New York - Day 3

I didn’t have as long to explore the city today as I had to fit in a matinee and an evening show, so this could be quite short.

I headed up to the North of Times Square and found the Lincoln Centre. Lots of big names in Jazz play here – nobody I knew was on this week but I am sure they all would have been amazing. The architecture also starts to change as you head out of Times Square. Less flashing lights and less Starbucks – they are EVERYWHERE!!!!!!. I think once I got past Central Park I only saw 3 in the 20 blocks I walked!

I had a turkey and salad sandwich for lunch which was quite nice. The only problem was I think the put half a turkey on the bread and then a token piece of each salad (could you slice your cucumber any thiner…?). By now, my fresh fruit, salad and vegetable cravings were growing. Anyway, it was time to go to HAIR! I ended up sitting next to a reviewer and a guy who had seen the movie when it was first released and wasn’t really into musicals but LOVED Hair and was coming to see his first Broadway Show – he even looked the part with the long ponytail down his back – however he was about as balding as Dad on top!

I have now officially danced on Broadway! To those of you that thought I couldn’t do it –I did it! The end of Hair the audience are invited up onto the stage to dance and we were all singing and clapping “Let The Sun Shine”. I will talk more about the show in the review but the WHOLE stage was covered with carpet and rugs – no bare stage! So yeah – I have now danced on Broadway!

After Hair I decided to head to Lion King… Only problem was Lion King didn’t do Wednesday nights, only matinee! My Bad! Oh well… The next on the list was West Side Story. For West Side my half price vouchers didn’t start until next week and the cheap TKTS were for about W row so I decided to try my luck at the lottery. For the lottery, you turn up at the theatre at 5:30pm, put your name in a box and then at 6:00pm they draw out the first 18 names for front row tickets… I didn’t win… So I walked inside and decided to pay full price for the show – I had scored so well with every other ticket I decided to lash out a bit and West Side Story is up there for me as one of the greatest musicals EVER! It was so worth it – except for the large Indian family who were sitting beside me. They were all leaning on each other because they didn’t fit in the seats. Lucky for me, on the other side was a couple who were leaning in being very romantic (I think he had bought her these tickets as a Christmas Present) so I was able to lean to that side a bit. I got excited when my Fat Indian didn’t come back after interval… but he did – halfway through the dream ballet WITH FRENCH FRIES from the Maccas next door and then proceeded to share them with his brother and dad…. GRRRRRR!!!!!

After the show I headed back to the hotel for a night cap! I was still in awe of the dancing in West Side but still furious at the people next to me. I went to the bar at the hotel where I met two other aussies who are traveling around the world making a TV commercial. It was great to chat with them, we discussed the cricket test, I told them about my adventures in Toronto which was there next stop, it was great. Anyway, the bar closed and I was about to head to bed when a text came through from Mark. So off I headed up 9th Ave to the cnr of 49th to a quiet little bar to catch up with him again. His brother, Sister, Cousin and couple of friends were there as well as another friend Jaqui. Jaqui is the Musical Director of Company (the singing group that Andrew is in) and was teaching at ADPI for ages. Anyway, at 2:00am when we left I decided it was far too cold to walk so I caught a cab. I am only telling you this to make a point that besides trips to and from Airports, this is the only time I have EVER caught a cab on my holiday. The rest has been walking or the occasional train and of course the streetcar in Toronto!