Welcome to the Big Apple

Although I was very excited to be moving, I have always found it hard to leave home. And I guess it isn't home so much as my parents. For those who haven't meet them, they are quite possibly the coolest people ever. Growing up I always did everything with my parents and they support me in everything that I do, so leaving them is hard. But I wasn't going to be all alone in the city; my friends Jordan and Cole were coming up for the weekend (actually I was staying with them until I moved in on Sunday).

And boy was the weekend packed. Jordan and Cole missed their flight out of Charlotte and ended up in Boston and finally New York. The literally ran in the door, changed and we jumped on the subway to go downtown to meet Jordan's cousin's girlfriend at this neat restaurant, The Smith (on 3rd between 10th and 11th). After dinner it was a race to theater and we made it just in the nick of time. We kicked off our show streak with Billy Elliot. It was great to see the show again because I had forgotten how wonderful it was. I am still amazed at how talented the children are in the cast, especially the boys who play Billy. It is unbelievable. And another favorite in the show is Billy's friend Michael. The two of them do this tap number dressed up in Micheal's sisters clothes; it's priceless! We attempted to go to the stage door but after standing for a while we realized we were at the wrong one so we called it a night.

Friday we decided to go to a museum and ended up at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). I had been a year or so ago, but it is a pretty interesting place. The temporary exhibit is a combination of videos, photos and live installations of people in frozen poses, some of which are not clothed. I know that everyone has different opinions of what art is, but this was weird and we didn't really like it. Another part of it was this live staring contest with the artist and another person in the lower lobby. As we went onto other floors, we came across things we liked more, like works by Picasso, Kandinsky and Van Gogh. Before going to see HAIR, we meet Ashley and Andria and Vnyl to celebrate Ashley's birthday. The food at Vynl is great. They have the best fried chicken I have ever had, and that is saying something.

I had always kinda wanted to see HAIR, but just hadn't gotten around to it. To be honest I really didn't know much about the story, thought I did know a few songs (Age of Aquarius, Let the Sun Shine). The original revival cast moved to London in January and the new "tribe" started in New York. Two cast members, Ace Young and Diana DeGarmo, are American Idol alums and Kyle Riabko I had seen in Spring Awakening (both in New York and on tour). Our seats were really far up in the balcony, but right before the show started the ushers let everyone move down because there were 10 or 12 empty rows, which was really nice. The show started and it was non-stop action. The stage was set up so that there were ladders that allowed the cast to easily access the balcony and part of the cast was constantly in the audience. I was blown away by the show and loved it so much. And to top it all off, the audience was invited on stage at the end for a dance party. Wow is all I can say.

After that we tried to get tickets to Sex and the City 2 but it was sold out until the 12:30 a.m. showing. It took some convincing, but I got Jordan and Cole to agree to come back the next morning instead of waiting. To be honest I would have sleep through it I was so tired. So, we aimed to go to the 10 a.m. but ended up at the 11:10 a.m. showing! I have to admit I have never watched the show or seen the first movie, but I still liked the second movie. It was funny and the nachos were good.

For out matinee, we got our Gamecock Gleek shirts on and headed to the Radio City Music Hall to see Glee Live!!!!! For those of you who aren't Glee fans, Gleek is a combination of Glee plus Geek and describes one who watches and loves Glee. We had some mix ups trying to get these tickets, but ended up with first mezzanine and the seats were decent. The show was amazing. The performed 21 songs from the show, some great group numbers and solos, including one of my favorites, Don't Rain on My Parade. Probably the best part was when Jonathan Groff made a surprise guest appearance to sing Hello with Lea Michele. It was beyond amazing! I was a little surprised though over the crowd. They were not as young and exciting as I thought they would be. It really was an odd mix. After the show we grabbed pizza and got changed to see Next To Normal. I was excited about this because Brian d'Arcy James was going back into the show (he did the original workshop), but he was out. His understudy was okay, but he was a little too angry for the role and he looked old. I didn't care for his take on the character and he began to annoy me as the show went on. Although I didn't have a great view because the lady in front of me leaned forward the whole first half and her hair was so big I had about half of the stage blocked. We moved at intermission, but there were a couple times that I almost reached forward and jerked her back in her seat. The rows were so separated and staggered that there was no reason for her to sit forward.

Sunday morning Jordan and Cole helped me bring my stuff over to the New Yorker to get checked into my room. After getting my key card we tossed my stuff in and headed out to get lunch and see Promises, Promises. This show is hilarious and the cast is outstanding. I can tell you that both Sean Hayes and Kate Finnegan will take the Tonys for their role in this show. Because there are such big names in the show, the stage door for it is particularly crazy. Last time we went to stage door was busy, but it was so much worse this time. There must have been 200 people out there, which is huge compared to the normal crowd. Kristin Chenoweth had been sick and so we were just excited that she was back in the show, but figured she wouldn't come out, but Sean Hayes and many others came out which was fun. What is also cool about the show is that I know someone in it. Cameron Adams is from Myrtle Beach and made her Broadway debut in The Music Man, which just happened to be the first show on Broadway I saw. Since then we have gotten to see her in Hairspray and Shrek.

Unfortunately, after the show it was time for Jordan and Cole to leave and I had to head back to my housing for our introduction meeting. I was hoping it would be more useful than it was, but it really didn't help us get to know each other any better. My housing reminds me of my freshman dorm, but I don't share the room. It is a little old, like the bathroom is small and has lovely seafoam green tile, but it's comfortable and it's a great location. I'm missing a couple of things, but I will post room pictures soon.