How I lost my virginity to Daniel Radcliffe {NYC: Part 3}

…My Broadway virginity, that is.

Ok, I admit, I just wanted to title my post this for the fun of it. This is actually about a variety of live show experiences: 1.) Colbert 2.) “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” 3.) “Anything Goes” and 4.) Shakespeare in the Park/“All’s Well That Ends Well”.

{Click for: NYC Part 1 or NYC Part 2}

1.) The Colbert Report

I. love. Colbert. I have since I was 15 or so and spent a week at the beach watching The Daily Show/Colbert Report with my cousins and sister. I love both of their shows but something about Colbert’s hilarious hyperbolic tendencies and sarcastic narcissism that I just can’t get enough of. Knowing my love of Colbert, Tina secured us tickets for the Wednesday night taping (June 29th).

The show was such a good time! I loved seeing my idol up close and in person. I loved seeing how good natured he is with his staff and that he genuinely seemed to be having fun. They start off by warming the audience up with a comedian…they have to make sure we know how to laugh loud and hard or the real show would be really awkward. They also wanted to make sure we knew how to cheer Stephen in right, but I didn’t find that very difficult. Who has to fake enthusiasm or laughter for Colbert? Anyway, the whole thing was just a good time. No pictures as they were, of course, not allowed so you will just have to imagine and be jealous.

2. “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”

!!!!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to go ahead and start off with some exclamation points so that maybe I’ll be able to restrain myself from using them in every sentence as I tell you all how much fun my first Broadway experience was.(!)

I am a theater kid. It was my life in high school. Mind you, my HS theater program sucked, but it was still my life and I loved every set-building, line-memorizing, big-hair-doing moment of it. Now Tina takes the cake for show knowledge between the two of us, but I do still love the world of live acting. I’ve seen many tour productions (“Wicked,” “The Last Five Years,” “Hairspray,” etc.) but of course as I’d never been to NYC, I’d never seen a Broadway show.

Daniel was my first.

Ok, so it’s a heap of fun that I got to see Daniel Radcliffe in the flesh, but I want to be clear that this show was outstanding on its own merit. The whole ensemble was fantastic. This is one big comedic, energetic, uproarious hit. The fun 60s fashion, the ridiculous song and dance numbers, the perfect comedic timing—well, it all added up to me sitting on the edge of my seat with an immoveable grin on my face. I loved the theater and our seats were great too.

John Larroquette and Daniel Radcliffe were definitely not to be missed. Yes, they bring star power and renown to the show, but they are also incredible stage actors with great comedic intuition and true singing/acting talent. I wish all of you had been in the room for “Grand Old Ivy.”

I loved sharing my first Broadway experience with my bestie. Not only does she appreciate it more than almost anyone else I know, but it was great to have her on my side for such invaluable tips as: The minute the number before intermission ends, you run—I mean RUN—to the bathroom. I managed to be fourth in line in a bathroom that was set up with amusement park style line dividers…by the time I left, the line was out the door, up the stairs and around the bend. Tina also tipped me off to run out at curtain call if I wanted a chance at making this happen:

{Do-you-really-not-know-who-this-is? and I}

{Courtney, John Larroquette and I}

{Me, Courtney, Christopher Hanke and Jacque}

Yeah, I still can’t believe it happened either. I made it to the front row and ended up next to two hilarious girls, Courtney and Jacque. It’s always great to make friends when your being roasted alive in a mob of Harry-hungry fangirls waving their playbills dangerously close to your eyeballs. The three of us hit it off joking and chatting and condemning the girl who brought her Harry Potter book to be signed. (Guys, Daniel was like 7 when they were written. He had nothing to do with the creating the story. Furthermore, when getting a signature post-show, he should be appreciated for his outstanding performance on the stage, not on the screen.) Anyway, it’s fun coming home with a couple new friends to reminisce with.

All in all a first Broadway experience that far surpassed my expectations and left me dizzy with joy.

Sidenote: Daniel is really very short, but so incredibly sweet and polite. I wish you could’ve heard his “of course!” when we asked him for a photo.

3.) “Anything Goes”

Broadway take 2! My second show, “Anything Goes”, was also an outstanding success. I have actually seen “Anything Goes” once before but that was at a local dinner theater…a far cry from the Broadway lights.

2 words: Sutton Foster. If you don’t know of Sutton Foster you’re probably not a theater person and I’m a little bit sad for you. She was…I’m a writer and I can’t find the adjective. Her stage presence is mind blowing between her power house voice and her embodiment of the character. Once again, though, I must give credit to the entire cast. How they managed those extended tap and dance numbers while belting it out is beyond me. I was in awe.

2 more words: Joel Grey. Do you know Joel Grey? (He’s Jennifer Grey of “Nobody puts baby in a corner” fame’s father) He played the male lead of the show and was a stitch. Literally, I may have gotten a stitch from laughing.

