Day 2- May 31
Departure and NYC
“I was so scared of forgetting my charger that I packed it two days ago
and now my phone’s dead.” - Gerritt VanderMeer, 2019
The day started out early for Briallen and Rachel. We got up at 4 am and has the
task of waking Alec up on time as well as getting the three of us and Kalie to the
airport before 5:30. Surprisingly, everyone was there by 5:30, with one person
only being seven seconds late. Gerritt didn’t make us exercise in the airport that
early though, which was good. Gerritt also taught a group of us to play a brutal
card game on the floor before we got a visit from Rachel’s dad, who works
for Delta at the airport.
Relaxing in the airport at sunrise
Finally, we boarded the plane, and surprise surprise, Briallen and Rachel were sitting
together on the plane (which would be the first of many plane rides that trip where
we sat together). The trip to New York was brief in comparison to the overseas
flights, but we all slept anyways thanks to the early time we had to rise that
morning. It was a good flight, and the dramamine knocked Rachel out the
whole time. Which was good for Briallen. There’s not much to say about
the plane ride, it was only two hours.
Thank you Delta!
After landing, we had a big debacle at LaGuardia trying to get everyone their
metro cards and figure out the best bus to get on to get to the hotel. The bus we
ended up on did not have enough seats for us all to sit (obviously- it’s New
York, and there’s eighteen of us). A group of us were standing on the part
of the bus that looks like an accordion and folds on itself so everyone was
falling everywhere. Except for Rachel. Who wasn’t even holding on.
The madman. Then, with our giant bags still in tow, we got on the subway.
The subway ride was nice actually. It was a little nerve-inducing to have
eighteen of us carrying everything on our backs in almost identical bags
in that small space, but we were fine. Then, we walked the rest of the
way to Hotel Edison.
Briallen on the bus
Mural in the Hotel Edison lobby
We set our bags down and headed off to lunch at Ellen’s Stardust diner after some
free time while Gerritt waited in line. Ellen’s Stardust is where a bunch of really
talented actors work as they are trying to find work on Broadway. They sing show
tunes as they are serving the customers and one of our very own, Peter, got to
be serenaded by one of the talented singers there.
Peter being serenaded at Ellen’s Stardust Diner
After our wonderful (overpriced) lunch, the group headed back to the
Hotel Edison to get our room assignments and relax. Rachel and Briallen
chose to room together (of course) and honestly, we were not expecting
our rooms to be as nice as they were. We were getting ready to room with
seven other girls and share beds and stuff, but here we shared with one
other person and we each got our own huge bed! We knew we wanted to
go out and do something before seeing Kiss Me Kate, but we decided to nap
first. Or at least Rachel did, and she woke up very happy to Briallen telling
her to turn her alarm off. Then, it was off to Schnipper’s for floats for Rachel,
Briallen, Amalie, and Kait! Other members of the group chose to explore
on their own or continue sleeping. Schnipper’s is Rachel’s favorite place
to get floats, and it proved to the others to be delicious as well.
Root beer float making at Schnipper’s!
Briallen, Rachel, Amalie, and Kait at Schnipper’s!
The group met in the lobby of the hotel before heading out to see
Kiss Me Kate at the Roundabout Theatre at Studio 54. Before leaving
though, we took our group flag photo for the day in front of the mural.
Flag photo in the Hotel Edison
Kiss Me Kate sign
Kiss Me Kate was a spectacular show. It was wonderfully choreographed
and was funny among many other things (including Corbin Bleu and
Kelli O’Hara being in the cast). We had the privilege of seeing the show
the night it was being videotaped to be archived, which meant the cast
was even more high energy than normal. After the show, we got to
meet a member of the cast, Marissa McGowan, who talked to us about
her involvement in the revival since the beginning and what it was like
being part of a cast like this in a show this big. She was really nice and
answered every question we had with enthusiasm.
Rachel talking to Marissa after the show.
Group photo with Marissa
Then we headed back to the hotel and went to sleep! It was a big day.
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