March 2023

 

Birthday gift! Something Rotten. HILARIOUS. 

Brynn made a wreath.

Quotable Sniders

Me: Hey kids, it's Spring Break next week!

Dallin: Then Covid will start!

What a fun memory to always add to Spring Break.

I was at the post office yesterday and a lady in front of me was there to pick up an entire box of LIVE CHICKS. Everyone heard them but we did not see them.

I wanted to see them.

That is all.

I played the piano at a funeral today of a lady I didn't know. But everyone said such lovely things, I wished I knew her.

It got me thinking. What will my kids and grandkids say at my funeral?

One thing they WON'T say at my funeral that I heard today: "Grammy really loved roller coasters!" lol

Does the prefrontal cortex actually close/mature at some point? Does anyone have proof?

NYC Day 4

 We slept in. Because we were tired.

BUT! Since it was Sunday, and they have matinees... of course we went to two shows.

Jon picked all the other shows, and this is the one I picked. Because I love Ben Platt's voice! I was so glad to get to see him live. He was even on stage the ENTIRE intermission. 

Parade is a true crime historical show. Kinda sad but cool too.

Leo Frank - Ben Platt

Lucille Frank - Micaela Diamond

So many others!

For dinner + show, we went to 54 Below, a really cool venue where Broadway singers regularly perform. They do a Sondheim Unplugged concert pretty often. We saw one in 2017 and were excited to go again. Jon lives for Sondheim. 

Host Rob Maitner

Music Director John Fischer

Eric Michael Gillett

Ramona Mallory

Liz McCartney

Lucia Spina

Lauren Blackman

Derrick Cobey

Phumzile Sojola

The next day we flew home! It was such a great trip!

NYC Day 3

 

Look at my face. I am tired. LOL. Even though using the subway is AWESOME you still have to walk a lot. Miles and miles. Plus when Jon plans NYC trips it is go-go-go. We started Day 3 at the temple. It was delightful. 

Then we headed to Strand Bookstore, 828 Broadway, which is a super old lovely bookstore in the East Village. One fun part of visiting NYC is checking out the different areas. They all have their own vibe.

 

Down the block across the street was a cute Mexican restaurant, so we stopped in for lunch. Seriously, FOOD in NYC never disappoints.

Since it was Saturday, of course we saw a matinee. We had both seen the tour of Hadestown in Phoenix, LOVED IT, and Jon saw it on Broadway last year with a friend. But it's so good, we wanted to see it AGAIN. 

Orpheus - Reeve Carney

Eurydice - Eva Noblezada

Persephone - Jewelle Blackman

Hades - Tom Hewitt

Hermes - Lillias White

Fates - Amelia Cormack, Shea Renne, Soara-Joye Ross

Fuel.

Technically this was an "off-broadway" show, but still not very far from the rest. Jon had heard good things about it, so we went. OH MY GOSH we laughed so hard!

Seymour - Matt Doyle

Audrey - Maude Apatow

Orin & Others - Drew Gehling

Mushnik - Brad Oscar

The Voice of Audrey II - Aaron Arnell Harrington

Ronnette, an Urchin - D'Kaylay Unique Whitley

Crystal, an Urchin - Tiffany Renee Thompson

Chiffon, an Urchine - Khadija Sankoh

Go to Day 4 >>>>

NYC Day 2

We started the day by going to the Museum of Broadway, 145 West 45th Street. If you ever go to NYC, you MUST visit this museum! It's so much fun! Purchase tickets ahead of time and allot at least 2-3 hours.

It's close to Times Square, so it's easy to get to. 

As you go through the museum, there are plenty of guides to show you things and talk about stuff. 

 The museum has hand written concept notes, playbills, posters, costumes, props, sets miniatures, video, vignettes, from beginning to present.

 

If you want to keep up on the latest Broadway news, follow Museum of Broadway on social media!

