Run away with us

We’ve been so incredibly busy the last few days that this could make for an EPIC blog but I’ll try to keep it brief! It feels like we’ve seen a lot of theatre in the last few days, amongst our other adventures so here we go..

It was pouring with rain on Thursday so we decided to stick to indoor activities. We headed out to Grand Central Station and took their audio tour which tells you all about the history of the building and gives you fun little facts as you walk around. It’s such a beautiful piece of architecture and it was some nice calm for our ear drums amongst the thousands of people swishing by us as we wandered. We wrapped our time at the station with lunch at the very American Shake Shack, which was pretty good, but nothing on Five Guys burgers (more on that another time). We also went to a shop called Forbidden Planet, which has a lot of sci-fi stuff and collectibles for geeks like us. We picked up a couple of Whovian things for Chels and then headed to Times Square via the Magnolia Bakery (yummy recommendation from Katie and Dave) and of course the subway, where we came across one of the regular characters who wears a drum kit and plays guitar in a similar fashion to Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins. He sings pretty badly but he’s entertaining.

And then we headed to our show for the day..

Broadway Show #16: Aladdin
Where: New Amsterdam Theatre
Seats: Front Balcony
Favourite number: You Ain’t Never Had A Friend Like Me
Rating: 8.5/10

Tickets purchased with contributions from: Tiffany Kalin, Lauren Law

Okay this was seriously COOL. We had so much FUN with this show! The script is all updated from the movie which was the first bonus – there’s still all of the recognisable lines but like the movie Frozen, they now have a self-referential script that talks about the fact that you’re watching them on a Broadway stage – for example, genie accidentally pulls out a Statue of Liberty souvenir from his pocket instead of the lamp when you first meet him (and explains that he did a little tourist shopping before the show); the Jasmine character is all updated to want to have an “equal relationship with a man of her choice”; the Sultan talks about the challenges of marriage and making it last… etc, etc. It’s all very funny and much more aimed at adults than we expected – just like the Disney movies can be enjoyed by adults and children alike.

The genie was most definitely our favourite. We LOVED him and can’t rave enough about how much he deserved his Tony. The clip below is from the Tony Awards this year where he performed before receiving his Tony (Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical) and the clip doesn’t even do justice to how spectacular he was in the show. He carries the spirit of the original genie (Robin Williams) beautifully but he has also made the character his own – he’s a sassy black man who cracks jokes all of the time (there’s a lot of new material as well as the original jokes) and he works SO HARD on that stage dancing, singing, changing costumes, running around like a crazy – he is truly amazing and it was such a joy to watch him perform.

***

Friday was a fun-filled day as we headed to 5th Avenue to look at all of the shops that we could never afford (we even went inside Tiffany’s!). Our favourite by far was the infamous FAO Schwarz which is three levels of magic! Honestly, we felt like kids in this store. There was every toy you could ever want and crazily affordable, especially compared to the rest of the shops! We can’t get over how much more expensive things are at home. Even with the conversion rate, toys are so cheap here compared to NZ! Again, it’s pretty lucky we don’t live here otherwise I would definitely have left with a giant gorilla (as tall as me!) and Chels would have gone home with the Lego Statue of Liberty. We visited Zoltar, who’s in the shop, and got our fortunes told again but no wishes from us (we didn’t want to become Tom Hanks..).

We decided because we were dressed up for our show that we would go to a nice rooftop bar that Chels had been told about – Haven. It was really neat. The view of the city was great and the atmosphere was lovely. Reminded us a bit of Southern Cross in Welly. A perfect entrée to our show for the evening.

Then we headed to the Met(!) to see an opera..

Broadway Show #17: La Boheme
Where: The Metropolitan Opera
Seats: Family Circle
Favourite number: Act II Finale
Rating: 7/10

Tickets purchased with contributions from: A. Nony. Mouse

This was a really wonderful experience to have over here because I worked on this show with New Zealand Opera just this year and so I was really excited to see it in a different country on a much larger scale. And that’s exactly what we got – the Met provides an extraordinary scale compared to NZ. The sheer size of the theatre is already double the size of our largest theatre in Auckland (4300 seats) and the stage has four substages where they shift between humungous sets for each act. It was amazing just to see the different settings for each quarter of the show. Of course it does mean that there is an interval between each act, so that can get a bit draining but the pay off is worth it.

