I had never been able quite understand how Bob could sit through so many Broadway shows in New York City, and had considered skipping out on a one or two of the four that he was seeing. But in the end, I attended all of them with no regrets whatsoever. Wednesdays are the standard day that there are matinee performances as well, so on this Wednesday, May 29, 2013, we saw two shows, both of which were outstanding. But even with two shows on our docket, that didn’t stop us from getting a few other important sites under our belt that day.
We started out at a reasonable hour, hiking to the subway station on 42nd Street, stopping along the way to split a breakfast burrito at Mama’s. It was a short subway jaunt to the Gramercy Park area of Manhattan. We then hiked a few blocks to 123 Lexington Avenue, the location of Kalustyan’s Middle Eastern and Indian Food Market. But we weren’t here for food; this was the location that President Chester A. Arthur was sworn into office. You can check out more details about this spot here.
This was a brief spot to get photos on the outside, and from there we hiked another seven or eight blocks or so to another presidential location, passing Madison Square Park on our walk, and getting a photo with the Chester A. Arthur statue located there (see here also). The ultimate destination was on 20th street, where a reconstructed townhouse sits on the site of the original birthplace of President Theodore Roosevelt. Bob and I spend almost 90 minutes here taking the tour of the home. You can find the details of this visit here.
At the Teddy Roosevelt birthplace
The plan originally was to meet Bob’s friend Michael Stern, who was in town from L.A., for lunch, but I ended up getting caught up in a conversation with Carolyn and I hung back near the subway station until my phone died. Bob had gone on ahead, so I took the subway to the hotel, grabbed a slice of pizza, and once I got plugged in, we resumed our conversation. This was my first venture on the subway by myself, and it was about this time that I really started to understand the system – which would prove useful the next day.
I relaxed in the room until just a few minutes before the start of our matinee play of the day at 2pm, which was called Nice Work if You Can Get It, located at the Imperial Theatre located literally just across the street from our hotel. You may recall that I had met Matthew Broderick the night before behind this theater as we headed back to our hotel.
Getting ready to see Nice Work if You Can Get It, the most enjoyable show of the week
This was the most enjoyable play of the week for me. Part of it was because our seats were outstanding, part of it was because I love Matthew Broderick (who seemed to underplay his role as he just glided through it effortlessly), and part of it was that it was just a really fun play that incorporated standards from the works of George and Ira Gershwin. The other stars of the play included Jessie Mueller, Michael McGrath, Chris Sullivan, Robyn Hurder, and most importantly Estelle Parsons. Kaye and McGrath had one Tonys in 2012 for their performances; Parsons had been an Oscar winner.
After the show, Bob and I went to the stage door again, but Bob decided to go the front to see if he could spot Estelle Parsons, knowing that she never came out the back door. I got Matthew Broderick to sign my Ferris Bueller photo, as well as my program. I got an additional photo with him as well – but I liked our first one better. Chris Sullivan and Michael McGrath also signed my program for me, and I got a photo with Sullivan. (Had I known at the time that McGrath had won the Tony, I would have made sure I had gotten a photo with him as well.) Bob didn’t have any luck with Parsons.
The playbill signed by Matthew Broderick, Michael McGrath, Chris Sullivan, and Jennifer Laura Thompson
With Chris Sullivan by the stage door
It was around 5pm when we finished up, so Bob and I had time to squeeze in dinner before our next show at 8pm. Since we both had been going out of our way for almost the past two years to visit restaurants that had been featured on Guy Fieri’s Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, we decided to finally eat at one of Guy’s restaurants. It was called Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar located on 44th street, so we walked over there.
Excitedly ready to check out what Guy Fieri had in store for us…but it wasn’t that great
Sadly I cannot say that this eatery was as good as 90% of the smaller, much less elaborate restaurants that had been featured on his show. The service was downright awful, with no drink refills coming for huge stretches of time. Since our meals were somewhat dry, this made it even worse. I ordered the Big Dipper, which sounded outstanding on paper: top round, melted pepper jack, onion straws, garlic ciabatta, horseradish sour cream and beef jus. But in fact, it was merely mediocre, and is not a restaurant that I would ever recommend – unlike so many of the great other places I’ve found thanks to him.
Bob and I dig into Guy’s food. Note the empty drink glasses.
The Big Dipper was no star
Eventually we got sodas, which hydrated us just enough to make a pit stop back at our room for about 90 minutes to attempt a power nap, but mostly just end up on Facebook.
We hiked over to the Broadhurst Theatre for our 8pm performance of Lucky Guy, a Tony Award nominee for that year for Best Play (but only Courtney B. Vance would win for Best Actor). The star power in this play was off the charts, featuring Tom Hanks, Christopher McDonald, Peter Gerety, Courtney B. Vance, Peter Scolari, Richard Masur, and Maura Tierney. Unfortunately we had been spoiled at our first two shows, and these weren’t very good at all. Bob and I were kind of squeezed together, so he offered the girl behind us some cash to switch with him since she had a seat all her own. She was happy to swap for free. The show itself was outstanding, but still not as entertaining as Nice Work. During the show my friend Peter came to the theatre to meet Bob and me during intermission since he was in Manhattan. We’d be seeing him more later the following week.
Peter stops by to visit us during intermission
Bob and I had heard beforehand from Michael how Tom Hanks’ departure would go down. You can read the details of how that all worked out, and how I ‘met’ Tom Hanks here. Unfortunately by waiting for Hanks, I didn’t get to meet anyone else on my wish list, the most important of who were Peter Scolari, Maura Tierney, and Richard Masur. (I’d get to meet Masur a little later though – as seen here). Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas were also in the crowd, so that was another opportunity that we missed while waiting for Hanks. I did get Christopher McDonald and Stephen Tyrone Williams – plus one unknown I cannot identify – to sign the program along with Hanks. The photo with McDonald was a bust though. Fortunately I had met him before.
An utterly useless photo op with Christopher McDonald – but he was a nice guy
With my signed program from Lucky Guy
Hanging out with Michael Stern during and after our Tom Hanks encounter
We wrapped up at the Broadhurst a little before 11pm and began our walk back to our hotel. We made a pit stop at the Imperial so that Bob could get his program signed by Matthew Broderick, having missed him that afternoon. I briefly considered getting a third photo with him, but he seemed so tired that Bob talked me into skipping it. I did however get my program signed and got a photo with another cast member, Jennifer Laura Thompson.
With Jennifer Laura Thompson after the evening showing of Nice Work if You Can Get It
It had been a long and satisfying day, but it was a relatively easy one with having our butts parked in two shows. I’d have one more full day in New York City, which included one more show the next day.
The New York City portion of the trip will wrap up in the next posting…
I really enjoyed meeting you two (and Mike St*rn) during intermission. I’m glad that we could coordinate that.
Peter
January 5th, 2014