Before this trip I had only been in New York once since the pandemic. I was there at the very beginning of Covid, in my perennial search for a way to live in NY again, dating someone with a great one bedroom on the Upper East Side. The relationship never stood a chance to begin with, but Covid killed it quickly.

This trip was a whim, I love Manhattan in January and February when the tourists are gone and decided to do a couple days of theater while visiting friends and family. Stayed at the Beacon Hotel, just adjacent to the concert theater, on Broadway. The Beacon has $179 high floors with a view for $179 which more than doubles in March and the rest of the year. I used to live on 72nd between West End Avenue and Broadway so this is still my “hood.”

Theater is way expensive now, but it was freezing and I did not want to stand online at TKTS so I just bought tickets. If you love theater as much as I do, and lived in NYC for close to two decades, you’ve seen most of what’s out there. I chose MJ, the Michael Jackson musical for my first night and had a perfect seat in the center orchestra. I got the the ticket from the Helen Hayes theater, not that hard since it was a Tuesday night, and chopped a couple hundred dollars off the scalper price. It was just over $200 with aTicketmaster fees.

MJ, the Michael Jackson Musical

MJ was the best show I’ve seen in years. I have always loved Michael Jackson, and despite all the controversy that has swirled around him, still love his music. The story spans Jackson’s early life from The Jackson Five, to as he puts his stamp on the Dangerous Tour in the 1990s. The story begins in the early 1970s as he was just coming to national prominence so it has all of that decade’s big hits including ABC, The Love Your Save, etc. All his pop hits before he changed as an artist and started exploring darker themes. The relationship between the five boys and their abusive father is upsetting, but then we shift to see his artistry at work.

MJ shares the evolution of his choreography which I have never seen before in theater. He pushed boundaries that his fiscally conservative white manager and other handlers were scared of, believing he should stick to being the King of Pop. The show hints at controversies swirling around him, but chooses a timeframe when he hadn’t gotten in trouble yet.

The woman I sat next to and I wanted to dance so badly that at one point she just stood up, nodded to me and went wild. I was well into my $40.00 vodka and cranberry juice by then. Learned the lesson ask before you buy a double shot in a theater

Between Riverside and Crazy

The play I saw the next day, Between Riverside and Crazy, had a packed theater and my $96 mezzanine seat was crammed against a wall leaving me about 4 inches of leg room. The usher was a sweetheart, and at intermission she moved me to an aisle seat.

The show focused on one of the last rent controlled buildings on Riverside Drive, which everyone wanted and Walter “Pops” Washington, played by Stephen McKinley Henderson, had no intention of giving up. He’s a retired N.Y.P.D. cop who barely leaves the apartment. The cast includes adult son, Junior (Common) who is just out of jail, Junior’s flighty girlfriend Lulu (Rosal Colón), and a recent parolee, Oswaldo (Victor Almanzar). Walter is suing the city because a white rookie cop shot him eight years earlier and he has mastered the cantankerous old man’s shifts from opinionated and stubborn to hilariously funny.

I highly recommend both shows.

Leaving NY

The last night I picked up Zabar’s and visited cousins with a feast of jambalaya, eggplant, grilled vegetables and more. The final morning I went to a hole in the wall cafe in Chelsea with an old friend. So fun.