Photo Coverage: A Broadway Baby Trail, Memories from New York City

First printed in Lifestyle Asia Travel Magazine, Dec. 2009-Jan. 2010

A self-confessed "Broadway baby" conquers New York for the first time

Life's road signs were leading me to Broadway in New York City. For as long as I can remember, most of my professional life has been devoted to publicizing local Broadway shows produced in Manila. From Jason Robert Brown's non-linear musical "The Last 5 Years" to Stephen Sondheim's musical thriller "Sweeney Todd," I had to make sure theatergoers get to read our notices and reviews in the newspapers during the course of the production.

For a recent assignment for BroadwayWorld.com, New York's premier online resource for theatre-related news, I had to hop on a plane, and find my way to the Big Apple. This Broadway baby was New York-bound for work and leisure, for the very first time.

GETTING AROUND THE CITY

With the help of some friends, I was able to sift through and get a crash course of New York's Uptown, Midtown and Downtown districts all in two days, either by walking, taking the subway or the iconic yellow taxi.

We started off the city tour at the "Top of the Rock," an observation deck on the 70^th floor of the GE building at 30 Rockefeller Center on Fifth Avenue. I must stress that you get a better view of the city here than that of the Empire State Building. At 850 feet above sea level, "Top of the Rock" opens up to an overwhelming panorama that highlights the Central Park amidst mushrooming skyscrapers. Atop the Art Deco-inspired GE building, experience a whole new world the Big Apple has to offer.

From Fifth Avenue and East 59^th Street, one can enter the Central Park through the Grand Army Plaza. The park, often referred to as the "Lungs of Manhattan," is a man-made recreation area spanning 51 blocks from 59^th Street to 110^th Street. Families and small groups of friends stroll around the park's pedestrian paths, and even stop for a quick picnic lunch. The Strawberry Fields located at 72^nd Street West Drive has a small memorial marker dedicated to John Lennon, who was assassinated in the apartment building across from West Central Park in the early 1980s.

The Financial District in Downtown leads you to the World Trade Center site, where 1 World Trade Center, formerly called as The Freedom Tower, is being constructed. Within the vicinity, St. Peter's Church is holding temporary custody of the World Trade Center cross, also known as the Ground Zero cross. The symbolic structure is made up of steel beams found amidst the debris of the World Trade Center attacks in 2001.

The South Ferry at the southern tip of New York City has a great view of the Brooklyn Bridge. Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York; the other four are Manhattan, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island. Manhattan is the smallest borough with an area surface of a little over 59 square kilometers, but is the most densely populated. Adjacent to the South Ferry on the West is Battery Park, where ferries to Liberty Island are available to tourists. The popular American landmark, The Statue of Liberty, was itself an immigrant. The statue, which stands at 151 feet tall from base to the torch, was a gift from France to the United States. It symbolizes universal freedom and democracy.

WHERE TO DINE

It was "Restaurant Week" when I visited the Big Apple! Twice in a year, sometime in January and in June or July, New York's finest restaurants serve three-course lunch or dinner meals at unbelievable prices, ranging from $30 to $40. We sampled the steak at Smith & Wollensky, the sumptuous seafood at the Water Club, and the sinful desserts at Serendipity III.

Smith & Wollensky, located at 49^th Street and 3^rd Avenue, is known as the "quintessential New York steakhouse." Prime steaks, served daily, are dry-aged for tenderness and for the right taste. The servers are friendly, but the dining area is a bit cramped.

At the Water Club, located at the 30^th Street and FDR Drive, the cozy dining area has breathtaking views of the East River. New York-based artist Robert Mosci provides elegant vocal and piano renditions of pop and jazz standards while you enjoy dinner and drinks. Just one piece of advice, the restaurant's managers are dead serious about their formal dress code.

The popular Serendipity III, found at 225 East 60^th Street, was Andy Warhol's favorite sweet shop. It serves tempting desserts plus an edible gold nugget with a $1,000.00 tag price!

For theatergoers, I recommend the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant and Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar in the middle of Times Square in New York City. Both restaurants serve great-tasting pasta, salads and breadsticks. And, they are both near the Broadway theaters and the TKTS Box Office, where you can purchase tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows at incredibly marked-down prices.

TIMES SQUARE, HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH

For a Broadway baby like me, Times Square is the "Happiest Place on Earth."

Although I have seen the touring productions of the Tony-winning musicals "Wicked," "Jersey Boys," and "The Producers" in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, I must say, watching musicals on Broadway still offers a different premium, for a lot of them still have the original cast members intact. It was thrilling to witness on stage the Tony-winning performances of Alice Ripley, who plays Diana, the bipolar manic depressive mother in the rocking musical "Next to Normal," Karen Olivo, who plays the feisty Anita in the current revival of "West Side Story," and Trent Kowalik, my favorite "Billy Elliot" in the world, for instance.

But you also get to realize that not all productions on Broadway are in tip-top shape. The roller-skating merfolks in Disney's "The Little Mermaid" at the Lunt-Fontane Theatre failed to impress. The production with television and film heartthrob Drew Seeley (Prince Eric) and Tony-winning actress Faith Prince (Ursula the Sea Witch) as new cast additions ended its run last summer. The producers behind the revival of Bernstein and Sondheim's "West Side Story" at the Palace Theatre had to retain its original English lyrics in "I Feel Pretty" and "A Boy Like That/I Have A Love" because the new Spanish lyrics were not working at all. "The Phantom of the Opera" at the Majestic Theatre, which is Broadway's longest running musical with 9,000 performances and counting, is too outdated and trite in my book.

Still, Broadway has its show stopping winners! Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's new musical "Next to Normal" at the Booth Theatre boasts of emotionally-drenched and provocative lyrics and pop-rock score. Its subject matter centered on mental illness can be deemed unconventional but its five-member cast's performance can pierce through your heart. British import "Billy Elliot" at the Imperial Theatre features music by Elton John that is his best so far. Trent Kowalik as Billy is truly awesome.

If you're buying Broadway souvenir items, it would be best to purchase them in the theater. Shirts, caps, magnets, original cast recordings and souvenir programs are cheaper here by $5.00 to $10.00 as compared to souvenir shops around Times Square.

Photos by Oliver Oliveros, Tweetum Gonzales and Laily Calisang

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