In April I found out that Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty would be premiering in New York. Check out the trailer and see for yourself why I was so excited:
So I planned a trip with my Mom. I bought the ballet tickets first and then we both kept our eyes peeled for cheap flights. I flew out Thursday, Oct 24th and met my Mom.
It was a beautiful sight flying over the city at night. We stayed at a airport hotel and then went into Manhattan the next morning.
I went right to STEPS on Broadway and took ballet class. It was wonderful.
Then I met my Mom at Serendipity for lunch and frozen hot chocolate! Yum! We went shopping at Bloomingdales and random antique shops. Then we went to our hotel to change for dinner and the ballet.
We had reservations at Kin Shop ( Harold, winner to Top Chef's restaurant) for dinner.
Yellowtail Ceviche...ah-mazing!
I forget what this duck dish was called but it was so delicious!
We left dinner and headed over to the City Center via the subway. I was so proud of myself for figuring it out and not getting lost that I walked, face first, into the turnstile exit. This is a picture of my mom who could not stop laughing...
The City Center.
The ballet was amazing! I loved every second of it. It was very contemporary but worked so well with the classical music. The twist on the story and it's gothic nature actually made more sense than the original Sleeping Beauty story. The costumes were also fabulous.
After, we walked around Times Square and stopped at the Carnegie Deli for some cheesecake (my favorite) and to pick up some food for my brother who was on his way down from Syracuse. (He had applied to law school when we planned the trip and it worked out so well that he ended up going to law school in NY and could come meet us.)
We woke up later than we had planned on Saturday but we still packed so much in to the day. My brother and I walked over to the Empire State Building which was just 2 blocks from our hotel. It was a beautiful day to look over the city from the top of the building. However, we lost track of time...right after we walked out onto the observation deck (after standing in line for almost an hour) we heard someone calling our names! It was the manager of the Empire State Building with my Mom. She realized that we were going to be late for Wicked and wanted us to come down asap. So, the manager wrote on our tickets that we could come back later and put us in a cab.
We made it to Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre 2 minutes before they closed the doors.
Wicked was fabulous and funny. I cried when Elphaba sang "Defying Gravity" because that song will forever remind me of Amelia.
We walked around for a bit to find some place to eat.
We ended up eating at a random little café because all of the "famous" places had huge waits but I was ok with it because their pasta puttanesca was to die for!
After dinner we weren't sure what to do. We went to the half price ticket place in Times Square to see about going to another show but everything we asked about (Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Newsies) was really expensive. As we were walking to find the subway we walked passed a smaller theatre and saw this sign:
We are all HUGE Psych fans so we walked back to the half-price ticket place and got tickets for "After Midnight" a new show about the music and dance of Harlem at night. Fantasia was wonderful and Dule Hill was the highlight of the show for me. He sang and tap danced. There were even some guys from So You Think You Can Dance in it. After, we hung out by the stage door for a bit and got to meet Dule Hill! He was so friendly. He signed autographs and took pictures with everyone who had waited to see him.
This picture was the cherry on top of my weekend!
After the show, it was late, but we were hungry and we couldn't pass up some NY style pizza!
On the way back to the hotel we remembered that we could go back to the Empire State Building! So at 12:30am we went back up to the top! If you go, got at that time when there are no lines and you can jump on the elevator :)
It is just as windy at night!
The next morning was sunday and we had flights to catch but we went to sacrament meeting and saw the Manhattan Temple.
I really miss having my family close by!
As I was sitting on the plane, I was on my phone and saw that Dule Hill responded to my tweet about meeting him! What a nice guy to take the time to respond to a fan! I like him even more now!
The weekend really was perfect, but I'm so glad I had these guys to come home to!
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