The more I think about it, she is just like the little sister I have sans the mental instability, rehab, unending drama, multiple engagements, and two divorces. 
This week's feature is a little different in that it is a one-off, benefit that I can only hope will be filmed and produced to DVD for future fundraising efforts. BTW, I am checking to see if there are any steal-of-a-deal flights to La Guardia tomorrow morning. Stay tuned. If my Tweets start blowing up regarding NYC and freezing my tail off all in the name of marriage equality, you'll know I've gone!
On Monday evening, February 23 at 8:00pm, the Broadway community (and beyond) is coming together for one of the most important events of the year - Defying Inequality: The Broadway Concert -- A Celebrity Benefit for Equal Rights, a one-night only concert event at the beautiful Gershwin Theatre. The special star-studded evening will feature performers (including my BFF Stephanie J. Block) from stage & screen - from Saturday Night Live to Spring Awakening - all to benefit Family Equality Council, Empire State Pride Agenda, Equality California, Garden State Equality, and The Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force. For tickets and information, please contact Ticketmaster at (212) 307-4100 and visit the official site.
edit: leaving Jacksonville this morning on a 7:25 flight. Will be in NYC at 11:15. Tweets to follow!
So much happened before Dorothy dropped in.
Let's say you're watching the Wizard of Oz when suddenly the camera shifts a frame just a bit to the left. All of the sudden, you are witness to the other story that was playing out at the same time. This is the story of Wicked. The happenings, events, relationships and turmoils that support the story about the little girl from Kansas we grew up reading and watching.
There have been many Elphabas and Glindas, but my heart will always belong to my friend Stephanie J. Block! To me, no one can hold a candle to Steph's Elphie!
Wicked still runs at the Gershwin Theatre to SRO crowds for eight shows a week. The show recouped it's 14 million dollar investment in the first year, and continues to gross a million dollars weekly. A "Sold Out" sign is affixed to the theatre exterior. The show is currently on tour in many cities in the US and abroad.
It seemed only fitting that my first Broadway Monday feature after returning from California to see a preview of 9 to 5 The Musical, should be, well, 9 to 5 The Musical! 
I wish I could say that I had some music to accompany the post, but you'll have to follow my lead and rely on playing the video clips over and over to get a fix for the songs. Speaking of the music...it..is..FABULOUS! I simply can't wait for the recording. My BFF, Stephanie J. Block, has what theatre calls the "11 o'clock number" that brings down the house! Clips from "Get Out and Stay Out" start at 2:10.
The show was fabulous, but of course it was just wonderful to see an old friend!
9 to 5 The Musical is currently in previews at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles with plans to open in at the Marquis Theatre in Times Square, April 2009.
I have been holding back using a show involving my favorite Broadway star, Stephanie J. Block in a Broadway Monday for fear that I may incur eye-rolls and "of course"es. But, I can no longer ignore and shun one of the most beautiful shows I have seen, and I feel it would be negligent of me continue to hide the beautiful music from Boublil and Schonberg's The Pirate Queen any longer. So here goes!
Celebrating the real-life story of legendary Irish Chieftain Grace O'Malley, The Pirate Queen combines classic storytelling and a sweeping score with the powerful, vibrant traditions of Irish dance and song, to create a new musical event and an epic romance.
The Pirate Queen features an original score from the world renowned Tony Award®-winning team of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, direction by Tony Award-winner Frank Galati and a spectacular cast of 40 led by Stephanie J. Block, Hadley Fraser, Linda Balgord, Marcus Chait, Jeff McCarthy and William Youmans. 
We were fortunate enough to see two incarnations of this show. We traveled to Chicago to attend a preview during the out of town tryout, and then again in NYC May of 2007. The show changed a good bit between Chicago and New York, but all for the best. The story tightened up and clarifications were added that helped the storyline. I can't say it was the best story I have ever seen brought to the stage, but I will be hard pressed to find another show that is as beautiful in the departments of lighting, costumes and music. The recording still brings chills when I listen to it today. 
We stayed at the Marriott Marquis this time thanks to reward points we had accumulated over our recent travels. Wow. Want to really spoil yourself for future hotel stays? Check into the Marquis and be fortunate enough to get an upgrade which included a room with a view of Times Square! Whuut?! 
(In case you were wondering, hotel blackout curtains are good, but they are no match for the bright lights of Times Square!)
This is the fitness center at the hotel. It's a big atrium-like room with rows of treadmills facing out over Times Square. Even I considered working out with that view! The little capsule-like thing to the right is one of 14 elevators that run in the center of the hotel.