The music was beautiful and the acting was great. It helps that I know the opera inside-out and back-to-front, considering it’s performed in Italian. I think it was slightly more challenging for Chels to get into it because of how unfamiliar she is with it. But that’s what happens for us with opera – it’s always much easier once you’ve studied the text! We both enjoyed Act II the best because there was just so much to look at – the market was enormous, there were huge numbers of people (they employ over a hundred “supers” – extras for the stage – for each of their shows), there were horses (REAL horses!) and the march at the end was made up of a huge band. It was really great! The clip above gives some idea of how big the finale was.

All in all it was a wonderful experience and it was really special being inside the infamous Met.

***

Yesterday we met up with Cassie, a friend from university, in the morning at a wonderful bakery/café called Tisserie. It was so great and the food was delicious! We had such a lovely time catching up with her and then we walked together to our next show..

Broadway Show #18: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Where: Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Seats: Rear Balcony
Favourite moment: The Escalator
Rating: 9/10

Tickets purchased with contributions from: Trieu Family

This play was SPECTACULAR. The story, of course (for those of you who haven’t read the book – read it!), is beautiful and engaging and moving. And the show was no less of an experience. They’ve really brought the story to life in such a fantastic way.

The show is born out of the National Theatre of London and is currently in previews on Broadway so we got the tickets really cheap. But we would have paid more for that experience! We can’t rave enough – it was SO GOOD. The actors were amazing and the movement (it’s a physical theatre piece) is incredible, so inspiring. The set is a whole character on its own – it moves in all sorts of directions and things open and pop out and drop out and light up…amazing. And speaking of lighting up, the AV is the most incredible design I’ve ever experienced. I mean sure, they would have a sizeable budget for this show, but it’s the first time I’ve seen AV where it is properly and invisibly integrated into the show in a way that doesn’t interfere. And it’s perfect for the autistic themes running through the piece – it’s like seeing the inside of Christopher’s (main character) brain. And our Christopher, played by Taylor Trensch, was a heartbreaker, completely wonderful. And he carries the whole show, working his butt off for the two hours. It’s no wonder he shares the role with another guy throughout the week.

And just like the book, Christopher is a wonderful character that we fall in love with and root for throughout the whole story. And just like the book, we empathise with him and equally empathise with his parents and teachers who are living with an autistic child. It’s fantastic – there are not enough adjectives to describe how much we truly enjoyed this experience.

And for those of you who aren’t travelling anytime soon to New York or London, the show is actually coming to NZ on the National Theatre Live series – which is a programme where they film live theatre shows from London and then screen them in cinemas worldwide. You might think that it’s not worth seeing a theatre show in a cinema but I’ve seen two shows this way now and the way they film it, you couldn’t get that kind of view from a theatre seat. I highly recommend you find out the National Theatre Live screening of this show in your town and see it. It’ll be worth it! Oh, and read the book too – you won’t regret it.

After that show, we headed out to Lower Manhatten and found ourselves on GAY ST! We checked out a bit of the LGBT area and shops and then met up with our friend Jess for dinner and a stroll through Washington Park before our next show..

Broadway Show #19: Solitary Light
Where: AxisTheatre
Seats: General Seating
Favourite number: Firefly
Rating: 7/10

Tickets provided by: Jess Gerz

Jess, who lives in New York, is a costume designer and is currently the Asst Costume Designer and Wardrobe Supervisor of an off-Broadway production – Solitary Light. He offered us tickets to see this gem and we were really excited not only to see his work in action but also to tick off another NYC show experience – watching something off-off-Broadway.

This show is about a factory fire that took place in 1911, which killed 146 garment workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Jess told us a bit about the history including that the reason the workers died is because the owners had locked the doors from the inside to keep the employees all working overtime. So when the fire broke out, they couldn’t escape and many tried to jump from the ninth floor of the building to get out… pretty grim really. But apparently this event is what helped lawmakers to bring in rules on child labour and better working conditions with unions. So I guess that’s the light at the end of the tunnel..

The show was really beautiful. It was only an hour long and we could have sat there listening to their singing for longer. It is amazing to us the overflow of talent in this city. There are an endless number of performers who are working their butts off, waiting in diners (including singing diners!) to earn a buck and they’ll do anything to get work and practice their craft in the hope that they’ll get their break on the bigger stages, moving from community theatres to off-Broadway to Broadway. This cast was no exception – they had crystal clear voices that were really beautiful and they shone in their harmonies, which were aplenty.

