Posts tagged ‘entertainment’

Farewell NYC, See Ya in 18 Days!

Today is tragically sad and awesomely happy. Today is the day I leave NYC, hence the tragically sad. Today is also the day I go back to California to visit family and friends before heading to Chicago for Orientation, which makes it awesome.

Over the past several months of living in NYC, I have realized that I really like it here. I REALLY LIKE IT. I sort of knew that I would, but I was still surprised at how much happier I am in big city NYC. Now, I do have, as Jack Kelly (always have to have a Newsies reference) says, a big strong door to lock it out. But I think I’d even like it if I didn’t and struggled more. NYC has so much life, and so much diversity. There’s always something going on, and I never really feel bored except when I make myself stay home and get chores done. And then I’m bored because I’m all worn out from doing stuff all day that I don’t have the energy to leave at night. Also, the 1 hour+ subway ride is far from fun late at night.

I love the theatre district (aka Times Square). I love the 86th street, Lexington Ave area. I love Central Park. I love the East Village and Greenwich Village. I love Hell’s Kitchen. New York is filled with all of these wonderful things that I like.

NYC has Schmackary’s, aka the best cookies in the world despite my student’s claims that Insomnia has the best cookies. Schmakary’s is delicious and not too expensive. They have cookies and cream cookies. They have ice cold milk. They make ice cream sandwiches out of the cookies right in front of you if you want one.

NYC also has Newsies The Musical on Broadway. And I can go see the show whenever I want for a mere $30. Even if Newsies were to go on tour, that wouldn’t be the case anywhere else in the world. Now, most of you probably understand the importance of Newsies being in NYC for me. I’ve been waiting for this musical ALL MY LIFE. I loved the movie, and dreamed of the day it would finally be on stage. I move out to NYC for my volunteer program, and suddenly it is. My dreams are coming true. I love every single cast member in this show. Anytime I try to figure out who my favorites are, I suddenly end up with a list in alphabetical order of some 36 different people (there are 36 people in the cast). I love seeing the show no matter who’s on. I get excited when I get to see Jack Scott and Michael Fatica go on. I hope I will one day be able to see Caitlyn Caughell go on. I regret that I never got to see Maddy Trumble go on. Basically, Newsies is a happy place for me. I get days of happiness out of a few hours in the theatre.

NYC has lots of delicious ethnic food, and I can go try it whenever I want. Sometimes its hard to find someone to go with me, but I love that the option is there.

I love that I can go to Central Park and wander around for hours or sit and watch softball.

I love NYC.

Sometimes, I miss home. I miss small-town Petaluma, CA. I miss my sisters. I miss my parents. I miss my grandparent I miss my aunts, my uncles, my cousins. Sometimes, I miss college. I miss smaller Moraga, CA. I miss my friends. I miss my professors. I miss my jobs. I miss my classes. I miss the campus. But I don’t want to go back to either of these places forever. Not that I want to stay in NYC forever, either. I don’t know about that yet. But what I do know is that as much as I love my family, and as muchas I enjoyed my college experience, I’ve moved on for now. I definitely want to go back and visit them. I want to spend time with them, and remember my college experiences, but I’m not the person I was when I left California a year ago. A lot has changed. I’ve had some pretty crazy experiences. I’ve grown a lot. I’ve developed different ideas and passions.

So leaving NYC is sad for me. At the same time, it’s exciting because I get to go home and visit with everyone and tell them all about my life, which for sure makes them really happy. But when I leave NYC, I leave a little part of my heart here, in this big city that never sleeps, with the intention of coming back for it at some point.

This time, I’ll be back in 18 days. Yes. I started my countdown before I even left the city. I’ve been watching for a few weeks how long it would be until I’d be back in NYC. That’s how much I love it here. That’s how happy I am here, and that’s why leaving is such sweet sorrow.

Until then, NYC will be down one small person, and probably won’t even notice. But that’s okay, because I’ve got at least another year to make a real name for myself here, and I want it to be a good one.

So, NYC, I bid you adieux!

 

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July 12, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Brendon Stimson Is Jack Kelly

Many of my friends know that after last Saturday (which you read about yesterday), the next time I was going to see Newsies wasn’t until Sunday, July 8 with Gigi (Twitter friends and fellow Fansie). Many of you also know that one little tweet from Jeremy Jordan yesterday changed all of that:

Come anyway? Psh. I wasn’t planning on coming, but you better believe I’ll be getting a ticket into this show one way or another.

