The Misadventures of SandraDee: Pre NYU Summer

Since I am a horrible procrastinator, I'm going to separate what I've been up to these past 2 weeks into categories. This means what's left the deepest impression will probably be what is first. *Thank God for cameras and picture documentation to help me*

One of my biggest goals upon arriving in NYC was to see some shows. And it had to be cheap, which meant lining up when the box office opens to get rush tickets, or lining up for lotteries. It also had to be a matinee, since I don't know my way around that well yet, I didn't want to be roaming the streets past 9:00PM.

Avenue Q was the most recent show I've seen, and it was AMAZING. It's off-broadway now at the New World Stages, which is lucky for me, since it was originally going to end its run on broadway last September. The whole cast was really talented and made it a really fun show (they cut some lines from 'Schadenfreude", which was jarring). Since I got a front row rush ticket, I had a great view. Seth Rettberg (Princeton/Rod) is so cute & energetic (the puppeteer...not the puppet); he was dripping sweat and spitting like mad. He and Sarah Stiles (Kate Monster/Lucy) made the show. I didn't stay after to do stage door since I had to run, but they did such an awesome job, I would go see this show again (it was only $26.50, and they bring drinks to your seat, haha, as the people behind me commented, "they want you to be drinking at this show for some reason....").

The 2nd show I saw was American Idiot. I had done the lottery for both Wicked & American Idiot on Tuesday (for the 7pm shows) and didn't make either. BUT heartwarming storytime! The 3 people standing behind me for the 1st Wicked lottery was a family from Nebraska. The daughter was the only one out of their whole family (family of 7) who hadn't seen the show yet. This lottery was their last chance, as they were leaving the next morning. So I secretly prayed that they would get it (they had 3 chances), since I would be in NY for more chances but they wouldn't. And the dad's name was the second-to-last name called! It was awesome. The next day, I tried the lottery for Wicked again...and failed again, so I sauntered over to the American Idiot lottery, threw my name in 10 minutes before the lottery closed....and actually got called! So I had a front row seat on the left side, where Michael Esper sat for most of the show, and a perfect place to get sprayed with sweat and spit by Michael Esper and John Gallagher Jr. I loved the CD when it first came out (in 2001, damn), and this show was pretty damn good. JGJr essentially carried most of the show (Stark Sands also did an amazing number). I did do stage door, where there were surprisingly not as many people as I thought there would be. The only main cast members that came out were Michael Esper and Christina Sajous (The Extraordinary Girl).

Christina Sajous

Michael Esper

Promises, Promises was the first show I saw. I don't really remember why I wanted to see it. If I wrote about this sooner (like 2 weeks ago, *sigh*), I would probably know. I'm sure part of the draw was Kristin Chenoweth, who was awesome on Pushing Daisies, and partly because it was my 3rd day in the city, and the theatre is one block from the gym. I did student rush ($30) and sat in the second-to-last row of the rear mezzanine. I thought it was a great view! I could see everyone on stage; I couldn't really *recognize* faces, but I got the general idea who everyone was, so I really enjoyed the show. The music is really catchy, and I definitely find myself humming the songs and/or tunes whenever I pass the theatre on the way to the gym. Both Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth did a great job (it's cool that they are actually close in real life and I think it shows in their rappaport on stage). Katie Finneran, who won a Tony this year for her Promisesx2 performance, definitely delivered. Since it took me years to get out of the theatre, by the time I got to the stage door, there was a mob. So I just went back the next time I planned to go to the gym.