The score was great too. It was folksy with guitar, cello, violin and piano and really catchy – in a good way. We especially loved the number ‘Firefly’ because the harmonies were truly beautiful and there was one actress in particular, who played the main love interest, who had a gorgeous voice and also played the mandolin during this number. She was really great!

The lighting design was interesting – a lot of shadow and streams of light in use – but I thought it was a shame sometimes that we couldn’t see the performers faces in some important moments. The costumes made up for this (Jess, you are amazing!!) – we LOVED the design of the costumes, all period and all their own unique design, and we thought the hair design was perfect for the era as well.

We had a really good time and stoked to see something off-off-Broadway.

We finished the night off with sorbet from Jess’ favourite ice-cream shop around the corner and then headed home again.

Tonight we have a completely different experience from anything we’ve ever done!! But more on that later…

Til next time,

Tx

Well it’s been a busy couple of days over here in NYC (we keep pinching ourselves to remind us that we are in New York – NEW YORK. Crazy. So incredible that we’re here, living here for the month, and watching a show every night. Like, who does this?! It’s the most amazing trip of our lives and wouldn’t be possible without all of you contributing to it, so thank you so much!) *gush over*.

So, it’s been a busy couple of days. Tuesday we headed back to the City Clerk’s office to get our marriage documents all signed off and stamped! We are now the proud owners of a certificate stating that we are legally MARRIED. So that’s pretty cool!

Then we headed over to Chinatown and Chels got all of her hair cut off! She’s been planning this for months because after growing her hair for the last three years for our wedding, she’s been going a little crazy. And she found out that in America it’s quite easy to donate your long hair to a charity that creates wigs for children with cancer. So she’s posting her ponytail to them. She’s much happier now that her head is a lot lighter and I think it’s a cute cut!

After leaving Chinatown, we had dinner in a really beautiful restaurant in Little Italy (just next door to Chinatown – who would’ve thought?!) and then headed out to Chelsea (the place, not the person) to see our next show…

Broadway Show #14: Sleep No More
Where: McKittrick Hotel
Seats: General Admission
Rating: 7.5/10

Tickets purchased with contributions from: A. Nony. Mouse

This was the craziest theatrical experience I’ve ever had. It was exhilarating and confusing all at the same time. To start, you arrive at a random building, they get you to check in your bag and then “check-in” to the Hotel and you’re handed a playing card as your “room key”. Then you’re sent to a bar (beautiful, smokey, 1920’s themed) to mingle before your playing card is called out and at that point you’re led into a dark room and handed a mask that you must wear for the whole evening. You have to remain silent for the full three hours as well – and therefore remain anonymous for the whole experience. And then it all begins – you’re led into a dark elevator with a large group of other masked people and an actor stops the lift on various levels of the Hotel and lets different groups and individuals out to begin their experience (he split people up deliberately).

Chels and I were separated by our playing cards and we agreed that experiencing the Hotel alone was a great idea because then we could navigate as our instincts took us. The Hotel was created over five levels of the building and was super dark everywhere you went. The programme has notes from the directors describing that they were influenced by film noir in the lighting design and that’s exactly how it felt. From bedrooms, to insane asylum rooms, to graveyards, to forests, to a ballroom and banquet hall, (to name just a FEW of the spaces) this show had the most incredible production design I’ve ever seen. From the tiniest details to the grandest scale, all thought through and constructed to perfection. And you could interact with everything and anything, including the performers. The directors write that they chose to give the masks to the audience to encourage them to be bold with their exploration and perhaps be more voyeuristic than they would be without them. And that’s exactly what happened with everyone in the audience. Best moments for me: I saw a dance with two actors and a door between them (off it’s hinges) = amazing; a fight choreography between two men battling around a pool table; a solo dance by a nurse who had a body full of intense tics; and the most incredible slow motion scene playing out with all of the characters at a banquet.

Oh and I forgot to mention that the show is based on Macbeth, with hotel characters and story characters intermingling and on every level of the Hotel there were different scenes playing out between characters and you were free to stay for a scene and watch or you could just explore all of the spaces in the Hotel (Chels and I both clocked the whole building) and you could watch a scene play out and then follow an actor when they left a room to move to another space in the building. Fascinating. And the company running the whole ship is Punchdrunk, famous for their physical theatre, so no words used in this show, only dance. And the movement of the performers was extraordinary. So precise and deliberate and infinitesimal and grandiose. Amazing. Gush, gush, gush.

