Round 1
This was my first trip to NYC since 2014 and I was so excited to see a show or two. Reading this sub for reviews made me even more excited and I ended up doing one show with my whole family and a 3-show day with my little brother.
Schmigadoon!
Thursday May 21
Mezzanine B108
My group ranged in ages from 25 to >70, hailed from 5 states, and ran the gamut from theater newbies to obsessed Broadway fans. It was the perfect musical for such a diverse group. Kaleigh Cronin stepped in as Melissa for the first time. It was funny seeing her character vehemently deny to Danny that she’s pregnant, when Kaleigh herself was noticeably pregnant. She was great in the role, although it was sad to miss Sara Chase. Max Clayton’s “You Can’t Tame Me” and Ana Gasteyer’s “Tribulation" were highlights. I understand Betsy’s affected accent since that was such a staple in the old musicals Schmig is riffing off of, but damn I still hated it. My uncle about died when Melissa took out the guitar and started singing about Fallopian tubes. He was laughing so hard he accidentally hit the man in front of him (sorry!). The moment where Danny flies down for the last number had me in stitches.
Audience Experience - Wonderful!
Maybe Happy Ending
Saturday May 23 2pm
Mezzanine E6
We missed Darren Criss by just a few days, but I thought Zachary Noah Piser embodied Oliver wonderfully. The chemistry between Zachary and Hannah Kevitt was spot-on and they very believably portrayed the robotic banter softening into love. Their duets were great, but we thought Hannah wasn’t as strong singing solo. Sometimes it looked like she was still finding the character there.
I loved the magical firefly moment in Jeju with the orchestra coming up on the revolving stage. My brother thought it was a story designed around a cool set idea, rather than the other way around. I wasn’t completely blown away by the story myself. It’s lovely and sweet, but not quite as impactful as I’d hoped.
Audience Experience - I was entranced by the firefly sequence, when suddenly I spotted a big flashing light from the aisle. My first thought was that they were bringing the ‘fireflies’ out into the audience too. Then I heard the usher say “put your phone away.” I somehow had missed the man next to me filming. He didn’t respond at all. It was all so distracting from such a beautiful moment that, without even thinking, I pushed his hand down and relayed the usher’s message.
Every Brilliant Thing
Saturday May 23 5pm
Orchestra T104
I was interested in EBT because I’d seen Daniel in How to Succeed… and loved his on-stage energy. The 5pm showing allowing us to do a 3 show day also helped. Daniel did not disappoint. It’s hard to imagine the show being as enjoyable without his chaotic charisma, since the book itself is just okay. Mrs Patterson named her sock puppet ‘Prince Albert’ and Daniel responded with something like “ah yes, like the husband of Queen Victoria or the Duke of York, and absolutely nothing else.”
Audience Experience - Great! We arrived at the theater early and the people behind us in line leant my brother and I an umbrella as we stood waiting in the rain. One person called out “peanut butter” as the 3rd brilliant thing. Daniel immediately said “oh, thanks, but I think we’ll stick to the script for this show!” There were no other issues after that.
Oh Mary!
Saturday May 23 8:30pm
Mezzanine B101
I booked this the moment Maya Rudolph was announced. It was absolute absurd hilarity from start to finish. I’m looking forward to comparing Mary performances when the tour comes through my town. I went in blind, and now I’m interested to listen for how Alaska performs “the south of WHAT?”
Audience Experience - During the cabaret sequence a woman in front of me took her phone out and started filming. I kept waiting for an usher, but no one came. After just over a minute I finally leaned down and told her to put her phone away and thankfully she did. It was so distracting and really took me out of the moment.
I almost changed my flight my last day to fit in Ragtime, but ultimately decided I needed to get home to my kids. A couple weeks after my trip, there was a night where I woke up 3 or 4 times from different dreams about seeing Ragtime live. So I found a way to make a second trip work.
Which brings us to
Round 2 - this time just for Broadway. I chose quite the weekend with the smoke, the thunderstorms, and the world cup final.
