Had a taxi pick me up from the hostel in madison at 4am.. caught the first flight out of the airport back to chicago. This time it was a full flight.. only problem was that the plane we were meant to go on originally had to be taken into maintenance for security to check over as the toilet door got jammed and they could not open it (they began to think if something was hidden in there). Lucky for us there was a plane at the airport we could use.. so we all boarded that plane. What was weird was that after i had found my seat, this guy came up and asked me to move as he said he was sitting there.. but when i showed him my ticket we realised that they had put us in the same seat. He offered to move which was good.. cause i wasn't willing to haha
Slept the whole way again which was good.
Arrived in chicago and waiting for my connecting flight. The plane arrived late which meant we were delayed.. so uncool. After we finally got on and up in the air (nearly 15 mins after schedualed take off) i went back to sleep.. again, for the entire flight. Woke up before we landed in NY and realised that we had arrived at the original time which was good.
Got off the flight and got into my shuttle bus to go home.
The driver picked up 9 other people to take in which was alright, i was just praying that i wouldnt be the last to be dropped off again.
Once we hit the city, 2 impatient guys got out and caught a cab. I was tempted to.. but i didn't. He then dropped off more people till there was 4 of us left. One of the girls thought it would be fun to be sick in the van.. not cool. In the end, the driver let me out as i was sick of riding in a van full of puke, and he was dropping everyone else off around my street but not me. It ended up being easier to walk.
Moved into my new room, got changed and headed back to Wicked for my final show on Broadway.
Saw a full cast bar Madame Morrible for the matinee. Katie Rose Clarke was amazing.. as usual. Her popular is glinda on crack.. seriously!!
Decided to try my luck at stage door again.. but knowing it was a matinee, i knew no one would be coming out... but it was my last day in NY.. why not try.
Ended up being the only one there.. so decided to leave after a while as no one was coming out. The security guard was nice enough to check for me to see if anyone was coming out.. which they weren't. I said to him that it didn't surprise me and i thought i would try anyway. We then got talking about where i was from.. mentioned to him that i was heading home and was hoping to catch Jen DiNoia before i left, but being the standby she was probably already gone. He told me to follow him backstage and they (security guy and stage door manager) called jen over the pa to see if she was still in. Turns out i had luck on my side.. she was still at the theatre!
So she came down, signed my poster.. we ended up having a chat for ages about home, about the show, about carmen..
Jen was so nice to talk to me.. i really do appreciate her taking the time to come down. She said that usually she would have been away from the theatre at that time, but that she had rehersals on before so she hung around.. how lucky was i..
We both left the theatre together, still talking like mad.. she then jumped into a taxi and i thought i'd try wicked lottery for fun, even though i couldn't go. Still lost.. but i didn't care as i had a hockey match to attend!
The hockey was so much fun! Got a free tshirt for attending the game.. score!!
Was able to get a seat right on the ice.. i was down the action end ;-)
Because of where i was sitting, i was able to use the personal food delivery service too.. order food and get it delivered to my seat ;-)
NY Rangers lost which sucked, but i had a ball :-D
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Madison.. In one word - COLD!
Up at 2.15am to get the 2.30am shuttle.. for a 6am flight :-S
Oh, did i mention that the shuttle actually didn't come till 3? Super Shuttle has been a disaster for me.. but they're the only company that runs 24/7
Got to the airport at 3.35 which wasn't too bad.. but what sucked was that check-in didn't open till 4.. and nothing was open at the airport to do!
Finally checked in at 4, then headed to the food court as the terminal wasn't open. Found one food place that was open and ordered a bagel with cream cheese.. yummy!
Then onto my flight where i slept all the way to chicago. We arrived 1/2 an hour earlier than expected.. so off to maccas i went to get 2 hash browns and a small OJ. Then onto my flight to madison (only 18 people on the flight.. 50 seats on the plane) where i slept all the way there too..
After arriving at Madison, headed down to the arrivals area where Beth (a friend from IMMB and a big theatre fan too) picked me up. We then drove around madison seeing all the 'sights' which was cool.. seeing where the theatre venue was, the main lakes (frozen over), the capitol dome, around the town and uni really..
The she dropped me off at my hostel as she had to go to class.
Checked into the hostel and headed to my room. Free wireless and a room to myself!! (no one else was checking into that room that day apparently)
Decided to buy something to eat (something small to snack on, a mini dinner and something to eat during the show or the next morning). Headed out to find a shop.. bad mistake. It was so cold!! Snow everywhere which was fine, the temp actually wasn't too bad.. it was the damn wind chill that got to me. My hands started to burn they were that cold! Silly me though walked the wrong way around the city centre.. should have turned left and i would have been at a food store, but no.. i turned right and walked the long way around.
Headed back to the hostel to warm up and eat. Jumped online for a bit, then got changed and headed to the theatre. This time it was colder than before and i really struggled walking to the theatre.
But i got there and defrosted. Bought my merch, then headed into the theatre.
Rent was amazing. So glad that i have seen the production live and at a scale like this. I know it has been done a few times in aus... but like a few other shows, it's always better in its home country (eg. WWRY in London.. nothing can beat it venue/set/costuming wise IMO).
The cast were amazing.. of course i really wanted to see Anthony and Adam (the 2 original broadway cast members) perform as really.. when would you ever get the chance? But the other cast members were just as talented :-)
Th guy who played angel (cannot remember his name.. program not near me) was classic.. brought angel to new heights :-) And lexi lawson was great as mimi.
It was kind of weird seeing a blonde maureen.. i'm so used to darker haired women playing the role, but she was amazing either way (i know her name starts with n.. nicole maybe??). Took a while to get used to looks wise (just the hair..) but she made the character her own.
After the show, headed back to the stage door to try and meet the cast. Standing in line for nearly 1/2 an hour in the cold wasn't fun (beth came to stage door to say hi).. especially with no gloves and being sick. After a while the theatre security came out and told the 50+ people waiting in line that they weren't coming out to sign stuff tonight. No offence.. but i thought that was poor. If we could stand in line in the cold for that long, they could do it for a few mins. But i knew they'd have media commitments after the show (which they did).. would have been nice to have known this and not stand around thinking they were going to come out. At least put a sign up on the door, i'm sure people would have been more polite when reading the reason why.. a few people (like myself) were not happy at all. Well.. especially me.. who had hiked all the way around the world to see them!
Beth offered to hold onto my poster and try and get the cast to sign it over the next few days which was nice. Decided to write a note on the back of the poster saying what day i had some to see the show, where i had come from just to see them and how i was a bit disappointed that i didn't get to meet them.. so hopefully they feel bad and sign it for me haha
Then it was the slow, painful and sickening walk back to the hostel. At one stage i thought i was going to pass out.. no joke! It was that cold that i was worried i had been out for too long and lost too much body heat. Took me forever to warm up back at the hostel..
Oh, did i mention that the shuttle actually didn't come till 3? Super Shuttle has been a disaster for me.. but they're the only company that runs 24/7
Got to the airport at 3.35 which wasn't too bad.. but what sucked was that check-in didn't open till 4.. and nothing was open at the airport to do!
Finally checked in at 4, then headed to the food court as the terminal wasn't open. Found one food place that was open and ordered a bagel with cream cheese.. yummy!
Then onto my flight where i slept all the way to chicago. We arrived 1/2 an hour earlier than expected.. so off to maccas i went to get 2 hash browns and a small OJ. Then onto my flight to madison (only 18 people on the flight.. 50 seats on the plane) where i slept all the way there too..
After arriving at Madison, headed down to the arrivals area where Beth (a friend from IMMB and a big theatre fan too) picked me up. We then drove around madison seeing all the 'sights' which was cool.. seeing where the theatre venue was, the main lakes (frozen over), the capitol dome, around the town and uni really..
The she dropped me off at my hostel as she had to go to class.
Checked into the hostel and headed to my room. Free wireless and a room to myself!! (no one else was checking into that room that day apparently)
Decided to buy something to eat (something small to snack on, a mini dinner and something to eat during the show or the next morning). Headed out to find a shop.. bad mistake. It was so cold!! Snow everywhere which was fine, the temp actually wasn't too bad.. it was the damn wind chill that got to me. My hands started to burn they were that cold! Silly me though walked the wrong way around the city centre.. should have turned left and i would have been at a food store, but no.. i turned right and walked the long way around.
Headed back to the hostel to warm up and eat. Jumped online for a bit, then got changed and headed to the theatre. This time it was colder than before and i really struggled walking to the theatre.
But i got there and defrosted. Bought my merch, then headed into the theatre.
Rent was amazing. So glad that i have seen the production live and at a scale like this. I know it has been done a few times in aus... but like a few other shows, it's always better in its home country (eg. WWRY in London.. nothing can beat it venue/set/costuming wise IMO).
The cast were amazing.. of course i really wanted to see Anthony and Adam (the 2 original broadway cast members) perform as really.. when would you ever get the chance? But the other cast members were just as talented :-)
Th guy who played angel (cannot remember his name.. program not near me) was classic.. brought angel to new heights :-) And lexi lawson was great as mimi.
It was kind of weird seeing a blonde maureen.. i'm so used to darker haired women playing the role, but she was amazing either way (i know her name starts with n.. nicole maybe??). Took a while to get used to looks wise (just the hair..) but she made the character her own.
After the show, headed back to the stage door to try and meet the cast. Standing in line for nearly 1/2 an hour in the cold wasn't fun (beth came to stage door to say hi).. especially with no gloves and being sick. After a while the theatre security came out and told the 50+ people waiting in line that they weren't coming out to sign stuff tonight. No offence.. but i thought that was poor. If we could stand in line in the cold for that long, they could do it for a few mins. But i knew they'd have media commitments after the show (which they did).. would have been nice to have known this and not stand around thinking they were going to come out. At least put a sign up on the door, i'm sure people would have been more polite when reading the reason why.. a few people (like myself) were not happy at all. Well.. especially me.. who had hiked all the way around the world to see them!
Beth offered to hold onto my poster and try and get the cast to sign it over the next few days which was nice. Decided to write a note on the back of the poster saying what day i had some to see the show, where i had come from just to see them and how i was a bit disappointed that i didn't get to meet them.. so hopefully they feel bad and sign it for me haha
Then it was the slow, painful and sickening walk back to the hostel. At one stage i thought i was going to pass out.. no joke! It was that cold that i was worried i had been out for too long and lost too much body heat. Took me forever to warm up back at the hostel..
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
NY must hate me..
I don't know why.. but every time i plan to do a big day of exploring in this city.. it decided to bring on horrible weather that prevents me from doing so!
Left the hostel in light showers. Didn't bother me as i didn't have far to walk to the subway.. so didn't get wet too much.
Headed back to the WTC site to see the preview model and museum on the other side. It was very interesting and very emotional. There were people there walking around the exhibition with tears in their eyes.
