Promises Promises

It has become a ritual between my girlfriend Caroline and I that when we come to New York, or even London for that matter, we go see a show on Broadway (or West End). My reluctance is firmly on record and so we tend to go see something that I can cope with. Everytime we go with a list of things I actually want to see, which is usually short, very short. We also then have a list of things I don't mind, usually classics like Grease or Mary Poppins. Then there is the 3rd list, which is the definite no list. This features things like Hairspray. This years yes list was topped by Promises Promises. It was a yes primarily because of Kristin Chenowith. She first came to my attention as Olive Snook in Pushing Daisies where she was so cute and adorable! When I realised that the play was based on Billy Wilder's 'The Apartment' I was delighted. A classic comedy, performed by one of the most respected musical theatre performers around? Even I could cope with that. Sean Hayes (Jack from Will & Grace) was actually playing the lead role, Chuck Baxter. Hayes is a performer who I have seen very little of outside of W&G and a one episode appearance in Scrubs. He was excellent as the put upon Baxter, giving up his apartment in hopes of a promotion. Chenowith didn't have too much acting to do in the role, but she had a couple of big song and dance numbers, which she pulled off with some aplomb. Best of all though was Katie Finnernan, bursting through into the 2nd half like a whirlwind of scene stealing mayhem. The show was fun and diverting but for me the only thing to come out of it would be that Sean Hayes is actually a very talented actor with great physical timing, that Katie Finnernan should be a massive star, and that Kristin Chenowith is still adorable. Also, the seats in the theatre were tiny and I spent most of the evening with my legs all pretzel like.
In short, the show was very enjoyable but felt very dated, even though clearly still set in the 60's. Definitaly worth a watch but I certainly wouldn't pay the full $240 they were charging for seats. I give it a solid B.

New York, I Love You...

So, we booked our trip to New York last night. Looking forward to going back, seeing a few different things. It will be nice to go back and not have to do the basics again, Caroline has now been before. Means we can explore a litle more.
On the agenda for this time will be: Chelsea and the Village, NYU campus and surrounding area, Tribeca, AMC in Times Square (The A-Team movie comes out while we are there!), Radio City and this time we will actually do the NBC tour. This might be the bit I'm most excited about. Visiting the SNL set, which I have become a massive fan of over the last year or so, will be amazing. NBC is much maligned, having just gone through the Jay Leno/Conan O'Brien shambles, however, they also make the aforementioned SNL, 30 Rock, Community, Chuck and Heroes. They also made Scrubs and Lost! So I cut them some slack, plus they do really good T-Shirts. I fully intend to visit the NBC shop, stock up, then the HBO shop, stock up!
Hopefully we will find time to explore the boroughs a little, there is an amazing wrestling shop in Flushing I would love to hit up.
Not sure what kind of show we will go see this year, I'm sure we will see one, just got to narow the list down. Avenue Q last year was great, not sure there is much else around that I fancy. Either way, I'm very excited to be going, would love there to be a wrestling show somewhere nearby we can go to, not been to a live one in ages.
Well, off I go to organise myself for our London trip...