Tag Archives: broadway

A Pictures-palooza From the Last Month – Pt 1

Normally, I’d insist on showing absolutely every picture I took….but I realize that will take a lot of time and effort.  So we’ll have to do a bit of editing, although I’m pretty sure it’ll still look as if I posted every picture I took.  What can you do?

It has been a busy month or so, since last I posted, whether it was work or vacation.  Work was especially intense and I can actually see a finish line for this engagement, if that can be believed. Probably shouldn’t jinx myself though, so I’ll leave it at that.

Sat, May 27, 2017: Starting Memorial Day Weekend with La La Land @ the Bowl

During Memorial Day weekend, Larry & I were heading out to New Jersey & NYC to spend the week with friends and family and to be able to attend our niece’s baby naming ceremony.  But before we headed back, I had bought us tickets to the La La Land in Concert @ the Hollywood Bowl….and it was great and a wonderful way to kick off the Hollywood Bowl season.  The kicker in this concert was that the orchestra would play the entire soundtrack while the movie played, and for this, they also included a jazz band, and there was a fantastic piano player who quite deftly played all the Sebastian music.  Pretty great experience, and aided by fireworks that kicked in at various moments in the movie.  Gotta love fireworks!

Sun, May 28:  Flying to Newark

Happily, flying out of LAX in the middle of a long holiday weekend isn’t a complete shitshow, and even while you can’t ever escape traffic at the terminal, we were still able to get in and to the gate pretty easily.  Pro-Tip:  Get yourself Pre-Check.  Everything is easier once that’s accomplished.

I liked these pictures I took right after take-off, looking back at Los Angeles and the area around Rancho Palos Verdes.

That first night, we got picked up by Fran & Joel and hung out at their place, eating some delicious New Jersey pizza.  Then it was time to pass out and hope we could get some sleep.

Mon, May 29:  A Day with Jon, Alyssa, Stacey & Rachel

Our first full day back was going to be spent with the Rausches as we never get to see them.  Plus, the baby naming ceremony for Rachel was the following weekend and that was going to be a hectic, stressful day for them.  So here, we could just relax and have a nice day.    Which we totally did, as we hung out at their house for a while, chatting, having a few drinks, eating lunch, and getting to play with Stacey & Rachel.  We then went to the local zoo!  It may have been kind of dreary and rainy, but it was still fun.  It was back to the house for some more Lego Batman movie watching and games directed by Stacey before we then went to a wonderful dinner with just Jon & Alyssa as Fran & Joel picked up babysitting duties.  In other words, it was a really fun day.

Tues, May 30 – Larry’s Birthday!

So this day was a day with Fran in NYC as well as us starting a temporary hotel stay in the city for a few days to be tourists and enjoy the old neighborhoods a bit.  First on the agenda was heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the UES, as hello, it’s awesome there.  After Fran fearlessly navigated her way there – btw, the city seems to be a whole lot more crowded as lots of streets are under refurbishment? – we walked the few blocks to the Met and took in a few exhibits before heading to the roof.  It’s got a spectacular view of Midtown framed by a tree-top view of Central Park.  See for yourself!

We then had lunch at the Atlantic Grill, which was the restaurant that Larry literally lived right above when he used to live on 76th St.  When you’d walk up to his place, you’d walk right by the windows of the restaurant that faced his building’s little courtyard.  So we were back!  It’s a great seafood restaurant and was a very nice way to celebrate his birthday.

At this point, Fran dropped us off over on the UWS as she headed back to New Jersey, and we then grabbed an Uber to take us to our hotel in Chelsea, the Hyatt House.  It was a fairly new building with just a few rooms per floor as the building is quite narrow, and it didn’t seem very crowded.  Also, it’s in a great location as you’re near Midtown but not quite in it, while also handy to a few subway lines.  Anyway, after checking in and getting settled, we had a show to catch, as Fran had gotten us tickets to see “Kinky Boots” on Broadway.  It’s a fun show about a British shoe company that is down on its luck until it realizes there’s a market for drag queen shoes.  It’s an enjoyable, fun musical with some standout performances, notably by the main queen, Lola, as well as the young owner of the shoe factory, played here by the lead singer of Panic! at the Disco.  A lot of catchy numbers made for a very fun show – definitely recommended.

