broken, and I found myself outside the Walter Kerr.
Okay, so what do you know about this show? The folks sitting next to me only knew the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and that there would be a live band on the stage. They knew nothing of the themes of this incredible show. I did, though, because I listened to it obsessively (I can say this, I am diagnosed with OCD) for a full month before landing in NYC.
I was ready, y’all. I had my crying rag and everything. You’ll see it in the gallery.
Oh, here’s a short description of the show from the experts, in case you do not get to see it for yourself. It’s touring! And I hope they do a Pro-Shot, because I think it would be such an important story for so many people to experience.
“Welcome to HADESTOWN, where a song can change your fate. This acclaimed musical by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin is winner of 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the Grammy Award® for Best Musical Theater Album. It intertwines two mythic tales — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and Queen Persephone — as it invites you on an unforgettable journey to the underworld and back. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, singers and dancers, HADESTOWN asks audiences to imagine how the world could be.”
Later this month, I’m gonna see a local production of it, and I look forward to seeing the changes and how they do the set on a (much) lower budget. Check the theaters around you and see if anyone is putting in on! If yes, go see it! If no, listen to the OBC obsessively until you can see it for yourself. (not quite as obsessively as me, though, don’t go getting yourselves new diagnoses, okay?)
While waiting for the show to start, I did a few things. First, I got my cryin’ towel ready, because I knew the tears would come. The sobs would, too, which I was both prepared and unprepared for. I had a heavy paper napkin from the bread spot for all the wetness.
The other thing I did was talk to the youths who were seated next to me. I apologized if my gigantic candy bag got in their way and asked them how they ended up with a show. It was a program through their college that had them traipsing all over the Big Apple for a week. Already, the violinist sitting next to me was scheming how to live there full-time.
The lights dimmed, and the show started, and I dropped any pretence of looking around at the audience at any time through the show. I was locked in.
Here is what the stage looked like before the show.
I will not give you the opening of the second act (even though I totally have a pic of it), because I don’t want to give you any spoilers with the change.
I did, however, share some pics of the details at this stunning theater.
And I will tell you about a conversation I overheard between the youths sitting next to me during intermission.
First of all, it brought tears to my eyes to hear them talk passionately and intelligently (with honor and awe)
So, the cast that I saw were pretty new to their roles. I think I saw them in their second week of performances. Jack Wolfe, the new actor playing Orpheus, was absent and replaced with the same actor D saw on one of her tour viewings. My Hades was an opera singer, my Hermes was a jazz artist, and my Eurydice was a Disney star.
They were all great, some of them rivaling the Original Broadway Cast. Morgan Dudley (Eurydice) was a standout, as was Rebecca Naomi Jones (Persephone). But you know who took my breath away? The workers.
Like, I knew they were part of the action, but I didn’t realize how much action they actually made up during the show. I got emotional AF when they danced with lights for some reason. The precision was impressive.
The live band on stage gave the show a different energy than any other Broadway show I’ve seen. I say this like I’ve travelled to NYC for ages, seeing five different shows every time, when in reality, I’d been to the big city exactly once before and saw three shows on Broadway. I feel very lucky for even that.
I like categorizing things very much, but each of the four Broadway shows I’ve seen brings something different to the table.
- Sunset Blvd.: Absolutely mind-blowing lighting and staging. Innovation. Emotion. Power.
- Oh, Mary!: Sidesplitting laughs, shocks, and my favorite new game (who can we cast in this show today? Latest entry is Jim Rash as The Dean as Mary.)
- John Proctor is the Villain: raw, visceral emotion
- Hadestown: my heart, my heart
So, I have no official ranking. I’ve tried. My brain makes me try about once a day, but there is simply no ranking these four shows. They are all the best. End of discussion.
I don’t even have an official ranking of loving the first half of Hadestown vs. the second half. I cried at both.
I cried at parts I wasn’t expecting to, like a simple dance number. I was shocked at the end, EVEN THOUGH I KNEW WHAT was COMING. It came too fast. It happened too soon, and I didn’t want the show to be over.
But then, abruptly, it was. The cast came out and did their bows, and I did a standing O. It deserved it. I was propelled out of my seat with love for this show. If they said they were gonna perform it again in 20 minutes, I would have sat right back down and stayed there, no matter how tired I was from being up at the crack of dawn that day.
Alas, they did not, so I just kept standing and clapping, and the cast kept beaming at us. Then, the band on stage started playing again, and the cast joined in for one final song.
It was beautiful, and I can 100% understand why D has seen Hadestown so much.
