Taking another bite out of the Big Apple.

So as I promised I owe a blog post about my trip to the world's theatre capitol NYC! This will be a long one so settle in (Hope was worth the wait!) It was almost 5 years since I was last in NYC. A visit was long over due. I went with my boyfriend N. to celebrate 5 years together. Ironically a few days after we started dating was the last time I was in NYC. In the vein of Meg Cabot,I try to keep my personal life private which is why I only refer to him as N. and you won't find any pics of him on here. 

 On Monday December 9 we spent the night in Toronto the day before we left, because my mom gave us a life experience package at the former Skydome hotel (Now called the Renaissance Hotel and the skydome is now called the Roger's centre) The room was pretty lush, two flat screen TVs. Our package included champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, breakfast for two, and tickets from a selection of local attractions. It was fabulous. Here's a pic of the room.

 

For the attraction we decided to go tour the Steam Whistle Brewery. It was fun getting tipsy at noon ...something to try once. There were samples before and after the tour, plus everyone got a freshly bottled of beer right of the assembly line, time stamped and everything. It was awesome, I really like the beer too. We ended up being lumped in with the George Brown College school tour, the instructor was treating us as if we were his students, he wouldn't let us fall behind. The brewery is located in part of an old railway roundhouse. Here's a pic from the tour:

 

After the tour I went back to the Chickery, because I still wanted to meet Chef David Adjey. I had something different this time and was much happier with the food. Chef Adjey was pretty cool, he said they were trying to reboot his former  show The Opener on A&E. He promised us extra sides, but never delivered Naturally I got a picture with him

 

At 6:40 that night we caught the overnight bus to NYC. It was a bargain at 100 USD round trip for the both of us. We were all prepared for the trip and had the laptop to watch movies etc. We had even been considerate and got a splitter so we could both listen with our headphones and to not disrupt our fellow travellers. I was disappointed to see that others weren't so considerate and were just playing youtube videos on their phones with out headphones, or listening to music really loudly even with headphones.

We arrived in NYC shortly after 6 am, first thing I hailed a cab like the New Yorker I am at heart. Our destination was to the Dominque Ansel Bakery home/inventor of the cronut. For those living under a rock ;O) the cronut is pastry that is a donut/croissant hybrid. In the summer people line up at 4 in the morning for  them. When we arrived we were second and third in line. This guy Robert was ahead of us in his sleeping bag. He is professional line sitter, so people pay him to wait in line for him. Someone for example was paying him $40 to acquire a $5 pastry for them, and he does things 4 or 5 times a week. ! The longest he ever waited for something was 18 hours. It wasn't all that cold but eventually the staff came out and gave us complimentary hot chocolates and madelines while we waited for the bakery to open at 8. While we were waiting this girl who stated she was a stripper, wanted to get warmed up in Robert's super large sleeping bag, she came over and was all "Hey boo", he let her sit beside him, but made sure she knew she still had to go to the back of the line with her friends. She was inexplicably in nothing but sweats even though her friends had her coat. She was definitely drunk if not high.

When the bakery opened Robert let me go in first which means I got to hold the golden loaf, I thought that was pretty sweet of him, he'd never been first before. The cronut has a new flavour every month, and has the texture of a flaky croissant, but friend like a donut. In December it was orange and champagne with gold dust sprinkled on top. It was worth every penny let me tell you!  I get a kick out of the fact I got one with out a problem, but Emma Roberts niece of Julia Roberts got bumped to the back of the line this summer when she tried to queue jump! Anyway here is a pic of the queue and the cronut

After the cronut we made our way to American Museum of Natural History (For those who have seen the movie Night at the Museum, that is where it is set. Personally I like to see my animals live not stuffed, but I acquiesced as this was one one really touristy thing N. wanted to do on his first trip to the big apple. especially since they had a butterfly exhibit that was pretty cool going on. The butterflies liked my right boob, that seemed to be the only place they were landing (Pervs ;O) )

 

Kind of a funny story, there is store back home that has these gemstone bracelets with initials on them, I have never been able to find a K. When I saw the exact bracelets at the museum gift shop I figured I would have no problem finding my initial if not my name. No dice, are you kidding me? One of the biggest cities in the world and I can't find a K? I did get one that says I <3 N. though. A cute little souvenir.

