There's Always Magic in the Air...On Broadway

If you don't already know it, I LOVE Broadway. It's not just the shows, but its everything about them. I am fascinated by the whole process from the initial idea and writing the show to putting it on stage through workshops, and finally, hopefully, making it to the Great White Way (or West End). I especially love the marketing and advertising, but I'm a little bias!

Since my first trip to NYC in 2001, I have been more times than I can count and have seen shows that have changed my life. Although I have been to visit the city with some really cool people, I have never been on a trip entirely with Broadway lovers, which when you want to wait at the stage door and you can come up with a song lyric for any situation, non-Broadway lovers get a little over it.

So for this trip, we have been planning it since December (I know this because we booked on my birthday). Allison, Rachel and I were the original three going and about two weeks ago my friend Cole joined the trip too.

The dates for the trip were chosen based on seeing Sutton Foster in "Anyone Can Whistle" that was only showing for one weekend. It ended up that Raul Esparza and Donna Murphy were also in the show and were amazing. Murphy as the Mayoress stole the show! To cap off an amazing night, we got to meet all of them at the stage door, which is a real accomplishment because Foster doesn't always come out. It was, to say the least, an amazing night. For dinner before the show we meet up with some of Allison's friends at Vinyl, which had amazing food (I had fried chicken better than any you could find down south) and the theme was cool too. Each bathroom featured a different performer. There are three locations in the city, but ours featured Nelly, Elivis, Cher and Dolly Parton. So that was Friday, but let's go back.

We all arrived in the city Thursday. Cole and I got in the earliest and meet up at Laguardia (which is a feat in itself) and caught a cab to the hotel. Allison was next and Rachel was last because her flight got delayed. Rachel didn't make it for dinner, but the rest of us headed to Ruby Foos, which was a fun restaurant with Asian food served family style. Although our waiter didn't think it was enough food, the portions were huge and we had more than enough food with two entrees. Luckily with some help from Marques, Rachel made it from the airport in time to grab a quick bit to eat and meet up with us to see "American Idiot." The new musical features Spring Awakening's John Gallagher, Jr. and the music of Green Day. Although it wasn't my favorite for the story, it sort of lacked dialog, the stage, lighting and choreography was brilliant. It is a show unlike anything Broadway has ever seen before. After the show we got to see some of our Spring Awakening favorites, Marques and Alan.

Saturday was a double show day, seeing a matinee of "In the Heights" and the evening performance of "Promises, Promises." I have always had a grudge with "In the Heights." I first saw the show when I went to the Tonys in 2008 and everyone keep talking about how revolutionary it was, but I just didn't see it. It was a combination of "West Side Story" and set in NY like "Brooklyn the Musical" or something. So it has taken two years before I could bring myself to see it. The show was good, Corbin Bleu was playing the lead role of Usnavi and did a good job. Is it the best thing I have ever seen, not really.

The show that surprised me in how much I loved it was "Promises, Promises" starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth. It was funny, creative and really different from anything I had every seen. It is based on the Oscar-winning movie, "The Apartment" and is really worth seeing. To cap off a star-studded trip, we got to meet both Hayes and Chenoweth at the stage door.

While visiting the city I got to tour where I am going to be living this summer, which has an awesome location next to Macy's in Herald Square and has outings to see Broadway shows. What could be better than that?!?!

During our trip we did do other things that see shows. It is unfortunate that shows aren't at more diverse times of the day because we would have loved to see more! Macy's was having their annual Flower Show which featured more than a million flowers in their store. It was beautiful and smelled great as well. One night for dinner we went to Maxie's. I don't recommend it, the food was eatable at best and our table looked like a bad feast at the end. To hit the highlights, the breakfast food came with mashed potatoes, which had a peanut butter consistency and all came with bread, not toast, which was six pieces of cold white bread. And yes, there was jelly, but it tasted like grape children's benadryl. Another fun excursion was wondering around Central Park. I had been to the park, but it was to eat or just see it and had never really explored it. After a trip down memory lane on the swings we climbed one of the gigantic rocks and just had a fun time. It was a great ending to the trip.

Sadly Rachel was the first one who had to head back but Allison, Cole and I wondered down to Greenwich Village and walked up seeing some great sights of the city. All in all it was a spectacular trip and I can't wait to be in the city for the summer.