Guide for Broadway Virgins

Broadway is, without a doubt, one of the greatest things about living in New York. This world class and historic form of entertainment is right on your doorstep and offers something for absolutely everyone. Even if you’re not particularly drawn to jazz hands or people who sing their way through life (I obviously love both these things) there is a musical or play on the Great White Way for your enjoyment.

I know lots of New Yorkers who have never seen a Broadway musical and similarly, I know lots of first time visitors looking for the perfect experience, but with so much choice which show is right for you?

You might think that you can just buy tickets for the one that LOOKS the best and go, but lately I’ve noticed that when people don’t do a little bit of research, they end up sitting through something they hate and the Broadway experience is ruined! For example, at Christmas, my sister and I decided to take our Mum to see a matinee of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. We were fully aware that the musical is about a rag tag group of drag queens making their way across Australia in a camper van. The Bette Middler produced show was right up our alley for a girls’ afternoon. However, we were surrounded by people who were clearly shocked by their choice of show – including families with very young children. Most of the content of the show was fine for kids, but the language and sexual references certainly weren’t. You could tell that some patrons hadn’t even googled the show! Rookie mistake.

So here, without further ado is your very own personal musical guide. If you’re a Broadway buff, you’ll want to see some of the newer offerings (I’ll detail my Broadway wish list for the new season in another post). But for first timers, here’s a rough, reliable guide to some brilliant Broadway Musicals:

Wicked: An All-Rounder

You’ve heard people talking about Wicked. It has something to do with the Wizard of Oz right? The main actress in it is painted green? Right?

Wicked is my favorite show currently playing on Broadway. This prequel to The Wizard of Oz has all the elements that make up a perfect show for everyone. The storyline will keep you enthralled, yet it is familiar enough to make people think, I get that! The set is intricate, well designed and a spectacle in itself. The characters are likable and the script is comedic as well as touching. Best of all, the music is mind blowing. Men, women, children – this show is for everyone. Be prepared to get goosebumps during Defying Gravity. 

 

Avenue Q: Not quite On Broadway 

Avenue Q has been around for almost ten years but it’s still absolutely hilarious. While on Broadway it won three TONY awards, including Best Musical and in 2009 it moved to the New World Stages theatre for an off-Broadway production. It’s off-beat take on Sesame Street is for Mature Audiences and this is a great one to take your reluctant male friend or boyfriend to, especially if he has a sense of humor! The script may not be as controversial as The Book of Mormon, but it’s still sure to make you giggle at a much lower price. *I saw this for the third time this weekend and it still makes me cry with laughter. 

 

The Lion King: A Familiar Spectacle 

When Disney makes Broadway musicals, it pulls out all the stops. The Lion King is another show that has been on Broadway for quite awhile and it continues to delight audiences of all ages. Never fear if you’re a fan of the movie, the musical takes an almost identical script and adds new songs, an authentic African feel and costumes that are stunning, artistic and appropriate. Kids will love this one!

 

Jersey Boys: Nostalgia at its Best

There’s a reason why Jersey Boys has always been a really hot ticket on Broadway: nostalgia. I guarantee that you will know most of the songs in the score which includes hits like, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Oh What a Night” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”. The plot details the career of the legendary Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and includes some hilarious incidents, celebrity appearances and show stopping musical numbers. This is the one to take your parents to, but I’ve seen this parent-less on more than one occasion!

 

Phantom of the Opera: Classic Great White Way

Nothing says Broadway like this Andrew Lloyd Weber classic musical. Phantom of the Opera opened at the Majestic Theater in 1988 and has been there ever since, making it the longest running show in Broadway history! Compared to the newer, more technological musicals, this one might seem a bit old school – but you can’t beat the haunting music of Lloyd Weber or the fantastic staging that has made this show famous. This one is for all ages.

