The end of the semester was SOOO busy. When I wasn't writing papers, I was cramming everything I'd miss about New York into my spare time. I'm back home for the summer, which is nice and it just dawned on me that if i have it my way, this will be my last full summer in Pittsburgh :-O! WEIRD. ..and a little intimidating.
So in between writing papers, I managed to go to the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop - which is magical. It is literally a hole in the wall - thank God the first day I went there was a line down the block - and it was WORTH IT. The first day I got something called the Salty Pimp, which was delicious, but the second time I got the Monday Sundae which is so wonderful - twist ice cream, caramel, sea salt, whipped cream all in a Nutella dipped waffle cone - yes, please. It was so yummy.
I made a few trips to Veselka with my friends before I skipped town and saw four shows within a week and met Bethenny Frankel. Yes! She had a book signing at a nearby Barnes and Noble for her book Skinnydipping and of course I stopped mid-paperwriting to get my butt up there, despite all the May Day protests and it was worth it. She was funny and engaging and very sweet. I wish her talk show lots of success, but I hope it gets moved to New York, so she doesn't move to LA and I can work for her hahahaha (but seriously). It was epic, it was like meeting an idol and I told her so.
The shows I saw before I left were Leap of Faith (twice), Newsies, End of the Rainbow, and A Streetcar Named Desire.
I saw Leap of Faith twice because I loved it so much, but I saw it so soon because it unfairly closed before it should have. It was SO much fun and you could tell the cast really loved the show and had fun, which made me have fun. The music was great and I'm so thankful that it seems as though I'll at least get a cast recording of the amazing show, since I can no longer go see it. I'm really hurt that this closed so quickly. Raul Esparza was amazing and the entire cast was just outstanding. I cannot say enough good things about this show.
Newsies... I got a ticket for for my birthday because Jeremy Jordan was in it. That is legit 90% of why I bought a ticket, and at the time it was a limited engagement (now it's an open-run). I never saw the movie, so I'm not part of this cult following or anything. The choreography was amazing, and I really enjoyed listening to the music with it being mostly male parts. I did find myself wondering why they didn't cast more kids in it, because they would say "kids" and such and I didn't buy it. The music was good, but not something I needed. I just find that it's pretty overrated because it has the cast following. I liked it, but it was probably my least favorite show of the week, unfortunately.
End of the Rainbow was AMAZING. I laughed and I cried and I was thoroughly a little disturbed. It's about the end of Judy Garland's career and life, so she's pretty hot mess for the show, but it was just haunting and amazing. It was really outstanding. Tracie Bennett plays Judy and if she doesn't get the Best Tony for an Actress in a Play award, I'm going to be so pissed off. She was really outstanding. It was only a few cast members and it was great and intimate. I loved it, if you can, go see it!
Lastly, A Streetcar Named Desire, which we saw on my birthday. My family wanted to see it more than I did, but I liked it a lot. I never had to read it when I was in high school and I have never seen the movie with Marlon Brando the entire way through, so I had no idea what I was walking into. Similarly, it was heavy and sad and intense, but it was outstanding. Blair Underwood was great. Nicole Ari Parker as Blanche was so disturbing and so sad to watch. She was excellent. I cannot say enough nice things about her. And I finally got to meet Daphne Rubin-Vega, which was fantastic and crazy. I love her. It was great! I loved it. It was very good.
Here's my album, a lot of pictures are on my friend Caitlin's FB, unfortunately.
I had fun and I'm not as sad to be home for the summer as I thought I would be. Time to look for apartments and just enjoy my friends and my family :)
xx.
