So, I'm about a whole year behind on this blog, but I have a need to share this wonderful experience I had early in 2017. As you probably know, the (multiple) Tony Award winning musical Hamilton has been sold out till late 2017 for many, many months. You may not know that you can actually go to the theater on the day and queue up in the Cancellation Line for a shot at tickets. Let me share with you, briefly, my attempt to brave the line in the cold, wintry weather.
Back in the summer, while the Original Broadway Cast still starred, you would likely have to endure a multi-day wait in the Cancellation Line (and crazy people, or the people crazy people paid, did it regularly). Now, after much of the OBC has left and also owing to Winter, it has become a bit easier to get a ticket on the same day...provided you line up early enough. I showed up to the Richard Rodgers at about 8:30am and claimed my spot in the line...#2. The first person there arrived at 5:00am and he (Ben) came prepared with a sleeping bag, tent and hand warmers. I got a lot of great info from him as he has waited in many Cancellation Lines (including many times in the Hamilton line) as a part-time job.
Here I am, sitting on the cold steps in front of this silhouette of Jasmine Cephas-Jones as Peggy Schuyler. By about 11:00am there were maybe 8 people in line for a show that wouldn't start till 7:00pm. The day before, NYC enjoyed a warm winters day with temps in the 50˚F range (~10˚C). Unluckily for me (and the others in the line), it didn't warm up much beyond 30˚F (< 0˚C) the entire day. Big shout out to Ben, Caylia, Corrin & family for the camaraderie. The things you read about the Cancellation Line on the web came out to be true. You meet some amazing people from all over who have the same passion for this wonderful show. We talked a lot about our favorite songs, what we were looking forward to seeing/hearing the most and a lot of other random topics. We also held each others spot in the line when someone had to run to the bathroom, warm up indoors or get some food from nearby (pro tip: the 8th floor lobby of the Marriott Marquis, next door to the Richard Rogers, proved to be the perfect refuge from the cold and had the best bathrooms).
While waiting in line, I took a peek at the cast list. It doesn't matter who performs the day you see it, you'll be lucky enough to see a brilliant show!
This ticket, one of the front row seats offered up daily to Lottery winners, for one reason or another went unclaimed by the lottery winner at the $10 lottery price. Luckily for me, at 5:30pm and after 9ish hours of waiting, I got called into the box office and offered the ticket (at the face value price of $199). Also, all the other people near me in the Cancellation Line got tickets too (perhaps as many as 10 in total). Good things come to those that wait I suppose! And that gave me about an hour to grab a quick dinner prior to showtime (others continued to wait in line up until the show started).
The view from my seat, front and center. Unbelievable. To paraphrase a lyric from the musical, I made it into "the room where it happens"!
I entered with extremely high expectations after a months long build up (with countless listens to the cast recording in its entirety). Even with all the hype and without the OBC, the performance impressed. I came to the performance knowing the quality of the music, but the sets, costumes, lighting, staging, choreography, etc all merit praise. I simply don't have the words to adequately describe my complete experience. I'm not ashamed to say that it brought me to tears on more than one occasion ("Burn", "It's Quiet Uptown", "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story").
Highlights of my impressions of the cast I saw: Michael Luwoye = Sensational as Hamilton (and he'll lead the Tour Cast when they kick off their performances in SF next month). Nicholas Christopher brought the presence and weight you'd expect of someone playing George Washington. Rory O'Malley added such humorous flourishes as King George III (and will also be in the Tour Cast). Jordan Fisher = Engaging and energetic performance as John Laurens/Philip Hamilton. Alysha Deslorieux = Amazing voice and a powerful, sultry rendition of "Say No to This".
And after the show, on the trip back to Brooklyn, it snowed!
All in all, a fantastic experience. I would love another chance to see the show again and try to absorb more of the detail of the rich production (Broadway, Chicago or Tour Cast, I'm not picky!). I hope you all get a chance to see this amazing show for yourselves too. I can't recommend it enough. Lastly, much love and aloha to Jason, Gigi and Anne for spending a bit of time with me in NYC when I wasn't at the Richard Rogers!
Apologies for the lengthy delay between posts. It has been a bit busy at times both at work and at play. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch you all upon a notable start to 2016. But first, let me recap the tail end of 2015.
I continued the annual tradition of crafting Kadomatsu again. In the past, the pine had to be purchased, but this year I finally made the trek out to look for some pine to harvest. The trail took Deryck and I on a 7 mile roundtrip up to Peacock Flats.
One of the things I love about hiking in Hawaii: finding some fresh fruit (guava in this case) and getting a sweet snack.
I won’t say exactly where on the trail (so as not to divulge my secret source), but we found some! So that now means we harvest the two main components of our handcrafted Kadomatsu rather than having to buy them!
After that big hike, we needed to refuel with a big lunch. I had a garlic chicken and chilli frank plate from Fat Boy’s. Just looking at this picture makes me hungry.
This year’s family Xmas dinner party featured this unholy creation: Turducken. So much meat.
Despite the rain the next day, Deryck and I went out to Nu’uanu to harvest the second component for this year’s Kadomatsu: Bamboo.
Lunch after the Bamboo harvest? Zippy’s. Dish of choice? Mochiko chicken!
