The Great White Way

Whew. All this playing is beginning to exhaust me!

Heidi's main desire while in NYC was to see "Phantom." And that's all I wanted for her. So yesterday morning, we were up and out of here by 8:15 so that we could stand in line at TKTS to try for Phantom.
It sounded like a good idea when we went to bed, but when we got to the line about 8:45, we realized it was cold and we were hungry and it would be 75 minutes until we could rectify either issue. Going against my better judgment, we talked and decided to leave Heidi in line while I foraged for sustenance. It was hard for me to leave my baby in line in NYC by herself. But, for those of you who don't know, Heidi is directionally challenged, so sending down the Great White Way by herself would truly show a lack of intelligence.
This all leads up to . . . I bought stuff at Starbuck's. It seemed slightly sinful to be in there, or something! But where else could I find fruit, bagels and hot chocolate? While I was waiting in line, I actually had a tourist ask me which way it was to Macy's. I attribute it to my attire--brown turtleneck, grey jacket. Why else would she think I'd know the way?
It took me almost 30 minutes to get back to Heidi, and I think she was a little bored and concerned being alone that long. But she was thrilled to have something warm to hold and something healthy to eat.
Crisis #1--While we were waiting in this interminable line, we heard a commotion behind us. I don't know exactly what happened, but an older man fell, and it looked like he either had a mini-stroke or mini-heart attack. It was scary. He lost all color, wasn't breathing, and people were panicking (as much as NYers do). It took only a few moments for the police to get there, but much longer for the ambulance. By the time the EMTs were there, he was sitting alone and seemed to be fine, even though they still took him for observation. And what did my Heidi say? "I hope he still got his tickets." Cute, huh?
Long and uninteresting to disclose that, YES, we got tickets to Phantom!
Here we are in our seats, on the orchestra level, waiting for the show. If there's any show that you really don't want to be sitting under the balcony, Phantom's it. We couldn't fully experience the chandelier or him on the cupid thing, but our seats were great other than that. Heidi was thrilled. Me, well, not to commit blasphemy or anything, but Phantom has never been my fave.
In fact, yesterday I actually fell asleep for about 3 minutes, and at a fairly exciting point, too (down in the grotto and he shows her the bride thing).
See how she's become a believer in the hat hairdo? We also indulged in scarves to fully update and accessorize our coats. And who can pass up 2 for $10 in Chinatown?
The Phantom was great, Raoul was handsome and more charismatic than some I've seen, and the chemistry between him and Christine was electric. But Raoul wasn't really a dancer, but that's ok.

Crisis #2--Not really a crisis, more of an irritation. I know we got half-price tickets. But they were still expensive and all. Well, at the end, after curtain call, the Phantom guy totally breaks character and starts soliciting the audience for more funds for a Broadway charity that benefits AIDS and cancer victims. This so bugged me. I mean, this is Broadway, not a kids' show. Plus, who are they . . . don't get me started. It just was so anticlimatic and illusion-killing to see him not as the Phantom.

Between standing in line for tickets and the show, we headed down to the Garment District to look at prom dresses. I can't believe all the dresses and the prices. It was surprising.

Crisis #3--Shopping with Heidi for anything specific on a good day can be annoying. We looked at probably 3-4 stores, and there was nothing she really liked. So I asked her what she had in mind, and she replied that she didn't know. This set me off. I mean, she knew for weeks about the trip and for a few days since we've been here that we were looking for "the dress." It took a few minutes until we were on the same page. Which was, "She was looking to get ideas of what she liked." Ok. Now that I knew the goal of our excursion I could get into it.

Of course, in the very next store we went into, we found "THE DRESS." The whole trying-on experience was funny to watch, because she is uber-modest. And I'm sure they are unaccustomed to that here. "THE DRESS" will need several alterations, none of which I am capable of doing, but she loves it. Since it is currently in its inappropriate stage, no pictures of the whole ordeal. Let's just say, I'm glad it's over. And I'm thrilled she loves it.

We came back to our neighborhood after "Phantom" and did a little souvenir shopping, mostly for the fam back home. Almost done with that. I did get a new Versace knockoff purse. For those of you who know me, you know how little I care about who is copied, but it is cute, and now we can at least carry a water bottle with us! And we did watch a tiny 50ish Asian lady lay her finger next to her nostril then blow out the contents of her nose all over the street. This still amuses Heidi whenever she thinks of it.

Crisis #4--We were tired. I mean tired. We had 90 minutes until "Mary Poppins" started, and Heidi laid down to rest, then so did I. And I mean to tell you, that if we didn't already have tickets for the show, we would have both loved to stay in for the night. Instead, around 7 we peeled ourselves out of bed and headed for the subway.

Same shot, different theatre. The Nederlander Theatre is gorgeous, but we really had crappy nosebleed seats.

And quite frankly, both of us were slightly disappointed in MP. Heidi just didn't like it, thought it was boring in places. I thought that you could tell Disney was trying too hard to create its next big blockbuster. The set and the costumes are phenomenal! Wow. That moving house and stuff. Really cool. But the finale is so contrived, and they tried to mix the old songs with new songs, and Bert was definitely NOT Dick Van Dyck. But it was still good, and there are two numbers, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "Step in Time," that really brought the house down. Overall, a C. And they finished with the same spiel as at "Phantom." This time we knew what it was, and we left.

As we exited the subway after the show, I tripped and fell, both hands hitting a step. It really was nothing, except for the way Heidi reacted to it. Then, all our giddy tiredness came spilling out. She was completely grossed out that I'd touched these steps, so what could a mother do? I kept trying to touch her with my contaminated hands. And she kept hitting me and resisting. Sounds stupid, but it was hilarious.

And for the heel click of the day. There really was no prime moment to get a heel click in. And we've had a request to see me do one. You all may not realize that I have a hidden talent--and it's heel-clicking. Truly.

This is in our hotel room, which really shows you how small it is!

Today--no more Broadway. Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero. Time to move on to less worldly pursuits!