What they are going to do with the site looks amazing. Where the two towers originally stood, there will be two memorial pools in its place. The pools are actually like waterfalls in a way.. better to see the pic than have me try to explain it.. would get too complicated. But the unique thing is that inside both pools will be the names of those who lost their lives that day.
On the large site where the remaining WTC buildings were will be a memorial museum and some shops (i think).
The neat thing is that if you jump online to the museum's website, you can actually see a live camera view of how construction is going :-)
Better view that what i could get there.. in person!
By the time i finished at the museum, the rain had gotten stronger. And to top it off.. the wind started to kick in. Decided to try and walk to Wall Street to see the stock exchange building and then move onto Brooklyn Bridge (which was only a stone throw away from wall street).. of course because it was wet my map was useless (actually.. not useless, destroyed!) so i tried to find it off the top of my head..
Well.. i made it to Brooklyn Bridge only to find out that the Police had blocked off all pedestrian access due to the strong winds. By strong i mean super strong.. at one stage i was walking in the one spot and not moving due to the winds!
So asked the policeman which way was quicker to get to wall street and he said all the roads in that direction were closed and that they were telling everyone to either get inside or use the subway. So what a start to the day... first i get rained on (no point for an umbrella.. within 5 mins of the rain and wind starting, the streets began to fill with broken umbrellas!) and nearly blown away, then the 2 things i really wanted to do were closed down!!
Ended up jumping onto a train to Grand Central Station to visit the station but also to walk to
the UN building. The station was really busy with people trying to avoid the rain, but also waiting to see if their trains to other cities in the US were cancelled due to the weather. After exploring the station for a bit, headed back out into the horrible weather to see the UN building. By now all 4 layers of clothing i was wearing was soaking wet.. not a fun day, especially when i had planned out the remaining clean clothes for the final few days.. and was now going to have to change this.
What should have been a quick 5 min walk to the UN building turned into a 25 min fight against the wind. By the time i got there, the building was on lockdown
(wasn't planning to go in anyway.. i think they stopped letting public in a few years ago), all the nations flags were removed from the flag poles and the building just looked plain. But i still took photos.. after all, i had battled to see the damn thing! Walked back to grand central as all taxis were taken.. got even more wet. Grr..
Caught a train up to central park to go visit the museums. Had planned to see all 3 remaining museums around the park on this day.. only to find
out that the Met was closed on mondays. Really.. could anything else go wrong??
Went to the Guggenheim Museum and was so disappointed.. 50% of the venue was closed due to installations of new exhibitions. It was a repeat of MOMA.. but worse! I think i was in the museum for just on 1/2 an hour.. 1/2 an hour for a museum.. what is going on??
Decided to walk through Central Park to get to the Museum of Natural History as the Met was closed. Hit Central Park and again.. more closures. No traffic which was good.. but half the walking tracks were blocked off due to the weather. Really New York.. why do you hate me???
Finally made it to the other side of Central Park (found the police precinct in the park which was cool) and found the MNH. Because of my city pass i got a free ticket to the planeterium which was super cool.. narrated by whoopi goldburg herself ;-)
Totally forgot that this was the museum that the movie 'Night at the Museum' was based on.. that's how annoyed i was at the day. But i perked up when i started seeing familiar things :-P
I found Jub Jub, Rex, the cheeky monkeys.. it was classic! I would have loved to have stayed there for longer.. but i still had so much to get done. But i would have to say the MNH was one of my favourite museums :-)
It finally stopped raining when i left the museum. Walked across the road to Central Park and hiked a bit more till i hit Strawberry Fields. Took a few photos, then back on a train to 50th Ave to make a quick stop at Wicked. Discovered that i wouldn't be back in time to try wicked lottery for the final time, so went to see if they had any tickets available for the matinee.. and they did :-) So bought my ticket and decided to head back to the hostel to get out of my wet clothes and try and dry them quickly for later.
Ended up getting distracted on the way home by the only and only...
NAKED COWBOY!!
This guy has been MIA since i arrived on the 15th of Jan. Of course he makes an appearance just before i leave for home.. but i got my photo so it's all worth it ;-) The guy is a bit of a sleeze.. but all the women love him.. lol
Arrived back at the hostel, changed into clothes planned for Madison and put all my wet gear onto the heater to dry.. but of course.. today was the one day when the heater wasn't put on by management all day.. so my clothes never dried!
Headed to In the Heights to try lottery there and didn't win.. so headed across to Next to Normal. Have to say though.. the heights crew must have been super busy last night as the entire theatre had new images of Corbin as Usnavi in time for his first show.
Next to Normal lottery was packed. I knew there were seats still available to purchase.. but i wanted to try and win lottery. It got down to the final 2 tickets and i still hadn't been called.. I was so desperate to see the show one more time! Suddenly a guy in the line pulled out and didn't want his ticket. Because it was a single.. me being a smart ass said i'd buy it off him. The lottery guy just laughed and said the ticket was back up for grabs. So not cool!!
Another name was pulled out.. not mine. Now only one ticket was left.. He pulled out another name and was like 'oh, this is good luck. this person only wanted one and there is one left!... i think it's eliz..abeth bl..ox..som?'
OMG... i won the final ticket in lottery!!!! haha
Ended up back at juniors for dinner as it took forever to get my ticket. Grilled cheese and ham sandwich with a pineapple ice cream float.. yummy!! Then back across the road to the theatre..
Sadly Alice wasn't on (she had been off the past 2 days) but i got to see Jessica Phillips her understudy in the role instead. She is amazing! So strong.. you wouldn't think she was the understudy! She has a very different take on the character which was refreshing..
I think Jessica was great.. but i feel like the role was written/made for Alice. I don't know what it is.. but she seems to really REALLY bring out the character.
But it was great to see the show again.. no matter what the cast as they're all fantastic :-)
After the show i got to meet Jessica which was great. She's such a nice girl.. thought it was funny that i was actually
one of the few who wasn't disappointed to see her name up on the board. After meeting Jessica, the security guy at the stage door took me backstage and i got to meet the production stage manager Judy. Spent a while talking to her about study, the show, broadway.. was great to hear an opinion from someone on broadway :-) Now i know what to expect from both theatre capitals.. London and New York.
Then it was back to the hostel to pack my bags and then get 2 hours sleep before my shuttle arrived for my flight the next day :-S
Left the hostel in light showers. Didn't bother me as i didn't have far to walk to the subway.. so didn't get wet too much.
Headed back to the WTC site to see the preview model and museum on the other side. It was very interesting and very emotional. There were people there walking around the exhibition with tears in their eyes.
What they are going to do with the site looks amazing. Where the two towers originally stood, there will be two memorial pools in its place. The pools are actually like waterfalls in a way.. better to see the pic than have me try to explain it.. would get too complicated. But the unique thing is that inside both pools will be the names of those who lost their lives that day.
On the large site where the remaining WTC buildings were will be a memorial museum and some shops (i think).
The neat thing is that if you jump online to the museum's website, you can actually see a live camera view of how construction is going :-)
Better view that what i could get there.. in person!
By the time i finished at the museum, the rain had gotten stronger. And to top it off.. the wind started to kick in. Decided to try and walk to Wall Street to see the stock exchange building and then move onto Brooklyn Bridge (which was only a stone throw away from wall street).. of course because it was wet my map was useless (actually.. not useless, destroyed!) so i tried to find it off the top of my head..
Well.. i made it to Brooklyn Bridge only to find out that the Police had blocked off all pedestrian access due to the strong winds. By strong i mean super strong.. at one stage i was walking in the one spot and not moving due to the winds!
So asked the policeman which way was quicker to get to wall street and he said all the roads in that direction were closed and that they were telling everyone to either get inside or use the subway. So what a start to the day... first i get rained on (no point for an umbrella.. within 5 mins of the rain and wind starting, the streets began to fill with broken umbrellas!) and nearly blown away, then the 2 things i really wanted to do were closed down!!
Ended up jumping onto a train to Grand Central Station to visit the station but also to walk to
the UN building. The station was really busy with people trying to avoid the rain, but also waiting to see if their trains to other cities in the US were cancelled due to the weather. After exploring the station for a bit, headed back out into the horrible weather to see the UN building. By now all 4 layers of clothing i was wearing was soaking wet.. not a fun day, especially when i had planned out the remaining clean clothes for the final few days.. and was now going to have to change this.What should have been a quick 5 min walk to the UN building turned into a 25 min fight against the wind. By the time i got there, the building was on lockdown
(wasn't planning to go in anyway.. i think they stopped letting public in a few years ago), all the nations flags were removed from the flag poles and the building just looked plain. But i still took photos.. after all, i had battled to see the damn thing! Walked back to grand central as all taxis were taken.. got even more wet. Grr..Caught a train up to central park to go visit the museums. Had planned to see all 3 remaining museums around the park on this day.. only to find
out that the Met was closed on mondays. Really.. could anything else go wrong??Went to the Guggenheim Museum and was so disappointed.. 50% of the venue was closed due to installations of new exhibitions. It was a repeat of MOMA.. but worse! I think i was in the museum for just on 1/2 an hour.. 1/2 an hour for a museum.. what is going on??
Decided to walk through Central Park to get to the Museum of Natural History as the Met was closed. Hit Central Park and again.. more closures. No traffic which was good.. but half the walking tracks were blocked off due to the weather. Really New York.. why do you hate me???
Finally made it to the other side of Central Park (found the police precinct in the park which was cool) and found the MNH. Because of my city pass i got a free ticket to the planeterium which was super cool.. narrated by whoopi goldburg herself ;-)
Totally forgot that this was the museum that the movie 'Night at the Museum' was based on.. that's how annoyed i was at the day. But i perked up when i started seeing familiar things :-P
I found Jub Jub, Rex, the cheeky monkeys.. it was classic! I would have loved to have stayed there for longer.. but i still had so much to get done. But i would have to say the MNH was one of my favourite museums :-)
It finally stopped raining when i left the museum. Walked across the road to Central Park and hiked a bit more till i hit Strawberry Fields. Took a few photos, then back on a train to 50th Ave to make a quick stop at Wicked. Discovered that i wouldn't be back in time to try wicked lottery for the final time, so went to see if they had any tickets available for the matinee.. and they did :-) So bought my ticket and decided to head back to the hostel to get out of my wet clothes and try and dry them quickly for later.Ended up getting distracted on the way home by the only and only...
NAKED COWBOY!!This guy has been MIA since i arrived on the 15th of Jan. Of course he makes an appearance just before i leave for home.. but i got my photo so it's all worth it ;-) The guy is a bit of a sleeze.. but all the women love him.. lol
Arrived back at the hostel, changed into clothes planned for Madison and put all my wet gear onto the heater to dry.. but of course.. today was the one day when the heater wasn't put on by management all day.. so my clothes never dried!
Headed to In the Heights to try lottery there and didn't win.. so headed across to Next to Normal. Have to say though.. the heights crew must have been super busy last night as the entire theatre had new images of Corbin as Usnavi in time for his first show.