Afterwards, we walked over to Hell’s Kitchen to grab a meal at one of our favorite places, Five Napkin Burger…so goood.

Our Activity-Filled July 4 Weekend

It’s been one hell of a 4-day weekend – a much needed one, to be sure.  Today, the actual holiday of July 4, is probably going to be the most relaxing day of it all, and that’s absolutely perfect for us.  Stay a while, look at some pictures, as we’ve had some fun activities this weekend!

Friday, July 1

PwC gave us this day off, and after the one-two punch of Wednesday and Thursday, it was a nice luxury.  I made myself exercise in the morning, then I took care of some of the chores that had been backing up, including the sad one of sending off my MacBook Pro for reabsorption back in the Apple ecosystem.  I ended up trading it in for credit as I just do NOT use it anymore.  Well, it did have one lust hurrah for us as it served as the photo montage delivery system during our wedding reception, so thank you MBP!   But alas, your time finally came.

1-DSCN3877

I didn’t do too much exciting stuff though beyond just getting some other shit done at home, as Larry had to work.  But we had activities galore planned for the weekend, so Friday didn’t need to be nuts.  We did get some Din Tai Fung though, so it was a nice capper to the day.

Saturday, July 2

Mom was going to be coming over in the afternoon today as we had tickets to see Beautiful at the Pantages that night, but in the afternoon, Larry and I had tickets to the Rain Room.  So off we went for some culture at LACMA.  We ended up going this day as that was when I could get tickets at a decent time – the Rain Room is quite a hot ticket to get, much like the Infinite Stars thing at the Broad.   One day we’ll hope to be back there and see that.  Anyway, we headed to LACMA and had some fun at our museum stomping grounds, first taking in the Metropolis II exhibit.  It’s always fun to see it and we got there right when it started up.

2016 07 02 – Revisiting Metropolis II at the LACMA

It was a beautiful day for the LACMA, that’s for sure.  This weekend was happily not one of those insane 100-degree onslaughts!

So, off to the Rain Room, which is a relatively new installation that has you walk into a room with rain falling, with the key twist being that as you walk, the rain clears so you don’t get wet.  In theory.  You are instructed to walk quite slowly, but even moving slowly, you’re gonna get dripped on.  It is a pretty neat thing to do though.  I took some pictures and videos, which you can see here. Continue reading Our Activity-Filled July 4 Weekend

Totally Will Be There For This!

It was first just coming back as a concert event for one night only in NYC, but now news is out that Bombshell, the musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe from within the awesome (but long gone) NBC show Smash will be made into a REAL freakin’ show.  I am SOOOO THERE.  It would be interesting to see if any of the actual members from the TV version would come over to headline the role – I think it’s Megan Hilty’s to lose.  OMG it’s like the show is becoming life.

“Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking” + Other Bombshell Faves

I have been going through some kind of Broadway Show phase, which includes updating my “Status of Musicals” rankings to include the last few shows we’ve seen…as well as putting the fictional Bombshell musical from NBC’s Smash.  I absolutely love the music from the show and would happily see a real production of it.  I know that in a post from years ago when Smash was still airing, I posted the Hulu or NBC.com link to the video of “Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking” but it went away after a few weeks as content providers don’t want you to have endless access to content for free, they want you to consume it while ratings can be derived from it.  But fortunately, someone has posted it on Vimeo, and I’m happy to include it here…along with other performances I loved from the series.  And it must be pointed out that the chorus boys in this number are damn fine.

