I am a regular reader of the board but only have posted a few times, (way back when it first got started) but thought I would give a quick round up of my trip to NY last weekend for those of you that are such big fans of the show & its stars.

First some background:
I have had the pleasure of being in numerous shows with Laura dating back more than 10 years, getting to become good friends with her & her parents and was even lucky enough to go to from MN to LA with them twice to see live tapings of the TV show. As soon as she won last year, I made a conscious decision to wait a while to go to NY. I figured that there would be a lot of people that she knew who would go there to see Grease but suspected they would all go early meaning she would be deluged with people early on but not have many visitors after the early rush. This turned out to be fairly accurate & I am glad I waited.

Now on to last weekend:
Flew to NY early last Friday and were checked in to the hotel by noon. After a quick stop at the tourist info center, we went to the Box Office to pick up the tickets Laura had arranged for us for the Sat evening show - as expected we had no problems; she had everything taken care of and we had great seats. The box office guy had very nice things to say about Laura as a person and it was also fun to see life-sized cutouts of Laura & Max by the stage door for people to take pictures with.

After some other tourist things in the afternoon, we stopped by their apartment to meet Laura & Nate and then go out for dinner. It was nice to get a chance to just relax and have a nice meal with them and catch up on their life in the Big Apple. They both look great and I would definitely echo Janes recent comments about Laura seeming to be very happy with her life right now. She commented that after the initial rush, it has definitely settled down into being a job but there is no doubt in her mind that this (acting) is the job she wants to be doing. They left around 7:00 so Laura could get ready for the evening performance.

We were lucky enough to get ½ price ticket to Mary Poppins for Friday so that is where we went from the restaurant. For that show, the sets & special effects were amazing but the show seemed to lack energy and I did not feel connected to the characters. Since this was across the board, it left me to wonder if it was the performers or the direction. All in all we still enjoyed the show and were glad we went.

Sat evening we gussied up a bit and headed to the theater. Based on the reviews, I went in with modest expectations so it was great when the show started and it was really good. The actors were all into their characters and their energy permeated the audience. Both Laura & Max did great jobs that evening. I thought everyone else in the cast really did well too & I was particularly impressed with Jenny Powers & Stephen Buntrock as they were by far the best Rizzo & Teen Angel I have ever seen (and I have seen this show a lot).

There was one particularly funny moment when it appeared that Jose (Sonny) adlibbed and everyone on stage started losing it, laughing every time they tried to get the scene rolling again. After about a minute, Max got his line out and the scene continued. If that was staged that way, it was amazing but regardless, the audience really enjoyed that moment seeming to get the fact that although they were all talented performers, they were human too.

After the show we went to the stage door & there were probably 30-40 people waiting that night. After a while a few cast members came out & signed autographs and then Laura & Max came out together about 15-20 min after the show ended. Just as they came out it started to rain so their bodyguard opened an umbrella & held it over them (all the while getting soaked himself). Once again showing their human side, as soon as it started raining, both Laura & Max stopped & told everyone to be sure to turn their playbills over so only the back would get wet as they could not give them a good autograph on the front if it was wet. We stayed around until they finished and Laura quickly introduced us to Max, gave us big hugs, thanked us for coming to NY and told us to enjoy the rest of our trip.

Sunday we were lucky enough to get ½ price tickets to Hairspray. We had hoped to see Ashley but unfortunately for us, her understudy went on that day. Nevertheless, the show was very good, upbeat & energetic and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

All in all, It really was a wonderful weekend seeing 3 Broadway shows and watching my good friend do such a great job while still remaining so down to earth nearly a year after becoming a nationally well know personality and starring on Broadway.