New York City Trip: Day 6

Original Post Date: March 18, 2006

Our last day here! How sad! We only have 24 hours left in New York City. Now, about the interesting people we saw yesterday:

In Chinatown, people would walk right up to you, practically right in your face, and say something about DVDs. I guess they were selling either cheap DVDs or Black Market ones. I just ignored them completely. (The first guy that did that to me, I couldn’t understand a word he was saying!)

On our “Oops” trip across the Williamsburg Bridge, there were some Orthodox Jews sitting right in front of us. A mother and two cute little boys. The boys both had the long hair in the front. And all three looked straight out of “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Since it was St Patrick’s Day, there were tons of extra people around. It seemed like most were large groups of annoying high school students. All they did was act obnoxious and show off. I just wanted to slap them. But I ignored them.

Once we found the parade, there were spots along the route where everyone was nicely watching the parade. But other spots, especially in front of the General Motors building, the sidewalk was just packed! And some people were already drunk. So much fun to navigate that mess.

A nice, older man took our picture by Carnegie Hall. And he didn’t try to steal the camera! Nice guy!

On the train home after “Piazza”, this group got on and this one blonde girl was incredibly obnoxious. She was so annoying. Reason #10321 not to drink. She’d had a few too many and thought she was the life of the party. (I think all people who’ve had “a few too man” should someday have to sit down and watch a video of every time they acted obnoxious while drunk. And be able to hear the thoughts of the people who witnessed it.) I just pretended to be asleep.

On the ferry, a scruffy looking man got on and sat near us. First he was going on about a murderer and the woman sitting by him was going to kill him, so we’d better watch his back. Then he announced that he was Jesus and wanted to let us know that he was down among the people. Hmm...that’s interesting. I got a little nervous at that point, but he quieted down after that.

There was a firefighter riding along in the cab we took from the ferry. Not sure why he was there. He was taking to us and couldn’t figure out why we would spend our Spring Break in New York City. Or why we were going home so early. (It was midnight!) He told us about a bar close by. No thanks, buddy.

WICKED “BEHIND THE EMERALD CURTAIN” BACKSTAGE TOUR:

Tour Guides: Sean McCort (Dr. Dillamond/Elphaba’s Father) & Anthony (Swing)

Costumes –
Asymmetrical (ensemble)
Symmetrical (principals)
Elphie & Glinda’s go from asymmetrical to symmetrical during the show

Costumes are first made in muslin, because it’s cheaper

Shoes are custom made

Everyone has their own costume; not shared by understudies/swings

Costumes designed specifically for each cast member – reflect their personality

The show made $1.6 million in one week. The show costs about $700,000 a week.

$35,000 for Glinda’s blue dress. Took 3 months to make

$1500 - $3500 for one pair of shoes

Idina’s dress - everyone looks amazing in the dress. Dimension/depth. Yards of fabric. It’s not just all black. There are many colors in it!

Masks - each built specific
Real human hair, several people’s hair in Midwife’s mask

Props–
letters all look real, have the actual writing
“Oz Week Magazine”

Scale model of Gershwin used in model of set

72 line sets and that’s not enough!
100 foot pipes
At intermission, they take down draperies and switch to Act 2 ones

Rehearsal every Thursday and Friday

Eddie Pierce - Technical Director

14 truck tour

90 wigs

Universal swings–
Know all roles in NY, Chicago, & Tour

Gershwin Theatre built in 1972
1805 seats (1933 total seats)

Percussion room
Percussionist wears a hat with a mic on it

Harpist room

One orchestra member is 70 years old. His first show was “The Music Man” with Robert Preston.

½ inch per foot rake

Stage is about 2 ½ feet higher than Gershwin floor at upstage line

Dog – reverse clothespin.
Sleeve in back of scenery. Knife goes inside sleeve to put set on the track.
“Knifing the Dog”

30 foot light towers – fly out during scene changes

4250 light bulbs, 19 miles of cable, 1,900,000 watts

Stage manager in the house! Above exit sign, house left balcony.
Show is called with music.
750 electric cues
32 cues before 1st line of dialogue
Rotate SMs – max 4 shows in a week

125 people make the show work

Computerized lights in “Defying Gravity” are rented. Probably $100,000 a week.

Shauna stumps the tour guide!
“How many people did it take to build the set, and how long did it take?”
They didn’t know! They knew it was built all over the world in different shops, and took about 9 months.
*This certifies that Angela paid up on the $5 bet*

Wow, that tour was absolutely amazing! So much goes into make that show work. So cool!

Once we left the Gershwin, we split up again. Shauna and I had lunch at Applebee’s. Our justification in going to restaurant that we have at home is this: A) It’s in Times Square. B) It is the largest Applebee’s in the world. So there.

Next we went to Colony Music. That store is chock FULL of sheet music & music books. Racks and racks worth. I could have bought half the store.

We went to the Hershey’s store next. I was a good girl and did not buy any chocolate. I did, however, drool over all the kinds of chocolate they had there. Huge variety. I bought a stuffed Hershey’s Kiss dressed up like the Statue of Liberty.

We are now at the Time’s Square Information Center. We had to get out of the wind. It’s so cold outside today!!

Okay, I just did the dumbest thing I have ever done in my life. I stood in line for over and hour to get discount tickets. I was frozen solid by the time the line even started moving. The wind was so cold. It just cut right through me!! The lamest thing is that Shauna left to go to the Post Office and showed up about 10 minutes before they started selling tickets. Lame! She’s standing in line next time and I’m taking off!

All that standing in line and we only got 35% off our last choice show. Shauna, Ashley, and I are seeing “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” and Guizella and Steph are seeing “Drumstruck”. Diana is going home early.

We probably could have gotten in to some of our other choices, but we just had to try TKTS. I’ll never stand in line again for that. It’s not worth the discount (unless it’s 50% off.)

I’m just barely thawing out now. We’re back in the Times Square Visitors Center. Compared to the windy outdoors, this place is heaven!

We had dinner at TGI Fridays, after locating the theatre where “Drumstruck” is at. Then we split up. Shauna, Ashley, and I went to see the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Oh, my gosh that made me feel poor when we walked through the lobby. It is so extravagant!! Cole Porter’s piano is in the lobby. That’s pretty cool.

We’re now at Starbucks across the street, killing time until we need to go to the theatre. I AM SO TIRED!!!

First of all, the Imperial Theatre is absolutely gorgeous. It’s so elegant! Huge chandeliers, beautiful molding.

“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” was so funny! It’s great to see actors genuinely having fun onstage. We got to see several well known actors. Norbert Leo Butz, for one. He won the Tony for that role, and it was obvious why. He was amazing! So much energy! (Norbert was the original Fiyero in “Wicked”.) We also saw Jonathan Pryce. What an honor to see such a wonderful actor. He was the original Engineer in “Miss Saigon”. He also played Governor Swan in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. He is SUCH a good actor! An absolute joy! We were most excited, however, about seeing Rachel York. We’ve seen her on video playing Lili/Katherine in “Kiss Me Kate” and on TV playing Lucille Ball in the movie “Lucy”. She is also on Shauna’s “Scarlet Pimpernel Encore” CD. She is so cool! She was fantastic! The show has some questionable stuff and got a little vulgar, but overall was a super funny show.