God Put a Spell On Me

In one simple word, I would describe Godspell as awesome.

It was hilarious. It was spontaneous. It was moving. And it brought me to tears. Godspell is probably one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.

For those who don’t know, Godspell is essentially the parables, the last supper, and the crucifixion in two and a half hours. It’s a primarily comedic musical with improv thrown in throughout the show.

Theatre-in-the-round

Top 10 reasons I loved Godspell and you should see it on Broadway:

1. It's performed in a theatre-in-the-round (aka arena theatre), making the retrieval of props interesting. (Actors opened up doors in the stage floor to pull out all sorts of props throughout the show.

2. Baptismal water fell from the ceiling and into a baptismal tank in (yes, in) the stage.

3. Ancient philosophers were baptized and jumped up and down with joy, as if they were worshipping the God they just accepted. It was so powerful it gave me goosebumps.

4. Parables were creatively presented through pictionary, skits, and charades. Audience members close to the stage were pulled on stage to help the actors a couple of times.

Confetti by my feet

5. It was improvisational and current, with references to Occupy Wall Street ("Occupy 50th Street! Occupy 50th Street!") and the quality of understudy ("You're just an understudy, what do you know?").

6. Confetti and props were thrown into the audience a few times, and the actors were constantly wandering the aisles and interacting with the audience.

"Wine" on stage

7. At intermission, Jesus invited the audience to "have some wine" on stage. Several actors stayed on stage and chatted with the audience.

8. The Last Supper, Judas's betrayal of Jesus, and the crucifixion were powerful and moving scenes.

9. Overall acting and singing was good...although, let's be honest, some had better, stronger voices than others.

10. It was hilarious, interactive, and engaging, but it did a great job of introducing the Gospel to anyone in the audience who had no idea what was in the Bible.

Tickets provided as a courtesy

Intermission. Audience on stage with actors.

Post-Intermission, Pre-Act 2. A few actors singing and having fun on stage.
One actor  sat at the piano that's in (yes, in) the stage.

NYC in the Summer

Although it may be hot and humid, summer is the best season to visit NYC if you’re on a budget. The City offers so many free events around the different boroughs that it’s hard not to find an event you might enjoy.

Stage before it got dark and before
singers started performing.

A few weeks ago, there was a traveling classical theatre troupe performing Moliere’s The School for Husbands in Central Park. When I write “traveling,” I literally mean traveling. After each scene, all the actors and audience members would move to another part of the park, re-situate themselves, and continue the show. Philip and I showed up late, so we didn’t stay, but we were at the park long enough to see them travel. It was interesting.

Eating brick-oven pizza while waiting
for friends.

Last week, Philip and I attended a Met Opera recital at Summer Stage in Central Park with a couple friends of ours, Ryan and Tiffany. Although you’re not allowed to supply your own alcohol in the park, there was a beer and wine vendor at the event. They also had brick oven pizza, taco, hot dog, and ice cream vendors there. Hot dogs, by the way, are not always typical in NYC. This particular stand offered hot dogs made with different meats, including a vegetarian version.




It’s like a picnic everywhere you go. We took our blanket to the Met Opera, which we set on top of something (carpet? fake grass?) they used to establish a seating area. The seating area comprised of a roped off section with fold-up chairs for Met Opera members, as well as floor seating on both sides of the members-only section. Behind that section were metal bleachers for non-members who didn’t want to sit on the ground.


There are so many other free events that people can take advantage of that it doesn’t matter if you’re a broke college student or artist or actor trying to make it in the glamorous city of Manhattan.

Your wish is my command: Lincoln Center Ballet

I’ve always wanted to go to the Lincoln Center. And I’ve always wanted to watch a professional ballet performance in NYC. And I’ve always wanted to sit in theatre box seats.

Well, all three wishes were granted last night. (Does this mean I'm out of wishes?)

Philip and I attended an American Ballet Theatre performance of “The Bright Stream” at the Lincoln Center’s Metropolitan Opera House. If we had waited just two more nights, I could’ve watched Julie Kent on stage - that would’ve been an experience! (Julie Kent is the principal dancer at the American Ballet Company in one of my favorite movies, Center Stage.)

We started in balcony box seats, but shortly after the show started, we moved to regular balcony seats. When they said box seats had “partial views,” I didn’t realize it meant “you’ll only see half the stage.” (I’ve had partial view theatre seats before, so I had an idea of what to expect. This theatre was nothing like what I had previous experienced before.) Anyhow, I didn’t feel so bad changing seats because half the balcony boxes emptied out by the time intermission came around.

Staggered lights

The Metropolitan Opera House was grandiose. It looked like what you would expect an opera house to look like based on what you see on TV and in the movies. The house lights were staggered, dangling at different heights, until they turned off...at which point they were pulled all the way up to the ceiling.

The ballet was fun, a comedy about mistaken identity (a male ballet dancer was on pointe...hehe), but I wish we could have sat closer. Musicals and plays are in theatres that are much smaller, and I can see the facial expressions of the actors. The opera house was so large that I had to strain my eyes to try to catch the dancers’ facial expressions...and I never did. In fact, I tried so hard to see their facial expressions that my eyes hurt by the time we left.

Nevertheless, I thought the Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera House were worth the price of admission. The ballet was fun, but I think I would have appreciated it more if I had sat closer to the stage. And the box seats? Well, it’s fun to say I sat there, but I’d never buy them again.