My fall "folly" = 14 shows in 5 days

[loliveve]

I survived it, but I think my brain went on theatre over-drive between Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off Broadway... and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. I still need to straighten it all out in my head since I'm supposed to write about some of the shows... but here are the thoughts that I am going to impose upon you all... aka one word to describe each show:

1. Curious Incident... : Intriguing.

2. You Can't Take it with You: Hilarious.

3. Phantom: Disappointment. (because Norm Lewis was out)

4. On the Town: Grand.

5. The Girl Who Came to Supper (Musicals Tonight!): Bubbly.

6. Love Letters (with Carol Burnett/Brian Dennehy): Moving.

7. Radio City Christmas Spectacular: "Sparklejollytwinklejingley"

8. Elephant Man: Compelling.

9. Here Lies Love: THEMOSTAMAZINGEXPERIENCE (I cheated)

10. Side Show: Haunting.

11. The Love Note: Cute.

12. This is Our Youth: Disquietude.

13. Sistas: Umm...

14. Mamma Mia: Fun.

The end If anyone is actually interested I can explain some of these thoughts. Mostly, I think I've learned that many shows in short succession can be mentally exhausting. "Here Lies Love" was like an awesome breath of fresh air in the middle of all that. But, to be honest, I'd do it all again... because I love seeing different kinds of shows when I get the chance to visit NYC!

[Broadwaygirl202]

Wow! That's a lot of shows at one time! I saw 5 shows in 3 days in July and that was the most I had ever seen in one trip. I wish I could see that many shows in such a short amount of time. I hope to go back next year and maybe see a few of these shows (Curious Incident, Side Show, and On the Town).

[loliveve]

Yeah, Saturday and Sunday (when I saw 4 shows each day) were kind of crazy! I'm not sure when I will be able to go back to NYC, so I wanted to theatre hop as much as possible :)

[Mr Roxy]

Folly is the operative word. How you can see 4 shows in a day escapes me. Our neighbor is a theater junkie and constantly goes. Even he could not duplicate this feat

When I really loved theater, I would never even attempt this. Now I go occasionally & I really do not miss it. Sad to say. I never thought I would but strangely I do not miss it as much as I thought.

If it does it for you, so be it.

[loliveve]

I fully admit that it was madness, that's why I called it "folly"

I guess my thought was that if I can sit at home and watch 4 movies in a day while writing or doing some photo editing, I could take in 4 shows in a day! But it was a bit overwhelming to my brain.

[Javi]

Amazing trip!! I think 14 shows in 5 days beats my upcoming 20 shows in 9 days. :)

Glad you had fun! I love fitting in as much theatre as I can when I visit New York because, like you, I don't get there often since I'm in Australia.

Thanks for sharing.

[Phantom4ever]

Love these kind of trips. I wish some shows would add a permanent Friday matinee so theater crazies like us could do two-shows days Wednesday through Sunday. Or if more off-Broadway shows would do a 5pm show.

Right after Christmas I'm doing a 3-night, 8-show trip.

I wonder if you had trouble getting from one theater to another on those 4 show days?

[loliveve]

Javi- 20 shows?! Wow! How long of a trip is it from Australia, by the way?

Phantom4ever- I didn't have any trouble getting from one theatre to the other on the 4-show days I checked the estimated run-times on Playbill.com and each show's website before I booked all the tickets. So on Saturday, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular started at 10 am and was about 100 minutes. My next show was at 2 ("Elephant Man") and was just under 2 hours, which gave me plenty of time to get to the Public Theatre for "Here Lies Love" (about 90 minutes long) at 5 pm. I ended the day at Side Show at 8 pm Sunday it was a little tight between "This is Our Youth" and "Sistas" but I was willing to cut it close (and possibly miss the second show) since I got the ticket for free (via Audience Rewards). But, the show actually started about 10 minutes late so I ended up having plenty of time!

[Javi]

loliveve, it's 14 hours from Sydney to LAX. Then another 5 hours or so to New York. So a long time! :)

I'm lucky that the week that I'm there (Dec 22-31), there are matinees on most days to make up for shows being missed on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Aside from the shows on normal matinee days of Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday, I have a Tuesday matinee for Aladdin, a Friday matinee for Beautiful, a Monday matinee for Pippin and a Tuesday matinee for Gentleman's Guide. So it was just a matter of making a list of all the shows I wanted to see and then seeing when they were playing and organising the best schedule. It was fun...but expensive. :) I need a sugar daddy! Or a sugar granddaddy. LOL

[muscle23ftl]

Glad you got to see "On The Town", it's a must-see!

[nanillo17]

You guys are an impressive bunch. I was in the city last weekend and "only" saw 7 shows in 5 days. Granted, I was with a friend who thought 5 was a lot so there could've been room for more but good to know that my 7 is likely a normal amount. I'll have to plan out a more full schedule next time and see what I can watch.

[PalJoey]

Bra-VO!

[WickdMisrble]

My upcoming week...
Sunday Night-Chicago
Monday-Delicate Balance
Wed. Mat-Matilda
Friday Mat-The River
I may try to squeeeze in Elephant Man Tuesday or Wednesday.

[haterobics]

"Glad you got to see "On The Town", it's a must-see!"

If it's a must-see, what choice did they have?!

Was Sistas added for any reason aside from its ability to be wedged in the middle of two other shows?

[temms]

What was your schedule of shows?!? I'm impressed - I used to do week-long marathons but 14 in 5 days I honestly think is a record. I know you said you did four on Saturday and Sunday, but then you had two-show days the other three? I didn't think such a thing was even possible!

[loliveve]

haterobics: Yeah, I thought that the concept of "Sistas" (incorporating music from the 1930s to now) sounded cool... but I left thinking it missed the mark overall. The talent was there but I just wasn't really into it, which is sad since I really love some of the songs used in the show.

temms- I did see matinees on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. "Phantom" and "Cinderella" have Thursday matinees, and Musicals Tonight always offer Friday matinees.

[choitoy]

I thought my 12 shows in six days last June was fairly crazy (we did spend one day going through the Met in four hours, which really wasn't enough for that place). It was fun but hectic running around seeing four shows on Saturday, starting with a matinee of "Lady Day", then heading down to see "Here Lies Love" at 5, then back uptown to see "After Midnight" at 8, and ending with "Hedwig" at 10:30. It was such a sense of accomplishment when we did it though.

If you find short shows and odd times (the 5:00 show), it can be done.

[loliveve]

wewdie- I tried to respond to your PM, but you have PMs turned off! So to answer your question:

“Curious Incident” was a very interesting story. I did not read the book, so I had no idea what it was about prior to seeing the show, other than the fact that the lead character is supposed to have something like autism (a specific diagnosis is never named in the show). I thought the staging was very clever as it was presented as a grid and things came out of the floor and walls, and I kept wondering how much was hidden. To me, it was a captivating and thought-provoking play.

“On the Town,” in contrast, is just a fun and grand musical. The orchestra is *phenomenal* (I think it has 30 members?) and just hearing the full sound of the score was beautiful. It is a comedy that made me smile and laugh several times, but my mind wandered during a couple segments that went on just a tad bit too long. Regardless, it was a wonderful show and I’d recommend it almost just for hearing that orchestra live! It is truly a spectacular production.

[wewdie]

Thank you so much! I will fix that in my settings. Glad to read your thoughts :)

[bfreak]

@WickdMisrble If you want to see The Elephant Man Tuesday or Wednesday, I'd snatch them up on TodayTix now before they completely sell out and you'll have to pay $169+.