How Many Musicals Is It Possible To See In One Week?

So, the last week has been a bit mad, having had to pay for internet for the week, haven't had so much opportunity to blog (plus there is too much to do in NY!), but now that Rach has left me all on my lonesome, thought I'd write and let everyone know what I've been up to. I've made it to Washington DC, staying in a very nice, if very quiet hostel, with some cool people.

So I left Montreal on the Saturday evening, made it through the border no problem (I always find this a little bit scary after the events of this Summer....especially at 1am in the morning). Arriving in Boston at 6am as the sun was coming up was a great way to be introduced to the city, unfortunately once inside the bus station, I realised it was a Sunday and left luggage was not going to open until 10am. Bit of a bummer, but it gave me a chance to have a sit down, some breakfast and read a little of my book - and plan my day. Come 10am with my bags safely stowed away, with a guide book in one hand and a camera in the other I went off with all the other hundreds of tourists on the Freedom Trail. Lukily it was a gloroiusly sunny day, I guess cities always look better in the sun - but Boston did seem like a really lovely place. The Freedom Trail is a line of red briks that takes you on a journey around the city, passing all the main landmarks. Was a great way to discover the city, and start my American adventure.

The afternoon took me to Faenol Hall - a lot like Covent Garden (was designed by the same guy who regenerated that) but only a little more modern, was a great lunch location. Got talking to a couple of street performers who were British and studying over here, and then proceeded to watch their acrobatic show, which was filled with very British humour and went slightly over the Americans heads...

Then on to the waterfront (in order to fulfil my Dawson's Creek fantasies...it's where they all went to live in the final series...). Which again, in the glorious sunshine, was a perfect place to lie in the heat and spend a lovely sunny afternoon. I ended the day on Boston Common, could have spent much longer there, but had to go collect my bags and get on the coach...

So I arrived in New York at about 3.30am in the morning. Certainly felt like any number of characters from American musicals, most especially the sailors in On The Town as I walked out into Times Square in the middle of the night. Now, I always thought it was going to feel quite emotional being back there....last time I was in Times Square I was on my way back to London having spent two weeks on a far away Island north of Seattle with singing ten year olds, I had spent the night not sleeping on a plane, having been told that Dad was not doing too great in hospital, and I just wanted to be back in London...all very traumatic... Now, for someone who is bordering on the worringly obsessive with musical theatre as I am, Broadway and New York is really the only place in the world that I've ever really, really wanted to go to. Being there two years ago was like some kind of nightmare...well all I can say is that now those memories have been well and truly wiped away, as all I could really feel this time was excitement..... Common sense however prevailed, and at 3.30 am I decided not to see what Broadway diva's I could seek out and instead found an open cafe in the bus terminal and sat and read my book for an hour or two before the sun came up and I could make my way to the hostel....

The week was amazing, really don't have time to write about it all here. We did all the major touristy stuff, Empire State, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Isalnd. And we saw a lot of shows! The Little Mermaid, 13 (Jason Robert Brown's new show...still in previews!), All My Sons (with Katie Holmes, but no Tom in the audience), Gypsy (starring Patti Lupone, in one of the craziest pure Broadway diva performances I have ever seen! Standing ovation in the middle of the second act for her Rose's Turn) and In The Heights (won the Tony this year for best new musical, it's a Latino musical set in a Puerto Rican neighbourhood north Manhatten, Washington Heights. Thought it was great.)

We also did the Sex and the City tour, ate cupcakes from the Magnolia bakery, drank a lot of cocktails, ate cheesecake at Lindy's, had a picnic in Central Park...and did a lot of shopping! (Abercrombie and Fitch store being a highlight...so many fit people!!!)

Was a pure joy to spend the week with Rachel, for those that don't know her, I met Rach my first weekend of University, pretty much four years ago to the day, at the readthrough of Little Shop of Horrors - she was playing Audrey and I was Seymour. We immediately bonded over a love for crap musicals and Barbara Streisand, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that we would end up at about 2am in a crowded piano bar in Greenwich Village 4 years later singing Suddenly Seymour to each other at the top of our voices...pure joy!!! That's what I want heaven to be like.....!

So am now in DC, and just going off to do some sight seeing. Hope you are all well, and send me your news!!

Rich
xxx