After checking in, we immediately headed over to Zen Palate for the first of four meals for the weekend. That place is just awesome! It is incredible what they can do with a vegetarian menu! Not to be obsessed with the food on our trip, buuut here are photos of most of the four meals we ate there! I am happy to report that I tried something different at every meal and have now expanded my knowledge base of the current menu.
Thai Chopped Salad
Shredded Heaven
Curry Noodle Soup
Shredded Melody
Zen Burger with Yam Fries
On our ride back to the hotel I captured proof that a New York subway ride is a calming and relaxing event!
The show was incredible! We have seen Stephanie in this role a number of times in a number of cities, and this time she sounded better than ever! Jen and I cheered wildly from our awesome seats, each quietly thinking that she had seen us from the stage!! She sounded absolutely wonderful and just like the first time I saw her onstage, I was again awash with chill bumps and pride! She does this role such justice. I was so looking forward to telling her all those things at the stage door in a few hours. Little did I know it was not meant to happen.
We waited at the stage door, like every other time, for her to exit. It was cold and wet, and they came out to let us know that she wouldn’t be out due to the conditions. It’s hard to not be disappointed, although we both kind of expected that this could happen. So we decided we’d stop by the next night and hope the weather would hold out. I went back to the room and sent Steph an email saying that we enjoyed the show and hoped to catch up with her the next evening.
Yes, more food...Two Eggs and Cheese on a Roll, Fruit Granola & Yogurt from Cafe Duke, our favorite local food stop for breakfast. This place is like the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. You better know what you want at the counter and order it correctly or "No soup for you!"
Now, I am going to give a shameless shout out to my iPhone for what I am about to tell you. Because I can get my email on the fly, anywhere I have a signal, including at the lunch table Saturday afternoon, (yes, Zen Palate) I was able to retrieve an email back from Steph apologizing for missing us, and that she saw us the night before in the audience! She said that she has been dodging the flu, and the bad weather made it impossible to come out. She asked us to come to the theatre after the show that night and tell the stage door handler that we were there to see her and we’d be taken care of from there. I guess you can imagine that I was ruined, ruined I say, for the rest of the day! Heinz Ketchup ain't got nothing on our anticipation for that afternoon! We decided to busy ourselves with a show since the weather was fully crappy by this point.
From lunch we opted to pick up last minute tickets to see A Chorus Line instead of The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. The weather was pretty awful by this point and the allure of walking out of the hotel, across the street, into the theatre for A Chorus Line sounded better than schlepping to the subway and walking 7 blocks in the rain to see the other show. Also, our friend Nick is currently in the production and we wanted to say hi to him. Here we are with him last June outside of The Pirate Queen.
The show was great and Nick is just the cutest little chorus boy we know! .JPG)
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After the matinee, we headed back to the room to chill before dinner and the trek to see Steph. For grannies like us, waiting around to go out at 11pm is a feat in itself! Jen opted for people watching from the 33rd floor into Times Square! You'd be surprised at how interesting it is to watch the happenings down below!
So we finally made our way to the theatre to see our green friend.
Surreal doesn’t even begin to explain what happened after we announced ourselves at the stage door as instructed.
We were handed off from the stage door to Eddie who asked us to get in the elevator, press 2 and Kathy would be waiting for us there. Kathy is Steph’s dresser for the show, and as she described it, “Stephanie’s shadow” After exchanging hellos, I looked up to realize that we were backstage at the Gershwin!!! Other actors we recognized were whizzing by and going about their business as Kathy said she was going to give us a little tour of the area while we waited for Steph to “de-green”. We found ourselves smack in the middle of all the props: the bottles of green elixir, Fiyero’s Pedi cab, the Oz head, the stairway at the castle, Glinda’s wand, Elphaba’s suitcase she carries on her arrival at Shiz, (see photo above) and her broom which is such an important prop in "Defying Gravity". We couldn't resist running our fingers across some of these iconic pieces. wow.
Everywhere we looked there was something familiar and yet new. Talk about your senses being overloaded! We stood on all the marks for the show on the stage, stood where the cherry picker comes up for the Defying Gravity show stealer, and the trap door for the final scene. Then Kathy took us a bit farther back to just outside Steph’s dressing room, and stood there talking to us about what we do, but clearly had been told by Stephanie that we were some friends from Florida. Again, whuut?! This woman who minutes before had just brought down a full house was talking about us to her dresser?!
We settled for a photo with the star at the marquis outside. If you need your memory refreshed, check the archives for pics of us with Stephanie in the past. ;)
So we confirmed with Stephanie that we will be coming out to LA in September to see the previews of 9 to5 and then back again to NYC in April of ‘09 for the Broadway run. The whole thing was just wonderful and fun and unexpected. Isn’t that just the best way to have something happen? sigh.
Got our tickets yesterday!