The second I heard Brendon Stimson was going on as Jack, I was ready to run to the theatre, and it was barely 1pm when I found out. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve wanted to see him as Jack Kelly since I found out he was the understudy (not that I don’t love Jeremy Jordan, because I do, but I love Brendon’s acting. When he’s Oscar, I’m scared of him and don’t like his character, but when he’s out there as a Newsie, I’m in love with the adorable Ike. He’s that good). The desire was only heightened a few weeks later when I met Brendon’s mom in Times Square (What are the odds, right?), and got to talk to her about her son and how he would hopefully get to go on as Jack Kelly at some point.

Brendon's Mom and I in Times Square April 10, 2012

Brendon’s Mom and I in the Disney Store Times Square     April 10, 2012

So of course, when I saw Jeremy’s tweet, I knew I was going to need to see the show. And then my twitter feed was just getting filled with more and more comments about Brendon being in the show, and I just kept getting more excited. I got to the theatre around 4:45 and went straight to the lotto guys and asked if I could start the standing room only line. They laughed and said yes, and followed me out to let everyone in the extremely long lotto line know I wasn’t cutting them.

I was anxious waiting there. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to win, but I was also pretty sure that I was going to get a SRO ticket because the show was sold out on Ticketmaster. I just wanted to get a ticket in my hand. While waiting, I think I told everyone about how Brendon was going on as Jack Kelly, and how excited I was about it. Basically, some random 30-odd people who were waiting to get lotto and standing-room only tickets found out that I wanted to see Brendon as Jack Kelly. Some of them even asked if I was worried about hyping it up too much for myself (I suppose they had a point, but I ignored them).

After the excruciatingly long lotto drawing where I did indeed lose, the standing room only crowd got to move forward to buy tickets. As I was at the front of the line, the ticketing guy saw me first, and recognized me. He asked if I’d managed to find Nelson (I had), and gave me my ticket and change, and said to enjoy the show.

I then went outside to catch up with the lotto guys to get a picture with them, since I see them so often, it only seemed right to capture the moment (FINALLY):

The Newsies Lotto Guys and I - July 2, 2012

The Newsies Lotto Guys and I

As the realization of having a ticket to see Brendon as Jack Kelly hit me, I saw Jack Scott and Kara Lindsay approach the theatre. I asked them if they could stop for a minute because I had managed to track down a copy of his trading card and wanted him to sign it. While that was happening, I told them I heard Brendon was playing Jack tonight, and that I rushed to the theatre to get a ticket to see him.

After they entered the theatre, I let myself react to having a ticket in my hand. I was definitely crying tears of joy, and I could feel all these wonderful emotions welling up inside of me. I had so much energy, I wanted to do some of the Newsies’ dances, but as I can’t dance (quite literally), I settled for walking laps around the theatre’s block for the next hour.

When I noticed Nelson, I went up and gave him a hug and said thank you for Saturday again. He asked if I was seeing the show, and I told him that I heard Brendon was going to be Jack Kelly tonight, so I had to see the show, and then Brady walked by and said that I couldn’t possibly be seeing the show. Once again, I told him I was there to see Brendon.

At this point, you can see that I was in fact truly excited about this. It’s quite possible that I was more excited to see Brendon play the role of Jack Kelly that I was before first seeing the show.

So excited to see @BrenStims as Jack Kelly!!! This is going to be amazing! Break a leg! I'm so excited for you!!

My “I get to see Brendon as Jack Kelly!” Tweet

At any rate, my excitement was justified. The show was amazing. Sure there were a couple of mistakes, but I forgot that that wasn’t how the show was supposed to go because Brendon was such a professional on the stage. For example, his first time meeting Katherine, he’s supposed to be fully dressed already. There were some, uh, difficulties getting the shirt on in time, but if you didn’t already know that (and even if you did), you didn’t notice that it was off until you relived the show on the subway ride home. He really did a great job during every single part of his performance.

