Thursday, September 21, 2017

A Weekend Trip - Pat II - A New York State of Mind

I often refer to my pal, Bill Montrose, as The Official Broadway Correspondent to The Grandstander.  His annual Tony Award predictions, which are dead on accurate more often than not, are a regular feature of this blog.  Last year, Bill urged that Marilyn and I come out to visit Joanne and him, select a Broadway show that we would like to see, and then follow his normal routine: drive to Weehawken, NJ, ferry across he Hudson, take a bus into the Times Square/Broadway area, see a show, have dinner, and head home.

So it was that several months ago, we selected the show we wanted to see....


....and the date, last weekend, finally rolled around.

The day unfolded exactly as Bill described that it would.  We took the ferry across the Hudson on a foggy Sunday morning, which put me in that Billy Joel New York state of mind.


We had a terrific brunch at a place called Blue Fin...


We then walked a bit to soak up the atmosphere, which included taking some typical touristy photos....

 Rockefeller Center

 Self-explanatory


 Yep, that ball is still there from last New Year's Eve!

I gave my regards to Broadway.  Funny, but the statue doesn't look  thing like Jimmy Cagney.

As I mentioned, the show we saw was "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" at the Stephen Sondheim Theater.


We took the now obligatory selfie 'neath the marquis.


And really, really enjoyed those eighth row seats that Bill scored for us.


I will write more about the show in another post, but I will say here that it was just fabulous.  A wonderful, wonderful show, with great performances and music.

This was my first visit to the heart of New York City since 1983, when I spent a week there for my employer at the time.  Perhaps it is a function of age, but I was completely overwhelmed by it.  So many people, so much traffic....and on a Sunday afternoon! It was exciting, it was energetic, it was nerve-wracking, and it was overwhelming.  I was glad that we were with people who knew their way around.  I would have been paralyzed if I was there on my own.  We were in the City for about a total of ten hours, and it was just a wonderful, or should I say, a "Beautiful" experience.

We topped off the evening with dinner here...


....where we were joined  by Bill and Joanne's son, Michael, and his wife, Jamie, who live in Brooklyn.  It was so nice to meet them.  And the restaurant even managed to note Marilyn's birthday:


What an experience!  Many, many thanks to our hosts for leading the way.

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