I’ve blabbed for too long now.. sorry. But on a final point. The reason this only receives a 7.5/10 is because although we thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Hotel and experiencing something completely different, we only managed to see a couple of scenes from the story and had we not known Macbeth already, we would have no idea what was happening. But other than that, amazing. Oh and not only did they turn a large warehouse into the most incredible theatrical set, they also built a gorgeous garden bar on the roof that we had a post-show drink in. Amazing what money can provide..

***

Yesterday we had a rest day (because we’ve both got post-Wedding colds – blergh!) and we wrapped the day with another show..

Broadway Show #15: The Lion King
Where: Minskoff Theatre
Seats: Mid Mezzanine
Favourite number: He Lives in You
Rating: 8/10

Tickets purchased with contributions from: Therese & John Clarke, Kjersti Engeland-Fors, Michelle & Bruce Commerer (and the whole Commerer clan!)

I studied the director of this show, Julie Taymor, when I was doing my Masters so I’ve waited a long time to see it in the flesh. And it was great! The puppetry mechanics are amazing and the dancing is beautiful and the direction is so subtle and so clever. I was actually expecting the show to be much more razzle dazzle Disney, with proof of all the cash they’ve spent on it. But actually it was beautifully theatrical. They really went for simplicity on this show and I loved that. I think that has everything to do with the director. There was one moment in particular that stuck with us which is when Mufasa dies and the lioness’ come out to grieve. The way Taymor showed their crying was the performers pulled blue ribbons down from the eyes of the lioness masks on their heads. It was so simple but so beautiful and moving. It really made me think a lot about Red Leap Theatre, the company I produce for at home, and how a lot of the work they create has similarities to the theatricality we experienced with this show. Amazing that despite huge differences in budget, Kiwi companies can create theatre just as beautiful as Disney.

Chels and I loved Timon and Pumba the best – they were definitely the life of the show! And the show adapted them a little like when they return to help Simba save Pride Rock and he needs them to be bait for the hyenas, instead of Timon dressing in drag and dancing the hula, like he does in the movie, he instead dressed in drag and danced the Charleston. Very cool! I loved Pumba’s puppet the best as well. The way they’ve designed the characters is really clever because the actor and puppet are integrated together – human and mechanics all in one. All in all, this one was a goodie.

Okay I think I’ve ranted enough for one blog.

Till next time,

Tx

Well after we bid farewell to our incredible wedding team and guests, we decided to recover in style by hitting the Annual Broadway Flea Market on Sunday. And it was incredible – running over three blocks, there were stalls with everything you could possibly think of for sale from Broadway – set, props and costume pieces from various shows; autographed everything from posters and photos to clothing to set and costume design sketches; there was art and collectibles; baking, books and badges – everything! We even managed to find an artist who creates bears in the likeness of Broadway characters, including Hedwig! Very cool. The main feature of the event is a big auction selling things like walk-on roles, meeting the stars for lunch, getting your own pair of kinky boots! …just to name a few. The auction items all start at $1000 bidding and everything in the auction and at all of the stalls raises money for Broadwaycares.org which is an equity organisation raising money for Aids. Such a great cause and an awesome annual event!

Chels and I are SURE that if we actually lived in NYC permanently, we would now have a house FULL of all sorts of exciting memorabilia that we came across. I guess I should be greatful that our sensibilities stopped us from purchasing things that would fill up our suitcases! But one very special item that we couldn’t resist is an original print artwork by an artist called Brian Strumwasser, who is a Broadway makeup artist that creates images in his own spare time. He had created a few sets of First Edition prints for the Broadway Flea market and Chelsea and I are now the proud owners of #18 out of 200 prints of Lena Hall from Hedwig, including her autograph. Considering this show had such an affect on us and has stayed on our minds the whole trip, not to mention the fact we actually got to meet Lena Hall herself, after seeing her incredible performance, this is a special piece of art that we will definitely be framing and proudly displaying on our return home.