Next to Normal lottery was packed. I knew there were seats still available to purchase.. but i wanted to try and win lottery. It got down to the final 2 tickets and i still hadn't been called.. I was so desperate to see the show one more time! Suddenly a guy in the line pulled out and didn't want his ticket. Because it was a single.. me being a smart ass said i'd buy it off him. The lottery guy just laughed and said the ticket was back up for grabs. So not cool!!
Another name was pulled out.. not mine. Now only one ticket was left.. He pulled out another name and was like 'oh, this is good luck. this person only wanted one and there is one left!... i think it's eliz..abeth bl..ox..som?'
OMG... i won the final ticket in lottery!!!! haha
Ended up back at juniors for dinner as it took forever to get my ticket. Grilled cheese and ham sandwich with a pineapple ice cream float.. yummy!! Then back across the road to the theatre..
Sadly Alice wasn't on (she had been off the past 2 days) but i got to see Jessica Phillips her understudy in the role instead. She is amazing! So strong.. you wouldn't think she was the understudy! She has a very different take on the character which was refreshing..
I think Jessica was great.. but i feel like the role was written/made for Alice. I don't know what it is.. but she seems to really REALLY bring out the character.
But it was great to see the show again.. no matter what the cast as they're all fantastic :-)
After the show i got to meet Jessica which was great. She's such a nice girl.. thought it was funny that i was actually
one of the few who wasn't disappointed to see her name up on the board. After meeting Jessica, the security guy at the stage door took me backstage and i got to meet the production stage manager Judy. Spent a while talking to her about study, the show, broadway.. was great to hear an opinion from someone on broadway :-) Now i know what to expect from both theatre capitals.. London and New York.Then it was back to the hostel to pack my bags and then get 2 hours sleep before my shuttle arrived for my flight the next day :-S
Monday, January 25, 2010
2 loses.. but 1 winner
Headed to the World Trade Centre site this morning.. and of 
course with my luck, i pick the weekend where the direct train to that location is closed..
That meant i wasted valuable time getting there which i needed to use to get to other commitments. After finally getting there, i only ended up getting around half of the site (inc. one WTC museum) as i had to be at Madison Square Garden in 15 mins. So i've decided to head back to ground zero tomorrow morning..
But for what i saw there.. it was a very emotional site. A lot is now fenced off due to construction, but they have live webcam feeds that you can view to see the site.
Jumped onto a train to Penn Station and arrived at Madison Square Garden. So many people around!
Took me forever to pick up my ticket (they weren't going to give it to me at first as it was under mum's name).. i ended up missing the first 4 mins of the game. It was a very different atmosphere to the
basketball back home. A lot of music, constant crowd participation, endless games for spectators to play during the time outs..
Have to say, my favourite bit about the whole thing was the Knicks Kids (i think that's what they're called..).. a group of about 10 kids of all ages who do dance and acro at time outs.. AMAZING! This one kid looked like he was 7 and could breakdance :-S
Sadly, i think that was the only enjoyment the fans got out of the game.. as the knicks got smashed by dallas mavs. Final score was dallas doubled the knicks score.. not cool. But what was so wrong was that only 1/4 of the crowd remained at the end of the game. New Yorkers are bad sports when it comes to basketball. Yeah, the knicks played like crap (dallas were on fire).. but still, support your damn team! Don't leave the game during the second quarter!!
After the basketball, decided to walk back to the hostel.. and it started to rain.. grr
Headed to M&Ms world.. god i love that place!
Hersheys was a major disappointment.. so tiny!
But i made it back to the hostel.. in time to have a break/rest, then headed to N2N to try lottery. Put my name into the lottery, then 5 mins before it was drawn found out that Alice wasn't going to be on.. so i quickly raced over to In the Heights and got a killer seat for a discounted price (down from 120-140 to 74).. 7th row, 5 seats from the isle in the middle. Lucky i did see it that night as one of the leads Javier was having his final performance that night. Corbin from High School Musical was to take over on the monday.
Went to juniors for dinner and watched the NY Jets lose their division final in the NFL.. wasn't a good day for NY.
The show was amazing! Such a clever mix of different dance styles and lyrics. Not your typical musical.. very modern :-)
Very talented cast.. who can all dance! And i don't just mean dance.. i mean DANCE! Pop and lock, salsa, hip hop, breakdance.. the list goes on!
It's definately a musical like WWRY and Rocky Horror that gets the crowd involved :-)
Because it was Javier's last performance, a lot of the old cast members returned to the show for the night to see him perform.. which meant the audience was roudy as ever! (bonus was.. they all sat behind me.. so it was good to meet them all)
Went to stage door after the show and it was packed! But i found a good spot and got to meet pretty much the entire cast.. photos and sigs on the poster :-)
They thought it was so cool that
an aussie knew about their show and came to see it. Javier thought it was so cool that i only got my ticket an hour before the show to see his final performance :-)
course with my luck, i pick the weekend where the direct train to that location is closed..That meant i wasted valuable time getting there which i needed to use to get to other commitments. After finally getting there, i only ended up getting around half of the site (inc. one WTC museum) as i had to be at Madison Square Garden in 15 mins. So i've decided to head back to ground zero tomorrow morning..
But for what i saw there.. it was a very emotional site. A lot is now fenced off due to construction, but they have live webcam feeds that you can view to see the site.
Jumped onto a train to Penn Station and arrived at Madison Square Garden. So many people around!
Took me forever to pick up my ticket (they weren't going to give it to me at first as it was under mum's name).. i ended up missing the first 4 mins of the game. It was a very different atmosphere to the
basketball back home. A lot of music, constant crowd participation, endless games for spectators to play during the time outs..Have to say, my favourite bit about the whole thing was the Knicks Kids (i think that's what they're called..).. a group of about 10 kids of all ages who do dance and acro at time outs.. AMAZING! This one kid looked like he was 7 and could breakdance :-S
Sadly, i think that was the only enjoyment the fans got out of the game.. as the knicks got smashed by dallas mavs. Final score was dallas doubled the knicks score.. not cool. But what was so wrong was that only 1/4 of the crowd remained at the end of the game. New Yorkers are bad sports when it comes to basketball. Yeah, the knicks played like crap (dallas were on fire).. but still, support your damn team! Don't leave the game during the second quarter!!
After the basketball, decided to walk back to the hostel.. and it started to rain.. grr
Headed to M&Ms world.. god i love that place!
Hersheys was a major disappointment.. so tiny!But i made it back to the hostel.. in time to have a break/rest, then headed to N2N to try lottery. Put my name into the lottery, then 5 mins before it was drawn found out that Alice wasn't going to be on.. so i quickly raced over to In the Heights and got a killer seat for a discounted price (down from 120-140 to 74).. 7th row, 5 seats from the isle in the middle. Lucky i did see it that night as one of the leads Javier was having his final performance that night. Corbin from High School Musical was to take over on the monday.
Went to juniors for dinner and watched the NY Jets lose their division final in the NFL.. wasn't a good day for NY.
The show was amazing! Such a clever mix of different dance styles and lyrics. Not your typical musical.. very modern :-)
Very talented cast.. who can all dance! And i don't just mean dance.. i mean DANCE! Pop and lock, salsa, hip hop, breakdance.. the list goes on!
It's definately a musical like WWRY and Rocky Horror that gets the crowd involved :-)
Because it was Javier's last performance, a lot of the old cast members returned to the show for the night to see him perform.. which meant the audience was roudy as ever! (bonus was.. they all sat behind me.. so it was good to meet them all)
Went to stage door after the show and it was packed! But i found a good spot and got to meet pretty much the entire cast.. photos and sigs on the poster :-)
They thought it was so cool that
an aussie knew about their show and came to see it. Javier thought it was so cool that i only got my ticket an hour before the show to see his final performance :-)I wont post all the cast photos up as there are too many.. but i decided to post Javier's photo since it was his last show :-)
A night in..
Woke up that morning feeling very tired.. i think the trip is starting to take its toll.
After a lazy morning (was going to try wicked lottery but couldn't get ready in time) i decided to head to MOMA to see what they had to offer. On the way i passed many locations like Magnolia Bakery, Radio City Hall (which had Lady GaGa playing there that night), the NHL store..
Finally i reached MOMA (Museum of Modern Art).. and chaos began. There were so many people there! But then again, it was a saturday. I was shattered to see that they had a Tim
Burton exhibition on and that all tickets for that day were sold out.. so not fair!
MOMA was a twisted museum.. it was fun to walk around, but half the exhibitions either confused me or were boring/not art in my opinion. Since when was 2 pieces of wire joined at one end considered art??
But a lot of the pieces on show were wacky.. so it was fun to see them and guess where the inspiration came from. Only downside to the museum (apart from the 1000+ annoying people and sold out tim burton exhibition) was that they had large sections of the building closed off due to setting up new exhibitions for the future.
After MOMA, headed to
Tiffany's (which is 6 floors of stuff mind you!), Saks, Apple Store (found my dream laptop at a bargain).. then decided to head back to the hostel quickly to drop off my stuff before lottery.
Headed to the wicked lottery.. and lost. So quickly raced over to the next to normal lottery.. and lost too. So decided to spend the night in the hostel relaxing.
After a lazy morning (was going to try wicked lottery but couldn't get ready in time) i decided to head to MOMA to see what they had to offer. On the way i passed many locations like Magnolia Bakery, Radio City Hall (which had Lady GaGa playing there that night), the NHL store..Finally i reached MOMA (Museum of Modern Art).. and chaos began. There were so many people there! But then again, it was a saturday. I was shattered to see that they had a Tim
Burton exhibition on and that all tickets for that day were sold out.. so not fair!MOMA was a twisted museum.. it was fun to walk around, but half the exhibitions either confused me or were boring/not art in my opinion. Since when was 2 pieces of wire joined at one end considered art??
But a lot of the pieces on show were wacky.. so it was fun to see them and guess where the inspiration came from. Only downside to the museum (apart from the 1000+ annoying people and sold out tim burton exhibition) was that they had large sections of the building closed off due to setting up new exhibitions for the future.
After MOMA, headed to
Tiffany's (which is 6 floors of stuff mind you!), Saks, Apple Store (found my dream laptop at a bargain).. then decided to head back to the hostel quickly to drop off my stuff before lottery.Headed to the wicked lottery.. and lost. So quickly raced over to the next to normal lottery.. and lost too. So decided to spend the night in the hostel relaxing.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Next to Normal...
Woke up that morning and decided i wanted to see the views from the Empire 
State Building.
Had a shower, got changed and walked the short distance (it was actually quite a few blocks, but it felt short for me) to the building. Now i thought being around 12 midday that there would be a line of people to head up, but when i arrived there.. there was hardly anyone buying tickets!
Bought my new york city pass and headed up to the observation deck. On the way i was given an audio guide (free with my pass) which was very useful. Decided against buying a map.. the guide was enough for me.
