New York Free Time

Sharpe James, the Mayor of Newark says, "WELCOME!" And, "Your hotel is WHERE? HAHAHA!"

Well, welcome back. As you know, we're in NEWARK. As you might not know, our hotel is RIGHT in the middle of the most industrial area of Newark. Which means there is really nothing to do. PLUS - getting into NYC is only about a 20 minute ride...so when today posed itself as a day off for us all, I made plans to head into the city and kick it.
The day had no REAL plan except to head to TKTS to see what tickets I could get for a Broadway show tonight. Eric and I hopped the PATH Train and get to TKTS at the South Street Seaport in no time. My plan was to see Sweeney Todd - a delightful musical about the demon barber of Fleet Street. I was buying tickets for me and my friend, Joey, who lives in the city and who I was going to meet up with later. After his initial plans fell through, Eric decided to snag a ticket and come along with us. More on the show later.
While we were in the South Street Seaport, we saw that there was an exhibit of the wildly popular and highly controversial BODIES: THE EXHIBITION. So of COURSE...we purchased our tickets and walked in to the exhibit. Going in, I was most worried about myself and being too grossed out to get through the exhibit. But once we got into it, I was more fascinated with it all than anything else. I did fine when I thought, in my mind, that they were just plastic models. I only had a little trouble when I let my mind drift to the fact that these were real bodies of real people. And apparently, from the look of the face structure, they were real Asian people. Regardless, the exhibit was FASCINATING. I find as I sit here and write about it that there is NO ample way to describe it. There were bodies - and they were posed playing basketball and football and split in half and quarters and laying down and sitting and everything....and it was an indepth look at the human body. PLUS they all used to be alive at one point. I think, as we exited, Eric summed up the feeling of the entire experience the best when he said, quietly, "I'm not going to be able to eat chicken for awhile."

L: Here is the brochure for the exhibit... R: AND, my ticket....

Eric and I outside the BODIES exhibit. Actually, when we first saw it and Eric pointed to it, I thought the sign said BORDERS - and I was like "OOOOOH! Nice. I need to look at CD's." I was SO wrong.

After BODIES, we rode up to the Times Square area and headed over to Bryant Park. This week is Olympus Fashion Week in NYC, and we wanted to see if there were any stars visible going in and out of the fashion tents. We were most interested in seeing if any of the Project Runway kids were hanging out, making a name for themselves. Sad to report, they weren't! But luckily, people WERE out front of the tents handing out FREE York Peppermint Patties...which have EVERYTHING to do with FASHION, so we made a couple of passes, got a couple of patties, and called headed out to our next adventure.

Outside the main tent at Fashion Week. (Another work of panoramic camera art by MATT!)

L: The main entrance to the big TENT! R: Eric points out what could very well be one of the Project Runway kids. Except, it wasn't.

Our next adventure needed to be an INDOOR one, because it was cold, so we headed to Rays Pizza to eat dinner and wait for Joey. Rays Pizza is my favorite pizza place in all of New York. And finally, Joey arrived and we headed to the show.
So Sweeney Todd...I went in to the show tonight REALLY wanting to like it. 2 great stars that I like and some music that I enjoy. The show is done very DIFFERENT than most productions of ST - and it has a very interesting concept. Normally a cast of 30 or so, this production is done with 10 people, all of whom are the actors AND the orchestra...and are on stage the entire length of the show. Long story short - I liked the idea, but the execution was not so hot. So, on the MASE, I ended up giving it a high 5. Eric gave it a low 6, and I think Joey gave it a 6, too. Bottomline, not a show I think you need to run out and see.

Um...the marquee. Pretty exciting.

So Eagle-Eye-Eric points out before the show that he sees Liev Schrieber walking in to sit down. Sure enough, he walks down the isle at intermission, and it was HIM! SO - after the show, I waited outside and in the rush of the people, I snapped a quick pic. This is kind of like Where's Waldo. He's in the back, profile, coming out the door and has a cigarette in his mouth. I SWEAR it's him.

Now I'm back in the INDUSTRIAL heart of Newark...ready for bed and ready to start our string of shows here in Newark tomorrow. We are performing at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center - and we have shows the rest of the week for the kids in this area. We'll see how it goes.
I'm sure it will be nothing short of stellar. I mean, it's Willy Wonka!
Ciao!
G


At intermission of Sweeney Todd, JOEY promised to show me the final dance step from her high school SHOW CHOIR! So when we left the theater, she delivered on her promise! She's a STAR!