Broadway in Review:

While in NY we took a brief respite from the grueling house-hunting trip to have some fun in NYC. Levi had an ASME convention, where he presented a paper on his thesis to a supposed international assembly of mechanical engineers, what a geek fest! The funniest thing was that very few of the engineers actually stayed at the convention past their own papers, I guess in a fun city like NYC with so much to do, even geeks have their limits J This attitude played right into our plans. The first night we were in the big city we met up with our good friend from BYU Hawaii, Xie (Donald) Dong. Since Donald has lived in the city for a year now, we showed us around. It was great to be shown Times Square from a “local”.
Once Levi was done with his own presentation it was not hard to convince him to hit the city again. But since we didn’t have a guide, we ended up walking 15 blocks around Time Square, Rockefeller Center, and 5th Avenue in order to find the Walt Disney Store. It was fun to see, and little cheaper since Emma was in Colorado and not asking for every princess item in the store.
The highlight of the trip to the city came our last night there. Since it’s our anniversary at the end of the month and I was patient during the convention, Levi treated me to…… drum roll please…… The Phatom of the Opera, at the Majestic theatre, on Broadway!
A little background, my parents saw Phantom years ago in LA and ever since then my sisters and I have been hooked. We’ve played the tapes of the music they bought so much I would be surprised if they still worked. I have also read the book, and at one point had the entire script printed off and in a three-ring binder, I guess I’m a geek in my own right….
Back to Phantom, the walk in my three-inch heels from the subway to the theater, and the subsequent pain was well worth it.

Even the almost labor-inducing hike to my PERFECT seat (on the front row of the mezzanine) was worth this theatrical spectacular. I now understand why it’s the longest running show in Broadway history. It’s a magical atmosphere, the set was incredible, and the cast was superb. We still haven’t decided who our favorite character is. The casting was perfect and it’s always fun to see a cast who are comfortable with each other and can play off one another. A common occurrence in our house is when I watch movies or T.V. shows with Levi he is quick to point out what can’t be possible from an engineering perspective, to which my response is always, “Don’t ruin it, and if you want to be an engineer go back to your office!” At intermission I recognized the engineering face and braced for impact, ready to defend my favorite musical. I was actually surprised; he was very impressed by the set and actually seemed to be enjoying himself. It was an incredible night, and to any of you who wish to see anything on Broadway, Phantom makes my list. Although Levi has promised me that this is just the first in my upcoming collection of Playbills. Although I am no real critic I will certainly give my honest opinion to anyone who cares. I hope that if anything this will inspire our friends and family to visit and see if I’m correct in my assessment. Until the next “Victoria Review” Broadway bids you all farewell!