We made our way to try White Castle for lunch, as I had never been to one before. I was underwhelmed, and don't get what Harold and Kumar went to all that trouble for. I asked N. which one of us was Harold and who was Kumar, he replied you're the Indian, you're Kumar. (As one of my co-workers points out wrong Indian I am feathers not dots.) White Castle burgers are itty bitty, but still calorie laden! That is one thign about the US calories are listed everywhere UGH! I don't need to know some venti drinks from Starbucks are 500 calories!

Project Runway haven Mood Designer Fabrics is just around the corner from White Castle so of course I had to go, didn't buy anything but a "Thank You, Mood" t-shirt. I was hoping to meet Swatch the dog or run into Tim Gunn, but no such luck. Still it was cool to see three floors of fabric, imagine what I could do for my upcoming show, if you let me loose in there with an unlimited budget.... sigh. Anyway here is a pic of me at Mood and the burger.

  

Then it was off to try and get my first celeb autograph of the trip. James Bond actor Daniel Craig and his wife Rachel Weisz (Runaway Jury, The Mummy) were doing a play Betrayal together, but we couldn't get tickets - not that we wanted to see a play about infidelity on our anniversary trip anyway. I am a HUGE Rachel fan, so I was super excited to stage door. We knew the show ended around 3:30 so we went and hung out. Sadly she never came out, and Daniel was only signing playbills, he politely informed me so I couldn't get Skyfall signed as a Christmas present for someone, he was polite about it, and I sorta got a pic with him. 

 

As it was after three by this point we were finally able to check in to our hotel. We got a bargain, but as they say you get what you pay for. The  Carter Hotel is located in Times Square, and was $129 USD, I checked the hotel the day before and they the same room for $109, I asked if they could do an adjustment for us, but they wouldn't. I was assured though by the front desk clerk that he would put us in the nicest room he had available though. I knew that this wasn't a luxury hotel so I had low expectations, but I didn't expect there to be a sticker from someone else's tee on the comforter, and I expected the bathroom to have a bath, not be a tiled room with a curtain and a grate in the floor. After moving rooms to one that had a fabulous view of a brick wall, but at least we had brand new out of the package clean blankets. I should have known when I girl Vicky I volunteer usher with knew it by reputation and I saw that there was a wikipedia page about our hotel. A lot of sketchy things happened there, murders, suicides, I just figured it would be a bit of colour, but it had gotten good reviews lately. I wouldn't stay there again though.  I did like that the front desk still had mailslots for each room behind it, that was cool. Our closet even had a fire escape plan in it from when it was the Dixie Hotel. Here's pics of the bathroom, our first and second room and the fire escape plan.

After freshening up we went for dinner at Sardi's. I had made 6pm reservation for us the week before so we could have a nice leisurely dinner before going to see a play at 8. I had to send my food back though because the chicken was over cooked, the second time it was fine. I swear I had a run of bad luck with restaurants over cooking my food. It was still neat to go there and we could see the whole restaurant from our corner table. Here's a pic of our view and a close up of a drawing of former Wicked and 9-5 performer Steph J Block. 

I knew I couldn't convince N. to see a musical, as he isn't a fan so I didn't see one this trip, as much as I would have liked to have seen Matilda or First Date. We agreed on seeing Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Patrick Stewart in No Man's Land by Harold Pinter. For those who don't know Ian McKellan plays Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies and Magneto in X-men, Teabing in The DaVinci Code. Patrick Stewart plays Professor Charles Xavier in X-men but trekkies would know him as Captain Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek:The Next Generation. Billy Crudup from Stage Beauty and Almost Famous was also in the play too.

When we were in line to pick up our tickets, a familiar face walked by. I had an rubbernecking"oh hi, your Edward Norton" moment. (He was in Fight Club and the "good" Hulk movie). He was seeing the play, I tried to get a pic with him, but he didn't co-operate, but I can't blame him he was just a regular guy out on the town. I seem to have met/seen a lot of comic book actors in the past:Mark Ruffalo (Hulk in the Avengers), Gwenyth Paltrow (Pepper Potts in Iron Man and The Avengers), Colin Ferrell (Bullseye from Daredevil) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine in the X-men movies) Ironically I have never actually read one of the comics, but come across as a total comic book nerd having seen a lot of the movies ;O) . I digress, the play itself didn't hold my attention, that fact that I was up since 4 am had absolutely nothing to do with my dozing off at all really. An expensive nap to say the least. *hangs head in shame* The stage door was great though even if they were only signing playbills, mine was signed by all of the cast. They were super polite about not signing X-men/LOTR stuff too. Ian posed for a pic with me, he was sweet. Here's a pic of my playbill (The Canadian in me feels so wrong typing that it's programme!) and one of me and Ian McKellan, a pic of Billy Crudup and Patrick Stewart.

