#15, #16, and #17, 20 and 21 April 2007

[originally written 22 April 2007, with some small edits]

The hotel was skeevy and run by a bunch of Patels. They are all really nice folks, I have to say. The wireless internet was free, just had to get an access code, which was not exactly that difficult to remember, heh. The hotel itself was fine, it was comfortable and the beds were bouncy-- why yes, I did jump on the bed to find out. :D

The hotel did have a shuttle service to Newark-Penn Station, thank gods, although it cost $25 round trip per room. So Marianne and I spent $25 for two days of the hotel shuttling us to Penn Station. On Sunday we decided to drive to Hoboken and take PATH from there, because we went into NYC after check-out and I didn't want to leave my car in the hotel parking lot after I'd technically ceased being their customer. Maybe I'm paranoid, but the last thing I'd need after a potentially emotional day in NYC is to back to find out where my car's been towed to. :p I'd rather have the safety and reliability of the Hoboken parking garage for the $15 that it costs for a Sunday show.

The shuttle took forever, then the driver didn't have the right keys, then Newark traffic was positively horrendous even for a Friday night, so we got to the train station around 7pm. We got into the city and to the Broadhurst with about five minutes to spare before the curtain went down.

Friday night, the show was great. I was up in Row K on house left, and I sat next to an ill Asian lady. Poor woman slept on her husband's shoulder half the show.

At the stage door, oh man, I wish I could post the entirety of this story publicly because... damn, it was great. I had a question for Aaron, see...
Me - Aaron, I've got a question for you.
Aaron - What, was I choking on the tart acid of a lime Starburst that I ate right before the ABC Café throughout the entire scene? Yes.
Me - Haha, no, I want to ask which is your favourite of the little ensemble roles you have throughout the show.
And his response was to tell us a highly amusing albeit possibly untrue story about his pants. Oh, Aaron. ♥ Although I think he did end up telling us that the judge was his favourite of the ensemble roles. Me, my favourite is the butler. XD


I had front row center orchestra for the Saturday matinee, and Row L Seat 14 on the right for the evening show tonight. Met up with Jess and Lulu that day also.


So, notes from Saturday's shows:
-FRONT ROW SEATS ARE THE BEST EVER OH MY GOD. ♥

-Aaron was so totally in the chain gang scene -- he was next to Dan, convict #26004. ♥ XD Yes, it took me until show #16 and my front row seat to catch it. Bite me.

-Train took long enough that we missed Aaron pre-show, but oh well.

-FRONT ROW SEATS. OH MY GOD. AWESOME. ♥

-While waiting for the shuttle service to take us to Penn Station, I noticed the hotel had a vending machine. With Starburst. You bet your ass I got some for Aaron. :D The vending machine had three different kinds, so I got him one of each. I am such a dork. Either way, I'm pretty sure he appreciated the Starbursts, and that was an awfully cute grin either way. ♥

-Aaron was wearing a different hat today. THAT MAN AND HIS HATS. ♥

-My front row seat was awesome. I was in the center on the aisle on house right, A114. Did not get a view of Aaron bent over the table in Red and Black, but during Master of the House, during Jenny's "Master of the house, isn't worth my shit..." spiel, Dan kept making the most hilarious and awesome expressions, and he caught my eye partway through. And then after the show Dan went, "You were close today!" So then I just had to tell him that it was his expressions that sent me off into gales of laughter. I don't usually laugh at that part anymore, 'cause I've seen it how many times now, but Dan's facial expressions just killed me, especially that close. ♥

-We asked JD about the story Aaron told us last night, which went something like this:
Me - Hey, JD, Aaron told us something last night, and we wanted you to corroborate it...
JD - Oh yeah?
Me - In the judges scene, on Friday nights, do you do anything different?
JD - Well, I can't reveal any secrets, though we do many different things...
Me - It's just that Aaron mentioned that you do something special, and I wanted to find out whether he was full of shit.
JD - Hahaha, he's full of shit a lot, and you can tell him I said that.
(You can bet your ass that I did tell Aaron he was full of shit, too. Heeeeeeeee.)
♥

-We went to the Galaxy Diner on 9th Street and...49th? 48th? Around there. It was quite nice, not too expensive, and the food quite good. Adam was there with his wife. We noticed this after at least half and hour of fangirling dorkily and mentioning names of people he might know. Oops. XD He didn't give any sign of having seen us, so... that's a good thing, right?

-Drew wore the shoes again, and I do believe Jess has a picture of them.

-I tried to get a picture with Norm, but he took too long after the matinee and after the evening show he went off with family/friends and didn't even notice us. Blast. So pictures got put off until the Sunday show.

-The evening show was eeexcellent. I mean, it's always really good, but there was some extra spark there. Aaron was even more awesome than usual. ♥ Also, the understudy board wasn't even up. I really liked the number of times in the past week that I've seen completely full cast for this production.

-From Row L on house right you can see the frenchboys getting up off the barricade while Aaron is dangling. This made me giggle so hard I forgot to try to rouse the audience into a round of applause.

-Noticed during the matinee that Drew's newspaper is Le Monde. This made me giggle. Also during the matinee I was able to identify every male cast member in every scene with the exception of Justin Bohon and Doug Kreeger, who I keep getting mixed up. They're shy at the stage door too which isn't exactly a help.

-Ben Crawford still taking after Rob Hunt a lot, running off briskly with his cell phone glued to his ear at the matinee. I did manage to grab him after the evening show for five seconds and tell him how much I loved his voice. Think he's a little shy, actually, because he just ran off really quickly after that. Oh well, maybe once he's seen me at the stage door three or four more times it'll be different.

-Aaron says he will be singing with Marvin Hamlisch at the National Orchestra in July. Which I absolutely will be seeing. Must go. And he only said this because Jess mentioned that tonight was her last time seeing him, and he said, "No, this won't be the last time." and mentioned that. Dude, whatever it is, if Aaron's in it, I'll be there.

-If you haven't quite gotten it by now... I love Aaron so much, he is such a sweetheart. He's getting to be terribly familiar with us, and walked over to us saying, "Man. I need a bed. Badly." ♥ Later while Marianne and I were waiting for the hotel shuttle to pick us up, I was lamenting my lack of a quick wit and thinking that should so have been turned into a pick up line. Except I get the feeling that even if I had been able to come up with one, I would have bitten my tongue. Haha. Aaron totally encourages his fangirls.

Up next: story about the final show before the cast change.