(I typed this up on the trip but the publish failed. Posting now.)
We are here and it’s fabulous! We are staying at the Marriott Residence Inn near Bryant Park. Our hotel views of the Chrysler building, Radio City Music Hall, and Central Park in the distance.
We wandered Bryant Park and Grand Central and got Metrocards, had Indian at Kati Roll, then window shopped at Rockefeller Center.
We are seeing Sleep No More at 11pm (Oy!) so we came back to our room to rest. The show is a walking, exploring, interactive dance theater experience in a five story building. So we need strength to wander for three hours. Obviously, nourishment is needed:
(Post continued now after finishing the day)
We got to the theater way too early (not a surprise, since our dedicated, obsessed friend is the one who told us when we should come) so we took a quick tour of the new High Line Park. It was actually super nice and we wish we had had more time to explore it.
Sleep No More was disappointing. Well, that’s not really fair. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like it. I hate breaking fourth wall and I don’t like performers interacting with audiences. Add to that wearing a mask and a creepy vibe and you’ve got a show that is definitely bad for Rachel. So I’m not “disappointed” since I knew it wouldn’t be my thing. Brian is super obsessed with the show so we’ve been hearing about Sleep No More for (literally) years. Neither of us really “wanted” to see it but we felt like we had to give it a chance. Yes, Brian and his fellow fanatics were there. We tried it, but we do.not.see. what the big deal is to them.
The dancing was par for a professional show. The choreography was also par. The sets were cool but not lit very well (there was barely any change in light for scenes). Overall it was much more of a “Haunted House” experience than a show. I sort of knew it would be like that, but their attempts to creep us out were much stronger than I expected. On top of that the lack of narrative, the blatant desire to be opaque, the blah “I love you! No! I hate you!” choreography, all made for an uncomfortable and slightly boring evening. I know Brian will argue, say we did it “wrong” but I don’t think that should matter.
We followed some dancers, we poked around in the sets, we saw several solos, several duets, and a couple large group scenes, then we went to the bar to take off our masks and talk. We both decided that we were satisfied, it was 1:00 in the morning, and we really didn’t feel like staying to wander more would improve the night.
Feeling liberated by our choice we took an Uber car out of the sketchy neighborhood to 7th avenue, where there were way too many people awake and about for 1 in the morning. We grabbed some pizza (because of course) from a sassy, white-haired man with unbuttoned shirt to display curly chest hair spilling over his gold chains. Then we collapsed into bed and slept peacefully in the soft feather pillows with no hungry kids to wake us with the sun.
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