NYC 2025-Day 5
Tuesday, Day 5, was mild to start. A leisurely morning. A leisurely stroll to the grocery store to buy breakfast and clementines to get us through the day.
A small altercation broke out in front of the store, which lead to a conversation with the gentleman next to me about humanity and compassion.
It was fun to search for the kitten we'd met at the grocery store and discover her hidden amongst the eggs.
Then back to the apartment for a leisurely time of reading, writing, working.
Why such a relaxed day, you might be wondering? Because we won!
One of the ways you can score inexpensive theater tickets is through "Lucky Seat." I signed up for all the options I could, and this is the first we've won this way.
The potential drawbacks are high. You have to buy the tickets not knowing what seats you'll be assigned. You may have an obstructed view, and you may not even be sitting together. We decided to take the chance after looking at the theater website and seeing how many seats were still available for the show and where they were.
We wrapped up our work day around 4:00 to head from Brooklyn over into Manhattan. Lebanese food at Salma was the dinner plan. Since we were such early diners, we mostly had the entire restaurant to ourselves. We tried a couple different items, and my falafel wrap was the biggest hit.
The theater opened at 6:20, and we had thoughts of strolling through a couple shops on Broadway, but since they were mostly "I 💖 NYC!" tourist spots, we enjoyed walking the streets instead. It's amazing how calm and residential the street was a half block away from the theater. NYC is a split-personality of a place.
[Buds takes over the narrative for Gin here]
It was time for...
Our seats were not obstructed and not separated. Noooo, they were not.
We've been close enough on all of our Broadway tickets to be able to see the little flecks of spittle shoot out of performers' mouths, but not close enough to require an umbrella. Call it "the goldilocks zone".
Moulin Rouge is a "jukebox" musical (it uses a medley of popular songs as a score rather than original compositions). We were puzzlin' beforehand that some of the songs seemed a little bit recent. The reason is the musical came second, it is an adaption of Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film and opened in mid-2019.
What would a Broadway show look like if the budget for sets, for costumes, for music licensing was effectively infinite? What if you were in a giant elephant? ✅ What if you were at a Beyonce show? ✅ What if you're in a Manet painting? ✅ What if you were at a Lady Gaga show? ✅
The show starts with a pulsing ambient soundtrack and a handful of languid, liquid, scantily-dressed performers surveying the audience. It's like the Greatest Showman taking place at a strip club... underwater.
But before long we're deep in the medley zone of Sia, Rihanna, Rolling Stones, Talking Heads (!?), Beyonce, Katy Perry, Marilyn Monroe, Lorde, Adele, The Police.
Of all the shows we've seen so far, this one treats plot as barely an inconvenience. Crazy man loves dying girl. Rich man, dangerous man. Something, something capitalism. Friends!
But the music was thumpin', the bass was pumpin' and my babe does have stars in her eyes when the lead comes flying out of the ceiling on a trapeze bar. We had fun, but man, that story made no sense.
Post encore, we all spilled out of the theater, buzzing and bundled. A single subway swooshed us across the river to Brooklyn and home for our last night in Dumbo.
