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Merrill and I love New York City. We were both born and raised in Washington, DC, and although we had each been there several times over the years, and seen many, many, many "Broadway" touring shows during those years, we had never actually seen a show ON Broadway until our April 1998 trip.
That year we decided to combine Ballfesting with a cross-country trip, stop a few places along the way, and see some shows in NYC.
As things have turned out, it was the right time to do that I think - first of all because we met some great Michael fans - which has led us in many new directions, but also because we had a chance to see some terrific shows and meet some cast members as well. It was our first "Stage-Dooring experience" since meeting David Burnham in Vancouver the previous year.
The very first show we actually saw was "The Scarlet Pimpernel" which we have seen several times since. It was a truly wonderful and very unique evening at the theatre, and led to our meeting Terrence Mann and Douglas Sills and several other cast members.
We also saw Jekyll & Hyde three times during it's "first anniversary week" and managed to see both Robert Cuccioli and Rob Evan, as well as Frank Mastrone in the title role(s.) (Apparently a virus was sweeping Broadway at the time.) J&H is a show we loved when we saw the original tour version a few years earlier, and we loved it again this time! We met Robert Cuccioli, Linda Eder, Christiane Noll, Ray McLeod, Barry Ingram and George Merritt at various times during the week.
Then, there was "Lion King"; "Titanic"; "Ragtime"; "Forbidden Broadway"' and "Forever Tango" which we managed to see during our 8-day stay. Seeing the original casts is quite an unforgettable experience too.
We did lots of mini Ballfests, met several Michael fans, and managed to do a bit of sight-seeing in between it all.
We enjoyed it all so much that we returned in July 1999, on our way to Diane and Rich's wedding in Winthrop, Massachusetts and before going to Washington DC to visit M's family and then attending Ballfest 99 in Plainfield, Indiana. This time, we saw "Fosse", "Amy's View" (and met Dame Judi Dench) and "Jekyll & Hyde" (again) where we met another young actor/singer named Joey Mahowald, (the matinee guy) who we thought was terrific. Both Judi and Joey have worked with Michael at one time or another.
We love New York City...I hope we can go every year!
After visiting our NYC pages - Travel to Pittsburg
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