Theatre Review: The (Curious Case of The) Watson Intelligence

Playbill: The (Curious Case of The) Watson Intelligence

Pre-Theatre Meal: Chez Napolean

Accompanied By: Mike

We've really been on a play kick recently, so when some cheap tickets for "The (Curious Case of The) Watson Intelligence stumbled on my path, I picked them up. It sounded very interesting, following the story of 3 Watsons in different times: Sherlock's right-hand man, Alexander Graham Bell's assistant, and IBM's supercomputer of Jeopardy fame. I really enjoyed it, cleverly written with interesting parallel's and great actors, definitely a nice night out- we will definitely make an effort to see some more Off Broadway shows as we tend to really enjoy them.

Theatre Review: The Glass Menagerie

Playbill: The Glass Menagerie

Pre-Theatre Meal: Danji

Accompanied By: Mike

Surprisingly I have never read nor seen the classic Tennessee Williams "The Glass Menagerie" so I went into this play "blind" so to speak. Which is exactly how I like to experience theatre, I love to be on the journey as things unfold with no idea where they are going.

I am a huge fan of Celia Keenan-Bolger since seeing her in Peter and the Starcatcher and she did not disappoint as Laura. I also love Zachary Quinto from Star Trek & Heroes, so it was a real treat to see that he had bonafide stage acting chops. And while this was my first time seeing Cherry Jones, I was not surprised to find she was an absolute power given her long and impressive resume.

I would love to see another production of this play, because I could easily see how depending on the Director's/Actors' choices you could find yourself leaning more towards Tom leaving vs staying, but I for one was very conflicted (although Mike was much less so and thought he should absolutely get the eff outta dodge).

Theatre Review: Then She Fell

Pre-Theatre Meal: Mini East Williamsburg Bar Crawl

Accompanied By: Mike

I'd really wanted experience "Then She Fell" since I'm a huge "Sleep No More" fan and heard lots of great things about this smaller production. I also was very interested to see Immersive Theatre in a different format. Mike bought me tickets for my birthday so we went back in October, but he had accidentally bought tickets for December so we wound up having two sets. My impression after the first visit was that I was really happy that we went, but that I didn't think it would be worth going to again so I asked him to sell the other pair of tickets. He didn't and I am SO glad he didn't! I enjoyed the second visit immensely. Since, it is a smaller space/production, I had assumed that each visitor sees the same scenes, just in a different order so I was very surprised to see that I was very much mistaken and there were entire large spaces of the set that I had never seen/experienced on the first way through.

I really like the contrast that "Then She Fell" offers to "Sleep No More". The main difference is that you are guided through the entire experience and there is little to no direct action required on your part. This is wonderfully relaxing compared to the dog-eat-dog SNM experience. Also, you are usually alone or with only one other audience member and the actor(s) throughout the whole time (there are just 15 audience members per show). This play would be the perfect introduction to immersive theatre for anyone not willing to jump right in to Sleep No More.

Theatre Review: Big Fish

Big Fish

Pre-theatre Meal: The View Lounge at the Marriott Marquis

This has been one of my families go-to pre-theatre spots because of the fantastic view and the buffet making it easy to control the pace of your meal. However, after 30 minutes no waitress came to take our drink order. Once she did, it was another ridiculously long wait to get our drinks. Then of course, tracking her down to get our check was another chore and we wound up just making it to the theater in time.

Accompanied by: Nana Frank, Aunt Debbie, M. Scott

Started out slowly, but really picked up in the 2nd act. Incredible talent (especially the amazing Norbert Leo Butz), beautiful sets, touching story. They used a lot of projected images for the scenery which I absolutely would hate for any other production, but I thought were absolutely perfect for this musical. To me it represented the layer of fiction Edward projects on top of reality to make everything just a little bit more magical and beautiful than it really is. Overall we enjoyed it, but it was lacking wow factor.

