My wife, Lisa, has a cousin, Janet, who is an actor in Toronto.  When she and her now husband Bob got married, their friends wrote them a play as a gift.  They performed it locally in Toronto where it was discovered by some producer in LA (I believe).  They tweaked it some and it eventually landed on Broadway, where it is now called The Drowsy Chaperone.  It has been very successful, having been nominated for 13 Tony awards this year, winning something like 5.  Lisa was very keen on seeing the show while it was still on Broadway, so we took a weekend in October to fly to New York to see the show.

I’ve never been to New York before, beyond just a brief layover in the airport.  We stayed in Manhattan, which was pretty damn nice.  Our hotel was on 52nd street and we were within walking distance of Madison.  We wandered through the stores and shops during much of our free time.  We visited Rockefeller Plaza, where they shoot the Today Show, I believe.  We also visited the MOMA and the Met.  We didn’t have nearly enough time to really see either and will have to go back.  At the Met, especially, there were a number of exhibits that I wanted to see, but didn’t get a chance.  I also wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, but we ran out of time.

The show itself was amazing.  Bob, Lisa’s cousin by married, was the star of the show.  He did a fantastic job as “man in chair”.  The show itself is about a Broadway star, named Janet Van De Graaff after Lisa’s cousin, and her giving up the fame of  Broadway to marry Bob Martin.  There are the usually gaffs and confusions that threaten to derail the marriage.  But, the real story is the nostalgia for a simpler time, when Broadway musicals were light hearted.  It was a very funny show and well worth the effort of going.

After the show, we got to go backstage and meet Bob.  He was very kind and gracious, especially considering he had never met Lisa before.  But, we all hit it off well.

We had some amazing meals, especially on the night after the show.  We ate at a French place near our hotel.  It was very decadent.  I had, if I remember right, beef medallions.  They were excellent.  The whole meal was great.  It was especially nice to have dressed up and done the whole Broadway experience.

For anyone visiting NY, I highly recommend checking out The Drowsy Chaperone.  It was one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in a long time.