I had never taken a trip to NYC although I have wanted to go ever since we moved to Virginia in 2007. So when the opportunity to chaperon Amber's high school chorus group came up, I jumped on it!We left early Thursday morning and arrived in Times Square after lunch. What can I say- Times Square is chaotic but so much fun! The stores may be the same stores that are local but bigger and better! For example:Toys R Us is 4 stories and has a ferris wheel that you can ride! We had a few hours to walk around Times square, then met at Hard Rock. After this we went to our first Broadway Show at the Minskoff Theater- The Lion King....AMAZING!!! If you ever get the chance- spend the money, it is so worth it! Costumes were out of this world! We finally got to our hotel (in NJ to save on the cost of the trip) close to 12:30 AM....then we had to get all the kids situated in their rooms.
Friday morning, we woke up bright and early and were on the bus back to the city. The first thing on that day's agenda was a Broadway workshop for the kids in Chelsea. This was so much fun! A cast member of Mary Poppins, T Oliver Reid, taught the kids the vocals and choreography for the song "Supercalifragilistic". I am sure everyone remembers this classic from the movie but in the Broadway show it is a bit different and they spell out the whole word and use their bodies to also spell it out. This wasn't all the kids- there were two other groups in different rooms. There are some videos from the workshop at the end of this post. After this we ate in Little Italy. We ate some really yummy food and then had some time to explore Chinatown and Little Italy. I was surprised that my group of girls were interested in checking out Ground Zero, so we walked with another group to the site and then rode the Subway back (I think that was pretty adventurous for us!). Then when our time was up there, we went back to Times Square because there really is so much to see and do there....that night we got to see Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theater- which also was out of this world. I loved the movie growing up but this really was above and beyond my expectations! The sets really were incredible. After the show- back to the hotel again close to 12:30! (Half of the kids went to Mary Poppins, the other half Wicked- the seniors got first choice so a lot of them chose Wicked but I was very happy to see Mary Poppins, especially since I had just seen Wicked last month in Richmond and Amber has seen it twice- in Memphis and Richmond)
Saturday morning we got up and packed all our things but we didn't head home yet! This morning we got dropped off in Central Park. Central Park is so big, my group probably spent a good 2 1/2 hours and only walked through a smal portion. We walked along the 5th Ave side so the girls could see the fru fru buildings (like on Gossip Girl). We stopped in at FAO Schwartz and walked by Rockefellor Plaza before yes, heading back to Times Square! We got some New York Pizza and then met up for our final show- Addams Family at the Lunt Fontanne Theater. This show was a funny show but I didn't enjoy it as much as the other two. I think it was because I wasn't really familiar with the music. Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth were Gomez and Morticia, so that was a bonus for the matinee! The young girl who played Wednesday stood out to me and made the show really enjoyable! After this show we got back on the bus and headed back to Fredericksburg. I did get a slice of New York cheesecake to make my bus trip home really nice! I slept a majority of he ride home. I was exhausted and I think I finally have recovered. The trip was worth the exhaustion though and if given the opportunity next year, I think I'll do it again!
Here are the videos from the Broadway workshops:
It's hard to see Amber here because she chose the back of the room
You can kinda see Amber in this in the front with a white tee and sweats
Again- Amber is in the front with white tee and sweats....