OMG it was freezing up there! The winds were so icy and i totally forgot to take my gloves
(haven't needed them here since i arrived) so my hands were frozen and burning from being so cold. But the views were amazing.. got to give it that. At one stage the NYPD helicopter decided to come over and hover near my corner of the deck for everyone to take photos which was pretty cool.. then they never came back haha
Was great to see how much of NY i had explored and how much i have to go.. everything from the bottom of central park to downtown and brooklyn has been explored (except brooklyn bridge.. will get there soon).. now just to explore central park and uptown :-)
After exploring the observation deck for as long as i could (it was damn cold) i headed back down to ground and walked up 5th avenue to check out some stores.
Thought i'd try and visit this other toy store on my list, so started to
follow my map to this circle i had drawn.. passed bloomingdales on the way, but didn't have a chance to go in. Walked down the street of where i thought the toy store was and realised i thought of the wrong location.. i had walked myself not to the toy store, but to serendipity which i thought was further away!
Serendipity 3 is an amazing cafe. They are famous for their frozen hot chocolates.. which are to die for!
But stupid me decided to add a dessert onto the list and boy did i regret it when it came out haha
I chose the forbidden broadway sundae (which the waiter recommended) which ended up being huge!! Piece of chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, fresh whipped cream, hot chocolate sauce... umm.. opps! :-S
Tried to eat (and drink) as much as i could and then decided to walk back to the hostel. But i was so tired from all the walking before that i ended up catching the subway back.
Had a bit of a rest at the hostel, then headed off to the theatre to see Next to Normal.
This musical is so unique.. similar ideals and settings to Rent, but WAY more depressing. It is..
oh, words cannot describe how different and amazing it is!
It's about a family.. a loving but ill mother (has a mixture of mental illnesses), a dedicated and caring but helpless father, a brainiac but confused daughter and a strong willed brother and how they all deal with life and the mother's illnesses. Cannot tell you much more on the plot as it will give the entire story away..
It is a small cast for a show, but there are only a few roles in the entire show so they easily manage.
The set is created like a house, 3 levels all connected by staircases with the use of plastic walls with painted patterns on them to simulate walls. What is neat is that the walls change locations to create extra/new rooms or images during scenes. The band is visible on the 2nd and 3rd levels of the house. They only have 2 set tracks for the show, one track for a table and chairs, one for a chair and side table (with a lamp) which move to front and back of stage when cast members move them manually.
After the show i went to stage door.. this would have been the busiest stage door i have attended since being overseas.. Japan, London, Germany (is a close second.. a lot of people, but not as many as N2N) were quite and not many people as i thought. Broadway i thought there would be a stack after shows, especially at shows like Wicked, Lion King, Avenue Q... but so far it has been quiet. But N2N was busy..
Was able to get photos with all the cast and get my poster signed which was neat. Alice's bodyguard (also security at the door) went around and told everyone that she doesn't take photos with people which i already knew.. so bummed. But after speaking to Alice (about my trip, about coming to see her 
from aust.), she was so nice and offered a photo because she loved that i had travelled so far to see the show. So i now have a photo of alice and i (it may not be facing the camera.. but it's a photo with her none the less.. and she offered!) which i will treasure forever :-)
When i got back to the hostel, i stayed up for a bit talking to the girls in my hostel room (julia, sam and nat) then headed to bed
State Building.Had a shower, got changed and walked the short distance (it was actually quite a few blocks, but it felt short for me) to the building. Now i thought being around 12 midday that there would be a line of people to head up, but when i arrived there.. there was hardly anyone buying tickets!
Bought my new york city pass and headed up to the observation deck. On the way i was given an audio guide (free with my pass) which was very useful. Decided against buying a map.. the guide was enough for me.
OMG it was freezing up there! The winds were so icy and i totally forgot to take my gloves
(haven't needed them here since i arrived) so my hands were frozen and burning from being so cold. But the views were amazing.. got to give it that. At one stage the NYPD helicopter decided to come over and hover near my corner of the deck for everyone to take photos which was pretty cool.. then they never came back hahaWas great to see how much of NY i had explored and how much i have to go.. everything from the bottom of central park to downtown and brooklyn has been explored (except brooklyn bridge.. will get there soon).. now just to explore central park and uptown :-)
After exploring the observation deck for as long as i could (it was damn cold) i headed back down to ground and walked up 5th avenue to check out some stores.
Thought i'd try and visit this other toy store on my list, so started to
follow my map to this circle i had drawn.. passed bloomingdales on the way, but didn't have a chance to go in. Walked down the street of where i thought the toy store was and realised i thought of the wrong location.. i had walked myself not to the toy store, but to serendipity which i thought was further away!Serendipity 3 is an amazing cafe. They are famous for their frozen hot chocolates.. which are to die for!
But stupid me decided to add a dessert onto the list and boy did i regret it when it came out hahaI chose the forbidden broadway sundae (which the waiter recommended) which ended up being huge!! Piece of chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, fresh whipped cream, hot chocolate sauce... umm.. opps! :-S
Tried to eat (and drink) as much as i could and then decided to walk back to the hostel. But i was so tired from all the walking before that i ended up catching the subway back.
Had a bit of a rest at the hostel, then headed off to the theatre to see Next to Normal.
This musical is so unique.. similar ideals and settings to Rent, but WAY more depressing. It is..
oh, words cannot describe how different and amazing it is!It's about a family.. a loving but ill mother (has a mixture of mental illnesses), a dedicated and caring but helpless father, a brainiac but confused daughter and a strong willed brother and how they all deal with life and the mother's illnesses. Cannot tell you much more on the plot as it will give the entire story away..
It is a small cast for a show, but there are only a few roles in the entire show so they easily manage.
The set is created like a house, 3 levels all connected by staircases with the use of plastic walls with painted patterns on them to simulate walls. What is neat is that the walls change locations to create extra/new rooms or images during scenes. The band is visible on the 2nd and 3rd levels of the house. They only have 2 set tracks for the show, one track for a table and chairs, one for a chair and side table (with a lamp) which move to front and back of stage when cast members move them manually.
After the show i went to stage door.. this would have been the busiest stage door i have attended since being overseas.. Japan, London, Germany (is a close second.. a lot of people, but not as many as N2N) were quite and not many people as i thought. Broadway i thought there would be a stack after shows, especially at shows like Wicked, Lion King, Avenue Q... but so far it has been quiet. But N2N was busy..
Was able to get photos with all the cast and get my poster signed which was neat. Alice's bodyguard (also security at the door) went around and told everyone that she doesn't take photos with people which i already knew.. so bummed. But after speaking to Alice (about my trip, about coming to see her 
from aust.), she was so nice and offered a photo because she loved that i had travelled so far to see the show. So i now have a photo of alice and i (it may not be facing the camera.. but it's a photo with her none the less.. and she offered!) which i will treasure forever :-)
When i got back to the hostel, i stayed up for a bit talking to the girls in my hostel room (julia, sam and nat) then headed to bed
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The Pride Land is calling...
Today was a lazy day..
Didn't get up till about 10am.. didn't get out of bed till 11.30am
Was planning to spend the day organising what to do for the remainder of my stay in NY, but the internet was down in the hostel.. ended up being down all day which was not cool.
Ended up heading to SoHo, NoHo and Greenwich village with Julia, one of the girls in my hostel room. We wandered around and got lost in china town.. so decided to head to a cafe to get something to eat. Had the oddest
meal ever.. mac and cheese, but with peas, mushrooms (didn't eat them) and pepper (not cool). Was nice, but the pepper was super hot which made it harder for me to eat the meal.
We then made a quick dash to this chocolate factory and had a hot chocolate, then headed back to the hostel.
Quickly got changed and headed to Juniors, a restaurant near the Minskoff theatre. Had a grilled chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomato, with chips on the side. The servings at this place are HUGE! Only downside to the venue was that i had to wait for a table.. so busy at night, and i had a show to get to.. so by the time i sat down and ordered, i only had 30 mins to eat my meal. Quickly ate my meal and headed next door to the Lion King.
The Lion King was amazing.. so much better than i remembered. When i saw it in 2005 in melbourne with mum we saw it in the dress circle which gave us a good overview. This time i sat 3 rows from the front so i could see all the costumes and puppe
ts up close which was great.. but i still feel that being seated near the back of the stalls or front row of the dress circle are the best seats to see this show.
My favourite scene would still have to be the stampede scene.. the way in which it is done is outstanding :-)
Feel like such an idiot though.. totally forgot to bring my camera with me that night so i didn't get to take any photos of the amazing decorations within the theatre.
After the show i was able to get my poster sign which was cool. The cast were so nice and willing to have a chat. One of the cast members was kind enough to get me the stage manager's phone number to call them to ask some questions..
I don't know how i'm doing it.. but i'm still talking my way into stuff haha
Headed back to the hostel, saw the internet was still down, so headed straight to bed
Didn't get up till about 10am.. didn't get out of bed till 11.30am
Was planning to spend the day organising what to do for the remainder of my stay in NY, but the internet was down in the hostel.. ended up being down all day which was not cool.
Ended up heading to SoHo, NoHo and Greenwich village with Julia, one of the girls in my hostel room. We wandered around and got lost in china town.. so decided to head to a cafe to get something to eat. Had the oddest
meal ever.. mac and cheese, but with peas, mushrooms (didn't eat them) and pepper (not cool). Was nice, but the pepper was super hot which made it harder for me to eat the meal.We then made a quick dash to this chocolate factory and had a hot chocolate, then headed back to the hostel.
Quickly got changed and headed to Juniors, a restaurant near the Minskoff theatre. Had a grilled chicken sandwich with lettuce and tomato, with chips on the side. The servings at this place are HUGE! Only downside to the venue was that i had to wait for a table.. so busy at night, and i had a show to get to.. so by the time i sat down and ordered, i only had 30 mins to eat my meal. Quickly ate my meal and headed next door to the Lion King.
The Lion King was amazing.. so much better than i remembered. When i saw it in 2005 in melbourne with mum we saw it in the dress circle which gave us a good overview. This time i sat 3 rows from the front so i could see all the costumes and puppe
ts up close which was great.. but i still feel that being seated near the back of the stalls or front row of the dress circle are the best seats to see this show.My favourite scene would still have to be the stampede scene.. the way in which it is done is outstanding :-)
Feel like such an idiot though.. totally forgot to bring my camera with me that night so i didn't get to take any photos of the amazing decorations within the theatre.
After the show i was able to get my poster sign which was cool. The cast were so nice and willing to have a chat. One of the cast members was kind enough to get me the stage manager's phone number to call them to ask some questions..
I don't know how i'm doing it.. but i'm still talking my way into stuff haha
Headed back to the hostel, saw the internet was still down, so headed straight to bed
Friday, January 22, 2010
So sad to leave..
It was kind of sad to leave Melbourne that morning.
I know it sucked being stuck at the hotel with no access to transport, but the hotel staff were amazing, the area was so relaxing and i had such a ball with seeing the show and seeing Carmen again that i wanted to stay just one more day to see the show all over again. But i had to head back to NY as all my stuff was there.
Jumped onto a plane with my newly acquired bag (Thank you Carmen :-D) and headed back to Atlanta.