On the way back to the hotel we checked out the stores that were open late in Times Square. I totally wanted to ride the ferris wheel in the Toys'R'us but it wasn't running. Each car had it's own theme Barbie, My Little Pony etc. Here's a pic and that was day one.

 

Day two was not as eventful and a lot shorter, because our bus left at 6:40, and by this point my feet were killing me because I decided to just pack a pair of high heel boots  that I thought were broken in enough. We were out of the hotel asap, and had breakfast at this cute cafe, again calories were posted. We also stopped by the Cake Boss Cafe too and had a cannoli. For those who don't know Cake Boss is a reality show on TLC where this Bakery out of Hoboken, New Jersey makes amazing inventive cakes. Here's a pic of me and the cafe along with the pastry

We made our way up Fifth Avenue and Rockefeller Centre. Being the tourists we are we took a pic in front of the big tree. Of course we had to stop at the Nintendo store around the corner. Afterwards we went to Dylan's Candy Bar. This store is owned by designer Ralph Lauren's daughter Dylan. They have mini chocolate bars, with your name on it, but I couldn't find my name, they didn't even have my mom's name Cynthia or any variation, rather surprising.  It is three floors of candy, N. was disappointed by the selection of sugar-free candy, as we know a lot of diabetics. The store was also featured on Project Runway for an unconventional challenge where they had to make couture out of candy. Here's a pic of the storefront.

 

Next stop was the Jewish Museum on the Upper East Side. There was a Marc Chagall exhibit on that I was excited to see. While living in Europe 9 years ago I became quite an art aficionado. I found the paintings very dark especially compared to the ceiling he did of the Opera Garnier in Paris. That was my first introduction to Chagall's work. I thought he was French, but he was actually a Russian Jew. A bit of trivia his paintings about the pogrom of Russian Jews inspired the title of the musical "Fiddler on the Roof. " The museum also had an exhibition on Art Spiegelman who basically invented the graphic novel with his work Maus. It was okay, we had other things we wanted to do so we didn't see the whole museum.

 It was almost a theme day when we went to Katz's deli in the East Villiage.I say it is a theme because it is a Jewish deli. Katz's just happens to be where the famous faking scene from the movie  When Harry Met Sally was filmed. They operate on a ticket system which you are handed when you walk in, they write down everything you have on it, and you need it to leave. Let me tell you although expensive the pastrami on rye was orgasmic (As was the cheesecake)

 

When planning our trip I had finally worn N. down and he had agreed to go to the Life Cafe for breakfast (I really wanted huevos rancheros). When I went to look up their hours of operation to my horror I discovered that it had closed in 2012 :o( At least I got the chance to have them once before it closed.( I have the geeky pic from my last trip to prove it) Walking around the East Village was nice, even though each step was painful. N. though it was the heart and soul of the city. After that we made our way to Macy's to see the store windows then to the bus. The store windows were cool and it was neat the people could interact  with them. Here's a pic

The bus was late getting there. The ride back was a lot better, less packed so we had four seats all to ourselves and a table, with no loud people around us.  There was a long wait at customs because these passengers on a previous bus had 20 bags among three people, and every bag was being thoroughly inspected.  The bus driver was pretty nice to us though he dropped us of at Union Station instead of Bay and Dundas, so it was easier for us to get home. Overall it was whirlwind trip, but a lot of fun. My cats were definitely happy to see me, they'd never been left that long before.