And a few more words: Jessica Walters…I mention her mainly because she was the mother on “Arrested Development” and I liked seeing her in person. Adam Godley. You may not know him; I recognized him from various things here and there on tv, but he had me laughing my (hot) pants off in my chair. He plays a Brit who is an avid collector of Americanisms but always manages to misunderstand and misuse them. See: “Get my tea and step in it!” or “I’ve got hot pants for a round of golf.”

Yes, this was a wonderful show—just my type of musical with gorgeous period costumes, lots of energy and general fun.

The only downside was that Sutton Foster didn’t come to stage door. Most of the leads didn’t. I get that they’re tired, but I was still a smidge disappointed. I did get this photo with the male romantic lead:

4.) Shakespeare in the Park
The original plan, way back when, was to get up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to try to get tickets for “All’s Well That Ends Well.” Come Friday night, Tina was on her way to sick and I was too exhausted to think of a 5a.m. wake up call so we decided to forget Shakespeare.

Sunday while we wandered the Met, Tina got an email that she’d won us 2 tickets from the online lottery! No early wake-up and tickets? Score! All we had to do was pick them up between 5 and 7 and come back for the free show at 8.

I really enjoyed the Shakespeare in the Park experience although at times it was our very own comedy of errors. For starters, we followed the map to make our way to the Delacorte theater (where Shakespeare in the Park is performed)—or we thought we were following the map. We ended up entering the park by a secret looking staircase so that it felt like we were sneaking into Central Park from some back hedge. We came in by Belvedere Castle and were bewildered as to how we would wind down to the theater, which we could see but not easily get to. Well, we did eventually make it and we got our tickets. Seeing as we had a while and I needed dinner, we headed back out…only this time we followed the general pedestrian traffic and discovered just how very simple it actually was to get in and out of the park once the route became known. Foolish.

I think it’s safe to say neither of us particularly loved the show itself, although for my part I did love the production quality and the acting. I just didn’t love the storyline or the so-called moral of the story. (If you trick your husband into marrying and bedding you, he’ll probably love you in the end. Fake your death for good measure.) Still, it was cool to see Headmaster Charleston of Gilmore Girls spouting prose on stage.

For all its hits and misses, I had such a good time as an audience member in NYC. I am so grateful to Tina for hooking us up with all of our tickets and opportunities! Thank you!

And now, just for good measure, here is an interesting comparison between the color scheme and age of Cristina’s recent Entertainment Weekly and our “How to Succeed” playbill. I was fascinated by how well they went:

Last but not least, here are my gorgeous autographed show programs! Can you guess which signature is Daniel's?

Anything Goes {NYC: Part 2}

{NYC Part 1}

Friday started out with brunch at Café Lalo. Actually, it started out with breakfast plans elsewhere only upon arrival at the location, we discovered it was borded up with "Danger: poison" signs on the doors. Yikes. Luckily my bestie is a genius and soon came up with a new plan, only she insisted it be a surprise. I was so excited when Tina led me to the new location because I immediately recognized its cute exterior. It was the café where Meg Ryan (Kathleen Kelly/Shopgirl) waits to meet her secret penpal Tom Hanks (Joe Fox/ NY152) in “You’ve Got Mail”!

The truth is, I would’ve loved this café movie or no movie because it was so cute—but I loved it even more due to its connection.

In the early afternoon I met up with my friend Justine to catch up…we hadn’t seen each other in 7 years! I had such a fun time chatting with her about the old days. If you had overheard our conversation you would’ve thought we were speaking code as we reminisced about FAP, HMS Pumpkin Pie (WIN) vs The Good Ship (boo), our joint love for SS Fire & Ice, one-shots, SCUSA, shipping, minxes, etc. We bemoaned the youngins who don’t know what all of that means and what hard core HP fans we were/are. We ate at Amsterdam Diner and then sat out at Riverside Park.

{"Like sand through the hourglass, these are the minxes of our lives..."}

Friday night Tina and I met up with my other good college friend, Janie, at Hurley’s Saloon before our showing of “Anything Goes.” I loved my lobster bisque and stuffed clams, but I loved conversation with the girls even more.

After the show, we stopped by the good old TQ (inside joke) at night.

On Saturday poor Tina was sick so Janie picked me up from Tina’s apartment and we headed out to the Union Square market. What a delightful market it was! Fresh everything, organic peppermint tea to cool me right down to my core in the heat and lots of sensory stimulation of the visual and olfactory kind. I grabbed an apple before we left and then we relaxed in the park in the middle for a bit before heading on.

