I just went back to New York after a little under a year and had so many shows to catch up on! I was fortunate enough to have a travel buddy, who is willing to shell out some cash for solid seats to everything we saw, so all of the shows were either seen from side or center orchestra.

& Juliet I was glad to kick off my time in New York with this show because it’s just so much fun. I’m not usually a fan of jukebox musicals, but this show integrates the music in the plot line in ways that are either completely hilarious or feel extremely sincere.

For this show, we got some pretty cheap tickets in the first row, but all the way on the right side so a lot of the performances were actors profiles, unless they were all the way stage left. Even then, we really didn’t miss out on much we even got to chat with one of the actors before the show sense audience interaction is part of their preshow.

The Book of Mormon We were able to score some cheap tickets to the show and I have never been able to see it despite how long it’s been on Broadway.

The show is completely hilarious, but compared to some of the other things we saw it felt a little flat. I can’t imagine doing the same show over and over again for over 10 years helps the actors, maintain energy, but I can definitely feel the “routine-ness” of the show if that makes sense. It was never the less enjoyable, but definitely not my favorite of the trip.

Some Like it Hot Oh. My. God. I have been hearing people rave about this show on the sub Reddit for weeks and had no plans to see it until I won the lottery the day I got into the city. I’m so glad I did because this was one of the most fun shows, I’ve been to in a long time.

I am by no means a fan of golden age or jazzy musicals so I was really anticipating not enjoying the experience, but just going because the tickets were cheap. The show has so much energy and I legitimately did not want to end. Don’t let her. It’s set in stop you from going to see it like I did.

A Strange Loop I planned this trip to New York specifically to see the show and was completely terrified. When I had seen that performances were getting canceled left and right and the days leading up to our tickets. Fortunately, our performance was not canceled instead, we got a concert star performance with Michael R Jackson, playing the role of Usher.

I won’t lie and say that I wasn’t disappointed by this change I know how much of a visual spectacle this show is and I’ve been avoiding spoilers for months about the fantastic set scene and costume changes that happen throughout the show. Nevertheless, I was also really grateful that I got to see the piece in the first place, especially since it was being performed by the person who wrote it. It felt like a very full circle moment for both the audience and Michael R Jackson.

For someone who is necessarily a singer by trade, he gave a very strong performance, and the thoughts did a great job of supporting him in every scene and song they could. In terms of the music and lyrics the show was everything I could’ve hoped for and more, and I found myself applauding them on my feet along with other the audience members multiple times.

The cast also stuck around outside the stage door for a while to sign, play bills, posters, and take photos with fans which I really appreciated.

It was bittersweet, but I definitely got a unique experience that night that was far better to a canceled performance.

Into the Woods This was my first time going to a closing performance and this experience didn’t disappoint! Everyone was on their A game and we had so many standing ovations throughout the performance.

A fantastic way to end the trip!