DOLLY PARTON SURPRISE AT 9 TO 5

Since it’s not showing up on my personal blog right…here was the surprise that awaited us at 9 to 5 the Musical.

Yes, that’s me yelling and whooping it up.  I mean I live like 45 minutes from Dollywood and I had to be in NYC to actually see her live.  Fun!

OUR TRIP UP NORTH – VACATION DAY FIVE

New York, New York!  No wonder why there’s been so many songs written about it.  It’s a teeming mass of people and an opportunity for “anything” to happen.  That’s where us 4 hopeful travelers headed yesterday: Perfectly Marvelous JennStoc (PM JennStoc), Sir PirateNinjaMonkey (SPNM), the Jim and Me.  At 10 AM PM JennStoc arrived at my parent’s home and blessedly volunteered to drive us to NY since I needed to get air in my back tire anyway.  I didn’t hesitate; I was a bit tired of driving so absolutely!

We arrived in NYC around noon, and parked at the Port Authority (which I highly recommend), and hurriedly hopped a cab to our dinner location, Brasserie Les Halles on Park Avenue.  In true, yet boring fashion the four of us ordered the delish Steak & Frittes and noshed with glee.  The plan was to split up and let the boys explore their day and the girls had some solid plans, so us girls hopped a cab to our first destination.

The Shubert Theatre is one of legend, just watch Elaine Stritch at Liberty and you’ll understand.  PM JennStoc and I had tickets to see the Noel Coward play, Blithe Spirit and I was more than excited.  Why?  A couple of reasons.  I have always wanted to see a Noel Coward play live and in person and never have.  Second, the cast was ASTONISHINGLY wonderful to consider: Angela Lansbury (icon), Rupert Everett (one of my favorite gay men ever), Christine Ebersole…I mean, come on?!  So we got there in plenty of time to wait in the extremely long ladies room line – I highly recommend using the bathrooms on the mezzanine and balconies, which they forgot to mention.  The play began.  Now…only 1 minor complaint.  The sound engineer didn’t have the actor’s mics up and sometimes it was hard to hear the entire witty bantered dialog.  That however was where the negative criticism ends.  To read my full review – check out ANNA101.

Afterwards, we didn’t realize how little time we had between shows as dinner was in our future, so we walked up Times Square and ran into the obligatory guy who has every designer bag you could ever want.  I didn’t partake this time…I was being a good girl.  I got a text from my hubby dear letting me know that he and SPNM were having a grand time exploring all of NYC and one of those explorations scored me my birthday present, a limited edition, Times Square Swatch watch (I know that should bring back some memories from my 1980s peeps).  I gave love and thanks.  Then back to walking.

Along the walk we stopped outside of the exit door to the Late Show with David Letterman.  A crowd of normal folk and paparazzi were stationed outside.  Naturally curious, we asked what all the hub-bub was about.  Apparently, Beyonce was scheduled on the show for tonight so everyone was awaiting her exit.  PM JennStoc and I decided, “Heh, let’s wait and see if we can spot her too.”  So we waited, and we waited….and waited.  We took pics of the paparazzi and got chatted up by some sweetly annoying local man.  Still, no Beyonce.  A lot of excitement when Shrek in full makeup and costume came out to go across the street to his theatre…but no Beyonce.  After waiting 20 minutes, we decided we really weren’t that big of fans and wanted some dinner.  So we left.  Who knows if she ever got out of that dressing room?

After eating a quick dinner, we were on our way to our 8 PM show…9-to-5, the Musical.  It’s currently in previews at the Marquee Theatre, which started on April 7th; so going to a show in previews, in my opinion is a true delight.  It’s so early in it’s stage life that the cast album hasn’t even been recorded yet.  Truth was that while PM JennStoc and myself had some mild concerns about the play being toooo campy or too weird turning such a great and funny iconic movie into a musical, we were completely blown away.  Read my full review at ANNA 101 and you’ll get a bonus surprise like we did.

After the play ended we called the boys and they were serendipitously right in front of our theatre.  So, we walked the crowded and fabulously neon lit Times Square to get to our car.  After a quick ride home…we were happy, exhausted and considering a return trip to NYC on Friday.

Just another great day folks.  Awesome.

MY MEMORY OF NATASHA RICHARDSON

I have to admit that I was somewhat stunned by the newsflash that jumped onto my screen as I was reading about Natasha Richardson.  Sadly, the dear actress, has passed away at age 45.  I can’t even believe this, especially because of the fact that she was reportedly walking and talking and the like right after the accident with “symptoms” hitting about 1 hour post-accident.  I have a clear and personal memory of Natasha Richardson.  My best friend from J-Stoc and I started a yearly ritual when we actually both made enough money to do it…we used to go see a Broadway show each year sometime in between our birthdays (my birthday is in April, hers in May).  The second year we did this, we went to see the revival of Cabaret on Broadway featuring the stunning Alan Cumming, and the beautiful Natasha Richardson in one of my “ultimate female roles”, as Fraulein Sally Bowles. We were running late but got to the show before the curtain went up.  Standing in line (at the end of the line), awaiting to give our tickets to the usher,  I remember telling J-Stoc about who Natasha was (wife of actor, Liam Neeson).  Just as I said this to her, Liam Neeson came into the lobby behind us and stood in line right behind me.  I remember we made small talk with him about being better late than never, etc; and him being a very nice person.  He was clearly there to see and support his wife in her Broadway performances.  I remember telling J-Stoc, as we let him go in before us that – that was indeed Natasha’s husband.  It was a cool moment, and it was way before he was in Star Wars (1), when everyone knew his name.  J-Stoc and I had good seats for the performance, and I loved her honest and somewhat raw, bold yet fragile performance as one of my favorite and complicated characters.  I was glad to have seen her live and in person performing.  She was also just on Top Chef this past season.  It’s such a shame.

So, in closing the Jim and I want to extend our thoughts to the collective outpouring of emotion and support.  Our sincere sympathy to Liam, their children, Vanessa, Lynn and Joley, as well as the rest of their family.