Theatre Review: Little Miss Sunshine

Playbill: Little Miss Sunshine

Pre-Theatre Meal: Shake Shack

Accompanied by: M. Scott

A really talented cast working with a total dud. You could see in their eyes that despite them doing everything they can, it just wasn't working. Shout out to the dance captain who stole every scene he was in (and like I said, talented cast here, so that's saying something).

So happy to see Stephanie J Block, so disappointed she didn't have a score that let her shine.

Theatre Review: Matilda

Playbill: Matilda

Pre-theatre Meal: Totto Ramen

Accompanied by: Ron & John

Brilliant! Fun, moving, magical - everything you could want in a Broadway show. I'm still bitter that Kinky Boots got the Tony for Best New Musical, Matilda was absolutely robbed.

Oh and I somehow totally missed that the headmistress was a dude and had a complete epiphany just towards the end of Act 1, much to my companions' amusement.

Theatre Review: Kinky Boots

Playbill: Kinky Boots

Pre-Theatre Meal: Joe Allen's

Accompanied by: Nana & Donna

A modern day classical musical. The plot is pretty predictable, the songs are fun yet forgettable, but the real story here are the two male leads Billy Porter & Stark Sands. Stark Sands had some moments that were 200% Broadway Magic- a little over the top and cheesy, but he's so damn good that you just sit back, turn off your inner snark, and let it wash over you. It's going to be a super tough call on who will win the Tony on this one.

Theatre Review: Pippin

Playbill: Pippin

Pre-theatre meal: N/A. Wine & Twizzers at the theatre (Don't judge!)

Accompanied by: Me, Myself, & I

Found myself with a free evening so made a last minute decision to hit the TKTS booth and grab a ticket to Pippin per my Grandmother's glowing recommendation. Got my sippy cup of wine and bag of Twizzlers (aka Dinner) and settled in for a night of "Entertainment with a Capital E" as my Grandma described it. And boy was she right. I somehow have had very little exposure to Pippin, so besides for the first bit of the opening number the music and plot were all totally new to me.

Now, the plot is…odd. But you barely notice because of all the spectacle around. The decision to embrace the circus theme with a Cirque du Soleil type vibe ended up working very well here. Oh and Patina Miller? Holy cow. I could watch her do ANYthing for 2 hours. She's fantastic and if she doesn't get the Tony it will be an absolute crime.

Theatre Review: Macbeth

Playbill: Macbeth

Accompanied by: Mike

Anyone doubting Alan Cummings brilliance as an actor should get their head examined. Preferably at this Sanatorium.  He almost single handedly plays the entire cast of Macbeth and it actually makes sense. Whoever thought up the concept of doing this one-man version is also brilliant. It was captivating and creepy- a fantastic rendition of the Scottich Play.

Theatre Review: Lucky Guy

Playbill: Lucky Guy

Pre-Theatre Meal: Marseille
Accompanied by: Nana & Donna 

Having started a new job recently, I haven't been going out as much since I've been trying to learn my new industry. But considering my new position is in newspapers, I felt more than justified taking some time to see Tom Hanks in Lucky Guy, the story of Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Mike McAlary. 

It's very odd to see Tom Hanks playing someone who isn't a 100% likable nice-guy, but he did a good job with it, so I recovered quickly. It was OK, but I definitely think this would be more interesting to people who remember the real life events of his surrounding scandal in the 80s.

I Made This: Wine Cork Trivet

Wine Cork Trivet

I've been collecting wine corks for a long time now for various crafting endeavors. Finally, I made my first wine cork craft: the Wine Cork Trivet Kit from Wine Enthusiast. Unlike many crafting kits, you get complete artistic choice. They provide the frame, you decide on the pattern with little to no guidance. 

However, no matter how you slice it, the dimensions of the frame are NOT a multiple of standard wine cork sizes. Trust me, I tried a TON of configurations using a variety of cork sizes and hit the internet to see if anyone else encountered the same issue (they did). 

No matter what, there was always awkward spaces to fill. This was the best arrangement I came up with. Although the spacers around the center bother me, I liked how I got to highlight the cork from our friends' anniversary celebration in the center.