Our first (and probably only) double show day today. Which worked well because it was rainy and cold and we’re tired. Audrey has been loving the cold and, apparently, for this region and this time of year, it’s actually quite nice…but I’m cold. So it was nice to have lots of indoor stuff to do today and not so much walking around the city or fighting our way through the crowds on the streets.
We started at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum. What a trip. We spent the whole time in there being confused, waiting for people to get out of our way who would never move or trying not to bump into people who weren’t actually people. Some of those sculptures are frighteningly lifelike, especially if you stare into their eyes for any length of time. There were so many famous figures, from Obama to Johnny Cash to Ben Franklin to Michael Jordan and Miley Cyrus. We had fun wandering around and checking out the figures we recognized, taking pictures with our favorites and laughing at everybody doing the same. I wonder what it would be like to dress up, pose, and start standing still and see what people do. Just for fun.
Audrey chilling with Steven Spielberg
I had way to much trying to stare down the wax figures
Next stop on the list was another lottery, this time for Once. This one just started previews yesterday (It opens on Broadway, officially, on March 18th) Again, my name was called and we locked in tickets for more obscenely low prices.
Before the show, we had time to go see the Dead Sea Scrolls, an exhibit that’s currently in NYC, pretty close to the theater where we were seeing Once. It was pretty incredible to see these shreads of parchment of such extremem importance that were so old and, to me, entirely indecipherable. The exhibit also included a piece of the Western Wall, a sight in itself. I really enjoyed the whole exhibit. While I’m not a huge history person in most cases, occasionally I’ll find something that connects me, in some way, to people of certuries ago and have those goosebump moments where I realize that we’re sharing a common experience even though we’re separated by time. This exhibit was one of those moments for me..
After a quick pizza lunch, we went to go see Once. I’m pretty sure that Audrey and I actually attended different performances, even though we were sitting next to each other the entire time. She saw a musical masterpiece, was stirred to tears by the emotion communicated by the actors and their passion for music. The musical was about two people connecting over music and she explained to me about how they weren’t together to be together, but rather because they both needed something from each other for a time and then they could move on with their lives. Me? I was so painfully bored that I couldn’t help but dozing off during the second act. Oops. The music was beautiful, but I didn’t really understand what was going on, didn’t really connect with the characters, and didn’t see how the music moved the plot along at all…what there was of a plot anyway. I wish I’d seen Audrey’s version of the performance. I’m looking forward to listening to the music again when it’s released and hopefully I’ll understand more of what she saw and heard in the performance.
Audrey loooooved Once
We’re very different, Audrey and me. I’m much more of a concrete thinker, I see what’s on the surface, and usually not a whole lot more. I need things very clearly laid out form me if I’m really going to understand them. Audrey delves into the abstract. She loves art, music, performance, and sees lots of stuff below the surface. It makes for an interesting relationship between the two of us because it affects everything about how we think, communicate, and relate to each other.
Our first time emerging from a theater into the light instead of the dark was a little jolting at first, especially since I was groggy from trying to stay awake and Audrey was thrilled over the excellence of the performance she’d just witnessed. We managed to get amazing seats for Seminar for tonight and decided to try to solve a crime before dinner. We headed to “CSI: The Experience.” which is supposed to be an interactive crime-solving experience that uses lots of the strategies and techniques from the show CSI which is supposed to be based on the work of real crime scene investigators. Turns out that the exhibit was about 10 years too young for us. We were both looking for a bit of a challenge, hoping to learn something new, but instead we just joked our way through all of the labs and puzzles that we could solve just by looking at them, answered our multiple choice questions and went on our merry way. We had a good time, but more people we were laughing at ourselves than because the exhibit was exciting. I guess we’re pretty qualified to be investigators now. I really want to apply for a job and cite this exhibit as my work experience…just to see what would happen. I assume it wouldn’t be pretty, but I do think it’d be amusing.
Today’s second show was Seminarstarring Alan Rickman. It was a comedy, but not in the “constantly laughing” sense. The show itself was incredible though. I’m starting to understand why people love theater so much. The acting was so incredible and Audrey and I were both breathless through a couple of Alan Rickman’s monologues. So phenomenal. The play was about a writing teacher offering 4 students a writing seminar and the trials that they go through under his tutelage as he crushes their writing or, in one case, complements it so highly that the whole thing blows up. Basically, it was amazing. Afterwards, we went to the stage door and got to meet all five of the actors, including Rickman. Maybe it’s just because I know him as Snape first, but I couldn’t help being terrified of him even in person. But he was quite friendly, autographed our playbills, and let us take pictures. Quite friendly indeed. But I was still scared of him. Our last stop for the night was Junior’s, a restaurant famous for their cheesecake. Let’s just say that their fame is merited. Yummmmm.
Seeing Seminar
Alan Rickman signing our Playbills
Delicious after-show treat at Junior's
We’ve also decided that Worst Cooks in America on Food Network is our new favorite late night show. Every night when we get back, we’ve spent a little while updating our budget, journaling, making plans for tomorrow, etc. Our background TV program of choice has been this one. It’s a lot of fun without all those “Ohh…that looks soo good! I’m so hungry now!” comments.