Broadway | La Cafe aux Folles

Today I traveled into the city to get student rush tickets to another broadway show. This time I chose La Cage aux Folles. For those of you that have seen the movie The Birdcage, this is the show it is based off of. Basically, a gay couple owns a drag club and their straight son wishes to get married to a girl that comes from a very conservative family. When the girl's parents are coming for dinner, the son pleads with his family to act "normal" for the meal so he can get married. (As I'm writing this, the story is actually quite similar to The Addams Family...). But conservatives beware! If you are not okay with drag queens this show is not for you! If, however, you are as liberal an open-minded as I hope you are, you will love this show as much as I did. 

The show opens with the funniest drag queen ever. She interacts with the crowd asking couples how long they've been married, telling older women to "shake it" and even sat down on some guy's lap. Then, once the show begins, you'll be amazed at how much you'll fall in love with "les cagelles," or the chorus line. These boys (girls?) can dance! And they're stunning, too. Absolutely flawless. The rest of the cast is full of big names that you won't want to miss. The one and only Harvey Fierstein plays the "mother" and Christopher Sieber (whom I love from Mary-Kate and Ashley's Two of a Kind) plays Georges, the dad. I was most excited about seeing Wilson Jermaine Heredia, who is famous for playing Angel in RENT. I was thrilled to meet him after the show. He even let me take this picture with him:

With such a talented cast, great music, and fabulous dancing, La Cage aux Folles is an amazing show experience that I definitely recommend! Although I wouldn't recommend bringing students younger than high school age. Oh! I almost forgot to mention that I had box seats, too! For only $36.50 I was sitting in one of those cool boxes above the stage. I had a perfect view, and was extremely close to the actors. Being a college student definitely has it's perks! 

Book Signing | A Place of Yes by Bethenny Frankel

I've been a fan of Bravo reality shows for a long time now. My favorite is the Real Housewives of New York, followed by its spin-off series Bethenny Ever After (formerly Bethenny Getting Married). Last night after work I headed over to the Barnes and Noble at Union Square to meet Bethenny Frankel and have her sign her newest book A Place of Yes. I got there around 4:00PM, with the book signing scheduled for 7:00PM. I am so glad I got there so early! Not only did I get second row seats at the event, but if I showed up even an hour later I probably wouldn't have been able to sit! The place was absolutely packed. Bethenny tweeted later that 900 people showed up! Thankfully I didn't have to wait long at all to get my book signed after hearing her speak. 

Bethenny's book signing was a bit different than JWOWW's. Before she got to signing the books, she talked a bit about it, and held a short Q&A with the audience. Wondering if she's just as hilarious in person as she is on the show? Well, she definitely is! Here's a video clip I took of her speaking about living a parallel life to Chris Brown:

Bethenny also seemed to be a really nice person that cared so much about her fans. She almost cried when one of the fans in the audience told her it was her upbeat personality and lifestyle that helped him through cancer, and she teared up when reading the dedication page of her book out loud (which was also to her fans). I'll admit, when she was on the Real Housewives, I was not really much of a Bethenny fan. Once she had her own show, however, I couldn't get enough of her. She's always funny, and now I know how much she truly cares about her fans. Even though I was one of the first people to get her book signed last night, Bethenny greeted me with a huge smile and seemed like she truly was happy to meet me. Here are a few other pictures I took:

I didn't even have to zoom in to get a great shot!

She is a human barbie doll! Tiny waist, and check out those shoes!

Of course, her signature in my book.

I'll end this entry with a fun fact: David Yontef, who was on the Bravo show Millionaire Matchmaker, was sitting right behind me at the event.


This post contains an affiliate link. All opinions are my own. 

Broadway | The Addams Family

Today I made my way into the city to buy student rush tickets to a broadway show. On Sundays the box office opens at noon, so I figured getting there at 11:00AM would mean a good spot in line. I was very surprised when I got there and found no one waiting at all! In fact, there were only a handful of people behind me when the box office opened. I had prepared a small list of shows that I was interested in, and got my first choice of The Addams Family. For only $37 I got a seat in the mid-mezzanine! All I had to do was show my student ID to get the ticket. 

