..and around to our apartment - only four blocks down. We are staying on 42nd Street! The key is not in the lock box so we ring the buzzer. The people are still in there from the night before - way after their checkout time. They offer for us to leave our bags there but no, thank you. So we take the cases back to the hotel and they kindly let us leave them there. The guy asked where we were off to and when we said Carnegie Hall, he said "do you know how to get there?" And when we said not yet, he said, "practice." And then said we had fallen for the oldest gag in New York. Hilarious!
Then it's up to Carnegie Hall for a tour. We're a bit early so we have coffee and a wander - some magnificent architecture around here. I have been reduced to taking photos on the iPad so I make sure to move away from the boys and snap pictures quickly - to minimise the tourist embarrassment! But here are the results...
The boys taking a selfie...
The tour is starting and it's a large group so they decide to divide us into two groups - we go with the second, slightly smaller group and with the rather less strident tour guide. We go around and into a lift, with beautiful carvings and ye olde style level indicators.
Then into the circle to sit and hear information about Andrew Carnegie and building the place. He was a Scottish immigrant who came with nothing and worked hard to make it big. He was interested in a wide variety of things - science, politics, etc. His wife was interested in the arts. He gave away 90% of his massive fortune over time.
The hall was built (I think) in 1891. There are five levels - the stalls, the next two are box seats only - eight seats in each box. Then the dress circle, then the balcony - which holds over 800. The dress circle, so called coz you had to dress up to go into it. The balcony was for the poor folk and cost 25 cents for a ticket and you didn't have to dress up. Stall tickets were $2.50.
Here's the foyer with the entries for each separate box and the hall itself...
Tonight's performance is the group Foreigner and they (don't know if it was actually them or their roadies) were setting up and doing sound checks, so we got to hear how great the acoustics were. Couldn't take pictures of the stage while there were people there. When they left, I snapped one quickly but it didn't come out! Very good tour.
We went over the road for lunch and spent a lot of time working out our calendar of shows. We have some booked but some empty slots, so we were trying to work out how to fit the most in.
We then went back to pick up our cases and move into our apartment for the next week - photos to come... Perfect little place, suits our needs and is just minutes' walk from Times Square. Brett and I then walked up to a Best Buy store and I bought a new snap and go little camera - can't keep using the iPad!! Back home to charge it up and rest up before we head out to our first theatre show - The Front Page with the most amazing cast - the one I'm most looking forward to seeing is John Goodman!! Such a fan! But there's also Dann Florek, Christopher McDonald, Nathan Lane and so many more...
The play was great, so funny, set in 1928 in a newspaper press room while they wait for the execution of a man, who escapes and ends up in the room with them. It was just a plethora of stars on stage - a lot of them had been on Law & Order - it was incredible to see them all onstage, in real life.
After the show was over, I wanted to see John Goodman, mainly, so I actually went and stood at stage door and waited. Christopher McDonald was there when I got there so I got his autograph and said hello.
Then Dylan Baker and Danny Mastrogiorgio. Then Nathan Lane was escorted out and to his car by security, he obviously didn't want to stop for the crowd. A couple of the others came passed and then John Goodman - who has lost a lot of weight! He got security to usher him past as well so there was no autograph or photo of him - he was too quick - but I saw him!! Then Dann Florek came out...
I asked him to sign my program and stumbled out something incomprehensible - just a bit tongue tied... He did say to me,"oh, Australian." And I said yes - great conversation but I spoke to Dann Florek!
Just a wee bit excited.
We went to get hats and scarves for the boys and I was still on a bit of a high. Stopped for tea (late dinner) and then home to our little place, ready to rest up for tomorrow - Wednesday - two-show day.
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