Got to Atlanta and my plane was delayed.. by an hour. Stress kicked in as i knew i was seeing a show that night, but could not remember what show it was or what time as all my info was in my checked luggage. Decided if the plane got delayed one more time, i would try and get a transfer onto another flight.. but my plane left at 2.20pm delayed time and somehow managed to arrive at Newark Airport only 15 mins after the original scheduled time. How did we make up the 45 min delay difference??
Thought i was on a role after picking up my bag and getting onto the bus quickly.. then bad luck hit. Massive traffic jams into the Lincoln Tunnel back to NYC.
Made it back to the hostel with 1.5hrs to spare before the show. Thank god my hostel is in walking distance of everything.
Picked up my ticket to Avenue Q (worked out at the airport that that was the show i was seeing) then decided to visit the Food Emporium for a quick bite to eat. Had some homemade chicken noodle and veggie soup which was yummy. Also went to see what they had on display food wise for the G'Day USA festival.. as an aussie i was utterly disappointed. Only one tiny shelf of food.. and it wasn't even a big range!! So uncool..
Avenue Q was fun. Held in an off-broadway theatre underground, it was a nice intimate setting.
I think there was only about 100 people tops in the theatre which was disappointing.. fingers crossed the show survives on those numbers.
The cast were great, ended up seeing an understudy kate monster which was cool. She was good, but i felt she wasn't vocally powerful. She had a good voice, but wasn't a belter.
It was the same type of set as London.. pretty much the whole show was identical to london expect Gary here is a girl (thank god!) and the lines all relate to the US.
After seeing all 3 versions of Avenue Q, i can say that i prefer the newer version to the original.. the Australian version. No, i am not being bias because i've gotten to know the cast.. but in my opinion the new verison is better written, the set fits more into the story (takes you into the world/fantasy more).. and our cast seem to be a lot stronger as well. There are some scenes in the london/original that would be great to add into the aussie version.. make it a killer show.. :-)
After Avenue Q, headed straight back to the hostel as i could not find stage door.. and none of the staff were willing to help me find it either. But really.. where is a stage door for a theatre underground?? haha
I know it sucked being stuck at the hotel with no access to transport, but the hotel staff were amazing, the area was so relaxing and i had such a ball with seeing the show and seeing Carmen again that i wanted to stay just one more day to see the show all over again. But i had to head back to NY as all my stuff was there.
Jumped onto a plane with my newly acquired bag (Thank you Carmen :-D) and headed back to Atlanta.
Got to Atlanta and my plane was delayed.. by an hour. Stress kicked in as i knew i was seeing a show that night, but could not remember what show it was or what time as all my info was in my checked luggage. Decided if the plane got delayed one more time, i would try and get a transfer onto another flight.. but my plane left at 2.20pm delayed time and somehow managed to arrive at Newark Airport only 15 mins after the original scheduled time. How did we make up the 45 min delay difference??Thought i was on a role after picking up my bag and getting onto the bus quickly.. then bad luck hit. Massive traffic jams into the Lincoln Tunnel back to NYC.
Made it back to the hostel with 1.5hrs to spare before the show. Thank god my hostel is in walking distance of everything.
Picked up my ticket to Avenue Q (worked out at the airport that that was the show i was seeing) then decided to visit the Food Emporium for a quick bite to eat. Had some homemade chicken noodle and veggie soup which was yummy. Also went to see what they had on display food wise for the G'Day USA festival.. as an aussie i was utterly disappointed. Only one tiny shelf of food.. and it wasn't even a big range!! So uncool..
Avenue Q was fun. Held in an off-broadway theatre underground, it was a nice intimate setting.
I think there was only about 100 people tops in the theatre which was disappointing.. fingers crossed the show survives on those numbers.The cast were great, ended up seeing an understudy kate monster which was cool. She was good, but i felt she wasn't vocally powerful. She had a good voice, but wasn't a belter.
It was the same type of set as London.. pretty much the whole show was identical to london expect Gary here is a girl (thank god!) and the lines all relate to the US.
After seeing all 3 versions of Avenue Q, i can say that i prefer the newer version to the original.. the Australian version. No, i am not being bias because i've gotten to know the cast.. but in my opinion the new verison is better written, the set fits more into the story (takes you into the world/fantasy more).. and our cast seem to be a lot stronger as well. There are some scenes in the london/original that would be great to add into the aussie version.. make it a killer show.. :-)
After Avenue Q, headed straight back to the hostel as i could not find stage door.. and none of the staff were willing to help me find it either. But really.. where is a stage door for a theatre underground?? haha
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
.......... (speechless)
I am in shock.. speechless!!
(will explain later in the blog.. right now, time to talk about what i have been doing)
Arrived in Melbourne Florida on monday. Melbourne is such a quite town. The section i am in is away from the beach, but close to the airport. Got a shuttle (or should i say private car..) to the hotel and decided to have a relaxing night in.
The staff here are so nice.. all willing to help when needed.
After a funny night of chatting to Peter
(from WWRY) and others, surfing through the 100+ channels on the tv and eating an entire jumbo bag of cheezels, i headed to bed.
Woke up this morning and felt a lazy day was planned (since i forgot to bring my bathers)..
Headed down for free breakfast, then returned back to the room and had a shower. Then it was check emails, watch some tv, organise transport to the airport the next day and time to have a nap.
After my nap, i headed downstairs to ask them about transport to the King Centre. The reception lady offered to drive me there which was nice.. she then organised for a taxi to pick me up after the show.
When it was time, i headed downstairs to leave for the show.. then problems started. The poor woman's car wouldn't start! She felt so bad.. organised for another staff member to drop me off (in the hotel boss' car!!) at the King Centre. Grabbed the taxi number for incase from the reception then off i went.
I was so excited to see this production of South Pacific.. especially because Carmen was performing in it. The way in which the show is being shown is great.. a very good concept for a touring company. Love the crew
costumes though.. very smart. Because they don't have permanent wings/curtains, all the tech crew wear sailor suits to 'fit in' with the show :-P
Was great to attend opening night.. have to say it was a success (may not have been the greatest theatre and best tech.. but the tech will improve and they leave the king centre in 3 days i think anyway).
At interval of the show, i asked around the staff as to where the stage door was as i was hoping to catch Carmen and say hi. I ended up being directed to security who told me they'd take me backstage as they didn't know what door the cast would be using. I was given the chance to go backstage and i didn't even have to beg! haha
Carmen was amazing in the show! She looked fab in her costumes and played Nellie so well. It was great to see her live in something other than Wicked :-) Her voice suits the show so well, and she is definately one of those talented people who can just adapt to a character without having to try super hard. And to see her as a blonde was different.. it suited her! I am still in shock that i actually got to see her peform again..
After the show had finished (standing ovation.. totally deserved!), the security guy took me backstage. He told me to stand on a certain corner to get the best view of the cast coming and going till i recognised Carmen. Haha, catherine you would have loved it.. seeing all the
ensemble boys walking around backstage with just jocks on.. haha
I realised when i stood in that spot that she was already in her dressing room because a guy who works in the wig department walked out of her room with a nellie wig and mic. At least i knew where she was and knew that i couldn't miss her now. After a few mins, the security guy came back and asked if i had spotted her and i told him that she was in her dressing room. So he went up to this guy who worked for the show, explained the situation and the guy went into Carmen's room to tell her she had a visitor. He walked back out to ask for my name, then turned around and told her.. then gave that look of 'i don't know who she is.. she says she knows you'..
Carmen came out and was so surprised to see me. She later explained that she had remembered that morning that she knew i was coming to melbourne to see the show.. but could not remember the date of when i was coming. We talked for what felt like hours in the corridor of the venue. She went back and got her stuff from the dressing room whilst i spoke to some of the cast (who were really nice :-D) about home and my trip. We all then as a group walked out of the venue still talking. She was telling the others how we met and they thought it was so funny but so cool that i came down to see the show. She asked me where i was parked and i told her that i was having to wait for a taxi.. she looked at me like i was nuts and told me i was silly.. and that she would drop me off at the hotel. Before i could even answer, both of the 2 guys with us (2 male leads) had their phones out looking up the location of where i needed to go. OMG.. i was about to get driven home by THE Carmen Cusack! I told her i would wait for the taxi and she said she was driving me home.. i couldn't argue with her.. come on, it's carmen! haha
Hoped into her car with another cast member (i know who he was.. i just cannot think of his name at this time) and the first thing she said was 'excuse my driving. hopefully you survive'. Haha, best.. call.. ever!!
We didn't last 2 mins before the navman system started to tell us to drive in circles haha.. was a funny moment. On the way back to the hotel, we spoke about home, how the tour was going, how my trip was going, about school starting, about what's going on with wicked back home, etc.. so much convo for such a small drive. When i was telling them about how my bag broke in Japan and i couldn't repair it, Carmen mentioned she had a big bag that she didn't need anymore and wanted to give it away as an excuse to buy a new bag.. but that it was at her hotel. We joked around
saying i should have told her in advance to bring it even though neither of us knew about each others problems before then haha
They dropped me off at my hotel which was nice.. we spent nearly 10 mins talking in the driveway, taking photos and wishing each other luck. Got a few more famous carmen hugs (they are amazing people.. make you feel at home) then i walked back to my room, in shock that i had just been driving home by my theatre idol.. but also sad that i wouldn't be seeing her perform for a while now.
In the middle of a conversation with mum on my phone and my hotel phone begins to ring. Who the hell would be calling me? No one except reception knew the number of the room.. I answered the phone (putting mum on hold) and a voice i recognised said 'Hello Elizabeth, It's Carmen here'. OMG.. Carmen is calling my hotel room. What is going on with the world?? haha
She told me that she had left something for me at reception (i knew straight away what it was.. the bag), that she wished me all luck with school, my trip and the future. I didn't know what to say back.. she was going to make me cry.. haha
I quickly ran down to reception hoping to catch her to say thank you in person, but she had left.. don't blame her though, double show today and it was super late. Her bag is amazing.. big and black.. on wheels and has a working extending handle. You'll all probably think the bag is boring when you see it.. but i don't. After all, it was a bag that she owned.. and gave to me when she didn't have to.
I didn't know what to say or feel as i went back to my room.. she was being so nice to me when really she didn't have to..
I feel so honoured to have her as an inspiration, to have met her in person and see her perform.. she is an amazing woman, so caring..
Oh, there is so much more that i could say about her.. but then i won't stop and i'll embarrasse myself.. so i'll save humiliation and stop now haha
But let me finish off by saying this was the greatest day of my holiday, and close to in my life... Thank you Carmen for everything.. you deserve everything in the world that you desire :-)
(will explain later in the blog.. right now, time to talk about what i have been doing)
Arrived in Melbourne Florida on monday. Melbourne is such a quite town. The section i am in is away from the beach, but close to the airport. Got a shuttle (or should i say private car..) to the hotel and decided to have a relaxing night in.
The staff here are so nice.. all willing to help when needed.
