Sunday was a fairly relaxed day. Since we weren’t going to do much associated with the parade we weren’t on any particular schedule. We had breakfast in the hotel and then left around 10am, to stand in line for rush tickets for Chicago at the Ambassador Theater on 49th. Chicago is the 2nd longest running show on Broadway (after Phantom) and has been in this spot since 2003.
I got in line around 10am and Ash took Zeus to Central Park to tire him out. At about 11:40am, the box office guy said there were rush tickets for the 2pm at $49, but regular prices only for the 7pm show, starting at $69. We’d already planned our day around going to the evening show so decided to just go with the best seats that made sense for that show. And the ticket girl gave us a deal: 5th row center, normally $249, for $129. Since we’d had such good luck on our prior shows we decided that was good enough and took them. The big interest for me was: Jinkx Monsoon was back in their role as Mama for just a couple of weeks, and it seemed like we should take advantage of that timing.
Ash had already dropped Zeus off in our room, so after getting the tickets we took a subway down to the parade area. Our group was meeting at a coffee shop on 8th Street just after the parade turns from 5th Ave. We stayed there for a couple of hours, visiting with some of the guys in the coffee shop then heading next door for some appetizers with a couple of others. By this time it was 2pm and we were kinda hungry but didn’t want to eat a lot since we had 5:30 dinner reservations.
We watched the parade a bit – Steven in the photo with us was one of the guys we ate with – then decided it was too loud, smelly (pot was Everywhere) and muggy to stay out, so we went back to the hotel. Good lord we’re old :)
Our friend Jonathan met us there – he decided the weather was too gross to out all the way to the Village from Harlem as well – and we visited in our room a good 90 minutes. It was nice to have that time.
toloache
IMG_0836
IMG_0838
IMG_0837
We had dinner at Toloache, a Mexican place we’ve been to twice before (and Ash more than that) on 50th between 7th and 8th. It was just as good as we remembered. We started with a cheese fondue that, for me, was probably the best bite of the trip. Cheesy, buttery, flour tortilla goodness with a hint of poblano peppers. I had chicken tacos and Ash had a chicken dish with corn and tomatoes that was terrific and should be tried at home!
From there we went to the show. Great seats, and it was fun to see Jinkx, who did a terrific job. And got the loudest ovations at first appearance on stage and again at the end, indicating she’s the best-known entity in the show at this time. Not bad for a drag queen! She really is in a class by herself and we enjoyed the show. I’d seen the movie but hadn’t seen it on stage, and it’s always better. Many of the actors are playing with the audience throughout and it adds an element of fun that can’t be replicated in a movie theater. And this show is all about the music, story and dancing. There’s not a single set or costume change.
IMG_0842
IMG_0841
IMG_8805
IMG_8804
IMG_8806
No trip to the Times Square area is complete without a stop at Junior’s for cheesecake. Cherry of course. And since most shows are dark on Sunday evening, it wasn’t even crowded. Will have to remember that.
Here are a few photos Jonathan passed to me earlier:
- A nice photo of the 3 of us someone took after one of the workshops at St. Luke’s
- Him and Zeus at that same location – Zeus was a huge hit at the conference, with many guys getting their dog fix, missing theirs at home
- The group dinner Jonathan put together Saturday evening at Sicily
And that is it for this part of the trip. We will head to Penn Station within the next hour to catch a 3.5-hour train ride to DC where we will stay until Saturday. See you on the other side!
Related Posts
Subscribe to the Blog
Enter your email address to subscribe to my blog, which will provide notifications of new posts. Soon after you enter your email address below, you will receive one to confirm your subscription. Check your spam/junk folder if you don’t see it.