Following an exciting weekend, we ended Sunday with a show…

Broadway Show #13: Motown
Where: Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
Seats: Mid Mezzanine
Favourite number: ABC
Rating: 6/10

The music of Motown is great and it was really interesting learning the history of this label. But outside of the music, there wasn’t much story to engage with so it ended up feeling a bit dull and a bit long. Highlights for me: definitely the set design – this show has heaps of money invested in it and includes a lot of hydraulic moments with the set shifting all over the stage. It also felt like every time they sang a new song (and there are at least 60 songs in this show), a new set would appear on the stage! So that was pretty amazing. The other highlight would have to be the boy who played a young Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson (Nathaniel Cullors). He had a great voice and was such an awesome dancer! I can’t get over how talented these people are, especially the kids!!

Yesterday we ventured out to Queens to the Yankee Stadium to see our first American sports game – baseball. The stadium is enormous and everything screams Yankees. Not only is the memorabilia and clothing all themed but all of the stadium food you can buy is branded with Yankees. Pretty cool. We found out as well that we were part of history as the Yankee Captain, (Derek Jeter – #2) who has played with the team for 20 years, is playing his last four home games before he retires and we were there for his fourth to last! Didn’t really mean much to us to be honest but we met a bunch of Americans who had travelled miles from other states just to see him play and then every time he appeared on the pitch, the crowd gave him a standing ovation and chanted his name over and over until he was off the field again.

We had a really good night! I still can’t believe Chels sat through a whole sports game and actually enjoyed it! I mean, this is the girl who used to read Harry Potter while my cousin Elle and I watched the Rugby World Cup games! She was totally into it, singing along and chanting with the crowds. I think our future could have some fun sports-watching time in it! 

And of course to top the night off, the Yankees won! So we got to catch the subway home with all of the die-hard fans celebrating another good game! 

Today we’re off to make the wedding license all official with the sign-off from the City Clerk and then we’re off to the first show of the week!

T x

I find myself reusing the same adjectives – brilliant, amazing, incredible, awesome and so on… but our trip really is all of those things and the last two days were no exception!

Friday afternoon, Honeymoon day one, we met at the Natural History Museum where a (very hungover) Doctor Kirsty took a group of us on a personal tour. It was brilliant. She answered all of our ridiculous questions and didn’t judge me (too much) when I got the names of the dinosaurs wrong. It was so much fun! My favourite was the T-Rex.

From there we had a quick diner dinner so that Kirst could get the mashed potato she had been craving and then Theresa and I were off to our next show…

Broadway Show #11: Once
Where: Jacobs Theatre
Seats: Side Orchestra
Favourite number: Time
Rating: 8/10

Tickets purchased with contributions from: Ruth, Matt & Luca Evans, Anna Nuria Francino and Amanda Grace Leo

We really enjoyed this show. The story is sweet and the performances were great. The set was pretty cool too – it was a bar that the audience were invited to go onstage and get a drink from. There were no wings or proscenium, just the bar and a grid above. It was great! The performers were also the band with all of the actors playing at least two instruments – often while singing and dancing at the same time. Super, crazy talented!

The only downside were the accents. I think it is because we spend so much time with our lovely Irish bridesmaid Elaine, so the accents slipped a fair bit and we found it jarring but it didn’t take anything away from the wonderful night we had. Beautiful music!

Yesterday we were up early to visit Dean & Deluca (yummy!) with Katie and Dave before missioning to meet Sally & Alex and the Bell/Webster family for lunch where the men proved they can handle American portions (top work team!) before we dashed a few blocks to see our next show!

Broadway Show #12: Les Miserables
Where: Imperial Theatre
Seats: Side Orchestra
Favourite number: One Day More
Rating: 9/10

Tickets purchased with contributions from: Chrissy & Mick Bell

This is the first musical that Theresa and I geeked out over when our relationship was brand new. We’d listen to the 10^th Anniversary recording on repeat and would blast it in the car singing at the top of our lungs debating at length our favourite Jean Valjean’s (Alfie Boe vs. Rob Guest). I was fortunate enough to see the show on the West End and I thought the Broadway version would be on par with that but it wasn’t – it blew it out of the water! AMAZING!

It’s a brand new production that opened in March this year and you can tell – fantastic use of AV to create scenes, the sets were brilliantly constructed and the direction had some GREAT modernisations.