Next up, “20th Century Fox Mambo,” which is an absolute blast to listen to on its own but when you factor in this great staging of it, it takes it to the next level:

This next track is another of my favorites from the series but in the plot of the show, it was kinda dropped as they were going to have a Nat King Cole number but then decided against.  I just love this song to pieces though.  So, here’s “Let’s Start Tomorrow, Tonight“:

“History is Made at Night” is probably my favorite song from Bombshell though, as I can just imagine seeing it performed on a Broadway stage and it being the number that brings the house down.  The chorus just blows everything away and has one of those hooks that you can’t get out of your head for the next day.  MAN!  Someone bring this show to reality!  (Sorry about the attached video – it cuts out for some reason in the middle and there’s no other video I can find of the performance…)

I know that Smash had a bunch of contemporary songs too, but those performances were typically my least-favorite part of the show.  I also didn’t care all that much for the other musical brought in during the second season, The Hit List, as I really was invested in seeing what they did with Megan Hilty’s character, Ivy, and what was done to bring Bombshell to Broadway.  Le sigh.  The show has ended but the soundtrack and Youtube videos keep the show going on!

Visited by Fran and Other Photo Stories

Fran made a Los Angeles visit at precisely the right time, as she was able to be out here while the pretty intense snowstorm / blizzard went on back east.  That storm didn’t end up dumping a ton of snow on NYC and New Jersey but it definitely hit Boston and New England pretty hard.  She was originally due to go home on Monday but because of the storm, she was delayed until today.  I’m glad that she had the chance to stay longer as I really thought she was going to anyway?   I’m posting the pics from the visit that I took below – the last few days we didn’t really take many pics, but what can you do?  Below these Fran pics, I am also posting some random photos that apparently I’ve neglected to post from things like going to the Pantages with mom to see Wicked and the Broad City Season 2 Premiere Party we hosted two weeks ago.  So lazy of me!

22 Jan 2015 – Fran’s Arrival / Dinner at the Dresden

Larry picked Fran up at the airport and took her to a few places before I got home from work, so I don’t have pics from their endeavors going to a bagel place and walking around Sunset Junction.  But I did get the photos going once I got home and then when we went to the Dresden for a fantastic dinner.  It’s still surprising how good the food is while also being very decently priced.

22-Jan-2015 17:22, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 5.0, 10.591mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 400
22-Jan-2015 20:00, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
22-Jan-2015 20:00, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
 

23 Jan 2015 – At the Grove

I was working this day so I entrusted my camera to Larry so he would take pictures.  He actually did good!  They visited Fran’s cousin Kathy over at the Grove in West LA and by all accounts had a memorable time.  When they got back, and when I was at home, we walked over to Esperanza, the restaurant right up Hyperion from here.

23-Jan-2015 12:04, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.005 sec, ISO 200
23-Jan-2015 12:07, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 400
23-Jan-2015 12:09, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 200
 
23-Jan-2015 12:10, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 200
23-Jan-2015 13:59, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.5, 6.699mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 200
23-Jan-2015 13:59, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.5, 6.699mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 200
 
23-Jan-2015 13:59, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.5, 6.699mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 200
23-Jan-2015 14:00, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.5, 6.699mm, 0.006 sec, ISO 200
23-Jan-2015 18:23, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 2000
 
23-Jan-2015 18:24, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 1000
23-Jan-2015 18:25, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 2000
23-Jan-2015 18:25, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 2000
 

24 Jan 2015 – Universal Studios day!

Fran hadn’t been to Universal Studios since the 1970s (or so she claimed!) and was excited to get a chance to go again and see how different it looks now.  It was a perfect day to do this as the weather was spectacular.   We made it to pretty much all the attractions, with Fran being a true sport and getting on everything.  We didn’t make it to the Simpsons Ride, but that’s fine.  We got on the Studio Tour which was entertaining as hell and slightly different than other times I’ve been on it – it seems that’s the case for every time you go on it that it will be slightly different.  Also went on Minion Mayhem, Shrek 4D, ate at Mel’s Diner for lunch, then down to the Lower Lot for Jurassic Park (Fran loved that ride), then The Mummy (she wasn’t such a fan of that, understandably), and Transformers The Ride, which had been closed all day but suddenly reopened while we were killing time in the museum.  We also watched the Waterworld Stunt Show and that was pretty damn cool!  After that it was a good time to go home, and after resting a bit, we went out for some delicious dumplings at Dim Tai Fung at Americana.  Very full day.