The show was fantastic! Besides sitting behind a really tall guy (of course) I had a great view. It's was weird to think that when I saw Beauty and the Beast in the same theater (the Lunt-Fontanne), I was sitting in the fourth row. The music was very catchy, and the story was funny. Grandma was particularly hilarious. Another cool thing about the story was that it took place in the current time period, so references to pop culture were made. The one-liners were great!  In this take on the Addams Family, Wednesday falls in love with a "normal" guy, and his family comes to dinner at the Addams' residence. While Wednesday pleads with her family to act like everyday people for just one night, that isn't of course what happens. There are fights, games, and so much more. Uncle Fester even finds himself falling in love! I would definitely recommend this show for a fun family comedy on broadway. Just be aware that if you bring young children there are some obscenities. 

After the show I stayed at the theater to get my playbill signed. I usually have the cast sign the program book that I always buy as a souvenir, but since it was all black I figured the playbill was a better idea. Here is a picture of the program and signed playbill:

I had a great time at The Addams Family, and I plan on seeing a lot more broadway shows while I'm here! Many of them offer student rush tickets, and some offer general rush tickets. If you're looking for a show to see, check out this website for the shows playing and the discounts you can receive: Link

Lesson 4: It's Okay to be a Tourist Sometimes

Yesterday was a great day here in New York City. The weather was bright and sunny, and a warm 70 degrees. My boss gave me the day off to enjoy the day and explore the city, and that's exactly what I did! I usually don't like to make myself stand out as a tourist, mainly for safety reasons, but sometimes it's great to experience the city as one. My housemate Jason and I started off the day at the Empire State Building Observatory. For $21 you can go up the 86th floor, which has an outside observation deck, unlike the 102nd floor that costs $15 more. Besides being a bit cold and really windy, it was great! Jason even paid for the audio tour, so he was able to point out some cool landmarks for us to look at. Here are some of the many pictures I took. The city looked amazing!

That brown building is where I work! 

If you look closely you can see the Statue of Liberty in the distance! 

 

After the Empire State Building, we shopped a little in the Macy's at Herald Square. I've been here a number of times since it's just a few blocks from where I work, but this was an exciting visit because we saw Clinton Kelly from What Not to Wear! He was busy filming, so we weren't able to meet him, but I snapped a couple pictures of the back of his head. 

Next we headed off to some of the fancy shops on Fifth Avenue. The only thing I purchased was a shirt at Armani Exchange (for only $13.88 might I add), but I enjoyed the area. We saw some landmarks along the way as well. Here are pictures of the Trump Tower and the hotel from Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (one of my favorite movies!). 

The last big adventure of the day was a trip to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Jason and I met up with my friend Bri from school, who happened to be in the city for a week-long externship. I had been to this museum before during a visit with my dance class back in high school, but it's always something to check out. It is a little pricey (I paid $35 with a student discount of $3), but it includes a cool showing of The Wizard of Oz in 4D, complete with smell-o-vision and bubbles. Plus, there have been many additions to the museum since I've been last. The figures are also rotated every 2-3 months, so you have the chance to see different ones every time you go. I was just happy to see that *NSYNC was still there! Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Kim Kardashian

Bri and I with the Spice Girls

My favorite boys, *NSYNC

Lady Gaga

Lesson 4: While it's usually good to blend into the crowd while New York City, going to tourist destinations and whipping our your camera can be a lot of fun. Just remember to stay safe and be aware of your surroundings. 

Long Island & New York Bagels

This week, my college back home is on spring break, so I traveled up to Long Island to visit my friend Kathleen. The trip took me about a total of two hours, but half of that is on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) which is a lot nicer and more comfortable than the subway that I'm used to. It was really nice to get out of the city to a suburb, and to meet Kathleen's family. On Saturday night they made me a really nice dinner of lemon chicken, brown rice, and green beans. It was absolutely delicious! For dessert we had chocolate fondue with bananas and raspberries (also delicious). I really liked having a sit-down, family dinner with them. Her parents and brother are really nice. I also really liked the setup of her house. It had cool levels in it, and lots of great colors for the walls and carpeting. I kept thinking of how much my sister-in-law would have liked their antique style lamps and green furniture! 

After dinner, we met up with one of Kathleen's friends from high school and went to see the movie "No Strings Attached" with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman. The movie was pretty cute. It's still weird to see Ashton play someone else other than Kelso from That 70's Show, though. I was also pretty excited when we saw the preview for The Hangover II. I cannot wait to see that movie!

