I love Broadway and have loved seeing the original Broadway casts in the different theatres of NYC. This page will be set up slightly different than the other pages since I won’t be doing a day by day journal of what I did but will highlight the different shows and theatres I have visited along with other fun facts about the shows. (Here’s a fun photo of us with the Manhattan skyline behind us. Bryce has a friend in New Jersey so we have been able to venture out to visit in between shows.) My very first trip to Broadway was for my birthday. I have always loved musicals but never had the opportunity to see a show on Broadway. I “convinced” Bryce by explaining there was a musical all about corn. (He loves corn!). I am afraid to say that I am thoroughly hooked on Broadway! One of my life goals is see a show in every Broadway Theatre!
Keep on reading for info on our trips to NYC!
October 13-October 15, 2023
Kimberly Akimbo at the Booth Theatre featuring Victoria Clark, Justin Cooley, Steven Boyer, and Alli Mauzey. This was the very first Broadway musical I ever attended. I actually bought it on a whim as I had planned our shows for Saturday and Sunday and realized we could fit in another show Friday night. I am so glad we saw this. It won 5 Tony awards including best musical. It’s a heartwarming tale of a 16 year old who is aging very quickly and appears to be an elderly woman. Her family is dysfunctional but I love this story, the music, and find this to be one of my favorite musicals.
Merrily We Roll Along at the Hudson Theatre featuring Jonathan Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lindsay Mendez. This was one of the best performances of the weekend. It won 4 Tony awards including best revival of a musical and best actor (Groff) and best featured actor (Radcliffe) in a musical. It’s a Sondheim about three friends over a span of 20 years.
Some Like it Hot at the Shubert Theatre featuring Christian Borle, J. Harrison Ghee, Adrianna Hicks, Kevin Del Aguila, and NaTasha Yvette Williams. This show won 4 Tony awards including best actor in a musical (Ghee) and best choreography and orchestrations. It’s based on the movie Some Like it Hot but this was a fun night out with a lot of fun songs and tap dancing numbers.
Sunday was my birthday so we decided to check out the Museum of Broadway before our afternoon show. It had a lot of props from the movies and fun photo opportunities.
Shucked at the Nederlander Theatre featuring Alex Newell, John Behlmann, Andrew Durand, and Grey Henson. This show won a Tony award for best featured actor in a musical (Newell) and Newell’s performance of Independently Owned was amazing. It’s based on the story of a small town whose corn is no longer growing. The character of Maizy goes to Tampa and brings back a “corn doctor”. It’s a fun show with lots of puns and Bryce was thrilled to see a show with puns based on a story about corn.
May 4-May 5, 2024
I thought I could wait out Broadway longer than I could but when I heard Jeremy Jordan was in the Great Gatsby musical, we booked another flight to NYC. Since our flight arrived Saturday morning, we had time to grab lunch and a matinee.
Suffs at the Music Box Theatre featuring Jenn Colella, Nikki M. James, Ally Bonino, Nadia Dandashi. It was written by Shaina Taub but she was absent the day we went. It won two Tony awards for best book of a musical and best original score. It’s a musical about the suffragists and the suffrage movement in the 1920’s.
Great Gatsby at the Broadway Theatre featuring Jeremy Jordan, Eva Noblezada, Noah J. Ricketts, Samantha Pauly, Sara Chase, Eric Anderson, and Paul Whitty. It’s based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald and it won a Tony award for best costume. Overall, this is a fun musical with a lot of production on the stage. It’s flashy and the songs are catchy and of course, it featured Jeremy Jordan so I enjoyed our fourth row seats!
May 23-May 25, 2025
It’s been a year and there are some great new shows on Broadway. And since we decided to go on Memorial Day Weekend, there was even a show on Sunday night which allowed us to see 5 shows in 3 days! We flew in Friday morning, took the transit to the MET before the evening show, grabbed dinner, and then headed to our first show of the weekend.
Floyd Collins at the Lincoln Center Theatre featuring Jeremy Jordan, Jason Gotay, Taylor Trensch, and Lizzy McAlpine. It’s based on the true story of Floyd Collins, a cave explorer in the 1920’s who got stuck in the cave and died. It was nominated for 6 Tony awards. I was not crazy into the story line or the music but I enjoyed watching the performers from the second row!
Operation Mincemeat at the Golden Theatre featuring Natasha Hodgson, David Cumming, Zoe Roberts, Jak Malone, and Claire-Marie Hall. It’s based on the true story of the British WWII deception operation, Operation Mincemeat. The British want to invade Sicily but try to trick the Nazis into thinking they are going to Sardinia instead. This was a comedy but the song Dear Bill sung by Jak Malone made the entire theatre cry. It won 1 Tony award for best performance by an actor in a featured role in a musical (Malone). The 5 performers were able to switch characters in microseconds and their performance was phenomenal. It was originally a West End Production and also won 2 Laurence Olivier Awards including best new musical and best actor in a supporting role (Malone). I didn’t expect to like this as much as I did and I was really happy that Bryce suggested we see this one.
Maybe Happy Ending at the Belasco Theatre featuring Darren Criss, Helen J. Shen, Dez Duron, and HwaBoon (as himself). It’s a South Korean musical about two abandoned helper-bots living in Seoul who travel to Jeju Island. It explores relationships and the time people have in the world. It won 10 Tony awards including best musical, best book of a musical, best original score, and best performance by an actor in a leading role in a musical (Criss). The show was really neat from a technical standpoint, the orchestra ended up on stage at one point, Darren Criss did an amazing performance as an older Helperbot-3. Oh and HwaBoon was definitely a fun character!
Gypsy at the Majestic Theatre featuring Audra McDonald, Joy Woods, Danny Burstein, and Jordan Tyson. It’s a Sondheim revival about the life of Gypsy Rose Lee. Ultimately, we choose Gypsy to see Audra McDonald perform and she did not disappoint. She received a standing ovation during Rose’s Turn and she definitely deserved it. She gave one of the best performances I’ve seen!
Dead Outlaw at the Longacre Theatre featuring Andrew Durand, Jeb Brown, and Julia Knitel. It had an extra showing on Sunday evening so I was glad the timing worked out. The music was by David Yazbek and since I am a fan of Yazbek’s music, I definitely wanted to see this show. The show is based on the true story of Elmer Mcurdy, a (failing) outlaw who ends up shot dead at 31 years old. The second part is how people started monetizing Elmer’s body and he was cast in movies, seen in was museums, and was hung as amusement park decor post death. Durand stood in the coffin for half of the show but he did an outstanding job. He never moved or even blinked while he was on stage.