Brendon’s performance was so beautiful, I literally cried during the entire show. My eyes were sparkling and I could not stop smiling. He truly commanded the audience’s attention when he was on stage. And his singing was so wonderful! I was surprised to find that I loved him singing “I Never Planned On You.” Normally, I like the song, but I don’t swoon during it. I did some hardcore swooning with Brendon singing that song. Also, his facial expressions were perfect during every single song. “Santa Fe” caused my heart to break. He did such a good job tapping into the emotions there. He matched Jeremy’s skill in that song every step of the way. I loved “Watch What Happens (Reprise),” which I always do, and Brendon definitely brought something a little different to the table with that one. And of course, “Something to Believe In” caused my heart to melt. It was so beautiful and gorgeous. I couldn’t believe it. I was stunned and  ridiculously happy and overjoyed.

I’ll definitely be on a high from this show at least until the next time I see it (Sunday July 8!!!). I was so happy and joyful during the stage door experience, and so many people came out (even the elusive Kyle Coffman, who immediately tried to say that he was 2 for 2…it’s 2 for 8, buddy, but since you asked about Jasmine’s video, I’ll let it slide), that it only added to the magic. I got pictures with most of them, which I’ll include below.

The highlight of my night was definitely much simpler than seeing the whole show. It was Brendon’s stage door. He came out, and when he got to me he said “Hey Steph, how’s it going?” He remembered me! Of course, I think I mentioned him in like 20 tweets that night (not really that many), but still. he stopped to talk to me for a minute, and I got a picture with the night’s big star and everything was right in the world. I was officially on Cloud 9, and I don’t plan on getting off anytime soon. Based on Brendon’s tweet, I think he’s feeling the same way:

Truly a night to remember. Thanks to the amazing cast for supporting me through that rush. Thanks for all the twitter love!

Brendon’s Post “Jack Kelly” Debut Tweet

Basically, the moral of this post is “Brendon Stimson makes a fantastic Jack Kelly, so if you get the opportunity to see him in this role, JUMP ON IT! It’s totally worth it!!!” Oh, and “If you get front seats to see Brendon Stimson as Jack Kelly, I’m ridiculously jealous of you.”

July 3, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Newsies at Barnes and Noble

Friday, June 22, 2012 was amazing. June 22 was the Barnes & Noble Live event at Barnes & Noble on Lexington and 86th Street featuring some of my favorite people in the world.

Yep. Newsies. Performing at Barnes & Noble. Signing the CD. Harvey Fierstein and Jack Feldman and Jeremy Jordan and Kara Lindsay and Ben Fankhauser and Andrew Keenan-Bolger.

So of course I got there super early and milled around until the line got a little longer. I bought 3 CDs (buy 2 get one free? Yes please.) to get one signed for my mommy (she thinks its pretty cool, and I know its awesome), and one for me, and one extra (maybe for a sister?).

When I wasn’t going to be the first person in line, I wandered over and got in line and hung out with other fansies and waited for the boys to show up.

Time passed, blah, blah, blah…and then the boys started to arrive. The Newsies are all absolutely amazing. I love every last one of them. They are so sweet and so kind and so adorable.

Anyway, they finally let us in to get seats and we got all settled. The staff told us we were getting three things. Three!

  1. a performance by the cast of the Tony Award Winning Music
  2. a picture with the cast
  3. a chance to get our CDs signed.

Yeah. That’s right. A picture with the Newsies. Anyone remember my wish list from last Wednesday? (See here) Wish granted! Thanks Disney and Barnes & Noble!

The boys started performing, and Kara sang Watch What Happens and Jeremy joined her for Something to Believe In and I about died. It was amazing, flawless, beautiful.

Then we took pictures with the cast as we slipped into line to get our CDs signed. They were all amazing and it was nice to talk to them and say thank you for being amazing!

June 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

My Newsies Gift! (aka the most exciting night of my life)

I saw Newsies for the first time just under a month ago at their last preview performance. Unfortunately, Kara Lindsay was sick and couldn’t go on. Unfortunately, her understudy hadn’t really run through a rehearsal yet. Fortunately, Laurie Veldheer is a phenomenal actress and pulled out all of her stops and really did the role of Katherine Plumber a whole lot of justice. As amazing as she was, I wanted to see Kara Lindsay, so I knew I had to come back. That night, I also saw my favorite little Broadway actor, the one and only Lewis Grosso, as Les, and goodness can that kid sing. He adds the perfect amount of charm to the character of Les, and he is a lot like the Les in the movie! I was happy with the show.

