A Hammer and a Nail: On Broadway

After arriving safely in the city via the bus and enjoying the sights a bit, we found our location for the Broadway Workshop. It was inside this ramshackle looking building that we wound up and through in dark, narrow staircases. Once there, we were greeted, placed in this room, and introduced to Kason or Jason (I though the former, the girls thought the latter). He was our instructor and pianist. They began with some introduction about the musical, "The Phantom of the Opera" and began working on a medley of songs from it after they were divided into parts. Mr. T asked me what part I sang. I didn't really know and asked The Scribbler who looked at me with a blank face, before saying, "uh.....alto?" That was convincing, huh? I opted to take the pictures and videotape-I don't sing well :) Seems like my daughter would agree.

It was great fun to hear them respond to his instructions and sing the songs. He was great with the group and was impressed with their quick learning and behavior.

I took most of my pictures and video from this corner. You will notice this especially when you listen to the video as you can hear very well the bass and Phineas's dad's strong voice pictured in the right forefront above.

Later, Kris showed up to sing Christine's solo part. She has a "small part, BIG dress" in the musical, but is also the understudy for Christine. She spent time going over all of the words in the song, concentrating on the accents of the words which was a cross between proper British and American, something they call Mid-Atlantic (if there were an island in the midatlantic!). She commented on their ability to learn the accents so quickly and was told they had had some instruction on proper British accents in a linguistics class. After they sang the song from start to finish (hear below in three parts), she asked if anyone wanted to sing the solo part, but no one did (although one guy offered to do it :)). They were amazing to hear. I thought they did so well and I loved listening to them. Wait until you hear it too!

After our workshop, we were free until the Broadway matinee at 2. As we walked around, we began to feel more comfortable with how the streets were set up and had a better sense of direction about how to find our way.

We began looking for a place to eat. One option recommended to us by a local seemed a bit expensive to us so we ended up having gyros in a small local place. Most of the restaraunts were small, but well kept and very ethnic. They were cleaner than I expected too and everyone was so friendly. The Amish market was right across the street so I took Farmer Girl over there as she isn't fond of Middle Eastern food. She had an incredible sandwich that she still craves to eat again. It was the neatest little market and had everything!

The group enjoying their "stuffed" gyros.

After filling up, we walked to the Majestic Theatre with tickets in hand and queued up in a rather long line for the Phantom. Our seats were very high and the seats were steep so we looked down on the stage. We bought a special $10 program as well as posters (after the performance) that didn't travel well at all. The performance was AMAZING. We love this musical and it's music and seeing it on stage was wonderful. I missed Kris as she walked across the stage (there is so much to look at all at once!) in her BIG dress. We were able to find her afterwards though and got our picture taken with her (see below). She was very nice and it's neat to "know" someone on Broadway :)
Before we left on our trip, we watched this hilarious comedian talk about what to wear in New York so that you fit in. It was all about Pashminias and how to wear them (aka scarfs). Well, I wear one a LOT and my friend found some at a street vendor for only $5. She showed them to me at the play so we went immediately to the corner to find them after the play. As it turns out, they were actually 5 for $20!!! Everyone was scrambling to grab some in all the colors. I ended up buying several intending them for gifts, but I love all of them and can't decide which ones to give away! After the mad dash for scarfs, we wandered around some more and did some souvenir shopping. We got some great shots of the girls and their friends on Broadway. (Sorry once again about the sideways shots-can anyone tell me how to flip them? It doesn't seem to work no matter what I try....used to work.......Gueess I should quit taking sideways shots!)
Please enjoy the pictures and the music below. More later. Ellie~