 

Priscilla: Queen of the Desert: Girl’s Night Out

As mentioned above, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert is a perfect addition to a girl’s night out. This show is guaranteed to make you dance in your seat from start to finish with numbers like “I Will Survive”, “Material Girl”, “Shake Your Groove Thing” and “I Say a Little Prayer”. In addition to drag queens, unbelievable costumes and a hilarious script, there is a touching lesson to be learned. Plus, this one is right in the middle of Time Square – handy!

 

So, what’s the best way to score tickets?

1. Hit the TKTs booths in person for great discounts. Check this link for instructions and for a list of shows featured at the booths last week: http://www.tdf.org/TDF_ServicePage.aspx?id=56
2. Buy tickets online in advance from the show’s website
3. Sometimes you can get a better deal by actually walking into the theater’s box office. Check the web price and then stroll into the box office to see if they have better seats or a better price.

Broadway buffs: Any recommendations for first timers?

Thankful

It’s been eight years since I’ve observed Thanksgiving, the US national holiday celebrating the Pilgrims’ arrival to the New World. Even when I lived here as a kid, my Irish parents were pretty skeptical about any holiday requiring Turkey that’s NOT Christmas – so the traditional celebrations were pretty few and far between. This year was different.

Following a restful night’s sleep at the Westin Hotel Time Square (the comfiest beds in the world FYI) we got up bright and early to head to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The parade is a New York tradition spanning back to 1924, making it one of the oldest Thanksgiving parades in the country! Interestingly, the parade was started by Macy’s employees who were immigrants from Europe and longed to celebrate their new lives in America with the type of festival they would have had back home. They marched from Harlem through the city to the Macy’s flagship store on 34th street, dressed in costumes and leading live animals from the Central Park Zoo! Eventually the animals were replaced by giant animal shaped balloons and thus the parade’s famous cartoon balloons were born.

On Thanksgiving morning everyone watches the parade on TV (..unless you’re too hungover – the night before is one of the biggest party nights of the year!). It always reminds me of the movie “Miracle on 34th Street” where the big department store is looking to hire Santa for their parade and get the REAL Santa by accident.

Anyway, I digress! We were fortunate enough to have TICKETS to the parade this year. Before last week I didn’t even know they issued tickets. They’re usually just for Macy’s employees and relatives of the parade performers – but somehow we landed a few for the grandstand seats. Normally you’d have to queue up all morning to get a prime viewing spot.

Sitting along Central Park West freezing our behinds off, we couldn’t help but gaze longingly into the windows of the luxurious condos across the street. Each window was filled with families all ready to watch the annual parade from the comfort of their New York City home.

As first time parade go-ers were were perhaps slightly over-excited at times. For example, when the Sesame Street Float went by, myself and Lynsday couldn’t help but scream “BIG BIRD”! To us, he was Justin Bieber. 

We laughed at the silly clowns, clapped along to the marching bands from all over the country and oohed and ahhed at the fantastic balloons idling down the street, controlled by teams of handlers. We loved Spiderman, Spongebob and Sonic the most. In my opinion, the best part of the parade is seeing Santa and Mrs. Claus come through – which signals the start of the Christmas season! It’s almost a crime to walk away without seeing that happen!

I had a quick chat with 4fm’s Gareth O’Callaghan live from the parade – have a listen: 

The day was capped off with a Thanksgiving feast at my brother-in-law’s family’s house, where twenty of us chowed down on turkey, sweet potatoes, vegetables and an array of pies! sigh…what an excellent way to celebrate how thankful I am to be here. 

Disney World for History Buffs

New York Museums have a treasure trove of original and beautiful items in their exhibitions – and the newly reopened New York Historical Society Museum is no different. It’s New York’s oldest museum, pre-dating the Metropolitan Museum of Art by 70 years and it has just received a $70 million revamp.

Located adjacent to Central Park West and just across the street from the stately American Museum of Natural History, the Historical Society welcomes you with a life-size statue of Douglas Adams at one entrance and one of Abraham Lincoln at the other.

