The kids don’t wake up until noon which gives me plenty of time to write and walk to the corner market to refresh our depleted food supply. Yesterday I finished all my write-ups for residency and getting that submitted will be a load off of my mind. I also moved all the pics from my phone to my laptop in order to make space which is running out. Bad timing for that.

The main event yesterday was a trip to the Gershwin Theatre to see the musical Wicked. We went to the matinee showing and, as expected, it was incredible. Of our crew of 6, I was the only one who had seen the show before. I’ve actually seen it twice before at the Orpheum theatre in Omaha. That’s how I knew it would be a hit with, at the very least, my darling daughter. The boys all came away very positive about it as well. The entire production is an experience to behold. The costumes are fantastic, the set and special effects are elaborate, and the cast is over-the-top outstanding.

Everyone typically loves Elphaba, but I love Glinda. Her character goes through an amazing transformation as much as Elphaba does and she is left with the task of maintaining the illusion of Oz for the “good” of the people.

The consensus among our crew is that the Defying Gravity scene/song was the best. It embodies the moment that the Wicked Witch comes into being and rises to a new height – literally! Bravo for the special effects, light illuminated through smoke in beams around the Witch as she rises. It is the end of Act 1 and the musical could end there and we would all be satisfied. But there is more to the story and the second act does a wonderful job bringing everything full circle and wrapping it up.

My favorite songs are “What is this Feeling”, “Popular”, and “Thank Goodness”, though it is tough to choose favorites. I was moved to tears several times including when the characters were first on stage when they arrived at the school (because I knew what was coming) and in the end when the two leading ladies hugged each other before the cast took a bow. Glinda is so good it makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

***

By comparison, the rest of our day was pretty average, I mean, if you can call walking around Time Square average! After the show most of us went to a bar joint a few blocks from the Gershwin Theatre called “House of Brews” for burgers and wings. It was crowded and overpriced. The food was sub-par and our waitress was terrible. I didn’t order as I wasn’t that hungry and it was a good thing as we had plenty of food to go round. I had about 1/6th of Jim’s cheeseburger and it was the best of what we had ordered. If I had to rate it, it would be a 3.5, but it is not worth a full review.

We were thinking of going to the Met but the crew really wanted some chill time at our home base and we never really worked up to going for that. Instead Z and I walked back to Time Square which turned out to be more of a Pokemon hunting and battling expedition than anything. We never even made it to the Disney store or Forever21. Just as well, playing Pokemon Go is free. On our walk we noticed that almost every block has a Starbucks, and there is a packed line at ALL OF THEM. I guess it takes a lot of caffeine to fuel the 2 to 4 million people on the island of Manhattan (depending on the day of the week and time of day).

The boys were watching Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure when we arrived back. After that, the kids were all “bored” and I was spent. I could not have gone out again, but promised Z I would go back out with her this evening (even if it means I need to take a nap first).

I had an amazingly long night’s sleep last night.. a whopping 9.5 hours. That’s longer than I have had in months. I’ve also had no shortage of food and snacks so far this trip and my appetite has returned and I am sure all those pounds I lost during residency are also returning.

“Dancing Through Life”,

~Miss SugarCookie