WEDNESDAY IN NYC.

I learned my lesson yesterday about how to deal with TKTS during Spring Break. We were at the Times Square booth before it opened at 10:00AM and immediately got three tickets to the matinee of  "Hello Dolly" with Bernadette Peters. Then we took a subway to Lincoln Center where the TKTS Booth opens at Noon to get evening tickets. Unlike Times Square, it's in the lobby of the David Rubenstein Atrium.

Warm, dry, with $2.00 giant muffins and croissants. I left Andrew and Carol at a table enjoying their snacks and coffee and tea a little after 11 because the line was starting to form. I was about 5 back from the front. By Noon there were another 120 or so people behind me. More than they're prepared for so a bunch of them were out on the street. THEN, the first person in line asked to return two tickets for today's matinee for a refund or possibly an exchange. She had bought them yesterday and they changed their minds and decided to go to the Yankees game instead. There are signs EVERYWHERE saying, "All sales are FINAL. NO refunds or exchanges." But a kind employee said, "Let me call and see what I can do." There were only two windows open and she stood in front of one of them for over 25 minutes. While she left happy, the people who were hoping to get matinee tickets and get back to the Theater District by 3:00 curtain were not. Fortunately since we were close to the front we were able to buy tickets for "The Iceman Cometh" starring Denzel Washington and make it back down to "Hello Dolly" with time to spare.

No pics allowed so I "borrowed" this one from the show's website. Click here for more. I thought Bernadette Peters was phenomenal and that was before I read that she is 70 years old.  Great show but even greater memories for me. Mary Ann and I saw the original with Carol Channing in 1964. Then we saw the all-black version with Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway in 1968. Ms. Bailey won a Special Tony Award which resulted in one of the epic Tony shows. Here is a link to the presentation. It is well worth the 9 1/2 minutes to watch it. And now I get to see it with a new cast and my new family. God is Good. Every Day.

After a wonderful show we headed over to 8th Ave for some pizza. I was planning on "Famous Original Ray's" but didn't find them. Probably because they're now on 7th. Walking uptown we looked into the windows of Daniela Trattoria which was way too fancy for us. Then we saw "PIZZA" across the street on a place called CARVE. Arch typical NYC counter service sit down Italian.

They were out of calzones so we each had a roll. Pepperoni and Cheese for Carol and Andrew, Pepperoni, pepper and onion for me.  Delicious - $6.95 each. Dirt Cheap for Theater District. In googling for a picture I found the menu that shows several very interesting sandwiches as well. Definitely added to our "go to" list.

A two block walk took us to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater for "The Iceman Cometh".  Denzel Washington is, to quote the Deadline, simply "The Best Living Actor."  I told Andrew, "This is a play that everyone MUST see - normally I add, 'at least once'. But you never have to watch it again because you will never have the opportunity to see it with such a cast." Click on the link to see the rest of the star studded cast. I'm certain that the fact that it's still in previews is the only reason we were able to get TKTS tickets.

One more day to see one more show. Which will be in the evening. There are only a few matinees on Thursdays and the only one we'd consider was Phantom. We debated how much we'd pay to see it again. Carol and Andrew have seen it three times and I've seen it 6. We all agreed on a price. The TKTS discount price was $115.00 per ticket. No, we will not go see it again. The first time I saw it was at full price with the original cast. I paid $45.00 per ticket. Times have changed.

NEW YORK FOR THREE MORE DAYS

Tuesday we decided to go to daily Mass at The Church of St. Agnes. It's more of a neighborhood church than St. Patrick's. There were about 20 people there for the 12:40 Mass.

Beautiful Altar.

 We decided go to TKTS a little later than usual. I had several good reasons for this.

1. Monday was a long day.
2. We have tickets from Monday's show so we can "Fast Pass" to the head of the line.
3. Historically, Box Office managers don't always send their best tickets first. TKTS opens at 2 or 3 for evening shows. Many times the really good seats don't get there until 5 or even 5:30.

So the three of us walked across town around 5 o'clock. GIANT MISTAKE !  I guess I'd never done this during Spring Break. They only had 3 seats together for two shows, neither of which excited us. The ones we wanted to see bad enough to sit separately only had obstructed view seats.

Well, if no theater tonight, we'll have dinner instead. There is a new Junior's on Broadway just 4 blocks north of the old one. It was jammed. 20 minute wait. The food was as good as always.

Carol had the Bacon Cheeseburger with Fries and Onion Rings.

I had a Pastrami on Rye.

Andrew had the 20 oz Sirloin. Carol and I were looking forward to the leftovers to have Steak and Eggs for breakfast. Didn't happen. He didn't like the veggies, but the rest of the plate was clean when he was done.

Carol and I each took half of ours back to the unit.

The service was terrible. Which is unusual for Junior's.  The food came fairly quickly but our waitress never checked on us again. We saw her but she was always running and spent a lot of her time at the far end of the restaurant. She appeared to have a station that covered half the floor. We overheard people complaining all around us. When we finally got our waitress to bring our bill I asked who was responsible for scheduling tables because it looked like hers were scattered all over the place. She said that most of the staff was new by Junior's standards. And they were jammed because of  Spring Break. And two people had called in sick. They were covering as best they could.
Many of  you know that my son, Adam is a restaurant manager. After watching and talking with him I said that if I had his job, after 30 days the only question would be, were all the homicides I was accused of customers, staff or a combination. Our waitress and the manager we saw getting yelled at kept their cool the whole time and just kept going.

We headed back to the East Side early with plans to do things differently tomorrow.