Mother. of all. Fridays.

Nicole Santiago
May 16, 2015
7 min read

Just when you thought these posts couldn't get any longer, folks...I have had a day and a half so buckle up. I'd also like to preface this by saying someone in my building failed miserably and there is no quote of the day. Not even from Mr. Gibran. If there is not a quote tomorrow I think I'm going to have to write a letter.

Lol, no. I write enough. Anywho - I HAD AN AMAZING JOURNEY TODAY.

So today was an interesting one as far as rehearsal goes. Really, really interesting. The schedule today was short (4:30-6:00 PM) and consisted only of a read through of the "new Act II". As I mentioned before, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this since I already loved Act II, but whattayaknow, Mikey Perlman out does himself again. I found myself sitting in the corner of the room laughing out loud and gasping and quite literally sitting on the edge of my seat as the cast was reading. It is such an honor watching them work. At the end of the read, before he dismissed everyone, Mikey said something that really struck me. He said (this is as close as I can remember it, apologies for paraphrasing), "I just want to let you guys know how gratifying it is to watch you work through and read my work out loud to me. I truly appreciate all of you for doing this", and my heart just melted. Just melted away right there. I can't wait until we get the show on its feet. It's just going to be so much fun.

Since we had a late/short rehearsal today, I had an entire morning/early afternoon to myself. Not gonna lie, I woke up around 9 and spent a few hours watching Ally McBeal on Netflix. Then I started to get anxious. Then I started to feel homesick. Then I got up, got dressed, and got the hell out. One of the things that I was most nervous about when I moved to this city was the fact that I knew roughly three out of about 8 million. Five days in and that was really starting to get to me. So instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to make the most of it and I had the best day.

I decided that I had never seen any of the really famous parts of Central Park before today, so I figured I'd walk the Park. So I did the whole thing: I walked to the Park, downloaded the app (because I'm a 22 year old and it's 2015 and why wouldn't I get the app), and started out. It was so beautiful. I think I saw just about the entire West Side of Central Park, and that is no small feat. It took me awhile to walk the length of the Park, and I didn't even get to most of the famous parts (the Boat House, the John Lennon Memorial, the Plaza Hotel, or that archway that's been in every romantic comedy for the last 30 years)! I did get to see the Shakespeare Garden though and that was very very pretty. Fun fact, Craig actually told me that the horses in the Park actually lead very nice lives and aren't abused by their owners. Which made me feel a lot better about thinking about taking a ride in a carriage. But I didn't, because money. Hah.

The beautiful Central Park - And no, that's not a race or anything, that's just mid-day bike traffic.

So the Park was great. I still had an AAC roll from last night that I hadn't opened cooling in my lunch box, so I even had lunch on a bench under a tree about midway through the Park. I have started reading Fahrenheit 451, and I really enjoyed the 20 minutes I took to eat and read. After exiting the park at Columbus Circle, I decided to walk all the way to Midtown via Broadway. Including Central Park, this means I walked from roughly 79th St all the way down to 36th. And guess what, guys!?!? I WASN'T EVEN TIRED!!! And I saw A LOT. I found a mall, my new favorite place, Argo Tea, which is like Starbucks but for tea-drinkers. So of course I'm obsessed now. They even have decaffinated iced-teas! IF YOU KNOW ME YOU KNOW WHAT A BIG DEAL THIS IS. All of a sudden, Times Square just pops out at you, as Times Square does. Sigh...it's pretty crazy there just like everyone says. Not to mention they are ripping up 2/3 of the sidewalk there soooo that doesn't help. But I love it just the same. I guess I kind of forgot that the Ed Sullivan Theater was in New York, because I saw it today and got really excited. When I walked through, I just had to reward myself for all the exercise I was getting by making some very important purchases at the THREE STORY Forever 21 and the street vendor with Portobello Empanadas and another one with the Garlic/Parmesean/Truffle oil/SINFUL french fries. Phew. What a day. From there I went straight to rehearsal, where Aaron and Elizabeth proceeded to make fun of me for the Garlic fries. But whatever they were delicious.

Also, I feel that I have to mention this because it was just that funny. After rehearsal I was killing some time between work and going to see Hand to God (I WILL GET TO THAT, TRUST ME), and Aaron was just hanging out in the office watching the Pirates game. He warned me when I asked if it was okay that I hung around for a few minutes that he was probably going to freak out. Me being me, and raised in the house I was raised in, I told him I wouldn't be phased. Oh boy, I was phased. When the PIrates tied the game at 10 in the 9th (they didn't end up winning, so I'm glad I wasn't there for that), he screamed and banged on his desk...I wasn't listening to the announcers and didn't see this coming because I ACTUALLY jumped out of my chair. He didn't even notice. It was a great moment.

When it was time to go to the show, I also made the choice to eat even more food and treated myself to a sandwich at Guy Fieri's American Restaurant. Sounds corny, but it was really fun and quite delicious! I also had this great beer called El Jefe Weizen. I was a big fan. I also felt very adult eating at the bar. It was right across the street from Hand to God, so that was also convenient.

Okay, I know everyone wants to know about the show, but I have to do you all a big favor and pass along some great technology that Craig introduced me to this week. There is an app called Today Tix, and anyone who wants tickets for a New York show needs to download it. It has an option for entering lotteries for very good tickets, and gives you discounted rates for every show that is up for the week (Broadway, Off-Broadway, Downtown and Brooklyn shows are all available here). You can order your tickets right through the app and the day of the show it will send you the address of the theater and a photo of where to meet your ticket agent. NO waiting in will-call lines (which are a real thing, believe me), NO confusion, you just go up to the nice lady (man) in the Today Tix jacket, give her (he) your name and the number of tickets you ordered and they give you an envelope and you can go in. Also, I feel like I should mention that these are not bad seats. The discounted tickets are available in most sections. I sat in the upper Mezzanine for Hand to God, but that was still a great seat and it was because I chose that seat over the slightly pricier (but still discounted) middle orchestra seats. I highly recommend this service to all theater-goers. It was super convenient.

Now for the part you've all been waiting for (or at least I feel that this is what this post has really been leading up to, so sorry if you weren't waiting for it)! The official verdict:

This play was so. freaking. great. The script was hilarious, though suprisingly had a lot of heart in the end, and the cast made it even better. My favorite performance was that of Sarah Stiles as Jessica, but everyone was truly, truly great. Nominated for five Tonys, including Best Play, Hand to God never one fails to disappoint. Aside from the acting and the script, the freaking tech was off the wall good. Like really, really, well designed and executed. The set was the standout design for me (sorry guys, photos won't do it or its functions justice) and was complimented and enhanced by the lighting and properties design beautifully. The sound design was also brilliant. Pre-show music included a lot of Christian contemporary music and old-school country. Long story short, this was a fantastic play. Definitely worthy of the hype. Go see it if you can.

After the show, I ended my day with some Ben & Jerry's (also right across from the theater, how convenient) Chocolate Fudge Brownie. The ice cream scooper guy told me I had pretty eyes and gave me a full-sized cone for the price of a kid's. It was a great end to a great day.

I've decided I'm going to leave you with my own quote of the day, one of my favorite lines from Hand to God. Have a great weekend, everyone!