Eugene O'Neill Theatre: The Book of Mormon

We're back at the hotel for a break after having a fantastic lunch at Marea and seeing The Book of Mormon. I think Steve's tired of me, and I'm just tired in general.

Marea was amazing, and was really a fancy place. I resisted the urge to take photos of my food, but Steve and Jay didn't. Maybe I was too busy stuffing my face. I'm starting to get a little hungry again now, a few hours later, but don't want to put anything less perfect into my stomach after that meal. We got the 2 course Sunday lunch, so I started with grilled octopus over smoked potatoes, pickled red onion, chilies and tonnato, then had their prime sirloin with bone marrow panzanella and braised romaine. So tasty!

We walked off the meal by hustling down to the theatre for The Book of Mormon. Since we arrived in New York, Steve has been bragging to everyone that we had tickets to the show, and they all told me how wonderful it was, how it would change my life, how my mind would be BLOWN.

But I'm me, so I listened politely to their praise and didn't get my hopes up, didn't set myself up for disappointment. It was a great show, dare I say it was a fantastic show? But my mind is still intact.

The best thing about The Book of Mormon is that it deals with some very serious subject matter, like religion and the tragedy of life for many Africans, with humor, but still manages to be very poignant and sweet in some ways. It's really, REALLY funny, and the whole cast does a fantastic job. It also had lots of Lion King jokes that I didn't get, and most of the cursing was totally gratuitous, just to make sure people knew it came from those South Park guys.

I think Steve's irritated with me for saying it's just a great show, which is blasphemy to him. But I was irritated with him for saying we should leave the Habs game early last night, because that's blasphemy to me. So I would definitely recommend The Book of Mormon to anyone, even the non-Broadway types like me. I really enjoyed it, it is truly a great show. But only the truly theatre-obsessed will lose their shit over it. Just like me and my hockey team.

A New York Blur

I'm so sleep deprived and puffy-eyed from allergies right now that I can barely see clearly. But I'm showered, dressed and coffee-ing up to go out in half an hour anyway. Did I mention how over-scheduled this trip is?

Here's what we did yesterday:

• Left the hotel at 9:30, grabbed breakfast at Starbucks, walked up to the subway
• Waited ages for the local, rode the subway way out of the way due to impatience, which I'm calling a tradition now instead of a year over year mistake
• Spent roughly 2 hours at the Museum of Natural History
• Came back to midtown, ate dirty water street hot dogs for lunch
• Steve went to see Follies, I went shopping at Rockefeller Plaza
• We met back at the hotel to freshen up for a few minutes, then took a walk down through the fashion district, where we found that pretty much everything, including Mood, had closed about 20 minutes earlier, sent the boys a photo
• Sat down for beers and bar food at the Local West, across from Madison Square Garden... after happening to walk by the player entrance as the Habs buses rolled in and Ranger superfans screamed Canadian slurs at them. Tweeted with awesome actor Jay Baruchel about it.
• Saw the Habs play a half crap, half decent game against the Rangers, and lose 5-3. But I love seeing them live anyway
• Hung at the Duplex with the same bartender from last year for a couple hours, drank much.
• Spent too long at the Halal cart on the way back, chatting with a drunk Canadian and purchasing delicious street meat
• Came back to the hotel to eat and pass out a little after 2am (the 2nd 2am of falling back) and got the most sleep I've had in days... just under 8 hours

Now Steve's in a tizzy to get to our lunch reservations, so great pate, but I gotta motor. This city really never sleeps, so now, neither do I...

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.

Tractor Tavern - Sam Roberts Band

One word: Fanfuckingtastic.

That's right, the show was so good that I have to use a profane interfix to describe it.

Last night I went out to see Sam Roberts Band at the Tractor Tavern. While I had been looking forward to this show since I first saw the tour dates months ago, I spent most of the day whining about the fact that it didn't start until 9:30. After I'd gotten up at 6:30am and gone to work -- and not one of those have-coffee-go-out-to-lunch-and-leave-early-'cause-it's-Friday kind of days either -- I had to make the totally indirect drive from Capitol Hill to Ballard and search for a rare parking space, all while fighting to stay awake.

And I'm sooooooooooooooo glad that I did. It was one of the best shows I've ever attended. Besides, my day was nothing compared to the band's trip down from British Columbia, which was fraught with vehicle trouble, both with the van and the bus. In the end, they made it to the venue hours before their equipment, which was in a trailer that had lost a wheel, and finally appeared on the back of a flatbed truck around 7:30.

