We are the Champions

My good friend Lee Champion came to town this week to visit. Lee was a close friend in college who used to live in NYC (we were roommates briefly) and now lives in LA. It was SO great having him here! I know he must think I am a big dull dud because I FOOLISHLY wanted to sleep at night, when all he wanted to do was go dancing and club hopping downtown. I knew I was an old lady when Sunday at Midnight I was in my jammies getting ready for bed, and Lee was downing a Red Bull and getting ready to head out.
Despite our sleeping habit differences, we had an amazing time together. We saw several shows (see post below), went to Mariebells for brunch, hung out with friends Clark, Jen, Wade, Paul, Joe, Carlos, etc... and saw my friend Eve Starr's drag show at Therapy on Monday night.
It was a great week of entertaining. Lee, I love you madly, however, I have to be honest... YOU WEAR ME OUT! I am not as young or as cool as you. :)
I am already looking forward to your January trip to visit again.

They Say the Neon Lights are Bright on Broadway

This week I accomplished a life long goal. Well, maybe not lifelong... but one I've had for the past two decades or so.
As of this moment, I have seen every musical that is currently running on Broadway (except for Grease, but since I have seen nearly a dozen other versions and productions of this show, I am counting it).
This month was very show heavy, largely thanks to my dear friend Lee Champion who was in town and took me to several new shows.
If anyone is coming to town, or planning on attending a Bway show, feel free to ask for reviews. Here are some thoughts on the shows I saw this past month (from best to worst).
BILLY ELLIOT:
Amazing. Inspiring. Thoughful. Brilliant. A remarkable celebration of family, community, and individuality. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. Bring kleenex.

PAL JOEY:
A revival starring Stockard Channing and Martha Plimpton (as well as my friend Matt Risch). I loved the style. Setting is the speak-easy glam world of the 1920's. This production was eye-candy.

EQUUS:
I am not even going to make a "Harry Potter's Magic Wand" joke because this show was so much more than seeing Daniel Radcliff naked. A great piece of theater told by amazing actors in a stunning creative space. Great design. I completely bought that the men in brown body suits were horses.

SHREK:
Prior to seeing Shrek, I had heard from several friends that it was not great. I was expecting to be slightly entertained, but walking away disappointed. WRONG! I LOVED IT!!! I would totally see this show again and again. It was pure fun.
FYI... if you are expecting to hear songs from the movie, be prepared that all the music is original new music. And it's GREAT!

IN THE HEIGHTS:
Amazing talent. Totally new and innovative. No complaints.
I especially enjoyed this show as it takes place in Washington Heights- the neighborhood I lived my first three years in Manhattan.

SOUTH PACIFIC:
South Pacific is long, dated, and a bit hokey. However, it is also familiar, classic, and the current Lincoln Center production does a great job of telling this love story. In a time when there is still such ugly racism in our country, this show was a powerful reminder that hate and fear are taught, not something we are born feeling.

13:
Ugh. This new musical by Jason Robert Brown (a normally spectacular song writer) is just one dud after another. I sincerely want to support all new creative endeavors, but this show about 13 year old performed entirely by teenagers, felt more like high end community theater than Broadway.

How Lucky am I??!!?

Seriously, I live within a short walking distance of both these places.
Talk about the best of both worlds!
Times Square
Central Park

Autumn in New York

I LOVE FALL!!!
The weather has been gorgeous lately and this last week Seth and I took a long walk through Central Park and did an impromptu photo shoot.
Next time I will plan better and hopefully I won't be wearing horizontal stripes (ugh). Flat Stanley even made it into a couple of pictures.
*** By way of reminder, you can click on any photo to view it full size.

Truly Truly Spectacular

Two years ago Paul and I took a 13 day cruise with our bestie Wade who was working for Princess Cruiselines. We sailed our way through Venice Italy, Dubrovnik Croatia, Naples and Capri Italy, Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini Greece, Kusadasi/Ephesus Turkey, and ended in Rome. It was remarkable. One of the highlights of that trip was meeting new friends Doug Caldwell and Kevin Sateri who were vacationing from LA.
We spent a lot of time together over those 2 weeks and have stayed in touch since the cruse.
This season Kevin is in NYC doing the Radio City Christmas Spectacular show. Paul, Wade, Patrick, and I went to the final dress rehearsal on Wednesday night to see Kevin dance and welcome in Christmas (after an amazing dinner of chicken Tikka Masala Paul made). The show was (as the name suggests) SPECTACULAR... and I have to admit... I have been listening to Christmas music ever since I watched the show.
I see this show every year and it is truly not Christmas until I have seen the Rockettes do the toy soldier number (however, I could do without the 15 minute "Twelve Days of Christmas" Routine).

Chili Night!

A few days ago we decided it had been far too long since we had all gotten together- well, actually, most of the gang gets together every few days, but it had been weeks since we had ALL been together (ALL meaning SETH). Seth has been so busy working on the new Broadway bound production of West Side Story, that he has been a little MIA.
We decided a little fall dinner party was in order. Home made chili with chipotle cheese bread, piano sing-a-long party, and besties. Who could ask for anything more?
Of course, since it is pretty much impossible to get EVERYONE together, it was not the same without Carlos and Joe.

A Very Quiet Halloween

This Halloween came and went without a lot of fanfare. In fact, I was still sitting in my office at 8pm on Halloween office before I even realized it was Halloween. I called some friends, but they were all sitting home as well (sick, watching TV, making dinner, etc...). It seemed we had all forgot to make any plans.
I did not completely forget about this holiday... the weekend before I went out with a couple girlfriends to NYC's Blood Manor Haunted House. Heather, Jantra and I have a Halloween Haunted House Tradition. It was great to spend the evening with these girls- they are both amazing... and the Haunted House was pretty intense!

This is me, Jantra, and Heather making 'scary faces.' We tragically missed our objective.
















My Favorite Halloween was a couple years ago- me and Seth Marquette dressed up in costumes we found in Provincetown. He was the handsomest sailor- and I was a WWII army person (not quite sure of what exactly). All that matters is that we looked SO CUTE! I am pretty confident that was best Halloween yet.

Scott, me, Seth and Gavin pre Halloween partying.

Me and Seth in Times Sqare Halloween Night.

YES WE CAN!

What a great election night!
Best moments...
#1= Obama's acceptance speech.
#2- McCain's concession speech.
#3- Walking through Times Square following the victory.
#4- Going to work in Harlem the morning of November 5th.
#5- Red/White/and Blue strawberry/blueberry shortcake with my besties as we watched the victory unfold.

Worst Moments-
#1- The still too close to call, but inevitable passing of Prop 8 in California.
#2- Our normally stunning First Lady Elect in that ATROCIOUS dress.