After a funny night of chatting to Peter
(from WWRY) and others, surfing through the 100+ channels on the tv and eating an entire jumbo bag of cheezels, i headed to bed.Woke up this morning and felt a lazy day was planned (since i forgot to bring my bathers)..
Headed down for free breakfast, then returned back to the room and had a shower. Then it was check emails, watch some tv, organise transport to the airport the next day and time to have a nap.
After my nap, i headed downstairs to ask them about transport to the King Centre. The reception lady offered to drive me there which was nice.. she then organised for a taxi to pick me up after the show.
When it was time, i headed downstairs to leave for the show.. then problems started. The poor woman's car wouldn't start! She felt so bad.. organised for another staff member to drop me off (in the hotel boss' car!!) at the King Centre. Grabbed the taxi number for incase from the reception then off i went.
I was so excited to see this production of South Pacific.. especially because Carmen was performing in it. The way in which the show is being shown is great.. a very good concept for a touring company. Love the crew
costumes though.. very smart. Because they don't have permanent wings/curtains, all the tech crew wear sailor suits to 'fit in' with the show :-PWas great to attend opening night.. have to say it was a success (may not have been the greatest theatre and best tech.. but the tech will improve and they leave the king centre in 3 days i think anyway).
At interval of the show, i asked around the staff as to where the stage door was as i was hoping to catch Carmen and say hi. I ended up being directed to security who told me they'd take me backstage as they didn't know what door the cast would be using. I was given the chance to go backstage and i didn't even have to beg! haha
Carmen was amazing in the show! She looked fab in her costumes and played Nellie so well. It was great to see her live in something other than Wicked :-) Her voice suits the show so well, and she is definately one of those talented people who can just adapt to a character without having to try super hard. And to see her as a blonde was different.. it suited her! I am still in shock that i actually got to see her peform again..
After the show had finished (standing ovation.. totally deserved!), the security guy took me backstage. He told me to stand on a certain corner to get the best view of the cast coming and going till i recognised Carmen. Haha, catherine you would have loved it.. seeing all the
ensemble boys walking around backstage with just jocks on.. hahaI realised when i stood in that spot that she was already in her dressing room because a guy who works in the wig department walked out of her room with a nellie wig and mic. At least i knew where she was and knew that i couldn't miss her now. After a few mins, the security guy came back and asked if i had spotted her and i told him that she was in her dressing room. So he went up to this guy who worked for the show, explained the situation and the guy went into Carmen's room to tell her she had a visitor. He walked back out to ask for my name, then turned around and told her.. then gave that look of 'i don't know who she is.. she says she knows you'..
Carmen came out and was so surprised to see me. She later explained that she had remembered that morning that she knew i was coming to melbourne to see the show.. but could not remember the date of when i was coming. We talked for what felt like hours in the corridor of the venue. She went back and got her stuff from the dressing room whilst i spoke to some of the cast (who were really nice :-D) about home and my trip. We all then as a group walked out of the venue still talking. She was telling the others how we met and they thought it was so funny but so cool that i came down to see the show. She asked me where i was parked and i told her that i was having to wait for a taxi.. she looked at me like i was nuts and told me i was silly.. and that she would drop me off at the hotel. Before i could even answer, both of the 2 guys with us (2 male leads) had their phones out looking up the location of where i needed to go. OMG.. i was about to get driven home by THE Carmen Cusack! I told her i would wait for the taxi and she said she was driving me home.. i couldn't argue with her.. come on, it's carmen! haha
Hoped into her car with another cast member (i know who he was.. i just cannot think of his name at this time) and the first thing she said was 'excuse my driving. hopefully you survive'. Haha, best.. call.. ever!!
We didn't last 2 mins before the navman system started to tell us to drive in circles haha.. was a funny moment. On the way back to the hotel, we spoke about home, how the tour was going, how my trip was going, about school starting, about what's going on with wicked back home, etc.. so much convo for such a small drive. When i was telling them about how my bag broke in Japan and i couldn't repair it, Carmen mentioned she had a big bag that she didn't need anymore and wanted to give it away as an excuse to buy a new bag.. but that it was at her hotel. We joked around
saying i should have told her in advance to bring it even though neither of us knew about each others problems before then hahaThey dropped me off at my hotel which was nice.. we spent nearly 10 mins talking in the driveway, taking photos and wishing each other luck. Got a few more famous carmen hugs (they are amazing people.. make you feel at home) then i walked back to my room, in shock that i had just been driving home by my theatre idol.. but also sad that i wouldn't be seeing her perform for a while now.
In the middle of a conversation with mum on my phone and my hotel phone begins to ring. Who the hell would be calling me? No one except reception knew the number of the room.. I answered the phone (putting mum on hold) and a voice i recognised said 'Hello Elizabeth, It's Carmen here'. OMG.. Carmen is calling my hotel room. What is going on with the world?? haha
She told me that she had left something for me at reception (i knew straight away what it was.. the bag), that she wished me all luck with school, my trip and the future. I didn't know what to say back.. she was going to make me cry.. haha
I quickly ran down to reception hoping to catch her to say thank you in person, but she had left.. don't blame her though, double show today and it was super late. Her bag is amazing.. big and black.. on wheels and has a working extending handle. You'll all probably think the bag is boring when you see it.. but i don't. After all, it was a bag that she owned.. and gave to me when she didn't have to.
I didn't know what to say or feel as i went back to my room.. she was being so nice to me when really she didn't have to..
I feel so honoured to have her as an inspiration, to have met her in person and see her perform.. she is an amazing woman, so caring..
Oh, there is so much more that i could say about her.. but then i won't stop and i'll embarrasse myself.. so i'll save humiliation and stop now haha
But let me finish off by saying this was the greatest day of my holiday, and close to in my life... Thank you Carmen for everything.. you deserve everything in the world that you desire :-)
Visiting the crown..
Got up super early to walk to the ferry i needed to catch for the statue of liberty crown access.
It didn't look too far on the map... i was wrong.
It was SO FAR!! should have just caught the train. As it got closer to the
time i had to be there, and i was still far away, i jumped onto a train in the end.. which took forever to come.
Finally got to where i needed to be and jumped onto the first boat to Liberty Island. Ended up being in the second group to go up to the crown of the statue. Going up was easier than i thought.. still hard work, but once you got into a rythym it was easy to accomplish.
The view was fascinating.. limited due to small windows, but you were able to see a lot of NYC and NJ from a distance and be able to see the tablet and torch on the statue.
On the way down though.. that was another story. It was harder to head down than go up.. as the staircase was narrow and twisted. Ended up having to go down backward
s for part of it.. totally did not help out my heights fear haha
After the crown visit, i visited the podium level for another view of the surroundings, then headed to the public area of Liberty Island to see the statue up close and in full.
Jumped on the boat to visit Ellis Island. It was a very interesting exhibition on the history of american immigration/emmigration. Unfortunately it started to get really cold and rain when i was in this building. Headed back to the boat and returned to NY.
Had planned to see the world trade centre site, police museum and wall street that morning as they were all in the same area..
but the rain restricted this. So i headed back to the hostel to dry off. This gave me a chance to organise the next day (heading to florida) which was good.
At 6pm i went to Birdland (a jazz club in NYC) to see Caroline O'Connor perform. It was such an amazing concert.. Caroline is so funny and talented.
Then i headed back home (didn't stick around after the show as i had 1. finished my meal of mac and cheese and root beer drink 2. everyone in attendance were aussie theatre royalty) to pack my bags and head to bed.
It didn't look too far on the map... i was wrong.
It was SO FAR!! should have just caught the train. As it got closer to the
time i had to be there, and i was still far away, i jumped onto a train in the end.. which took forever to come.Finally got to where i needed to be and jumped onto the first boat to Liberty Island. Ended up being in the second group to go up to the crown of the statue. Going up was easier than i thought.. still hard work, but once you got into a rythym it was easy to accomplish.
The view was fascinating.. limited due to small windows, but you were able to see a lot of NYC and NJ from a distance and be able to see the tablet and torch on the statue.
On the way down though.. that was another story. It was harder to head down than go up.. as the staircase was narrow and twisted. Ended up having to go down backward
s for part of it.. totally did not help out my heights fear hahaAfter the crown visit, i visited the podium level for another view of the surroundings, then headed to the public area of Liberty Island to see the statue up close and in full.
Jumped on the boat to visit Ellis Island. It was a very interesting exhibition on the history of american immigration/emmigration. Unfortunately it started to get really cold and rain when i was in this building. Headed back to the boat and returned to NY.
Had planned to see the world trade centre site, police museum and wall street that morning as they were all in the same area..
but the rain restricted this. So i headed back to the hostel to dry off. This gave me a chance to organise the next day (heading to florida) which was good.At 6pm i went to Birdland (a jazz club in NYC) to see Caroline O'Connor perform. It was such an amazing concert.. Caroline is so funny and talented.
Then i headed back home (didn't stick around after the show as i had 1. finished my meal of mac and cheese and root beer drink 2. everyone in attendance were aussie theatre royalty) to pack my bags and head to bed.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
My feet hurt..
Today was the first day since before christmas that i finally got to wear my black boots again! Yay :-D
Up at 8am, showered and dressed by 9.. dropped into maccas for a quick bite to eat on the way to the theatre. did you know they deliver here? so jealous.. home delivered maccas haha
10am was when the emerald curtain tour started. This concept is such a great idea. Gives you a good insight into the production, how it operates and who is involved. They told us a lot about how the costumes are made, how the backstage area (inc. lighting and sound) is run, what type of maintenance is required on props, etc (so much was said.. too much to talk about on here). Being able to hear anthony and sean's stories about the industry (esp. about this show) as well was an eye opener. Gave me a better insight into the industry in the US.
Took a stack of photos of the costumes and props they had on display, especially of the mini set they created in the beginning to see what the set would look like.
After the tour, i headed up to FAO Schwarz. This toy store is amazing! I think it would be one of the funnest places to work at. Depending on what department you were placed in depended on your uniform. The poor guy who got stuck in the harry potter area had to dress like a hogwarts student :-P
I decided to make my muppet whatnot today.. and had a blast doing so. Took me forever to decide what i wanted to do.. was hoping to make a black haired green muppet so that i could make an elphie costume.. but they sold out of long black hair! Grr.. not cool. Decided to try and make a version of me as a puppet. So i was green, red and white eyes, purple nose, blonde hair and a red hoodie. Bonus was i got to keep my creator kit.. full of reusable stickers and puppet outlines.
Then headed to the Apple store near central park.. next door to FAO Schwarz. The coolest thing is the entire apple store is underground! You walk into a glass box, down a clear stairway and you're there.
Started to walk back to the hostel and came across all the big label stores which was cool. Passed Trump Towers, Rockafella Centre, Radio City Hall, NBC studios, barnes and nobel.. the list goes on!
Got back to the hostel and relaxed for a bit.. my legs were so sore. Then got ready to head back to the theatre to see the evening performance of Wicked.