I got to the bar just a few minutes before the opener, Fan Fiction, took the stage. They're a local band, mostly up-tempo alt rock with character, and they fit the Sam Roberts vibe all right. I liked them well enough, but stayed in my chair in the back for their set. I figured I didn't really care if I saw them, as long as I could hear the music. Plus I get tired; it was after 10pm. The front man, bless his heart, made witty remarks and told us the name of every song, despite Seattle audiences being nearly impossible to engage, even when you're the band they paid to see.

To be fair, though, I think this was actually more of a Vancouver audience. In between sets, I chatted with some Sam Roberts fan girls who were pointing out all the Canadians they'd come across in the crowd. I know nothing of Sam himself, or what kind of celebrity he enjoys in the True North, strong and free. I discovered him when George Stroumboulopoulos did an interview on his radio show and played a few tracks from the latest record, Collider. Since I loved every song he previewed, I picked up the album. When I became irretrievably addicted to it, I grabbed another CD, which I adored so much that I got a third, and so on, until Sam Roberts, with or without Band, became one of my favorite artists.

I only know and love him through the music, but in Canada, apparently Sam Roberts is kind of a big deal. I heard that his shows there are arena events with high-priced tickets, which prompted a large contingent of Vancouverites to pay the gas and hotel for the chance to cram into a dinky bar show, and see Sam's dimples first hand -- which you can't see from my phone's crappy camera work, despite me being 10 feet from the stage. This was particularly interesting given the drunk guy outside before the show (so drunk that he pronounced it emmrobbitts) repeatedly announcing to his friends, and everyone else in the Will Call line, that he wasn't going in because "Emmrobbitts is rully good, but not for sebbenteen dollarsss."


The gig itself was amazing; they sounded flawless, with such stage presence. I can't imagine not seeing these guys in an intimate setting, and hope I have more chances to go to bar gigs like this one. The crowd full of fans only helped. Toward the beginning of the show, when they kicked off Fixed to Ruin, I immediately began to sing along and dance (like I had no bones), and I really did forget that I was all alone... because I looked around and the entire room was doing the same. I don't know anyone in the States who has even heard of Sam Roberts (except from my constant fan girl yammering), and it was a great feeling to be in a whole room full of people who get it.

We were all thrilled to be there. There was no typical Seattle audience we're-too-cool-to-play-along feeling. When Sam said "Sing it!" we sang it. When he told us to put our hands in the air, everybody's hands went up. During Love at the End of the World and Them Kids, the crowd responded with what can only be described as going apeshit. We clapped to the beat, we danced, we cheered like crazy, and I nearly lost my voice from singing along to every song. Even though they probably played for more than 90 minutes, I wanted them to keep going all night. I didn't want it to end.

But end it did. I got home a little after 1am, and this boring old lady went directly to bed, ears still ringing, stamp on my wrist barely beginning to fade, and head full of Sam Roberts songs.

I couldn't possibly have been happier.

Melbourne

I'm still in Melbourne, it's still raining. I'm still exhausted, even though I've been sleeping plenty. The weariness continually leaks out in my crankiness and the dark circles under my eyes.

I went out this morning and visited the Queen Victoria Market, which is a Melbourne icon, and just a couple of blocks from my hotel. The market is huge, and broken into several sections. I skipped the fruit & veg area, along with the fresh meat and fish. I strolled through the organic section, with things from wine to soap to eggs, and some of the little cafe/deli stands, but spent most of my time in the largest area, which was selling all manner of stuff. There were stands with various kinds of clothing, accessories, souvenirs, jewelry, dishes, just about anything you could imagine. No, really. One stand sold nothing but a bucket of shots, a plastic bucket filled with 24 pre-made, sealed shots of different liquor concoctions. This place is crazy.

After doing the last of my shopping for the trip, I grabbed a sandwich for lunch and came back to my room to watch rugby. Unfortunately I was a day ahead for the Canada-New Zealand game, which will actually happen tomorrow afternoon while I'm mid-air. That means the only big match left to watch before I leave is Scotland versus England, about 5 hours from now, so I still have most of the day to entertain myself. 

I haven't really found anything can't miss in the guide book, so I guess it's time to wander back out and see what catches my fancy...