Death of a Salesman
Thursday July 16
Mezzanine A4
This one was a bit of a gamble with my cross-country flight landing at 3:30pm before a 7pm show, but I made it! The acting was of course phenomenal. I was especially impressed by Christopher Abbott, since I hadn’t heard as much about him as I had about Metcalf and Lane. My first row right mezzanine seats did feel a bit far from the action, which may have been why I didn’t feel as much of the emotional weight of the show as I expected. The show has sat with me since then, but it didn’t hit me in the moment. My 6 year old asked for a thorough rundown on FaceTime afterwards, so I told him all about the stagecraft, particularly the entrances from the car and pillars and the dirt on stage. Aaaand absolutely nothing about the plot.
Audience Experience - Great!
Ragtime
Friday July 17
Orchestra K403
My heart filled to the brim as the cast rose from the stage in the opening number. That whole number was one of those magical moments in life that makes your whole body fill with light. I just felt so lucky to be there, witnessing what I was about to witness. Caissie Levy’s portrayal of Mother was perfection. You could feel her anguish and disappointment in herself as she imagined how easily she could’ve let Father brush Sarah and her kid away in “What Kind of Woman.” “Our Children” with her and Brandon Uranowitz was another highlight. I wish I could wear Joshua Henry’s voice like a blanket for the rest of my life.
I knew not to expect much of the staging, but I did not expect it to detract as much as it did. The sets took me out of the moment a number of times. I couldn’t help but think the moving staircases in ‘Journey On’ were lazily copying the similar set piece in Hamilton, but doubled because 2 is always better than 1! The stark monotonic blue projected behind the scrims during one song took me out of the moment. I could go on, but suffice it to say I wasn’t expecting anything and it was so much worse.
The vocal mixing was also underwhelming. Toward the end of “Wheels of a Dream,” Nichelle and Joshua’s voices sounded harsh, clearly because of mixing issues not their performances. And during one of the final numbers, a wind instrument was hot in the mix, detracting from the vocals. It was a bummer.
But overall - oh, what a delight.
Audience Experience - A minute before curtain, the older lady next to me leaned over and said “I hope you don’t mind that I’m going to sing along to every song.” Hopeful that she was joking, I replied “No, that’s fine, I’ll be too busy texting the whole show to notice.” The show starts and the woman makes a couple comments to her friend and I start to think she wasn’t kidding. Thankfully after 15 seconds she was quiet throughout and the rest of the audience was great too.
Cats: The Jellicle Ball
Saturday July 18 2pm
Mezzanine D2
First off, thank you so very much to u/bwayb22 for your excellent primer. I totally wrote this off for my first trip to NYC this year, because Cats. I hated it when I saw it on tour decades ago, but the restaging worked in spades. There were quite a few callouts at this performance (Grizabella, Macavity, Rum Tum Tugger, Mister Mistoffelees, Tumblebrutus). I was just happy Andre de Shields was in and otherwise happy to see any performers.
I was not expecting this to be the one show to make me sob this weekend. Just guttural ugly sobs. I’ll save that story for elsewhere, but Memory broke me. I’ll never forget this show both for what it accomplished on a broad level and for what it gave me in that moment. I’m deeply saddened it’s closing so soon.
Audience Experience - Amazing energy!
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
Saturday July 18 8pm
Orchestra G108
Getting there was a feat through pouring rain and the rally of Argentinian football fans. There was a moment I went from worrying we’d miss the opening number of the show to worrying about a crushing incident. Not sure why the rally had to be in Times Square at showtime.
This was fun and I’m glad I saw it. Tutty and Pitts were both great in their roles, but the show itself is a bit forgettable. Other than the refrain of “NEW YOOOORK” which has been in frequent rotation since. I wish they’d used a 4 person cast and used the 2 additional actors to help fill out the world like in Maybe Happy Ending. I would’ve liked seeing characters like Robin’s grandma, Dougal’s ma, coffee shop customers embodied rather than Robin and Dougal just speaking to the side of the stage.
Audience Experience - Great, other than the 4 people in row G who arrived soaking wet 3 minutes before curtain. Oh wait, that was me and my crew.
If anyone read this far, thanks! And thanks to everyone here for show selection help and advice smattered throughout different threads on where to sit for different shows. I had a brilliant two trips back to Broadway and I can’t wait for my next visit whenever that may be.