24-Jan-2015 09:17, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 11.0, 4.5mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 160
24-Jan-2015 09:17, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 11.0, 5.35mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 200
24-Jan-2015 09:18, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.5, 7.549mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 200
 
24-Jan-2015 09:19, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.5, 7.549mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 160
24-Jan-2015 09:27, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 5.0, 10.591mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 160
24-Jan-2015 09:27, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.0, 6.319mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 200
 
24-Jan-2015 09:27, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.0, 6.319mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100
24-Jan-2015 09:27, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.0, 6.319mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 200
24-Jan-2015 09:28, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 5.6, 18.691mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200
 
24-Jan-2015 09:28, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.5, 7.549mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 200
24-Jan-2015 09:29, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 200
24-Jan-2015 09:29, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 200
 
24-Jan-2015 09:30, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100
24-Jan-2015 09:30, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.5, 7.325mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100
24-Jan-2015 09:33, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 200
 

25 Jan 2015 – Day of Open Houses

We had a nice Sunday Brunch at Edendale before spending the following 3 hours going all over Glassell Park, Mt Washington, Highland Park, Burbank, North Hollywood and then Los Feliz/Silver Lake to look at Open Houses I’d found on Trulia.  There were some very great houses that are actually kind of within our price range, including the following (you can click on the images below and the Trulia page for the listing will pop up in a new window):

3651RoderickI think I liked this one the absolute most.  It wasn’t especially huge, but it’s been gorgeously finished and the price is much more right than others I’ve lusted for previously.  It’s actually very much in the price range I’m looking at.  The views are stunning and the location is pretty awesome.  If this sticks around on the market until February or so, I may have to think seriously about this one.  Also other things have to line up too, but I’m counting on things working out for the best.

There was another house we saw amongst the 7 that I also loved.  This one was in Burbank and is just stunning.  Not as affordable as the one above, and the bathroom situation is a little janky (the master bedroom’s bathroom is a 1/2 bathroom, while the guest bathroom is the only full one), but still….everything else about this is just amazing.  The neighborhood in Burbank is also pretty great.

1320WOakThe others we saw were okay but nothing to really freak out about and post screenshots of!  It’s exhausting driving around town though – at the end we were trying to find this condo development in Silver Lake and the address was COMPLETELY wrong on Trulia, as it sent us on to Edendale Dr.  I think Edendale Dr may be the most steep fucking street I’ve ever been on.  It was frightening.   Anyway, we weren’t too adventurous about dinner that night so we went up to Barbarella.  They’re going to be converting their Lago Pizzeria section into a BBQ joint in a week or two.  Larry & I are really looking forward to seeing how good the food is.

25-Jan-2015 11:11, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 2.65mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 32
25-Jan-2015 11:11, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 32
25-Jan-2015 11:11, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 32
 
25-Jan-2015 11:12, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.001 sec, ISO 32
25-Jan-2015 11:13, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 32
25-Jan-2015 19:00, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 500
 
25-Jan-2015 19:05, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 2000
25-Jan-2015 19:06, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 2000
 

The last two nights (Monday & Tuesday), we’ve kind of kept things pretty simple.  Monday was a rainy day and we went to Target during the day (exciting!) and for dinner, we made it back to the Morrison.  Also got Larry to see Fiddler on the Roof and he loved it, as he should.  Such a good movie!   Yesterday I went to work but when I got back in the afternoon, we had dinner at Cafe Beaujolais where we went for my birthday.  REALLY good French food.  Le sigh.

