Saturday, December 10, 2011

9/12/11 – Radio City, Rockettes and Radcliffe


 Honestly, today I didn’t do that much.

My day started after a very leisurely sleep in. Therefore, my day started at just past midday, which suited me perfectly fine as it gave me a chance to make up on lost sleep from the flight from the previous day. My first appointment of the day was meeting Emma at the Radio City Music Hall to go on a behind the scenes tour of the building and the Rockettes, a famous dancing troupe who perform a huge Christmas show multiple times daily over the Christmas period.

 Our tour guide was very informative, and she covered the facets of the stage construction and design in great detail. When the theatre was built, it was the world’s largest auditorium, seating over 5,000 (sadly not over nine thousand) people. The stage is also the largest in the word, and it has some fancy-pants elevated sections that can ascend and descend mid-performance.

As part of the tour, we also got to meet one of the Rockettes, a very nice lass who answered all of our questions that we had in regards to her role and the requirements needed to be a Rockette. At the end of question time, we also got to have our picture taken with her for free, which is a nice but very unusual touch.

Then, after the tour, it was time to head back to Emma’s hotel and get ready for the evening. Afterwards, we then had dinner at a bar and grill just over the street from Emma’s hotel. The food was typical pub food affair, but that wasn’t a bad thing for sure. I had a very tasty cheeseburger that hit the spot just right.

We then headed off to our evening Broadway show. We were seeing “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, which starred Daniel Radcliffe (the guy who played Harry Potter, for those of you living under rocks). I wasn’t sure what to think of this one before going in – I was hoping that Daniel would be able to hold his own against his other performers and they weren’t just using him as a big name to draw a crowd.

I was completely stunned by his performance. He held his own and better compared with the other performers. He sang, danced and acted fantastically throughout the whole performance. He exuded professionalism, and I am very glad to see that he won’t become a “one hit wonder” like so many actors and actresses who become known for only one role.

The play itself was also very funny, cleverly written and had some great musical numbers. It has made me realise just how much I enjoy the theatre, and I can’t wait to see what other shows I get to see on this trip.

Afterwards, we waited by the stage door in a massive crowd to get a glimpse of Daniel Radcliffe. Well, rather, the 20 schoolgirls that Emma and her mother were supervising did, and I was in the crowd because I’m tall and can take photos from a great height.

Eventually, Daniel did exit the building, and he was kind enough to stop for autographs, have pictures taken and generally be just a very nice guy. Unfortunately, I was quite a few rows back, and given Daniel’s short stature, I wasn’t able to get a decent picture of him. I did manage to get some fantastic pictures of *other* people taking photos of him, but none of the man himself.

I then headed back to my room, grabbing a slice of pizza on the way. So far on this trip, I am yet to have pizza satisfaction – I would really like a thin crust slice of cheese pizza. Every time I’ve gone so far they have either had none available at that time, or I’ve chosen the wrong one. I will eventually have it though, just you wait!

Tomorrow: Not entirely sure, except for the Broadway performance in the evening. We’re seeing The Lion King! :D

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