We were lucky enough to get Ramin Karimloo, Broadway Superstar, as our Valjean and Theresa describes his voice as melted butter on toast and she is right. His range was AMAZING and performances heartfelt. We were equally fortunate to get West End legend Earl Carpenter as our Javert who was amazing and didn’t overact the role which is the normal tendency (*cough* Russell Crowe *cough*).

We enjoyed this show immensely and it was all the better to share it with Chrissy, Mick, Tasj and Jamie who we love to pieces. Brilliant afternoon. INCREDIBLE AFTERNOON.

Following the show we went for a trip up the Empire State Building with our wonderful Best Man Scott – he booked in express passes so we were flashing them around and jumping the hours and hours of queuing to go up to the very top! The views were amazing and we were there for the sunset which was just so magical. After many, many photos we walked to Union Square to Scotty’s favourite Mexican restaurant for an incredible meal – my mouth is watering just writing about it. YUM!

Pit Stop #1 on the way home was McGee’s pub with the Bell/Websters which is what the pub McClaren’s in How I Met Your Mother is based on and where the writers came up with the idea. The pub was filled with signed pictures, Barney’s motivational posters and themed cocktails (slutty pumpkin anyone?).

Pit Stop #2 was the Bell/Webster accommodation that was 20 blocks from our NY Home, where we remained until 3am talking about how funny life is and how great everything has worked out.

We have officially said our goodbyes to all our wonderful wedding guests and are feeling so humbled by everyone’s love and generosity – thank you SO MUCH to all of you who came so far to join us for our dream wedding in NYC. Bring on the rest of our honeymoon!

Sending our love,

C & T
x

Right! I am sitting in my pjs, eating a piece of wedding cake and I am going to recount the amazing-ness that has been our last few days. This blog is going to be big – super big. SUPER BLOG.

Yesterday we started the day with our amazing bridal party. Coffee, talking rubbish, group bonding and silliness all occurred before we went to a local spa for Mani/Pedi’s and massages – our spa was amazing, we had bubbles and took over the whole store and at the end of our time they gave us a bouquet of roses to say congratulations, it was really wonderful.

Following that we had a good meal then missioned to our wedding location for a chat about how the day was going to work. We love our bridal party so much. They are all a bit crazy, but our kind of crazy and we are so glad we were able to spend the day with them!

So after our quick rehearsal we were whipped away on the subway to…

Broadway Show #9: Book of Mormon
Where: Eugene O’Neil Theatre
Seats: Centre Mezzanine
Favourite number: Turn it Off
Rating: 9/10

Tickets purchased with contributions from: Ruth, Matt & Luca, JP & Bridget, Clodagh & Shannon, Jamie & Tim, Paige Kermeen, Sharon & Michael Wray, Aunty Mary & Tony

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! This show was BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have listened to the soundtrack for this show for THREE YEARS and it was everything we wanted it to be. It was fast, witty and so clever and it was so great making sense of the storyline. Only knowing the songs there were a few plot points we didn’t know and it was like piecing together a puzzle. A hilarious puzzle. Our Elder Price was Nic Rouleau who played the role on the Tony’s last year and our Elder Cunningham was Ben Platt from Pitch Perfect and they were brilliant. They made the roles their own instead of recreating what Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad do on the soundtrack and I really appreciated that.

We also finally got to see some tap! A week seeing Broadway shows and we finally get a tap number. ‘Turn it Off’ not only featured brilliant tap but an incredible full company quick change in the dark, while they were still tapping. Blew my mind. It was absolutely the best decision to see it on our Wedding Eve and if it wasn’t sold out completely I would want to watch it again and again. 

We returned home to find a couple of bridesmaids with some whiskey to be enjoyed before we all went to bed for the horrendously early start of 5.45am.

I’m not going to go into painstaking detail about our day because we could be here for years.. but we had a wonderful and magical day. A big part of that was our fabulous vendors: Michelle, Kelly, Annie, Kaipo, Frank, Sachiko, Laura, Sydney & Mariane. Everyone was amazing! They made us feel so special and were a fabulous team together, more than we could ever hope for. The other big part was our guests, who travelled across the world to share our day with us. They were so wonderful and we felt very humbled and grateful for those in our lives.

I think we will discuss more detail when our professional pictures come through and we have some breathing time! In the meantime, here are a few sneak peeks from our incredible photographer Kelly Prizel. I can’t wait for the rest of them!