Th production of Wicked here is so well done. Haven't watched a bootleg of the latest cast (09 before change) in a while, so it was like i was seeing the show for the first time again. The way in which they do some of the scenes is amazing, should be done the same way around the world if in a permanent theatre. And flying monkeys again!! I love seeing them.. makes me miss them even more.
Katie Rose Clarke is a goddess.. her glinda is out of this world! Her and carmen are still one of my favourite (maybe even my favourite) elphie/glinda combinations. It was only her 3rd day on stage with that production.. so she was so hyper and into her character ;-) I still cannot believe i got to see her! Her popular was totally wack.. jumping everywhere, flicking her leg wild, slamming herself onto the beds when things didn't go her way, loosing the lipstick and giggling the whole time watching it roll away into the orchestra pit.. nuts i tell you! Nuts!
I also got to see about 10 new costumes that night.. many were swing costumes.. fabulous as ever! 2 new mob outfits, 3 school outfits, 4 OSD outfits, new ballroom gown.. i think emma
delmenico is right.. the swings have the best costumes ever ;-)
Overall, i think i saw maybe 35 new costumes (50 all up if you count variations of current designs) during my trip.
After the show, headed to stage door. Before i left i was told to watch out for the stage door being busy.. for a sat night, it was nothing! there were maybe about 5 people tops there.. i think the busiest wicked stage door i've been to on my trip was stuttgart, but the busiest overall would have to be melbourne.
Got my poster signed (as much as i could) and got photos when it was possible. Everyone was so nice, were willing to stick around for a chat.
Then decided to head home. Walked back to the hostel, jumped into bed as i had a big day planned the next morning..
(there is still a stack to add to this.. but i will be late to a concert tonight if i stick around)
Up at 8am, showered and dressed by 9.. dropped into maccas for a quick bite to eat on the way to the theatre. did you know they deliver here? so jealous.. home delivered maccas haha
10am was when the emerald curtain tour started. This concept is such a great idea. Gives you a good insight into the production, how it operates and who is involved. They told us a lot about how the costumes are made, how the backstage area (inc. lighting and sound) is run, what type of maintenance is required on props, etc (so much was said.. too much to talk about on here). Being able to hear anthony and sean's stories about the industry (esp. about this show) as well was an eye opener. Gave me a better insight into the industry in the US.
Took a stack of photos of the costumes and props they had on display, especially of the mini set they created in the beginning to see what the set would look like.After the tour, i headed up to FAO Schwarz. This toy store is amazing! I think it would be one of the funnest places to work at. Depending on what department you were placed in depended on your uniform. The poor guy who got stuck in the harry potter area had to dress like a hogwarts student :-P
I decided to make my muppet whatnot today.. and had a blast doing so. Took me forever to decide what i wanted to do.. was hoping to make a black haired green muppet so that i could make an elphie costume.. but they sold out of long black hair! Grr.. not cool. Decided to try and make a version of me as a puppet. So i was green, red and white eyes, purple nose, blonde hair and a red hoodie. Bonus was i got to keep my creator kit.. full of reusable stickers and puppet outlines.
Then headed to the Apple store near central park.. next door to FAO Schwarz. The coolest thing is the entire apple store is underground! You walk into a glass box, down a clear stairway and you're there.Started to walk back to the hostel and came across all the big label stores which was cool. Passed Trump Towers, Rockafella Centre, Radio City Hall, NBC studios, barnes and nobel.. the list goes on!
Got back to the hostel and relaxed for a bit.. my legs were so sore. Then got ready to head back to the theatre to see the evening performance of Wicked.
Th production of Wicked here is so well done. Haven't watched a bootleg of the latest cast (09 before change) in a while, so it was like i was seeing the show for the first time again. The way in which they do some of the scenes is amazing, should be done the same way around the world if in a permanent theatre. And flying monkeys again!! I love seeing them.. makes me miss them even more.
Katie Rose Clarke is a goddess.. her glinda is out of this world! Her and carmen are still one of my favourite (maybe even my favourite) elphie/glinda combinations. It was only her 3rd day on stage with that production.. so she was so hyper and into her character ;-) I still cannot believe i got to see her! Her popular was totally wack.. jumping everywhere, flicking her leg wild, slamming herself onto the beds when things didn't go her way, loosing the lipstick and giggling the whole time watching it roll away into the orchestra pit.. nuts i tell you! Nuts!I also got to see about 10 new costumes that night.. many were swing costumes.. fabulous as ever! 2 new mob outfits, 3 school outfits, 4 OSD outfits, new ballroom gown.. i think emma
delmenico is right.. the swings have the best costumes ever ;-)Overall, i think i saw maybe 35 new costumes (50 all up if you count variations of current designs) during my trip.
After the show, headed to stage door. Before i left i was told to watch out for the stage door being busy.. for a sat night, it was nothing! there were maybe about 5 people tops there.. i think the busiest wicked stage door i've been to on my trip was stuttgart, but the busiest overall would have to be melbourne.
Got my poster signed (as much as i could) and got photos when it was possible. Everyone was so nice, were willing to stick around for a chat.Then decided to head home. Walked back to the hostel, jumped into bed as i had a big day planned the next morning..
(there is still a stack to add to this.. but i will be late to a concert tonight if i stick around)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
New York, New York..
Back on a plane early that morning.. caught first train to the airport, then sat around the terminal for 3 hours waiting for my flight. Had some loose change after buying breakfast (damn exchange places don't take coins) so i bought a box of lego.. haha, now i am addicted to the stuff again!
Jumped onto my flight to Zurich, very quick flight. Then it was a race against time to get to my connecting flight to the US. Trying to get through transfers and security was horrible.. again like heathrow, had to strip to nothing.. then had to be researched at the gate before getting onto the flight.
Because i didn't check-in online, i got the final row of the plane for my seat. Only bonus was no one was next to me! So i could spread out somewhat on the flight. Damn entertainment though was broken and they had to keep on resetting it.. so i didn't get to watch much on the flight over. That was annoying as the people in front of me were so loud! They were a big group coming over for an ice hockey match from what i could tell.
But what was working well was the music on the entertainment system. It was such a sign.. they had a music channel called 'We Will Rock You' - a mix of Queen's greatest hits. It was so much fun hearing the songs and relating them back to the show.. haha
I finally arrived in New York, got through customs so easily.. the guy who checked me through was classic. So many questions about home.. rather than why i was coming to the US haha
Decided to get a shuttle bus to my hostel as i was told that getting a train would be cheaper, but harder as i had 2 big bags. The shuttle should have been easy.. instead i had a rude driver, 5 other people in the van who were so impatient, lots of traffic... took 3 hours to get from the airport to my hostel.
The hostel staff were really nice and told me that that company i came with were unreliable.. so next time i will try a different one.
Headed straight to Times Square to see what it was like. OMG.. it is such an experience. It is so hard to describe what i felt when i walked there. Lights everywhere.. traffic everywhere.. so many people walking around.
Had to hunt down a travel adapter for my laptop and a sim card for my phone as my optus sim for some reason wouldn't work. Discovered in the end that it was not just my sim.. but also my phone that wouldn't work. So now i am on a new phone and sim.. so if you try to message me, it won't work as i have an american number. Damn prepaid.. now i get charged more than 10c to send a message and more than 5c to receive one.
Went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It's such a crazy place! I miss the one in Melbourne. The girl who served me was so nice. Felt odd though having dinner on my own.. yet again.
Headed back to the hostel and jumped online for a bit to organise the next day.
Jumped onto my flight to Zurich, very quick flight. Then it was a race against time to get to my connecting flight to the US. Trying to get through transfers and security was horrible.. again like heathrow, had to strip to nothing.. then had to be researched at the gate before getting onto the flight.
Because i didn't check-in online, i got the final row of the plane for my seat. Only bonus was no one was next to me! So i could spread out somewhat on the flight. Damn entertainment though was broken and they had to keep on resetting it.. so i didn't get to watch much on the flight over. That was annoying as the people in front of me were so loud! They were a big group coming over for an ice hockey match from what i could tell.
But what was working well was the music on the entertainment system. It was such a sign.. they had a music channel called 'We Will Rock You' - a mix of Queen's greatest hits. It was so much fun hearing the songs and relating them back to the show.. haha
I finally arrived in New York, got through customs so easily.. the guy who checked me through was classic. So many questions about home.. rather than why i was coming to the US haha
Decided to get a shuttle bus to my hostel as i was told that getting a train would be cheaper, but harder as i had 2 big bags. The shuttle should have been easy.. instead i had a rude driver, 5 other people in the van who were so impatient, lots of traffic... took 3 hours to get from the airport to my hostel.
The hostel staff were really nice and told me that that company i came with were unreliable.. so next time i will try a different one.
Headed straight to Times Square to see what it was like. OMG.. it is such an experience. It is so hard to describe what i felt when i walked there. Lights everywhere.. traffic everywhere.. so many people walking around.
Had to hunt down a travel adapter for my laptop and a sim card for my phone as my optus sim for some reason wouldn't work. Discovered in the end that it was not just my sim.. but also my phone that wouldn't work. So now i am on a new phone and sim.. so if you try to message me, it won't work as i have an american number. Damn prepaid.. now i get charged more than 10c to send a message and more than 5c to receive one.
Went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. It's such a crazy place! I miss the one in Melbourne. The girl who served me was so nice. Felt odd though having dinner on my own.. yet again.
Headed back to the hostel and jumped online for a bit to organise the next day.
Back to Stuttgart..
Was up early to get my shuttle bus to Heathrow.
Security has been bumped up so much since that incident after christmas on the london to US flight.
Went through check-in as normal, but getting through security was a bitch (sorry.. but it's true!)
Apart from having to remove my laptop from my bag, empty my pockets, remove all jackets till i was wearing a shirt, remove hat.. i had to take off my belt and shoes as well. I thought they were going to ask me to remove my jeans next as they have metal on them.. haha
And this was just to get a flight back to Germany!
After taking nearly an hour to get through security, i finally got onto my flight. Fell asleep.. but woke up as breakfast was being served. But she wouldn't serve me! She had just finished serving my line of seats when i woke up and moved onto the next lot, so i asked if i could have something and she ignored me. So the guy next to me asked and she said no because she had already served everyone. So rude..
Arrived in Stuttgart (after an hour's delay in london, technical fault with the plane), jumped on a train and headed to the hostel. Thought i would be able to drop off my bags and head into the city since check-in wasn't till 2pm.. the reception was closed! I was suddenly stranded in stuttgart with 2 bags in the snow and no where to go. Ended up having to return back to the airport to get money and food, then headed back to the hostel 3 hours later to check in.
Finally checked in.. then headed into the city for a bit. Then back to the hostel to get ready for my early flight to NY.
Security has been bumped up so much since that incident after christmas on the london to US flight.
Went through check-in as normal, but getting through security was a bitch (sorry.. but it's true!)
