A few weeks ago, I read that Helen Hunt was going to play the stage manager in "Our Town" off Broadway. Unfortunately, it was going to be a very short run, so we had very little opportunity to get there and fewer free weekends to do it in.
Last weekend we were supposed to go visit friends in Abingdon who we miss very much. I tried to convince them to go to NYC instead of us going to Abingdon. Turns out they had also double booked the weekend, so I felt very little guilt in heading to NY instead of Ab.
So, Helen was why we went to NY this weekend. We flew up Saturday morning (don't you just love JETBLUE - no other airline measures up). We decided to go all green and take the train in instead of a cab. The train usually takes longer because you have to travel a long way out of the way to get the right train. This time it took a really long time. I'd say normally - 1 hour to get into Manhattan. We had been on the train 1:30 (construction delays, heat & heavy rail traffic) when we saw 46th street. Oh wait, our hotel's on 44th, let's get off. We get to street level to find we're at 46th & Broadway all right. That's in Astoria, Queens not Manhattan.
It's 105 degrees and there are very few cabs in Queens. We start walking to where all the big buildings are in the distance. Glad we packed light. Not light enough. I told Anita that I just wanted to check out the NY marathon course in case we get in next year. The cabs that pass us are full. Uh oh. Finally, a Towne Car stops and asks if we need a taxi. I check to make sure it's actually some sort of car for let before getting in, but once we're on our way, I notice that a sign says that this car can not be hailed from the street, it must be called for. Uh oh. Anyway, I ask the price and it seems very reasonable, especially when we get caught up in bad traffic and take forever to get into Manhattan.
Do you get the feeling this could be a very long story? Are you actually interested enough to read it? why?
Anywho, we get to our hotel, The Millenium, which is amusing in itself, because when we decided on this hotel, Anita & I both had the Westin in our minds. We walk in and luggage and people are everywhere. Uh oh, our room is not going to be ready - standard procedure. The desk clerk very pleasantly asks if 1 bed will be sufficient for us. "Yes, but thanks for asking." We then asked about the gay pride discount we'd seen on the internet last night while printing out the reservation - 15% + tshirts. He said he couldn't change the reservation to that, but how about a free upgrade to the Premier. Now when he said this, we both were thinking "premiere", but no, turns out it's actually a physically separate hotel! It's connected via a hallway and past a theater. We still don't really know if it was an upgrade, but the room was very nice and on a very high floor with a view of Times Square. It's on 44th St, we recommend the hotel.
So we dump our bags and wash up. It's already 2pm and most Saturday matinees start at 2, so we check our show time listing that Anita downloaded from broadway.com. 3 shows start at 2:30. Let's run to TKTS. Great - 50% tix to "La Cage", which we'd wanted to see, but no Kelsey Grammer in this performance. GREAT - he's a conservative republican, so f*** him (don't really know how socially conservative since he worked so closely with David Hyde Pierce for so long), but really not disappointed to miss him.
So we have 10 minutes until show time. Just enough time for a hot dog. Awesome. Still hungry? Still enough time to scarf down another one. For the record, if you decide to do this, please purchase gum or mints prior to entering the show. Sorry to our audience mates.
La Cage was a little dull. I swear they sang every song 3 times and not in a spectacular way. The gay anthem "I Am What I Am" felt more like a lullaby then an anthem. Best Actor Tony Winner Douglas Hodge (sp?) was marvelous, but he could not save this show. Anita & I both found it very draggy.
Since La Cage put us to sleep, we grabbed a healthy snack at a convenience store & went back to the hotel for a catnap before traipsing down to the Village to see Helen.
The theater was very small. I estimate about 300 seats, max. The stage was actually the floor of the theater and the seating was set up all around the stage. We had to walk across the stage to get to our 2nd row seats. SWEET. The seats were elevated (like stadium seating), so our eye level was right at the actor's eye level. I didn't really think anything about that until Helen came out and it felt like she was talking directly to Anita & I! I think she managed to make and hold good eye contact with every audience member at some point during the show. It made our hearts go pitter patter.
As the character of Stage Manager, she introduces all the other characters to the audience. She was introducing the newspaper editor and asked if anyone had any questions. Anyone? No? So she handed a question written on an index card to an audience member and he read it. Any more questions? That's right, she comes right over to us. I swear she was going to hand it to Anita, but recognized the dread fear on her face! So she handed it to me, the ham. I asked my question and tried to hear the answer (mostly I just heard the blood rushing in my ears, my heart pounding and my brain screaming that Helen Hunt just handed me this card). I smiled and nodded like I understood what he had said. She then handed me another card to read. This one had emphasis on it (underlined). Yes, I just made my off-Broadway debut. No, I didn't get a curtain call, dammit.
After that, we tried to pay attention, and we were mostly successful. In the last act, Helen sat down on the step next to Anita for quite awhile and was drinking a bottle of water. I'm pretty sure Anita has no idea how the play ended (just kidding). After the show, we noticed the bottle was still on the step. We didn't want anyone to trip on it, so we picked it up. That's correct. We now have Helen Hunt's DNA and P!nk's DNA. I really need to go back to school to learn what this may mean.
After the show, we learned that Helen will only sign autographs on items left at the box office with a stamped, self-addressed envelope and that she picks them up on Sundays. Yes, we dropped a program & envelope off at the box office on Sunday morning.
After the show, we wandered the Village, had a drink at The Stonewall Inn, site of the start of the gay rights movement back in 1968 via the Stonewall Riots. Then we walked up to Chelsea and found a "gay" restaurant called Vinyl. It had lots of disco balls & was decorated with old album covers. Guess using the words "old" and "album" was redundant. Anyway the food was good and the drinks were cold. Have I mentioned that it was 107 Saturday in NYC. Not sure what the temperature was as we walked around at midnight, but I can tell you we were drenched.
Sunday we got TKTS tickets again. Saw "Promises, Promises" with Sean Hayes & Kristin Chenowith. They were both terrific, especially Sean. He is a good singer and got to talk to the audience in character. Very fun. FYI, contrary to "Newsweek's" review, he was very believable in the role. It was a good & fun show, just a bit draggy in the middle. We both managed to stay awake the whole time ;-)
For the evening performance, we couldn't decide between seeing "Mamma Mia" on Broadway for the first time or seeing "Rock of Ages" for a 2nd time....we flipped a coin and ROA won...but then we decided to see which show had better seats - MM. Hmmm. Went with MM so we could know for sure whether we liked this show or not. We'd seen it in Richmond as part of the Broadway traveling show and it seemed like a middle school performance. Only 2-3 folks could sing. This is a MUSICAL people! Then we saw the movie. The only good thing about the movie was that we went in Tampa at the theater that served alcohol. Helped a lot. Watching Pierce Brosnan sing was akin to watching a train wreck. So, we'd never seen a really good, musical cast and everyone who had seen it on Broadway raved. We saw it. We never have to see it again, so that's a positive. It was OK. But the audio and the voices were just so-so. We couldn't even hear the lead 1/2 the time. Not Broadway standard, but the rest of the audience seemed to love it. I'll take the Broadway cast recording and enjoy that, but I never have to see another production of it.
A lovely meal at "Junior's" afterward where Anita got a little tipsy and giggly. Had to carry her back to the hotel, fortunately it was only 2 blocks and I've been working out.
Shopped on Monday and then flew home. We really enjoyed the weekend.