Our bridal party were incredible superstars, completely looking after us the entire day, filling our time with love, laughter and silliness and it was perfect. I am so glad we were able to spend our time with our best friends – and look at them! Aren’t they stunning!

Following our picnic reception we had a few more photos with Kelly before we whisked off to our wedding night show!

Broadway Show #10: Wicked
Where: Gershwin Theatre
Seats: Centre Mezzanine
Favourite number: Defying Gravity
Rating: 9/10

Tickets purchased with contributions from: Aunty Mary & Tony, Anne-Marie Ravlich, Elaine & Oliver Rosser

We have discussed before about the musicals we know really well, feel like meeting old friends when we see them. This one felt like meeting an old friend that had been given a face lift. Everything was HUGE and big and awesome. We had flying monkeys over the audience, surprise trap doors, double the company size and it was all brilliant. Our Elphaba (Christine Dwyer) was incredible but I was blown away by our G(a)linda (Jenni Barber) who was brilliantly quirky and for the first time (we have seen) she played the role in her own voice instead of trying to replicate Kristen Chenowith’s very distinctive Glinda voice. We loved it.

We had quite a bit of attention being in our wedding outfits and wound up with a programme signed by the cast and a full private backstage tour with a photo on the stage… of the Gershwin theatre! THE GERSHWIN. We look exhausted, but  it was worth it! Magical. It was the perfect way to draw our day to a close. We worked out that between us we have now seen the show 11 times in 4 countries and this one was by far the most special.

Post-show and tour we jumped in a cab, went home and changed into jandals (discovered our amazing bridal party had CLEANED our house – I loved them SO much at that point), then missioned down to the local irish pub to find the Bell/Webster family and Kirsty and Elaine, who had been there (with others along the way) drinking since our picnic reception ended 6 or so hours earlier. The night ended with us all standing in a circle belting ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (opera & guitar solos included) and crying with laughter. I couldn’t think of a better way to end our night.

Today we are taking it easy. I am pretty sure we have some dinosaurs to visit later on and of course another show to see! Huge thank you to everyone who called, txted, messaged, emailed and dontated to our honeyfund. We are blown away by all the love we are getting and can’t wait to see you all again in person.

SO MUCH LOVE,

Mrs & Mrs Chelsea & Theresa Adams

XX

Now this might sound strange but I had the BEST time voting. The NZ Consulate is on Madison Ave near Grand Central Station on the 41st floor. We had a great view out the window next to the little makeshift booth and got to meet a few other kiwis who were residing in the big apple. It was a huge change to the school hall we normally visit. Huge thanks has to go to Kate Sheppard for making it possible for us in the first place!

90% of our wedding guests are here now and we have been able to see all of them at some point and it is a crazy thing I am having such a good time I forget to take photos. So after the voting fun we went to the Stardust Diner where the wait staff sing while they serve. I had a great time… I’m pretty sure it was a form of torture for Scott.

That leads us to our Hens’ Party: NYC Edition

Which was wonderful. It consisted of a meal with everyone at The Hardrock Café and then a beer at a pub afterwards. Super chilled out, super fun. Now what I was not expecting was any form of tears from me but there is a great video of me bawling my eyes out when I found that my friends Sally & Alex had come over to surprise me – they had been conspiring for A YEAR AND A HALF with everyone, telling me that they couldn’t make it just to surprise me on our Hens’ night. I am SO stoked they are here for our special day.

The night ended in an EMPTY Times Square at 3am with Theresa and Elaine discovering how many Long Island iced teas are just a touch too many – to the delight of (the very sober) Kirsty and I. Brilliant.

The next morning we were up early to go to the flower market. It was bucketing down with rain but it was so fun. There is a block of wholesale flower shops that sell pretty much anything you could want. I am chief florist on this project so I had a ball – looking forward to the wedding photos with them!

Yesterday afternoon a few of us ventured out to Brooklyn to a Doctor Who themed bar called ‘The Way Station’ for a few who-themed cocktails and some great discussions on whether daleks are actually scary. This was right up my alley. The bathroom was a Tardis (that WAS bigger on the inside!) and had a bunch of signatures including Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor) telling everyone to Pee Happily. Love it. Pictured below is our own Matt Smith, bowtie and all!

