New York My Kind of Town

Wait. I'm from Chicago. Chicago is my kind of town... but it turns out that so is New York.

The reason I haven't posted lately is that my family and I were away on a trip to New York city. We went there specifically to see Daniel Radcliffe star in a play called Every Brilliant Thing. But because I am obsessed with efficiency, I couldn't justify the cost of a plane trip and hotel stay just to see one show. So being the good American I am, my solution was to... spend even more money!!!

What started out as a simple trip to see one play turned into a four day Odyssey that we will never forget.

On the first day, we went to our favorite diner called Ellen's Stardust Diner. It is simply amazing. The waitstaff at Ellen's Stardust Diner are all Broadway hopefuls. They sing while they take your order, work the register and bring your food. And when I say they sing... oh my god do they sing. They are simply amazing. The food is overpriced and not very good, but for some reason they do not charge a cover charge for some of the best live singing you will ever hear. It is amazing!

Later that night we saw a play called "The play that Goes Wrong". It was incredible! i cannot believe how funny the play was. They managed to make us laugh for about one and a half hours without dropping a single swear word. Now that shows creativity! The play is a spoof of local theater troops. In it, well.... everything goes wrong. The dialogue gets confused, the set falls apart,the stage manager forgets to do his job and many actors get injured. It was delightful!

The following day, my wife, daughter and I solved two escape rooms. neither one had a very good theme but the puzzles were fun. One was stealing back the Mona Lisa while the other was based on the Movie Now You See Me. Of the two the Now You See Me Room was better as we enjoyed some of the magic based puzzles. But we have done better ones.

That night we saw one of the coolest things we will ever see. Danielle Radcliffe starred in a play called Every Brilliant Thing. The theater is very small and Danielle Radcliffe works the crowd before the show so he can find people to play small roles in the play. Aside from these very small roles, Radcliffe is the only actor. He must improvise a lot but what is written is so beautiful that it makes me tear up thinking about it. And when I said he worked the crowd, I mean he was in every row chatting with people. We sat upstairs so he did not come up there, but when I was in line waiting to buy candy, he was about 5 feet away from me talking to people like they were his best friends in the world.

The following afternoon was dedicated to seeing a incredibly beautiful play called Hadestown. It is a modern take of the tragedy of Hades, Persephone, Orpheus and Eurydice. It is set to new Orleans style jazz music and singing. It was unforgettable. Although I usually like my musicals with a bit more whimsy, this one was so moving that I couldn't help but love it.

On the final day we hit Ellen's Stardust Diner one more time and then headed to the airport. When I returned I definitely needed a vacation from my vacation. But I'm not complaining. It was incredible!

I'll write up full reviews later but I really wanted to explain why I have been gone. It was for the best reason!

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