Apart from having to remove my laptop from my bag, empty my pockets, remove all jackets till i was wearing a shirt, remove hat.. i had to take off my belt and shoes as well. I thought they were going to ask me to remove my jeans next as they have metal on them.. haha
And this was just to get a flight back to Germany!
After taking nearly an hour to get through security, i finally got onto my flight. Fell asleep.. but woke up as breakfast was being served. But she wouldn't serve me! She had just finished serving my line of seats when i woke up and moved onto the next lot, so i asked if i could have something and she ignored me. So the guy next to me asked and she said no because she had already served everyone. So rude..
Arrived in Stuttgart (after an hour's delay in london, technical fault with the plane), jumped on a train and headed to the hostel. Thought i would be able to drop off my bags and head into the city since check-in wasn't till 2pm.. the reception was closed! I was suddenly stranded in stuttgart with 2 bags in the snow and no where to go. Ended up having to return back to the airport to get money and food, then headed back to the hostel 3 hours later to check in.
Finally checked in.. then headed into the city for a bit. Then back to the hostel to get ready for my early flight to NY.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
What an experience..
Today was such an amazing day to end my trip in London.
It first started with having to line up
in the snow for nearly an hour to get a ticket for the front row to Wicked matinee today.. I was successful. Sat 2 seats across and one row forward from where i sat last time.
Headed back to the hostel, had a bite to eat then relaxed for a bit before the show.
This time the only change was an understudy on for Nessa. Sadly i missed out on seeing Ash but i was so happy to see Alexia again. And their morrible here is wonderful!
Poor thing has a busted wrist (reason she was away last time i was here) and has to wear a brace.. the witty costume department have created covers for her brace in the fabric of her own costumes to 'hide' it.. so smart! ;-)
After wicked, went out for a drink with Jake, a friend of mum's friend who works for a big producer here in London. Was an interesting chat.
Then headed out for drinks and a quick bite to eat with my cousin Jay and his partner Simone. So glad i could catch up with them this time.. missed out over christmas.
After drinks with them, i quickly headed back over to WWRY to catch Peter with my poster, but
i ended up seeing Hannah (company manager) who took me backstage. Sadly i missed out on a full tour (since they had 2 intruders break in during the show today.. so security was tight) but it was made up for by having drinks with Hannah and the cast after the show. Peter dropped off my poster but had to head home.. but i am so grateful for him getting it signed for me :-)
We plan to keep in touch, so hopefully when i come back we can have a drink after the show :-)
Sent an hour talking to hannah about the industry and hearing her views on the best way to enter :-)
It first started with having to line up
in the snow for nearly an hour to get a ticket for the front row to Wicked matinee today.. I was successful. Sat 2 seats across and one row forward from where i sat last time.Headed back to the hostel, had a bite to eat then relaxed for a bit before the show.
This time the only change was an understudy on for Nessa. Sadly i missed out on seeing Ash but i was so happy to see Alexia again. And their morrible here is wonderful!
Poor thing has a busted wrist (reason she was away last time i was here) and has to wear a brace.. the witty costume department have created covers for her brace in the fabric of her own costumes to 'hide' it.. so smart! ;-)
After wicked, went out for a drink with Jake, a friend of mum's friend who works for a big producer here in London. Was an interesting chat.Then headed out for drinks and a quick bite to eat with my cousin Jay and his partner Simone. So glad i could catch up with them this time.. missed out over christmas.
After drinks with them, i quickly headed back over to WWRY to catch Peter with my poster, but
i ended up seeing Hannah (company manager) who took me backstage. Sadly i missed out on a full tour (since they had 2 intruders break in during the show today.. so security was tight) but it was made up for by having drinks with Hannah and the cast after the show. Peter dropped off my poster but had to head home.. but i am so grateful for him getting it signed for me :-)We plan to keep in touch, so hopefully when i come back we can have a drink after the show :-)
Sent an hour talking to hannah about the industry and hearing her views on the best way to enter :-)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
25 years and still going strong..
25 years since Les Miserables graced the stage in London for the first time.. known as the world's longest running musical/stage production.. ever!
But before i go on about the show.. back to my day.
Started with yet ANOTHER sleep-in (gotta love relaxing in London).. until it was interrupted by fire alarm testing in the hostel (they test every tues morning). I knew this would happen.. but
the other 3 girls in my room didn't, so they got a big shock when they went off.
Went off to the hostel kitchen for breakfast, but this time armed with my new book 'The Wicked Truth'. I haven't been able to put this book down all day! Already nearly 1/2 way through it! It's an amazing read.. it's about seeing wicked in 'another view', explored the politics and theories that arise thoughout the story.. it is so true what a lot of the book has to say about characters (eg. why do the ozians feel that they have to celebrate the death of the wicked witch? why do they ask glinda the question of friendship if they know it will change their views and make them feel guilty about the situation?).. really makes you think about the story in a different way.
After breakfast, jumped online for a bit, then had a much needed shower. Got toasty warm then headed out into the miserable weather. No rain, but very cloudy which meant icy cold winds.
Decided to see what was on theatre wise since the movie i wanted to see (The Princess and the Frog) didn't open in London till the 29th of Jan.. grr. Went to the Les Mis ticket box and checked out what was available. I could either buy a seat in the stalls for full price, or risk it all and try for a student priced ticket one hour before the show. I decided to try for the student ticket. Wandered around piccadilly for a bit, hit starbucks for a much needed muffin, hot chocolate (with cream.. i'm addicted!) and read of my book, then back to the hostel for a rest. The rest never happened.. decided to try sims 3 again which resulted in my laptop freezing, then dying which wasn't cool.
Headed back to the box office to see if they had any tickets available (if not, i was prepared for the quick but long dash to the dominion for a WWRY ticket) and i was able to get a student ticket in the dress circle, row D seat 18.
Then across the road to a chinese restaraunt where in record time (i think maybe 25 mins max) ate a plate of prawn crackers, special fried rice, chicken in honey and lemon sauce.. all washed down with a glass of lemonade. Then back over to the theatre, bought my program/photo book/poster and headed to my seat.
Had 2 understudies on for the night. The entire cast were amazing.. such powerful voices!
The musical as a whole has really evolved over time with the changes in sets.. the production here now has a rotating floor and 2 major set pieces that can fold into other shapes for different scenes.. it was a techies heaven! haha
I knew the story and the songs, but being able to see it live was breathtaking.. so emotional.. so depressing!
The first thought that came into my head after 5 mins was 'why am i seeing such a depressing show? why am i not at WWRY dancing?'.. but i knew how much i had wanted to see this show when i was hear last (feels odd to say that) and was happy that i got the chance today to see it.
I enjoyed seeing a different type of musical.. was a good chance to relax and enjoy it for what it was. No wonder this show is into its 25th year.. it touches something inside of everyone who has seen it, really makes you sit and think not only about the characters and their lives, but your own too.
A few technical problems for the night (one big one which bugged a lot of people in the dress circle including me.. but i wont bore you with it).. but overall, an amazing performance :-)
Was hesitant to stage door as Peter from WWRY had my 2 good silver and bronze pens, but i thought i'd try with my black pen anyway and see if it was visible. Met a few of the cast members which was good.. and they were nice enough to sign my poster. One even said to come
back and do my uni placement with the show!
Funny thing was, when i was at stage door.. this girl overhead me talking to one of the cast members about being australian and she asked me if i was Elizabeth and if i went to La Trobe.. umm.. what? She said she knew me from somewhere.. but couldn't remember where..
Lol, that is now the second time i have been recognised at stage door by someone. Am i famous and not know it??
But before i go on about the show.. back to my day.
Started with yet ANOTHER sleep-in (gotta love relaxing in London).. until it was interrupted by fire alarm testing in the hostel (they test every tues morning). I knew this would happen.. but
the other 3 girls in my room didn't, so they got a big shock when they went off.Went off to the hostel kitchen for breakfast, but this time armed with my new book 'The Wicked Truth'. I haven't been able to put this book down all day! Already nearly 1/2 way through it! It's an amazing read.. it's about seeing wicked in 'another view', explored the politics and theories that arise thoughout the story.. it is so true what a lot of the book has to say about characters (eg. why do the ozians feel that they have to celebrate the death of the wicked witch? why do they ask glinda the question of friendship if they know it will change their views and make them feel guilty about the situation?).. really makes you think about the story in a different way.
After breakfast, jumped online for a bit, then had a much needed shower. Got toasty warm then headed out into the miserable weather. No rain, but very cloudy which meant icy cold winds.
Decided to see what was on theatre wise since the movie i wanted to see (The Princess and the Frog) didn't open in London till the 29th of Jan.. grr. Went to the Les Mis ticket box and checked out what was available. I could either buy a seat in the stalls for full price, or risk it all and try for a student priced ticket one hour before the show. I decided to try for the student ticket. Wandered around piccadilly for a bit, hit starbucks for a much needed muffin, hot chocolate (with cream.. i'm addicted!) and read of my book, then back to the hostel for a rest. The rest never happened.. decided to try sims 3 again which resulted in my laptop freezing, then dying which wasn't cool.
Headed back to the box office to see if they had any tickets available (if not, i was prepared for the quick but long dash to the dominion for a WWRY ticket) and i was able to get a student ticket in the dress circle, row D seat 18.Then across the road to a chinese restaraunt where in record time (i think maybe 25 mins max) ate a plate of prawn crackers, special fried rice, chicken in honey and lemon sauce.. all washed down with a glass of lemonade. Then back over to the theatre, bought my program/photo book/poster and headed to my seat.
Had 2 understudies on for the night. The entire cast were amazing.. such powerful voices!
The musical as a whole has really evolved over time with the changes in sets.. the production here now has a rotating floor and 2 major set pieces that can fold into other shapes for different scenes.. it was a techies heaven! haha
I knew the story and the songs, but being able to see it live was breathtaking.. so emotional.. so depressing!
The first thought that came into my head after 5 mins was 'why am i seeing such a depressing show? why am i not at WWRY dancing?'.. but i knew how much i had wanted to see this show when i was hear last (feels odd to say that) and was happy that i got the chance today to see it.
I enjoyed seeing a different type of musical.. was a good chance to relax and enjoy it for what it was. No wonder this show is into its 25th year.. it touches something inside of everyone who has seen it, really makes you sit and think not only about the characters and their lives, but your own too.
A few technical problems for the night (one big one which bugged a lot of people in the dress circle including me.. but i wont bore you with it).. but overall, an amazing performance :-)
Was hesitant to stage door as Peter from WWRY had my 2 good silver and bronze pens, but i thought i'd try with my black pen anyway and see if it was visible. Met a few of the cast members which was good.. and they were nice enough to sign my poster. One even said to come
back and do my uni placement with the show!Funny thing was, when i was at stage door.. this girl overhead me talking to one of the cast members about being australian and she asked me if i was Elizabeth and if i went to La Trobe.. umm.. what? She said she knew me from somewhere.. but couldn't remember where..
Lol, that is now the second time i have been recognised at stage door by someone. Am i famous and not know it??
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