As you enter the building you come upon the Rotunda featuring beautiful art installations, as well as original New York artifacts from the Revolutionary Period and also from 9/11. For example, the Rotunda displays the original chair George Washington used at his Inauguration and the dueling pistols used by Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. The history buff in me almost fell over!

Additionally, there are large interactive screens showing the collection and explaining each piece in a large, bright text. The screens were extremely easy to use and much better than crouching in to see the tiny descriptions next to the exhibits. The 9/11 collection shows a small portion of the Museum’s photographs from the day.

Also on display on the ground floor is an exhibit called “Making American Taste” which has a collection of beautiful paintings that shaped 19th Century American culture. There is everything from European style religious paintings to depictions of life on an American farm. The centerpiece is Louis Lang’s enormous painting, The Return of the 69th (Irish) Regiment, which greets you as you walk in. You don’t need to know anything about art to appreciate these works, they’re extremely accessible and the collection doesn’t overwhelm you with it’s size.

On the 4th floor, the Museum has a Luce Center (there is one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington) where visitors call see over 40,000 objects from the permanent collection displayed. There are paintings, furniture, silverware and much more to see here! Some of the more notable items include a set of chairs – one from Marie Antoinette’s boudoir and another from Napoleon’s – side by side. The Luce Center also boasts the world’s largest collection of original Tiffany Lamps and a full sized carriage that would have carried New York’s elite in the 18th Century.

During our time at the Museum, we were guided by a very well informed Docent and she really added to the experience for me. The only downside was that she wasn’t great with the microphone and we struggled to hear her at times. I’d be reluctant to do a self-guided tour of this Museum the first time there, probably because there are so many exquisite items on show. I would have had no idea which were the more impressive artifacts and art works! The Docent did a really great job of pointing out the collections’ highlights.

Every half hour there is an 18 minute film shown in their state of the art auditorium. The film documents the history of New York City through a multimedia experience with surround sound, theatrical lighting and effects. Unfortunately, our group missed the last showing of it (poor planning on the part of the tour’s organizers!) I think it’s something that visitors, especially New Yorkers would really enjoy.

There is also a brand new Children’s History Museum located in the basement, which I would have absolutely adored as a child.

As far as future exhibitions go – two of them caught my attention. One is called Stories in Sterling and will display the Museum’s silver collection along with the items’ backstories. Visitors will hear of the wealthy New York husbands that commissioned the likes of Tiffany to create silver collections for their wives. The pieces are beautiful and the stories are very interesting from the small taste I got!

Another will open in November 2012 and is called “New York and World War II” and will explore the effect the War had on this city. One of the pieces in this exhibit will be Irving Boyer’s, Prospect Park, ca. 1942–1944 which we got to see on our tour.

The restaurant the Museum houses will open later this year (it was under construction as we were touring) and is called Caffe Storico (Italian for “historic”). Another project of Stephen Starr (the man behind Buddakan and Morimoto), this casual dining experience is sure to be delicious! It’ll stay open after the Museum has closed to cater for New York diners as well as Museum go-ers.

In conclusion, the New York Historical Society Museum is beautifully laid out, accessible and has some extremely interesting historic and artistic pieces. I especially love how New York-centric it is. A lot of the exhibits really celebrate the great history of New York and it is sure to impress city natives and tourists alike. I would suggest a guided tour or an audio tour to get the full experience.

All information, including ticket prices can be found at: nyhistory.org. They also have an iPhone App with a guide to the exhibits and some very interesting videos by the curators, found here.

Heroic NYC by Water Taxi

New York is the kind of city that always surprises me. In fact, it almost overwhelms me with the sheer volume of new and interesting things to do! A lot of people who live here don’t even take advantage of the great seasonal events, shows, museums and tours that are on offer 365 days a year. Many assume these things are just for tourists, but I think if they did a bit of research they’d find that living in one of the most exciting cities in the world is pretty pointless if you don’t experience it to the fullest. And just because you’re a New Yorker – doesn’t mean there isn’t more for you to learn and love.

