Al Hirschfeld Theatre - How to Succeed in Business...

Full disclosure: I just spent 20 minutes writing a post about this and then accidentally wiped it out at the exact second that the auto-save feature on blogger decided to save, so I lost everything... and it's 6am Seattle time after only a few hours sleep... so this is my half-assed attempt to rewrite it...

It was probably better earlier.

I'm up too early and wiped out from exhaustion. Steve and I are back in New York for our second annual trip! I arrived last night after a long flight, just in time for dinner at Smith's Bar, and to see How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a show that Steve isn't fond of, but which stars his favorite boy ever, Harry Potter... erm... Daniel Radcliffe.

To be fair, based on last night, that kid just might shake off the character that made him world famous. He can't dance so well, sure, but he can act and sing, which is enough. The show had a few moments that I loved, but mostly it's everything I hate about musicals. Radcliffe was fantastic, and John Larroquette, doing a much more camp performance, was also terrific.

And of course I loved to hear the narrator's voice: my wanna-be besty Andy Vanderbilt-Cooper.

The rest of the cast was good enough, despite the crap music and choreography in most of the show, except Hedy La Rue... who was supposed to be a campy sex kitten, but came off as a sketch comedy show impersonation of Judy Garland. I get using that voice for the role, but what's with all the wobbling around like the later-life, over-medicated diva? So strange.

Since it's the holiday season, it's also time for Broadway Cares, which means a chance to donate at the end of every show. The stars ask for cash and advertise some special (often signed) souvenirs for the charity normally, but last night they also had an auction for Daniel Radcliffe's famous turquoise bowtie worn in that night's performance. He took it off right in front of us, promised to sign it along with Mr Larroquette, and began the auction himself.

Steve is a charitable fellow anyway, so he immediately jumped into the auction. His limit was $800, and right around that mark, he had the winning bid... and all went silent for a moment.We thought maybe he had it. Then Daniel said he'd throw in a chance to meet himself and his co-star, which got the bidding going again. It finally got to $1250, which was a tie, so they cut it off and sold both the bowties from Act 1 and Act 2.

Steve was gutted. Especially when he realized that his employer matches any charitable donations 100% and he could've actually given $1600. Ah, well.

So after a couple beers in a random Irish bar, I got a little sleep and and this morning I'm up too early so we can hit the Museum of Natural History before Steve's afternoon show. We're very much over-scheduled on this trip, and I can already tell how exhausting it will be... but at least we're in New York, New York.

I hear it's a hell of town.