Sixty Hours in New York City

30 Rock

My friend, Julie, and I flew to New York City on Thursday, had a whirlwind adventure in Manhattan, and flew back to Minneapolis early Sunday morning. For a quick trip this is a long post...we did SO MUCH!

We saw four Broadway musicals in three days, caught up with friends and family, and still had time to tour the Empire State Building and the New York Public Library. A 3 1/2-minute recap video is available here.

We landed at LaGuardia right on time, took the free bus to the subway, then the #7 subway line into Manhattan to Grand Central Terminal. We walked from Grand Central to our basecamp for the 3 days - 2nd Avenue and 48th Street East (just a couple of blocks from the East River and the United Nations).

Our first adventure took us to Lincoln Center via 5th Avenue and dinner with my friend Robin. We stopped at 30 Rock and took pictures of the Luise Vuitton inspired construction masking. The impetus for this trip was to see Ragtime, the musical, at Lincoln Center. I have loved this show for years and especially since I had the opportunity to work very temporarily as an ASM on the touring show many, many years ago.

Waldorf Astoria with Julie

The production at Lincoln Center exceeded all my expectations. It was stunning and even if we hadn't done another thing, my trip would have been complete.

Thursday was the rainy day and night. From Lincoln Center the plan was to take the subway to Grand Central so that we wouldn't be out in the rain so much. 

We made it to Times Square but the subway to Grand Central was not operating (probably too much rain) so we ended up walking from Times Square back to the apartment. We were doing pretty good until about 2 blocks remaining when it really started to pour. Everything got hung up to dry.

Friday morning, we met a cousin of Julie's at a nearby coffee shop then a walk-through of the stunning Waldorf Astoria. Back to the apartment to get our host who was joining us for lunch with my friend John Arnone.

We met John at Grand Central and ended up at The Brasserie - lots of theater stories were shared. A woman walked by our table and I did a double take - it was an actor I had worked with at The Guthrie years ago - Brenda Wehle. She was headed to the train to go to Connecticut. We chatted briefly.

From Grand Central, Julie and I walked to the Empire State Building. The company Julie works for has a connection with the building and a co-worker lent us his VIP access card. It was incredible. Friday was cloudy but no rain and no fog so the views were amazing.

Friday night we saw All Out: Comedy About Ambition. This is the show Julie had on her list primarily because of the band Lawrence. The show had announced it was closing March 8, so we caught one of the final performances. The band was fantastic. The stories by Simon Rich and read by a quartet of stand-up comedians were not as fantastic.

New York Public Library reading room

Saturday, we met Julie's cousin Chloe at the New York Public Library. Besides being a beautiful and historic building, there are exhibitions to visit. The exhibit, 100: A Century of Collections, Community, and Creativity, was enlightening and stunning.

Chloe joined us for the remainder of the day and evening. We walked to Times Square to stand in line for TKTS tickets. We were in line for 1hr+ but brilliant-ly we ordered food online and Julie and Chloe picked it up while I kept place in line.

We made it to the ticket booth in time to get tickets for two shows. We decided on Buena Vista Social Club matinee and Moulin Rouge. Our host clued us into Buena Vista, and I've wanted to see Moulin Rouge ever since the movie.

Both were so, so good and we got great tickets to both. Between shows we ate at a French restaurant, visited the M&M Store, and had pizza slices.

We contemplated going to a club after Moulin Rouge since we were so fired up from both shows but also so very tired. We ended up saying good-bye to Chloe and walking back to Michael's apartment for a quick 2 hour "nap" before catching a Lyft to LaGuardia.

Wow! What a trip! Click here for the 3 1/2 minute video recap.

New York, New York

The trip video is available here. I want to acknowledge that I am fortunate to have the wherewithal to to travel and to also have friends who also have the wherewithal and similar travel adventure bug.

My friend, Bud, needed to use a Delta companion ticket before August and invited me to go to New York City for a long weekend - July 21 to 24. We left early on the 21st and hit the ground running.

Landing at La Guardia, we took the free transfer bus to Subway Line #7 to Grand Central Station, Manhattan. We walked from Grand Central to our hotel for the weekend, the Hilton Millennial United Nations. The hotel is located immediately next to the United Nations building on the East River. Our room was on the 36th floor with amazing views of Manhattan including the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and Freedom Tower in the distance.

We got an early check-in, dropped off our luggage, and headed out to Times Square and the discount ticket office, TKTS. We were in line for about 1 1/2 hours and decided to purchase tickets to a Friday evening show and a Saturday matinee. We didn't have real plans for shows so were open to whatever was available.

Friday night we went to Grey House at the Lyceum Theater. It is a "straight" (ie. not a musical) play which I wanted to support. It fit its billing as being a creepy, horror story. Very difficult to describe and very thought provoking about what it was or wasn't representing. Laurie Metcalf (of Roseanne show fame) appears in this production.

Starting Friday and throughout the weekend, we hit as many Irish pubs as we could between Times Square and our hotel. The weather was pretty much fantastic the entire time. It did get hot but not humid. We were lucky.

Saturday, we walked nearly completely across the island of Manhattan...from the East Side to the West Side and the High Line near the Hudson River. We walked a good portion of the High Line towards downtown. We got off around 14th Street and jumped on the subway back to Times Square for a matinee of New York, New York at the St. James Theater.

