NYC: Broadway

Almost 2 years ago, the Idiart ADULTS took a trip to NYC. We found some CHEAP tickets, brought all the Grandparents up to watch the kids and had the time of our lives!

Our main purpose was to help a friend with her art show. Click HERE to read about that. Our other purpose was to buy $12 hot chocolate at Serendipity. I posted a long-lost picture of us drinking above said Chocolate. If you didn't read about that click HERE.


We all agreed that the BEST part of NYC was BROADWAY. My favorite ALL-TIME Disney movie is Mary Poppins. So, Damian and I started our experience on Broadway there (Rated G). Tickets were only $25 mid-week. For $50, the two of us were about 1000 rows from the stage in the nose-bleed section. I loved it, even though Damian fell asleep for a little while.

Disney does an amazing job on Broadway, the music and special effects were amazing. At intermission, we noticed it wasn't a full house and moved down about 980 rows (20 from the stage). Then we REALLY enjoyed the show. The second half was a continuation of the Disney Movie and an EVIL nanny was introduced. Mr. Banks finally learned his lesson, too, and Mary and Burt KISS. This kiss was a highly anticipated highlight to my life, I tell you! It was a wonderful show. As we walked home, in the rain, through the NYC ghetto that night, Damian told me he wanted me to find tickets to a show every night while we were there!

So the next day, after traipsing around NYC alone (Top of the Rockefeller Center, Metropolitan Art Museum, Central Park) I waited in line for WICKED LOTTERY TICKETS. I was sweaty, dirty and dressed in uncomfortable shoes. I met a man that had tried to win the lottery 13 times. He was sure this would be his lucky day. Boy was he wrong.

I had just helped a little old beggar woman cross the street, ON MY ARM, no less! And I was wearing my BYU Sweatshirt, and a girl came up and said, "I saw what you did with that woman and I'm BYU ALUMNI, too!!" Anyway, I told the man that the lucky stars were with me . . . I would be winning the tickets. And when I did, I'd be doing a happy dance in front of all the losers. Just to cheer them up. There were about 300 people in line and 25 names were called. One was MINE!!

I did the happy dance, in case you were wondering!

I won the chance to BUY front row tickets for $25 each to WICKED (Rated PG). And I did it. And Damian met me downtown. My sister/brother-in-law had paid $125 each for seats about 20 rows back, off to the side. In hindsight, I should have asked Damian to sit with my brother-in-law in the back and my sis. could have sat in the front with me. Darn it!


Mary Poppins kiss with Burt had nothing on this show! The script was clean (unlike the book it's based on) and the music was uplifting and beautiful. The costume-ry was AMAZING and overall, this musical was the best theatre performance I have ever seen!

I listen to the soundtrack in my car all the time. My kids now know all the words to the songs and have big dreams to perform them in local theatre, or at least the family talent show.

The Idiarts attending the show all posed before. WOW, doesn't my sis-in-law look great?

The women directly behind me (remember, I was on the front row) each paid $400 for their tickets . . . it was an experience of a lifetime and I loved it! The rest of the family bought some tickets on Ebay or something and went a few days later (at about $125 each!). I'd only paid $100 total for 2 shows on Broadway for Damian and I. I was feeling pretty stoked!

The next day, my sis-in-law, Christine and I went to a matinee showing of Mamma Mia! We are both ABBA fans and thought this would supercharge our trip. We each paid $50 for the seats, half way back on the 1st floor . . . pretty good view.

It was such a fun show, GREAT MUSIC and hilarious script (PG-13). We laughed so hard and had such a fun time together! At the end of the show, the whole audience got up, singing and dancing in the aisles. When the movie came out, I tried that, during the credits, but I was the only one in the theatre doing it, so it didn't feel the same.

If you have a chance to see Mamma Mia in NYC or Las Vegas, it is well worth your money. If not, rent the movie, equally good (except Pierce Brosnan's singing face!)

On one of our last nights, Damian and I were so fired up with all our wonderful Broadway experiences, we splurged on a brand new Broadway show ($100 each). It was written by the men that wrote Miss Saigon. These men also adapted Les Miserables for theatre, (Les Mis is the most successful musical in history!) The same choreographers that did Riverdance worked on this project. It really was supposed to be great.

It was based on the life and adventures of the 17th century Irish chieftain and pirate Grace O'Malley, who was one of the last Irish clan leaders to resist the English conquest of Gaelic Ireland.

It sounded good, had good people writing it . . . Alas, it was too good to be true. We hated it. We hated spending that much money for it. Apparently, no one else liked it either. It got horrible reviews and closed after only 3 months.

Well, 3 out of 4 ain't bad! We can't wait to go back to NYC and hit Broadway again. We are planning to take our kids to Wicked in Portland or San Francisco in the spring so they can get the Broadway bug, too!