Phantom of the Opera
One of the nice things about my hotel location is the proximity to the theater district. I took advantage of that by booking shows each night. The first one is Phantom of the Opera on my first night.
You can see where I am at in the upper right hand corner. I’m going on foot to the Majestic Theatre on the left. They recommend you get there 30 minutes before the show. The show is at 8pm. I’m leaving at 7:15 to try to get there for 7:30.
I am passing through Times Square along the way. No balls are dropping tonight.
“The Tony is taking me to Sardi’s.”
I am in line at 7:40.
It only took two minutes to get inside.
Merchandise is on the left and the bar is on the right.
The drink deal is you can get a drink in a small generic cup for $18. Or you can get a double in this bigger collectors cup for $31. I decided to go with the bigger drink and have a souvenir.
This gives you an idea of the seating and legroom. They aren’t the biggest seats in the world and the arm rests are pretty small as well. The legroom is sufficient.
I have a front row center seat overlooking the orchestra pit.
It is definitely interesting being able to see into the orchestra pit like this.
The Playbills are handed out by ushers on your way to your seat.
That is the conductor on the phone. He’s close enough to talk to us. He did say hi when he first came out.
We are at intermission now. The chandelier came down right over my head.
Here is the raising of the chandelier during intermission.
I am stretching the legs a bit during intermission.
I am ready for the second act.
The orchestra has started back up.
After the show I took this shot from the left side of the stage. There’s a whole string section over here that wasn’t visible from my seat.
They say that the best seats for Broadway are the first rows of the balcony. I can’t imagine those being better seats than what I just had. Being able to see into the orchestra pit, close enough to see little interactions between the actors, and having the chandelier come down over my head added to the experience. I loved the show. I loved my seat. If I did it again, I would do it the same way.
My plan after each show is to check out a rooftop bar. Tonight I’m going to the Castell Rooftop Lounge at the AC Hotel in Times Square.
This is going to be on the 21st floor.
I see an empty spot at the bar on the left.
This is a Metropolitan Lager from Flagship Brewing in Staten Island.
Let’s check out the view.
This is a nice bar. I guess the disappointing part for me is you can’t see the Empire State Building from outside.
You can see it from the window on the other side.
I’m going to try one more tonight. This is Dear Irving on Hudson at the Aliz Hotel.
We are on the 40th Floor and I love this outside portion.
This one was difficult to get to. You can’t just go up. Someone has to take you up. And they want you to have reservations. They let me come up to a bar spot but there really are no bar spots. The bartenders looked at me like I didn’t belong there when I tried to order a drink. It’s a great spot but difficult.
On the way back to the hotel I’m stopping a Empanada Mama. This is the Times Square location.
You order on the touch screen and they call you when your order is ready. You can view their menu here.
I’m heading back to the hotel with my empanadas.
I got one beef and one cheese–both with corn tortillas. They were good. I think I liked the beef better.
I’m off to bed. Good Night!