Next we headed to Fox News Studio to get in line to be in the studio audience at GUTFELD! We got free tickets months prior, but on the day of you still have to get in line early because they expect some people not to show up. Plus there are people without tickets at the back of the line. It was a long process to get into the building, get briefed and coached about how to be an audience, then the taping took 30 minutes. It was super fun! Since it was a Friday, they taped the show earlier than normal, which was nice because we had another show to attend in the evening.

For lunch/dinner we headed down the street to eat SOUP DUMPLINGS and they were divine. Dim Sum Palace at 334 W 46th St. So so so good. 

One of the reasons we decided to go to NYC now was to see Aaron Tveit in Mouline Rouge (he was nearing the end of his run in the show). We are so glad we went. HE WAS INCREDIBLE! The show itself was a spectacle. 

After the show he was on stage for a while getting people to donate to Broadway Cares. Two people bid up for the chance to meet him backstage. 

Harold Zidler - Eric Anderson

La Chocolat - Jacqueline B. Arnold

Pierre - Kevin Curtin

Nini - Jessica Lee Goldyn

The Duke of Monroth - David Harris

Arabia - Tasia Jungbauer

Satine - Ashley Loren

Baby Doll - Jeigh Madjus

Santiago - Caleb Marshall-Villarreal

Christian - Aaron Tveit

Toulouse-Lautrec - Andre Ward

Go to Day 3 >>>>>

NYC Day 0 & Day 1

 Almost time for our sleepy (red-eye) flight.

Then we will begin our latest NYC adventure. Ellis Island, many Broadway shows, eating, etc etc.

Yes Jon is still working. He needs this trip.

Since we had been to NYC before, we knew the drill. But there is still so much that we hadn't seen yet, so we were super excited to go back!

Here's a little infographic we made to help others plan their own trips.

After not really sleeping on the flight, we landed in the early AM and dropped off our luggage, then headed to Battery Park to hop on the boat to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. 

We loved it! Super worth it. It takes several hours. So much history! Dress appropriately because you'll be outside a lot. It rained on us and we got pretty cold. 

Your ticket gets you onto both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, so you can pick which one to go on and how much time to spend at each. They have boats coming and going regularly. 

It was so fun to get closer and closer!

Such a cool view. 

Inside the visitor's center, you get to see up close the whole building process. 

Ellis Island. Could have spent all day here!

Tickets please!

Can you imagine?

After we got back to the Battery Park area, we headed to the closest pizza place which had GLUTEN FREE AND VEGAN CHEESE options. Yay. It was tastey. We talked with other tourists, which was fun. Then we charged our phones and rested. 

We took the subway up to Time Square, and we happened to walk by a pop up concert. Who was it? Why, Andrea Bocelli! It was crazy!

If you find this sign in Times Square, there's a little pop up shop next to it that sells Broadway gifts.

We had some time before our evening show, so we stopped at The Drama Book Shop at 266 W 39th St.

This is such a fun spot to look around, shop, and rest. If you go in the back, you can use the restrooms and even take a nap on the comfy couch. 

If you want to visit NYC, you have to go to Broadway shows! Head to Broadway.com to find out about what shows are currently running, plus ticket info. Then head to aviewfrommyseat.com where people upload photos from their seats, so you can get an idea of the view you'll get.

We headed to Broadway for SWEENEY TODD. As we were waiting in line to go inside, Gaten Matarazzo walked by to go into the side door! So cool!

This is one of our most favorite shows. We've seen many different versions. But we HAD to see it with Josh Groban, who was amazing. Annaleigh Ashford as Mrs. Lovett was histerical!

Sweeney Todd - Josh Groban

Mrs. Lovett - Annaleigh Ashford

Anthony - Jordan Fisher

Tobias - Gaten Matarazzo

Beggar Woman - Ruthie Ann Miles 

Johanna - Maria Bilbao 

Judge Turpin - Jamie Jackson 

Beadle Bamford - John Rapson 

Pirelli - Nicolas Christopher 

Go to NYC Day 2 >>>>>>>>>>