These past couple months we've had some pretty good visitors... ok, some REAL good visitors.
It has been a WILD March & April here in La Gran Manzana. (The Big Apple.) Not only have we been averaging at least 47 auditions a week (I'm rounding), but in March it was my alma mater's AND my old high school's spring break the same week. And like I said...you know what that means?
Visitors.
So first, at least 15 Baylor friends (mostly BU theatre majors) came in town! Par-tay. First was this guy:
It was Brian's FIRST TIME ever in NYC! Can you even believe it?! Look at him in his city clothes... It just makes so much sense... #cowboyboots. AND it was his first time meeting ALEKZA. I mean, they had practically been online "friendship" dating (totally platonic) for 7 months, so we were all a little anxious for the real meeting. And it obviously went great:
So we hit the town in a BIG way. Meaning we went to Yum Yum thai & Schmackary's almost immediately. Then we spent the evening gabbing and catching up on Brian's life in #lawschool. It was a little overwhelming deciding how to spend the weekend with someone who had never been to NYC, but I think we made it work. Lekz & Brian spent the next morning hopping theaters looking for good rush tickets (& picking up Alekza's laundry, naturally) and after unsuccessful attempts at Pippin, Waiting for Godot & Raisin in the Sun, Brian eventually decided on what would become his very first Broadway show:
Mamma Mia.
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| oh yeah we did. |
Without a doubt, seemingly one of the best 5 moments of these two's lives (Brian & Alekza). They. Knew. Every. Word. It was a remarkable experience for me. And timely, because I happened to have been called in for an appointment for the role of Sophie in Royal Caribbean's new production of Mamma Mia the thursday before then (got called in after being seen at a Pippin audition, which was probably the most exciting phone call I'd received thus far!! So that was a good day). So I, too, knew almost every word! And it may be hard to see... but this is a photo of Brian being one of maybe 4 people standing, clapping & singing along during the curtain call:
It was a good moment. And lasted a surprisingly lengthy amount of time.
Ok, so Brian & I had an action-packed next few days, so I'll speed through the rest of the events. I am in a constant state of "re-falling-in-love-with-new-york," so I was probably more excited than Brian knew to be getting to experience all of these things with someone who'd never seen them before! Landmarks we covered by foot in one afternoon:
- Radio City
- Rockefeller Center
- St. Patrick's Cathedral
- Grand Central Station
- Bryant Park
- Times Square
- Madison Square Park
- Union Square
- and, most importantly, Brian's (& my) first trip to the Brooks Brothers FLAGSHIP Store. Aka "346 Madison."
Brian also selflessly waited in line all the next morning for our two tickets to see Sir Patrick Stewart & Sir Ian McKellen in Waiting For Godot! It's in rep with the show No Man's Land, which means those same actors play characters in both of shows and switch between the two just about every other night. (Awesome.) We had box seats (you know, like royalty?) and it was everything we dreamed it would be. At intermission, everyone pretty much sat in their seats silently with the unspoken acknowledgement that "yes. this is happening." It was hilarious, it was thought-provoking, and it was the most fully I've ever understood Waiting For Godot. After reading this play in Jortner's MasterWorks class, I was pretty convinced of this - but after seeing this production, I am more convinced than ever that the spiritual analogies are THICK in that play. And I'm still trying to figure them all out.
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| Shake Shack with these three: Bri, Rach & the Empire State Building. |
Also, thanks to Brian's dedication and intelligence, he was able to score tickets to his lifelong dream evening: seeing the Late Show with David Letterman...live. One does not oft see in their lifetime such joy & anxiousness embodied by a human as with Brian Aslin in that theater. Also, if you ever get the chance to watch the John McCain episode of the Letterman show, you will hear David Letterman imitate a studio member in a low "frat guy" voice - he was imitating our very own Brian Aslin, who made sure he was one of two members to ask Letterman a question before the show. We had a good time!
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| Brian got the autograph of the famed Rupert Jee of both the Letterman show & the local Hello Deli |
Ok, so Brian & my activities took up most of the week (you know, aside from work) but there WERE other visitors, too! It felt like - not kidding - my entire undergrad theatre dept. made it out to NYC that week. It was unreal! An especially good night was getting to grab John's Pizzeria with Kat, Liz (my Chi Omega grandlittle!), Rach, Sarah, Dustin, Brian, Kevin, Caleb, Zeej, Seth & my newest friend, Cooper! Then most of them headed out to see Pippin (I couldn't actually breathe I was so jealous... but it was fine cuz I went & saw it for the 3rd time that next weekend, so...) and I met up with them afterward to wait at the cast door (it wasn't hard for me to fangirl along with those who'd just seen it for the first time, cuz y'all, it's that good). My good friend CALEB PIERCE & some ACU theatre majors also happened to be at the stage door that same night! (I'll talk about seeing him later.) So I was in a great mood. Then we headed to Juniors for a late dessert where Henry got to meet up with us! It was so good catching up with everyone.
And lucky for me, Kat & Liz stayed at our apt all week (sweetly sleeping in our living room) (and ignoring us on early mornings like the time we celebrated alekza's birthday in our kitchen at 7am) and i was SO happy to see them. Cutest people in the world!
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| middle picture: only missing my little/liz's big, courtney! |
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| hi PATINA you're perfect we all luv you congrats on the Tony |
Rach & I also decided to splurge a little & see Bridges of Madison County starring Kelli O'Hara (oh my word) and Steven Pasquale (oh my word) - but most importantly, the most breathtaking score Jason Robert Brown has ever created. The plot is about an affair, but you could set a story about doorknobs to that music & it would still take your breath away. He is deserving of every bit of praise and Tony nomination (which were released last week!!), and I cannot gush about it enough. (Not to mention that Kelli O'Hara's voice is, in fact, butter.)
Lastly, I got to finally catch up with my friend Caleb Pierce -
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| (we got sushi) |
Gosh, it was good to catch up with this friend. Caleb's about to be a senior at ACU and is headed towards LA post-grad. There are few people who I believe in more than this guy. Anyone with a contagious personality like that is 100% going to be successful in whatever they do, but I think God's got some big plans for Caleb in that LA world of tv/film, and I am so thankful to be an onlooker. It's always good to catch up with others that are equally as passionate about the same field as you and know what the unique struggles of the entertainment world look like. (It's especially enjoyable when they're some of the funniest people you know ^^) So anyway, obviously I'm thankful for this guy, and glad I got to see him for a sec while he was in town! (And will still continue to insist that he'll end up in new york, even if against his own wishes.)
So altogether, even though it was a little tough to balance work + auditions + Alekza's bday celebration (more on that in a future post) + money spending since Rachel & I were not, in fact, on spring break, it kinda felt like we were! It was a good break from reality and felt good to invite friends into our NYC livin'. Thankful that friendships like these have still been able to continue even after college, and hoping that doesn't change any time soon.
And as a finale... Did I mention that:
BRIAN MET HODA KOTB?
WHO IS SURPRISED.
#SelfieWithHoda. After weeks of tweeting at Kathie Lee and Hoda about meeting them, who knew that all it took was walking through the theatre district on a Saturday morning? This was his FIRST full day in NYC, mind you. That does not happen!! If ever a meeting was set in the stars, I assure you it was this one. "Some people just walk in the light, chu know?"
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| #thepeopleofthepowerhouse |
Ah, what a week in that Gran Manzana we call home.
So as my grandma Alpoo would always say,
"Come back now and see us, ya hear?"
enjoy. #breathtaking