Before the show, we went to my favorite diner, Westway on 9th. It was perfect. New York, New York is a HUGE musical. We had 2nd row seats! We could read the conductor's music score! The show as full of unknown Kander and Ebb songs with additional lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The 2nd Act is really a block buster. Unfortunately, the closing notice was published after we saw the show. Hopefully it will tour so people get a chance to see it. The lead actor, Colton Ryan, is freakin' amazing.

Bud hasn't been able to get authentic Japanese sukiyaki in the Twin Cities so we went to Jukai for dinner and opted not to see a show Saturday night. I had never had sukiyaki. It was delicious and the staff's attention to detail was impeccable.

We had stopped by TKTS after the Saturday matinee to get tickets to the final preview of The Cottage, another "straight" play. This one a farce/comedy at the Hayes (formerly Helen Hayes) Theater. It was fun and fluffy and full of a lot of sexual references. It was directed by Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame. It opened on the Monday after we saw and, unfortunately did not receive good reviews.

From the play we walked to just off Central Park to eat at Serendipity, a New York institution. We found an interesting beer bar while we waited for our table. I have been to Serendipity before but do not remember it being the crazy, weird place that appears to be now.

I can't remember is we walked back to the hotel or took the subway. We did A LOT of walking!

We had time before our flight on Monday to get in some more touristing. We took the subway to the upper east side to visit The Guggenheim. I had never been. The building was designed by Frank LLoyd Wright. There were 3 very interesting exhibits (check them out on the website). I really enjoyed visiting this museum.

We took the subway back to the hotel to get our luggage then to Grand Central to back track our route to La Guardia. Everything really went really well on weekend.

Another link to the video.

New York - part 2

Tuesday morning Jill and I went downtown to see the 9-11 Memorial site and Freedom Tower. Upon leaving the subway at street level, we were confronted with people trying to sell photo brochures of the memorial and the terrorist attacks. The sellers thrust these images in your face. It is abrupt and very unwelcomed.

The memorial site is calming and comforting. The trees and waterfalls are a beautiful tribute to all those that lost their loves on 9-11.

As part of celebrating Jill's mom, we went to Serendipity on East 60th. Jill brought some of Joan's ashes which she sprinkled on yellow tulips we put outside of the restaurant.

Jill ordered a frozen hot chocolate as soon as we sat down. It was her mom's favorite.

Jill's friend Laralu met us for the rest of lunch. I left them to catch up with each other and went down to Greenwich Village to meet an old theatre friend, Rebecca. We had high tea and a good time catching up ourselves.

Tuesday evening we went to the American Ballet Theatre performance at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.

ABT is celebrating their 75th anniversary. We were treated to three pieces from their repertory. The first piece was classic Russian-style - beautiful costumes and regal ballet.

The second was a French-titled piece, The Lilac. A story of a woman promised to a man she does not love and denied the man she does. There was a moment when the characters are all on stage and freeze in a very long tableaux... then she steps out of the frozen image and makes a haunting move toward the love she is denied. It was incredible.

The third piece was Rodeo. Wow! Aaron Copeland's music and Agnes DeMille's choreography. Wow!

Wednesday we went to two shows. Before the 2pm matinee of An American In Paris, we stopped at Sardi's. Jill ran into a woman she worked with at Oregon Shakespeare. New York and theatre are a small world.

An American In Paris, the musical, is stunning. Jill's friend, Veanne Cox is in the show and graciously met us afterward.

We met a couple of actors Jill knows from Oregon Shakespeare for dinner at a Brazilian/Cuban bean and rice restaurant. That evening we went to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. An incredible play based on an autistic boy's life.

Our friend Helen Carey is a member of the ensemble. If you have a chance to see this show, definitely do.

New York City! -- part 1

Got back Thursday from a wonderful trip to New York City with my dearest friend, Jill Rendall. Jill received the Del Hughes Life Time Achievement Award in the art of stage management from the Stage Managers' Association.

We arrived Saturday evening. The cab ride into Manhattan from LaGuardia as fine until we got near Times Square and traffic came to a stand still. We exited the cab and launched into Times Square with are suitcases in tow.... classic tourists.

We stayed at the Belvedere on 48th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. It is a very nice hotel and perfectly located. Ate dinner at a local Italian restaurant recommended by the hotel doorman then wondered through Times Square again.

Sunday morning I went for a run along the Hudson River Riverwalk.

Sunday was our chance to catch up with old friends and see New York apartments.

Saw John Arnone's apartment on the upper west side and had brunch at Spring. John always has great stories.

After brunch we decided to see a Broadway matinee performance of Matilda the Musical. It was loud, cruel and very funny.

Sunday afternoon we met up with my old neighbors Sari Ketter and Mather Dolph at their apartment in mid-town near the river. We went across the street to Market Diner where it as obvious they are very much regulars.

Sunday evening we were back up the upper west side to 93rd to see Robin Rumpf's apartment and have sushi with Robin and Jana Llynn. I have known Jana since my early theatre days at Arena Stage in Washington.

Monday I met with my old Karate instructor, Art Drago. Artie was in New York visiting his mom for Mother's Day. We had a late breakfast at Westway Diner then headed over to Times Square to check out the madness.

 Monday evening was the awards event. There were three recipients of the Life Time Achievement award.

Jill read a lovely acceptance speech. Many friends and co-workers were there to celebrate.

The award is a nice engraved Plexiglas star.