Everything is Rent

So I have called this blog confessions of a theatre addict, and I have yet to really talk about theatre. I think it is about time I fix that. One of my favourite musicals of all time is Rent. My introduction to it was in 2005 when the film version came out. I was living up in Sudbury, I was so excited for this movie everytime I saw the trailers. I just knew I was going to love it. I bought the soundtrack before I had even seen the movie. I was at one of the first screenings, and that was it, I was hooked. I saw it at least 8 times in theatres. I wanted nothing more than to see the show on stage. I spent over $50 ordering the Rent Bible through Coles, and got the DVD the day it came out.

In 2007 I had tossed around the idea of going to NYC that summer for the first time. The day I heard that two of the original cast members Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal (who were also in the movie)  were going to be reprising their roles of Mark and Roger for a limited engagement, I bought my ticket then and there. Funnily enough a fellow theatre geek Sara -who I met in a lottery line for the musical We Will Rock You- bought tickets for the same performance, just a few rows back from me. Rent was the last show I saw that trip, (having seen Spring Awakening and Wicked first). I was so excited, arriving at the show, I was third row on the left. It was everything I could have hoped. I was just so excited to see them. Anthony Rapp was one of my idols I guess, I loved his book Without You. During the curtain call I watched him send up three claps to Rent's deceased creator Johnathan Larson.

Afterwards the crowds at the stage door was insane. People that hadn't gone to the show, had lined up waiting to meet them. There was pushing and shoving. I was lucky and got my programme and Anthony's autobiography signed. Here's a pic of the stage door crowd:

The next time I saw Rent was on my 27th birthday, March 16 2008. It would be last time I saw it on broadway. as it closed a few months later. At time one of the original ensemble member's Rodney Hicks was playing Benny, I tried to talk to him, but he walked right past me, so I never did get my Rent bible signed by him. I had saved up to buy souvieners a little stuffed cow, a t-shirt, and a backpack that had a programme in it. The big thing about that performance is I got to see Karmine Alers perform Mimi, she was apparently Johnathon Larson's first choice to play her, but for whatever reason couldn't.Here's a pic of me and my Rent memorabilia

I saw Rent was a week later, when the touring company had come to Toronto. (I think Sara had tickets to that show too weirdly enough, as if they wasn't weird enough, the people I sat beside the week before were also going to the same show as they were Canadian too!) I had dragged my little sister who hates rent with a passion. The most exciting thing about that performance was meeting South Africian Idol winner Heinz Winkler. I totally made an ass of myself later, as I was going to my sister, I can't believe we met him, not knowing he was right behind us. Whoops! Here's me and Heinz

 That fall I drove to Newmarket to go see a screening of the final broadway performance at the movies, because it wasn't playing where I live. ( I can admit when I am totally geeking out, that was one of those moments) I ended up getting the DVD for my birthday in March 2009. One thing that is really cool is I had seen alot of the people in the recording perform on broadway. I was back in NYC for Christmas 2008, and I made a point of having a Rent theme and having my Christmas breakfast on Avenue B. (For those who don't know Rent starts of on Christmas Eve in NYC's east village) I had originally wanted to go to the Life Cafe, for huevos rancheros, but it was closed so I went back on boxing day (Huevos Rancheros are mentioned in the song La Vie Boheme which is set in The Life Cafe). I signed the Renthead register while I was there, I didn't even see it the first time I went to the Life Cafe with Sara and her friend Mindy after I saw Rent the first time  Here's a pic of me sitting at the Jonathan Larson bench with the heuvos:

The next time I saw Rent was in January 2009 in Buffalo, New York (Funnily enough Sara was there too, again we had bought tickets separately) Adam and Anthony were going to be touring with a lot of the  people that had been on broadway and on the DVD. Originally they were supposed to come to Toronto, but Buffalo was as close as they were coming, so I went. When I bought the ticket, I had originally got a ticket for the matinee, and it was a decent seat. For some inexplicable reason, I looked at evening show tickets, and found a second row seat. What does a sane person do? They go to both shows on the same day. So in the middle of winter, I did a day trip to Buffalo for Rent. I remember getting stuck behind the bus on the way back. Too be honest I don't even remember if I got Anthony to sign anything that trip, I took pics at the stage door. They didn't do any poised pics.