Fran left this morning to go back home.  It was a wonderful visit and it was nice for her to be here during this kind of stressful time, and I know Larry loved getting to see his mom.  Hopefully we’ll be back east sooner than later to see the whole extended family.

In Other News!

I realize that I’ve been derelict in my duties concerning posting pictures from other festivities.  In all honesty, it’s been a fairly hectic January in that every weekend, we’ve had something planned to do.  That’s a nice thing but it’s also an exhausting thing.  It also means I get a little backed up in posting pictures!

10 Jan 2015 – Wicked at the Pantages

First up is that Larry and I took my mom to go see Wicked at the Pantages the day before we went off on our Disneyland 2-day trip.  I had only seen Wicked on my birthday back in 2007 when I first moved to New Jersey.  That time, I went with my roommate Shelly and it was a lot of fun.  I can’t say the musical blew me away and I won’t say much different about it now, but it really is an entertaining show.  The big numbers like “Popular”, “Defying Gravity”, and “Something Good” knock you out and are worthy of all the praise.  It’s just that the rest of the songs are fairly meh, at least to me.  The actual plot of the musical is fantastic though and that’s what keeps you interested.  It’s fun to see how the threads of the movie start popping up in the show.  It was also cool that Madame Morrible was played by Kim Zimmer, who my mom and I both know from her days as playing Reva Shayne in Guiding Light, the now-cancelled yet extremely long-running daytime soap that was on CBS.  She was wonderful in the role.  The woman playing Galinda was absolutely killing it too – her comedic timing was pitch-perfect.  “Defying Gravity’ is still stunning as the Act I ending.  I’m glad to have gotten a chance to see it again.  One day soon I’ll re-evaluate my rankings of Broadway shows to consider this as well as all the new shows seen since my last iteration.

10-Jan-2015 13:17, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 5.0, 11.272mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 160
10-Jan-2015 13:17, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.5, 9.07mm, 0.004 sec, ISO 125
10-Jan-2015 13:18, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200
 
10-Jan-2015 13:24, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 800
10-Jan-2015 13:24, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 400
10-Jan-2015 13:36, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 1250
 
10-Jan-2015 13:36, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 4.5mm
10-Jan-2015 13:36, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 1600
10-Jan-2015 13:36, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 1600
 
10-Jan-2015 13:36, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 1600
10-Jan-2015 13:37, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 3.8, 4.5mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 1600
10-Jan-2015 13:38, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 5.0, 15.939mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 1600
 
10-Jan-2015 13:39, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 5.0, 14.96mm, 0.125 sec, ISO 1600
 

14 Jan 2015 – Broad City Season 2 Premiere Party!

The return of Broad City is always a reason to celebrate, so we did!  We had a special guest in the form of Rekha, who had been out here to do some project turnover with Nicki while also visiting family.  Additionally, everyone came over and it was wonderful.   Best thing was that Broad City came back very strong and was ridiculously good and funny.  Here’s hoping to a continued strong sophomore season.

14-Jan-2015 19:04, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 500
14-Jan-2015 19:04, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 500
14-Jan-2015 19:18, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 500
 
14-Jan-2015 19:18, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 800
14-Jan-2015 19:18, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 640
14-Jan-2015 19:34, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.059 sec, ISO 250
 
14-Jan-2015 19:43, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.05 sec, ISO 250
14-Jan-2015 19:43, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.042 sec, ISO 250
14-Jan-2015 19:49, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 500
 
14-Jan-2015 19:49, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 500
14-Jan-2015 19:51, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 500
14-Jan-2015 19:51, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 500
 
14-Jan-2015 20:39, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 500
14-Jan-2015 20:39, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 250
14-Jan-2015 20:39, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 400
 

Alright, I think that’s everything.  Like I said, January has been nuts and I’m hoping that things calm down and resolve themselves soon in February.  That would be great.  Also great?  If we can find a new place to call home, especially one that is something we buy.  I’d love the hell out of that.  Anyway, first things first.  Crossing fingers for a fabulous February.