Next we went to the Highline. I must admit I’d never heard of this until my trip, but it was quite a nice sight. The Highline is an old above ground train line that has now been redone into a beautiful walkway/park. It stretches for a ways and offers great views of the city. It was packed when we were there and we only went for a bit, but I know Tina and Janie will look forward to going back (since they live there and all…)

Next up was a stop at Gray’s Papayas—another “You’ve Got Mail” shooting spot—for some hot dogs and delicious papaya juice and then on to Levain for warm giant cookies.

The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing with “Pushing Daisies” and mac ‘n’ cheese so Tina could rest and recover more.

Sunday was a low-key and yet packed day. We started out at the Met where we pondered which artifacts in the Egyptian wing may have belonged to Tina’s relative.

Tina is Egyptian and I happen to have been obsessed with Egyptian culture as a young one so I couldn’t get enough of it.

We decided this was probably a portrait of our earlier incarnations as Egyptians.

After the Met we were off to brunch at “Good Enough to Eat.” If you’ve been to NYC, you may have been there or heard of it. It was definitely a popular spot with quite the line out the door, even on a rainy day. I can definitely see why; it was insanely delicious! I got the “Gramercy Park” omelet on Tina’s recommendation. First you need to understand that I don’t really like omelet-style eggs. I decided to go for it anyway because I can sometimes handle omelets if done well. (I can never handle scrambled though—hate ‘em.) This omelet was egg, granny smith apple and Vermont white cheddar. Oh. My. Gosh. Guys, this omelet was out of this world. I devoured it in record Kate-time.

We finished up the day with Shakespeare in the park—but that’s for tomorrow’s post! Meet you back here then, yeah? Daniel Radcliffe; musicals; Shakespeare; what’s not to like?

Reunited at last! {NYC: Part 1}

{Sorry to be so lengthy, but I am splitting my NYC recap into three parts because I have so many pictures to share.}

I hugged my college best friend goodbye in front of our own campus apartment building post-graduation last May (2010). We said some last minute sentiments and hugged tightly and then went on our respective ways to family brunches and celebrations. Nary a month later she found herself with a job and apartment in her dream city: NYC. I moved home to Colorado and got the news that I’d received a grant to teach in Spain starting in September. Life was happening and fast. I went off to Spain and vowed that we would reunite as soon as I could make a trip to NYC possible. I bought my plane ticket in late April of this year before I was even back on the continent.

The thing about those truly great friendships in life is that you can be apart for ages, but once you’re back together it feels like not a day has passed. Sure, there’s a lot to catch up on and you’re eager to hear about the new characters in each other’s lives, but the essential chemistry is still there.

Cristina and I reunited in true “us” fashion—a series of quirky exchanges and mishaps. I landed at LaGuardia and she was stuck in traffic after being on 2 consecutive buses that broke down. She texted me about fights breaking out on her 3rd bus and I told her of the awkward confrontation going down between a runner and airport security right next to my seat. When she finally arrived, we spent a goofy 5 minutes on the phone trying to figure out why we swore we were in the same place (baggage claim 2, terminal B!) but couldn’t see each other. I finally saw that short, tan bestie of mine wandering in the opposite direction and yelled into my phone “wait, turn around!”—I didn’t wait for her to turn before running up to hug her.

New York was a whirlwind of musicals, celebrity encounters (no on the street kinds, just stage), food (!!!), beautiful sights, “hey wasn’t this in _____” statements, laughter, catching up with old friends, and Digby. This was my first time in the big city. I actually never had much of a desire to visit, but was still excited to see it when the opportunity to visit Tina arose. Turns out: I loved Manhattan! A lot. Particularly the upper West End where Tina lives.

Tina & I both love Broadway so we of course went to a few shows—but I think to split up the posts, I’ll save the exciting details of all my show (Broadway and otherwise) experiences for the next post. I’m also shamelessly trying to get you to come back and read my next post so you can hear about how I met Daniel Radcliffe.

On my first morning in the city, Tina took me to Alice’s Tea House—I am a huge tea fanatic so she was very excited to take me to this adorable delightful Alice themed spot for breakfast. Tina is not so much a fan of tea, but she even had a pot in my honor and liked it!

After some tea and scones, we went to:

1.) The “Imagine” marker at Strawberry Fields in Central Park.

Tina HATES feet photos—so I snuck up on her and did this much to her chagrin. She totally does not approve her feet being used in this photo.

2.) Little Italy

3.) Washington Square Park

4.) Bryant Park, Tina's favorite.

5.) The New York Public Library Main Branch (Remember, I want to be a librarian!)

6.) Radio City Music Hall

7.) Rockefeller Center

(Fun fact: I went to college with a Rockefeller—yes, a real one.)

8.) Times Square during daylight

Ok so, we’re just at the end of my full first Day, Thursday. (I also saw “How to Succeed in Business” on Day 1, but that’s for a separate post.) I hope you'll come back to read about Friday-Sunday and my show experiences in the next few days!