Still, I wanted to see it again…and I really wanted to try to get tickets for Opening Night. Sadly, I realized that I couldn’t ALWAYS put Newsies first, and that I needed to stay at work to help my students. It was a heartbreaking decision to make, especially since the person who I work with said I could go if I wanted to (it’s so nice to have people understand how important something is). So, while I didn’t go to opening night, I tried to rush the first show after opening night. I didn’t get it. I must have looked pretty devastated though, because one of the Nederlander staff members told me I could see if the box office was selling standing-room-only (SRO) tickets.

When I came to NYC, I swore that SRO tickets were stupid. Who wants to stand for two to three hours with nothing to lean against or support you? But this was NEWSIES! Could I really pass on the opportunity to finally see Kara Lindsay? Could I ignore the opportunity to see Jeremy Jordan, Ben Fankhauser, Ryan Breslin, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Mike Faist, Brendon Stimson, Ryan Steele, and Garret Hawe again? (I had to stop naming them…there’s 34 people I wanted to see again). NO! I told myself, Get in there and get yourself some tickets! Well, I was with a friend who was visiting NYC, so despite telling myself that, I needed to see what she wanted to do. Thank God she decided to get in line too! And that they had SRO Tickets!

So for some two and a half hours, I forgot that I was standing and fell into the world of the 1899 newsboys strike, and was once again awed by how amazing this production is. That’s when I made the decision to get the cast a gift. I knew they all loved candy and that Andrew Keenan-Bolger was a sucker for Hot Cheetos, but I wanted to do something original

So I brainstormed, and scoured pinterest for inpiration. There, I stumbled upon MummyDeals.org’s Candy Bar Poem (follow her on twitter or check out her blog!!!).

I thought it was creative and so I spent a few days working on a letter to send the Newsies cast, and a few more days hunting for the perfect candies to tape into place. I wrote mine out on the wrong side of wrapping paper so I could just roll it up and call it wrapped. Adding a few more bags of candy I dropped it off at the theater after work on Friday.

I hung around outside the Nederlander waiting for Alyssa to meet me for the Newsies Lottery. I had doubts about us actually winning, but I knew it would be nice to hang out with her for a little bit.

The shocker of all shockers happened…we won tickets! So we stayed in the Times Square area for the next two hours and the best thing happened…Kara Lindsay replied to my tweet! I was going to get to meet her (FINALLY) after the show (I missed her after the matinee because she hadn’t come out by the time we had to leave to take a friend to the airport).

I was on cloud nine. Things were looking bright and cheerful as Alyssa and I walked into Forever21 for a little light shopping. We weren’t having too much success, and were about to leave when my phone went off. I looked at the alert and a little squeal escaped me and my eyes teared up…Kara Lindsay had mentioned me in a tweet! with a picture!?! I couldn’t get my phone to load fast enough and I was greeted with this darling picture:

Aaron Albano, Capathia Jenkins, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, and Thayne Jasperson with the poster I sent them! (Image by Kara Lindsay)

Aaron Albano, Capathia Jenkins, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, and Thayne Jasperson with the poster I sent them! (Image by Kara Lindsay)

They got my poster! And from the looks of it, they thought it was pretty cool too! I felt even more awesome! It was fabulous! I thought the day couldn’t get any better.

Oh how wrong I was! By intermission, the Official Newsies Twitter had mentioned me in a tweet that linked to their blog…and this picture:

The Newsies put my poster on their Tumblr!

The Newsies put my poster on their Tumblr!

I practically fainted! This was so amazing and so exciting. I was shaking with excitement and happiness. It only got better after the show when I got to meet most of the cast outside the stage door and they “sort of” knew who I was (I may have been giving them hints, nbd). I got to meet Kara Lindsay, and got my third picture with Jeremy Jordan, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Ben Fankhauser, and Garret Hawe. It was the perfect way to spend an evening!!!

April 21, 2012 at 12:51 pm 2 comments

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6 Months of Newsies on Broadway!

Seeing the show to celebrate!September 28th, 2012
It's been SIX GLORIOUS MONTHS!!!! How about at least six more?
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