When I’m not doing journalism-type activities, I work in the travel business and as a result am lucky enough to see some of the best attractions up close and personal. This week I attended an event that took me from the USS Intrepid to the brand new 9/11 Memorial by Water Taxi. Here’s what I thought:

Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum

I have to admit that I knew very little about the U.S.S Intrepid before I visited the museum. In a stereotypical way, I had these pre-conceived notions of it being a “boys place” with big ships, planes and guns. However, once our tour guide Daniel started to show us around, my opinion completely flipped. The Intrepid Museum is for anyone with a passion for history and a love of fascinating machines. Daniel only had a short period of time to squeeze in a lot – but I’ve never seen a guide with so much enthusiasm for his subject! He was constantly sharing little known facts about US naval history and making the huge amount of information he had extremely accessible to our small group.

The museum space is set out in an attractive way with plenty of places to sit and take everything in. It also has lots of different interactive exhibits including a 4D experience! In addition the museum has a British Concorde plane and is soon to be home to a US Space Shuttle.

One thing I learned was that the U.S.S Intrepid is still vital to the US military. Directly following the September 11th attacks, the aircraft carrier was called back into duty and became the base of the FBI in New York as it carried it out its counter terrorism operations.

At $24.00 for adults and either $12.00 or $19.00 for kids (depending on their age) the price tag is a bit steep. But you could easily spend several hours in this museum and not tire of the educational, historical and heroic snapshot its gives.

For more info see: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/

The NY Water Taxi

I’m no stranger to the NY Water Taxi and spent a whole summer ferrying large groups of senior citizens on and off these boats! I can therefore vouch for my experience on more than one occasion. But in a city where quick and easy transportation is king – these boats sure do come in handy!

We were ferried from the U.S.S Intrepid Museum down along the Hudson river, which allows you to take in every facet of the New York skyline in all it’s glory! There is no better way to check out the city than from the top deck of a boat with the breeze in your hair. Especially when you compare the experience to a cramped, dark and sweaty subway carriage. It took us no time at all to reach the Brooklyn shore and the newly revamped Brooklyn Bridge Park for lunch.

We were then ferried back across the river to lower Manhattan and Battery Park. You can get a Hop on Hop Off day pass for $25.00 and see the city at your own pace. The NY Water Taxi docks at Pier 84, West 44th Street, Battery Park Slip 6, Pier 17, South Street Seaport and Fulton Ferry Landing, DUMBO.

And now, the Water Taxi has partnered with the new 9/11 Memorial offering passes and packages on its website: http://www.nywatertaxi.com/

9/11 Memorial

It’s hard to believe that ten years have passed since the attacks on September 11th, 2001 but sure enough, time has flown by and a
few weeks ago the 9/11 memorial opened to the public. As someone who was in New York on that fateful day ten years ago, I was eager to see what kind of tribute would be put in place and I can tell you, I was not disappointed.

Passes to the memorial are available from its website http://www.911memorial.org/ (or the water taxi website above) and are issued in timed intervals. This system works really well and once you’re there on time with your pass you should have no problems. Lines moved quickly and security went very smoothly despite the huge numbers of people going through the metal detectors. Once in side the Memorial itself I was surprised at how open and airy it was. There weren’t too many people crowded into one space and this left each person more than enough room to breathe and thus take a moment to reflect.

The two pools of water located on the original Twin Towers sites are breath taking. Cool waters flow from all around square imprints where the towers once stood and are surrounded by engravings of the victims’ names. The metal surrounding the giant pools is such that it will always be cool, even on the hottest New York day. Also visible from the sight is the Freedom Tower – currently under construction and only at half it’s final height.

While we were making our visit, we were overwhelmed by the respect ordinary visitors showed to the FDNY, NYPD and military officers who also attended. It is truly a touching and fitting tribute to what happened that day.

This is sure to be one of the most visited tourist attractions on the planet – especially when the 9/11 Memorial Museum opens up next year. Passes for the site are free (but a donation is suggested) and must be reserved in advance. Definitely put this one on your to-do list.