When we got back to her house we played some Wii sports before going to bed. I was lucky and got to sleep on a pull-out couch in my own room!  I also thought it was really funny that the comforter I used was the same patterned Minnie Mouse one as my bedroom set that I have at home from when I was little. 

This morning, Kathleen took me to have my first New York bagel experience. It wasn't too much unlike other bagel shops I've been to, except in New York you don't get your bagel toasted because it's hot from just coming out of the oven. I had honey whole wheat with cream cheese. After bagels, we hung out at her house for a while before I had to take the train back to the city. Although it was a quick visit, I really enjoyed Long Island. Thank you to Kathleen and her family for having me!

Off-Broadway | My Big Gay Italian Wedding

Last night I went to see the Off-Broadway show "My Big Gay Italian Wedding" with my friend Patrick from high school. I had heard about this show because it is produced by one of the Real Housewives of NJ, Dina Manzo, and last week tickets were on sale at Groupon.com for the amazing price of $42 (regularly $70+). I didn't want to pass up such a great deal! 

Although I have been to a handful of Broadway shows in the past, I have never seen one Off-Broadway before. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The theater was rather small, with just chairs set up for the audience. The great thing about that, though, was it made the show more personal. The actors often interacted with the audience. At one point (during the wedding scene), the mother of the groom even yelled at Patrick for wearing jeans to her son's wedding! It was hilarious! 

If you are looking for a show to see that is cheaper than Broadway and in a more intimate setting, I would definitely recommend My Big Gay Italian Wedding. The show was so funny, and it had some really great moments in there. Something that made me laugh a lot was the cast's version of the Italian Ducky Dance that my family does. I couldn't believe it! The wedding reception was definitely my favorite scene, but I don't want to give too much away. 

Of course, I also found it touching that a Catholic, Italian family loved their gay son enough to throw him a wedding (okay, with a little begging involved). Civil rights is an issue that is extremely important to me, and plays like this one help to show people that gay marriage really isn't so bad after all. If two people love each other, that's what matters. While Anthony and Andrew could not get legally married in My Big Gay Italian Wedding, I hope that one day down the road they can rewrite the script because New York has made same-sex marriage legal. 

I also hope that I can go to many more shows, both Broadway and otherwise, while I'm here in New York City. They aren't always the most affordable form of entertainment, but they are worth every penny! 

Exploring the Neighborhood & the Downfalls of Fordham

This past Sunday I went with my next door neighbor in the house, Jason, to sample some of the food that you can find in our neighborhood. For lunch we went to this pizza place called Full Moon Pizza, which is located in the Little Italy of the Bronx just a couple blocks down. I had heard from a bunch of people that I just HAD to go there because they have the best pizza. Well, I'm not sure if it's the best, but it's definitely delicious. The slices are huge, about twice the size of a normal slice, and even though the price tag is a bit high (anywhere from $2-$5 for a slice) it's worth it. I also got garlic knots which were dripping in garlic and butter. Not the healthiest meal in the world, but a good experience.

Here's a picture of the pizza slice that I found on slice.com. It gives you a good idea of how big one piece is:

After stuffing ourselves with Italian food, Jason and I went and got Chinese for dinner. The place is called Nice Food (heh heh) and it's only a block away from the house. For $9 I got this huge container of chicken and broccoli plus white rice. It lasted me three meals! I wouldn't go there often, because the food is pretty bad for you, but it's good once in a while. Plus, there are a bunch more restaurants around that I need to try, including the Italian bakeries in Little Italy. 

On Monday, my day off from work, I decided to study for the midterm I had later that night in my class. I spent my free time on Sunday making this awesome 10-page study guide, but I had one problem-- I don't have a printer this semester! In order to print my study guide and the homework assignment that was also due, I made my way to Fordham's campus. What I thought was going to take about 10 seconds to accomplish took me a half an hour! First, I had to locate a computer lab that actually had working computers (the first room I went into had lots of computers, but they had no programs on them!). Then, when I went to print my document, nothing happened. Why? Because you have to PAY for your printing at Fordham! This means I had to trek downstairs and load up my student ID with some cash, and then enter it into some weird machine to print my documents. Yeah, I only paid 50¢, but the printing wasn't even double-sided, so I felt like I had killed a tree or two. A big difference from the usual "green" culture I'm used to. Not so much a big deal, but just a couple of the areas where Fordham can improve.

P.S. In case you were wondering, my midterm went well!