Then we went to work with the Kadomatsu making (thanks to the Fukunagas for loaning us the miter saw). Cutting the bamboo, tying it together, then decorating with the pine and blossoms.
A smaller batch this year, but quite special to finally put a batch together of self-harvested bamboo and pine!
Unfortunately when Liz and I went on our Poke spree, we missed out on Alicia’s Market. The following week, I decided to make a stop and try their Shoyu Poke (and, hey, why not a lau lau too).
I then went to check out the Pacific Aviation Museum. They have quite a cool collection of planes, including this Mitsubishi Zero.
The iconic tower at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor marks the location of the museum. Pretty cool to see an F-15 out front as well.
There’s also a whole hanger full of planes from different eras. If you like this sort of thing, particularly military aircraft, I would highly recommend visiting this museum.
After fighting through the crowds at Pearl Harbor, I made it back to the east side to do a quick hike up Koko Head with Phil and Deryck. We left it kinda late in the day, but the view looks awesome no matter the time of day.
Continuing the outdoor adventures, I headed out to Lanikai for the Pill Box hike with Gigi & Elise.
Of course we had to get some ono food afterwards and we ended up at The Hibachi for (what else) poke (five different kinds no less).
Glad that Ryan could join us for lunch and that we could catch up!
Traditional New Year’s Eve fare at the Kosaki’s, including maki, inari, somen and ozoni. Thanks again for welcoming me over to partake in the festivities!
Continuing on with the traditions, we participated in the Fukunaga Mochitsuki. Freshly pounded, with a bit of peanut butter and kinako.
And as always, they put out a mighty impressive spread to feed the workers.
After not getting in the ocean at all after moving to NZ, I finally got a surf session in at Ala Moana Beach. Thanks for the loaner board Amber!
I stopped by the Moanalua Gardens for the first time since small kid time to have a quick look at all the wonderful plant life, including this massive monkey pod tree known as the Hitachi Tree (due to its use as a symbol for the company).
McDonald’s Saimin. Local kine fast food because I can’t get this in NZ (or anywhere outside of HI really).
Gigi and I hiked the Makapu’u Tide Pools in the late afternoon/evening.
Managed to squeeze in a quick catch up with Harrison at Kona Brewing Co. at the end of the trip as well. Good times!
That brings an end to an eventful and long vacation back to the States. Really great having had the chance to spend time with everyone.
Bless Hawaiian Airlines for still serving food to their passengers.
Back in Auckland, I finally got to try Toto's Pizza by the metre. Broccolini & sausage on the left and Chicken, Spinach & mushroom on the right. Four of us managed to make a pretty good go at that. We didn't finish, but we got pretty close...
First trip to Waiheke in the new year. We did a wine tasting tour of a few vineyards for Liz' B-day.
Then we had a nice mult-course lunch at Casita Miro. Started with this lovely gazpacho and sautéed prawn.
Next up, we had a tapas platter featuring a small salad, chorizo, prawns/squid, olives, spread and bread.
We got to sample three different main dishes: seafood paella, braised ox cheek and a local mesclun salad.
Last, but not least, a lovely honey-almond tart with vanilla ice cream. What a fantastic meal in an fantastic location.
Happy Birthday Liz!
After a year over here, it took a visit from Ron to finally get me out to surf. Luckily for us, the waves and weather made for a beautiful day out at Manu Bay in Raglan.
The Design QSE team at work got together for a team building exercise at Escape Masters. Well, we split into two mini-teams to tackle the Superhero room and compete to see which team could get out first. So much for unity. I'm thankful to report my team won and we definitely had our fair share of gloating afterwards!
First long weekend of the new year meant an adventure out of town. Off to conquer Mt Taranaki!
Day one of our trip didn't start out that great as bad weather covered the mountain and we decided not to attempt to summit. Instead, we hung out in New Plymouth where we had better luck with the weather. Here, we stopped by the waterfront to check out the Wind Wand kinetic sculpture.
After walking around town, we also visited Mike's to try some Organic Beer.
Sunset from Paritutu Park. Beautiful.
We then checked out the annual Festival of Lights which setup an amazing light show in Pukekura Park. And then we had to get back to the motel for an early bedtime (we had an early start the next morning).
6am at the trailhead. Mt Taranaki looking daunting in the early dawn light.
After an hour plus slog uphill, up a well maintained gravel path, we got to the hut. It didn't look like we made much progress just yet.
Then some intermittent cloud cover rolled in as we tackled the scree slopes. Two steps up, sliding down one step. Such a energy sapping section.
A few more hours of scree, then we got up to the icy crater. Only a bit more to the summit!
Made it to the summit in about 4 hours or so. What a lovely view!
Then we had to tackle the long journey back down the mountain.
Giapo's gelato with Ron after an awesome dinner at Depot.
The next day, just before work ended, I got a call from Ron asking about surfing. I thought, why not. And this view of Piha in the late afternoon confirms that we made the right choice to come out here.
Post-surfing dinner at the Federal Street Deli: fried cauliflower and turkey meatloaf.
Finally dessert: Banoffee pie. Really yum.
More pictures to come. Hope I can update you guys again soon!
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