Because fate has a wicked sense of humour, Adam and Anthony eventually came on tour with Rent to Toronto the following January. Yes I went. This time I went to the stage door before the show. It worked out well, because I was able to get posed pics with both of them, as well as original broadway cast member Gwen Stewart. (All of them signed my Rent bible too!)  There is a really funny Gwen story that goes along with this. There was a small group of us waiting around for Gwen, and when she comes out, someone says to her "we're waiting for Gwen Stewart", then Gwen says "I am Gwen", the supposed fan replies... "you look different than you do in the movie" to which Gwen replies that she wasn't in the movie. Total face palm moment! Here's some pics of me and Gwen and one of me and Adam:

When Anthony was in town this trip, he did a signing at Indigo in the Eaton Centre, so I went to that as well. I got certain stuff personalized, like his cd, and autobiography. He also signed a calendar that he didn't know he was being quoted in. It turns out the quote about fearlessly being yourself wasn't even his. It was someone he was quoting.Here's me and Anthony and the calendar:

The last time I saw Rent on stage was a local production in 2011. It was a little scarring, I have never looked at the line trim her tree the same away since. The actress playing Mimi really sucked. It was an all white cast, so that was an interesting spin. I ended up working on another show with the actress who played Maureen.

I have some other occasions where I met some of the original cast members in different circumstances. Those who are a fan of Wicked <3 <3 and Glee will no doubt be familiar with the name Idina Menzel. (For those who don't know she was the original wicked witch of the west Elphaba in Wicked, original Maureen in Rent, and plays Shelby on Glee). She had her first concert in Toronto back in 2008 at the Danforth Music Hall. She did a lot of her solo music, with nods to Rent and Wicked. The stage door was crazy there must have been about 70 of us that waited around for the stage door. There was confusion though, and those who had been waiting right outside the doors got the shaft as she was ushered to her tour bus across the street and lost their prime spots. Despite holding my Rent bible high in the air, it remained unsigned. I came away with nothing, but disappointment, but I enjoyed her concert. I had barely got there on time because traffic was horrific it took me over 40 minutes to get from the highway 400 near the 401 to Yorkdale Mall where I catch the subway. I think the AC/DC concert that night might of had something to do with it.

Idina ended up returning to Toronto three years later this time performing with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra which was conducted by none other than legendary composer Marvin Hamlisch. I can remember commenting to my boyfriend N, just think one day we'll be able to say we saw him conduct, I didn't know that moment would be six months later! I digress this was a little different, because the show was being filmed for a PBS special and for a CD recording, so technically you can say I was Idina's back up because the audience sang along during a couple of numbers like No Day but today from Rent, and Pokerface (Which she had covered on Glee). There were more broadway standards less original music which is a shame, because I think N. would have enjoyed himself more. He was pretty stocked when he met Idina's husband though movie star Taye Diggs. Taye and Idina had met while they were in the original cast of Rent, he played her nemesis Benny. (They both reprised their roles in the film version) Taye came out and did a surprise song and dance number with her, that was really cute, and Marvin had referred to him as his twin. (I remember thinking postively on the drive there  that he would be there and I would get to meet him. The stage door was alot better this time, it was indoor at the Royal Conservatory of Music. I actually got posed pics with both Idina and Taye, and they both signed my Rent bible. They were both really sweet too. That night at the stage door, I randomly ran into this girl Siobahn who I'd met in two months earlier at a book signing at Word on the Street festival, and we've been good friends ever since. Here's are the pics of me and Taye and Idina

This past December Anthony Rapp was back in Toronto, this time for his one man show Without You, which is based on his autobiography. I have mentioned this book a few time now, I better tell you what it is about, it is basically about his experience with Rent taking off, losing it's creator and losing his mother to cancer. (Total tearjerker ) I happened to be in the city going to see the ballet Giselle, and Anthony was going to be giving a free concert at Indigo, so I made a point of going. Siobahn had held a spot for me, I also knew that Sara was going to be there. As I was arriving I literally ran into her! Turns out she and Siobhan and met before, and Siob and told Sara about the concert, and Sara told me even though I already knew about it. What a small world! The concert was great, and I got a poised pic of Anthony and a signed copy of his show's soundtrack.

The next week I actually went to see his show, and when I was getting a copy of his book signed as a Christmas present for my cousin, he apologized for not remembering my name, but said he recognized my face. I was totally geeking out over that.

That is basically my story thus far of Rent. I hope to have all the original cast sign my bible one day, so far I am at 5 of 15. I will leave you with a pic: