So the second day of The-Grand-Birthday-Weekend-with-Ariel, being Saturday, found Ariel and me standing outside of the Al Hirschfeld Theatre waiting for the clock to strike 10 a.m. EST.
The night before, my good friend and Ohio Columbus Mission-mate Steve Fuller, who is out here with his wife for a marketing internship with the New Jersey Nets, contacted me, and we hatched this plan to see a broadway show with our wives. Steve's a big fan of Broadway. He, with his wife Kylie, saw 26 shows last summer.
We chose Playbill's most recent addition "How to Succeed in Business w/o Really Trying" featuring Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette (I remember him from Richie Rich). He gave us the low down on the art of "rushing" or getting to the theater the day of in hopes to score cheap tickets.
Steve and Kylie wanted to see two plays, but we only wanted to see one. We stood in line for "How to Succeed" seeking four tickets. and the Fullers stood in line for "Sister Act." We got four tickets, but unfortunately they didn't get any.
We reconvened, snagged breakfast and then wandered around Times Square waiting for the Wicked raffle.
As Wicked is the hottest thing on broadway, maybe next to The Book of Mormon, there is a raffle set up to give out discount tickets. There are no rushing policies or freebies of any sorts. The raffle is it, which happens everytime there is a show. They sift through the names and pick out twenty or so lucky winners that then get the option of purchasing two front-row tickets at $25 a piece.
Steve convinced me to try. I didn't really want to see two plays in one day; however, my wife really wanted to see Wicked, so I thought we would just try, fail and then say we at least tried it. We hit the line for the matinee raffle, and all four of us entered our name. Since the Fuller duo had already seen it they encouraged us to come and if they won, they would allow us to buy their tickets. Thinking we wouldn't win we entered our names.
We won.
Well, Kylie won. But if one follows a logical series from A to B to C, "we won" would be C.
Her's was the second name called. She freaked. We freaked. Everyone else was just a little bit more disappointed. She was more than happy to part with the tickets, but she wanted to keep the little green button that said, "I won the Wicked lottery!" I thought the trade off was more than fair.
Following our victory of chance, we followed Steve and Kylie into the biggest Toys"R"Us I've ever seen. Five floors and a ferris wheel ("Five Floors and a Ferris Wheel" would make a great name for a punk band). Steve and I acted like little kids and the girls got to go into the two-story Barbie house.
Here are photos.
The Ferris Wheel
Yes, those are gigantic Lego buildings and that's a life size Jurassic Park T-Rex
What's the problem, ma'am?
Nice leg warmers. Nice ascot.
After kid heaven we booked it back to the theater.
Wicked was phenomenal. And there is just nothing like sitting in the very front row. You don't have anyone else in front of you. No one's moving their head. No kid is jumping up and down in the seat. People are distracting, moving or blocking your vision. There was just a couple feet of great music spewing from the underground orchestra box between us and the action.
In fact, at one spot, Elphaba comes over to the front of the stage and opens a trap door to yell at Dorothy. At that point I could have leaned forward and easily slapped her pointy black hat right off of her head. I didn't. But I could have.
Seeing that play was a great birthday present from the Fullers and an awesome experience with my wife.
Post Wicked, Ariel and I jumped aboard a southbound train and headed to SoHo. Steve and Kylie snagged a table for four at Lombardi's, the oldest pizzeria in America, and despite the waitress's evil glares, sat down and ordered before the rest of the party showed up. We arrived right before the pizza came out. I don't know what that waitress was going on about, but our service remained subpar for the rest of the evening.
In the pizza war, Mariella's wins in price, but Lombardi's wins in quality. The ingredients are fresh and for $16 for a 14" that can feed two, it's a pretty good deal. We conquered a large pepperoni while we laughed.
Right after pizza, we walked across the street to Stevie F.'s favorite find, Rice to Riches. It's a rice pudding place. It was actually very, very delicious. It was like a frozen yogurt place that sold rice pudding. Very trendy with really clever marketing.
Post pudding we strolled along down to Chinatown dodging little Asian ladies saying "Hanbag, hanbag, Prada, Gucci, hanbag," and then headed up Broadway popping in and out of SoHo shops.
An Uptown-bound train took us back to the Herschfeld where Ariel and I enjoyed another wonderful production with two very good friends.
The play was fabulous. Radcliffe really surprised me. This role proves a third dimension to his acting capabilities. Ariel laughed hysterically when he and Larroquette sang "Stand Old Ivy." The choreography on that number was crisp and very enjoyable. Though there are differences from the movie, which I am used to, I felt the overall production was a joy of a time.
So, two Broadway shows (one front row) with my wife for $110. Pizza from the first pizzeria, and exquisite rice pudding. Company with Steve and his lovely wife. I couldn't have asked for more. A great second installment to an unforgettable weekend, the day was marvelous.
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