Last night was something we had been waiting for, for a long time…

Broadway Show #7 – Phillip Phillips
Where: Best Buy Theatre
Seats: General Admission
Favourite number: HOME
Rating: 9/10

Phillip was an incredible performer, no bells or whistles, he just got on stage with his band and played. I’m pretty sure he was having the best time of anyone in the room. Nearly every song ended up with the band just jamming together and having a good time, it was so great to be a part of.

Interestingly we found the audience ranged from 15 year old girls giggling to 70 year old grannies who were there to boogie. The audience was surprisingly dominantly men, so every sing along moment was bass heavy and flat but everyone was just having fun – including us.

He played our wedding song as his final encore number and it was awesome hearing a huge group of people singing their hearts out to it.

So, so glad we went.

Now! Today is pamper day before our wedding TOMORROW (That snuck up on us! We are getting so caught up in the day-to-day fun plans that we keep forgetting why we are all here!) The bridal party are due any minute for some pampering so must dash and get out of my pajamas!

Lots of Love,

Chelsea
x

We have had a crazy awesome brilliant couple of days!

It started out with Wednesday when we visited Central Park to check out our wedding venue and picnic area and just have a general look around. It is really beautiful there and we are so excited for next week! We also took our Don Giovanni opera t-shirts and got a fun selfie to send back to the troops going into production week in NZ just to let them know we are thinking of them.

Then we trekked to Times Square to the huge M&M store to create some personalized M&M’s for our wedding favours and we made friends with the staff – particularly Miss Coco who loved the fact we had come over to get married and went out of her way to help us, get us discounts and make our experience memorable.

That night our Broadway show was….

Broadway Show #2
Where: Music Box Theatre
Seats: Side Orchestra 
Favourite number: ‘No Time At All’ – Berthe and The Players
Rating: 8/10

The show was spectacular and filled with amazing circus performers of great physique who performed incredible acts in and around the story and music. There was acrobatics, fire, pole climbing (and horizontal bodies hanging from vertical poles!), balancing acts, tricks on giant swiss balls and lots of juggling. The story is great, the music is fun and the acting was superb! Our favourite number was Pippin’s grandmother, Berthe. She must be in her sixties and she was singing about living it up no matter what age you are. As she was singing she did an upside-down act on a circular trapeze – she was incredible! And really proved the point of her song.

And as an added bonus we got to meet Berthe (Broadway legend Andrea Martin!) in an exclusive post-show talk. We got to meet her because we’ve booked so many shows with Broadway that I’m starting to get added bonuses through our membership. Pretty cool once-in-a-lifetime stuff, meeting Broadway legends. She created the role of Berthe in the revival workshops back in 2012 and played the role in the first year of its staging AND won a Tony for the role (no surprises why, once we saw her act!). She has returned for three weeks only in the role which happened to coincide with our viewing!

After the chat with Andrea, I made friends with the show’s Marketing Manager and got us a backstage tour on our way out. Backstage is TINY! It makes a lot of our NZ theatres look luxurious in space. We then exited through the stage door and confused all the fans waiting outside for autographs as to who we were.

Yesterday we went on the Staten Island Ferry, met Lady Liberty from a distance and went and got lost in Lower Manhattan. Then without meaning to, we found ourselves at the 9/11 memorial which was an incredibly humbling and beautiful coincidence on 9/11 Memorial Day. We paid our respects and moved on quickly back to Times Square.

We have a habit of making friends with our wait staff and dinner was no exception – our waitress was super lovely and at the end of our meal she delivered us complimentary congratulatory cupcakes! Yum! Then show number 3!

Broadway Show #3
Where: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Seats: Upper Centre Orchestra 
Favourite number: Moonlight 
Rating: 8.5/10

Tickets purchased with contributions from: Sandra Rasmussen and Sr Trish Hanaray

Before we left New Zealand the lovely Sandra sent us an engagement card with some USD inside with a note saying to do something luxurious. With some extra added help from Aunty Trish, this was our pick. One of our favourite Broadway superstars doing a one woman show about Billie Holiday at the end of her career and it was INCREDIBLE.

With support from a jazz band and a cute chihuahua, Audra took us on an amazing journey of the highs and lows of Billie’s life while performing her biggest hits. She absolutely blew us away with how she embodies Billie Holiday and replicated her very distinctive voice. Incredible. And did I mention incredible?!

Oh and afterwards we got to meet her. It was AWESOME! So, so awesome.

Tx