We Have Come Full Circle

Well folks, the time has finally come. After 111 blissful days in the Big Apple, I must return home. Our plane flies out of LaGuardia this afternoon, so I will soon be back home in Lansing.

The past few days have been pretty wonderful - with an overabundance of full circles bringing this semester to perfect completion. It all started on Sunday morning, when Kelly and I attended mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. I first came to this church 5 1/2 years ago on Palm Sunday, during my first trip to New York. Attending an Advent mass has now brought my St. Patrick's experience FULL CIRCLE.


After picking up our final student rush tickets (FULL CIRCLE), Kelly and I attempted to eat lunch at the always-delicious Hale and Hearty Soups. This restaurant has eluded us in the past - for some reason, we can never manage to see it (even walking directly by it) and have walked blocks past it several times. Today, we attempted to eat at a location we had ne'er before been to - bad idea. We walked directly next to it, did not notice, and proceeded for 5 blocks before turning around. FULL CIRCLE. When we finally did find it...it was closed. So we sadly went to Pax Wholesome Foods instead, where I ate my final delicious chicken Caesar salad. FULL CIRCLE.


Sunday night, Kelly, Amy, and I made our final excursion to see improv at the Upright Citizens' Brigade. We waited in the cold for a solid hour and got into the show. Sadly, there was no one of great importance there, but the show was still solid. FULL CIRCLE.


Monday was a day of reminiscing and relaxation. During the day, we just kind of sat around and maybe even did a little packing. Come nightfall, Amanda, Sally, Kelly, and I ventured to the legendary Ziegfeld Theatre to see Nine in limited release - that's right, it isn't even out in Michigan yet! The film was decent - Marion Cotillard was great and "Cinema Italiano" will be stuck in my head for weeks (Guido Guido GuidoGuidoGuidoGuido!). I remember seeing this theatre when I first came to New York, so it was just lovely to finally be able to visit. FULL CIRCLE.

Tuesday was chock-full of full circles. My first order of business was to bid my final farewells to MTC and Theater Mogul. Of course, my goodbyes were long and drawn out, as I was more than heartbroken to leave these places I have loved so much. Before I left, Debra remarked that I was one of the 5 best interns she's ever had - she quickly switched that to one of the 10 best (3 of them were in the room...), but I'll still take the compliment. I reassured everyone that I would visit them during my next trip to New York - which will be no later than May. It was lovely to visit these beautiful places one last time. FULL CIRCLE.

Tuesday night, almost on a whim, Kelly and I decided to attempt the Hair lottery...again. It would be such a fitting end to our trip to see Hair one last time. Of course, my expectations were very low, given our dismal lottery record. We showed up to the lottery, and were delighted to find that there was barely anyone there! About three people in, they called out Kelly's name! They even picked me a few people later - we didn't need 'em. We got our tickets, and headed over to grab some quick dinner at the Sbarro at Times Square - where we ate our first dinner in New York at the beginning of the semester. FULL CIRCLE. Around 7:30, we entered the theatre only to find that our seats were even worse than the two times before. Fabulous.  I suggested we ask an usher if we could move - but I hate confrontation, so I made Kelly do it. The usher was surprisingly empathetic, and said we could move when the lights went down. So the show began and we sneaked to the middle of the mezzanine - absolutely perfect! We finally got to hear and see the show in all its glory. After one final dance on the Al Hirschfeld stage, we left the theatre on a high from the ultimate FULL CIRCLE.

After the show, Kelly and I wandered around Times Square for a while and said our final goodbyes. We visited the Colony one last time, purchased our final Jamba Juices (Peanut Butter Moo'd of course - hold the banana), and reminisced nostalgically atop the TKTS steps. FULL CIRCLE. This has been a semester of incredible opportunities, wonderful theatre, delectable food...and a whole lot more.

What more can I say? Some come to work; some to play. I was fortunate enough to manage both, and even learn a little in the process.

Broadway, Broadway: How Great You Are

And I would know, because I have literally seen it all. As of this afternoon, I have officially seen every show on Broadway (including national touring productions and exempting White Christmas and Burn the Floor - which don't really count). This semester alone, I have seen 30 Broadway shows, with a triumvirate of shows this weekend wrapping it up.

First, a quick quasi-digression: on Thursday, I returned to South Pacific, since I did not get to see Kelli O'Hara last time. Well, she was in the show this time and let me tell you - she was absolutely perfect. And Paulo Szot was even better when he had her to play off of - the magic of the two of them together was all a person could ask for. Sadly, Cable was still atrocious and Bloody Mary's understudy was pretty awful as well. But they didn't detract from the overall impact of the production, thanks to the power of Mr. Szot and Ms. O'Hara. I even got to see the show from house left this time, so I have an entirely new perspective. Yet another enchanted evening. Moving on...


On Friday, Kelly and I attended the eagerly-anticipated revival of A Little Night Music. Yes, Angela Lanbsury was there. Yes, Catherine Zeta-Jones was there. Yes, they were both very good. Ms. Lansbury can really do no wrong, so I was obviously blown away by her performance - she was hilarious, engaging, and completely affecting. And Ms. Zeta-Jones was surprisingly great - she landed the comic moments beautifully and offered a moving, tragic rendition of "Send in the Clowns." Sondheim's score is undeniably brilliant, so that alone more than justified the price of admission. After the show, we hit up the stage door (our first visit to one in months). Catherine emerged and was more than cordial, signing Playbills and chatting away to the crowd's delight. Unfortunately, we were stood up once again by Angela (she also failed to come out in May when we saw her in Blithe Spirit). Oh well, I can still cherish my memories of seeing her and the rest of the cast and crew while they rehearsed at MTC. Isn't it rich, indeed.

On Saturday we finally (and I mean finally) got to see Ragtime. After millions of failed lottery attempts (okay, it was at least 8 though...), we took a safer route and bought tickets on TDF. The seats were wonderful - Row P, orchestra left. And the production: wow. All the production elements were absolutely gorgeous, and the direction was so picturesque and electrifying. Each and every actor was wonderful as well - Quentin Earl Darrington was powerful and natural as Coalhouse; Stephanie Umoh was great as Sarah (and she looked and sounded just enough like Audra McDonald to get me through); Christiane Noll was deeply moving as Mother; Bobby Steggert was a fiery, impassioned Younger Brother; the list goes on and on... It breaks my heart that I couldn't see the original production, but this one was so incredibly wonderful that I think I can make it through now.


And today, we finally attended the elusive Superior Donuts. This was our fall-back show when we couldn't get into anything else (generally post-lottery loss); but strangely, the student rush tickets were always sold out. So this time we showed up early and snagged our tickets - this was tragically our last early-morning ticket line of the year, so it was definitely a bittersweet experience. The production was very respectable. Michael McKean's acting was wonderfully understated and Jon Michael Hill gave a breakthrough, effortless, passionate performance. I loved the play up until the last quarter of it, which let me down somewhat. It could definitely use another rewrite, and the fight choreography was bizarrely subpar. The most tragic part is that this is the show that replaced the Pulitzer-prize winning August: Osage County, which we had expected to still be running. Oh well, I suppose we did see enough great theatre to make up for it...


So there you have it: the complete Broadway experience. It's gonna be incredibly strange to not be able to see every show as it comes out from now on. Next semester I will just have to sit back and imagine what the shows are like...that is until I return in the near future. And I mean soon. Very, very soon.