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Published: June 13th 2017
Ticket Scare
My friend Ken Abendschein posted this on my Facebook page months ago. He and my sister were less confident than I about how legitimate the "Hamilton" tickets I bought online were (at www.stubhub.com). Geo: 40.7528, -73.9853
Monday, September 12, 2016
Hamilton ticket update:
I guess my friend Ken Abendschein and my sister Debby Fleming Wurdack were right. (Man, I hate admitting that.) But I came oh so close to killing myself (or someone else) when StubHub called Monday to say our tickets to "HAMILTON" had been rescinded by the seller! WTF??!?!?!
The seller was offering us substitute tickets on three other dates. Only one date is while we are in NYC. I agreed to the substitution for this Friday, Sept. 16 -- what else could I do? The other choice was a complete refund of our money. Yikes?!?
I had four different telephone exchanges and one internet chat. Seven hours later the issue is resolved. I have 6 printed tickets for Friday and no lives were lost. NO BAIL MONEY NEEDED.
I am NOT throwing away my shot. However I AM going by the Richard Rogers Theatre to make sure the tickets are legitimate.
P.S. Kathy Leach, the birthday girl and perennial bargain hunter, reports that she read where StubHub gives a $100 credit per ticket towards another event when they rescind your tickets ... for all the aggravation and hassle of having to change plans. She will pursue AFTER we Lunch outdoors at Rockefeller Center
We grabbed a quick bite at Bouchen Bakery, located by the TODAY SHow set where Dean and DeLuca used to be. have seen Hamilton.
Hamilton notation: "I am not throwing away my shot" is the third song on the Hamilton soundtrack. Sung by Alexander Hamilton, played in the original cast by the show's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. A not too subtle reference to the duel between A.Ham and A.Burr in Weehawken, NJ, July 11, 1804. RIP.
DAY ONE
Give my regards to Broadway
Remember me to Herald Square
Tell all the folks on 42nd Street
That I will soon be there!
Day one of Kathy Leach's first ever trip to New York City is in the books! We had so much fun but we exhausted ourselves. Shocking, I know.
After a late night and an early wake-up call, and thus very little sleep, we flew Southwest to LaGuardia and used UberSUV (Suburbans, Yukons, etc.) to get six of us and eight pieces of luggage to our condo at 48th and 8th Avenue. It wasn't cheap ($132, divided by six, or $22/person) but it was fast ... some 35 minutes from the time we made the request to our door step.
Our condo is one of those new sensations: Air BnB type. Our supplier is actually HomeAway.com. We found it on the internet and the price is far better than three hotel rooms and we have the added benefit of a full kitchen and a sitting area where we can all visit at the start and end of each day.
The unit is quite nice – 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, full kitchen and living/dining area. It's updated and it has the amenities we required … A/C, Wi-Fi, etc. There is a flight and a half of stairs to the unit which made toting our 26" Pullman bags a challenge but we are so over that now.
It is within walking distance of many of NYC's finest attractions, including the theatre district. We are actually about halfway between Times Square and Hell's Kitchen in an area with many, many, many ethnic restaurants.
We dumped our stuff and headed out immediately to Rockefeller Center, about six blocks away. Three of us had tickets for the Jimmy Fallon monologue rehearsal at NBC Studios. We got there early (be there by 2:15 at the latest) and got the lay of the land. And then we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Bouchen Bakery where Dean and DeLuca used to be, near the outdoor set of The TODAY Show. Food was quite good; Vanna says she thinks the
Kathryn Snodgrass
Seated in The Voice chair, judging all the performers chef is of French Laundry fame. We ate outdoors in their little garden.
It was time to claim our seats for Jimmy's monologue rehearsal. The day the tickets for the actual show and the monologue rehearsal went live on the internet, all six of us were live together on the internet, ready to hit buttons and get tickets. We even Facetimed so we would all know what we were doing and could make decisions on the fly should they be needed. Six of us tried to obtain tickets on three different nights with no success. The best we could get was wait-listed.
But lo and behold, last week Debby Fleming Wurdack (my sis) was notified that she had been moved from wait-listed to general admission for Jimmy's monologue rehearsal. Oh happy day! But she had only three tickets so it was three in, three out. We drew straws. Kathy Leach (BD girl), Debby and I were the winners. But as we headed up the escalator, Debby charmed a security guard, mentioning that we had three other friends who were oh so sad that they had been left out. Some claim she showed him her bare breasts, but I'm sure that wasn't true.
Surely I would have noticed. And had I noticed, there would have been a photo!
Whatever she did worked. She was sent to fetch the three remaining friends and eventually all six of us were seated in Jimmy's studio.
But before that, I had noticed there was a no photography sign but who knew it applied to me. I took three shots of the birthday girl with digital logos of the Tonight Show behind her. I was swarmed by three security guards who told me there was absolutely no photography. They insisted I delete the photo from my camera. I did. Well, one of the three photos I took. They were insistent about cameras, cell phones, etc. so I never did get a shot of Jimmy, but we sure as shootin' saw him.
After a very painful and long and drawn out explanation of how the system works … by one of his comedy writers, of all people – I guess that's why she's a writer and not a stand-up comedienne!), we were escorted to our seats. Our BFF security guard guided us to the best place to stand to get the best seats in the house so we ended up in the
first row, right behind the cameramen.
Jimmy came out casually and gave us a brief history of the studio. Then he went right into his monologue for tonight. He probably ran twice as many jokes by us as he used tonight, and he made notations, eliminating some and putting stars by others. There were some good jokes tied to Nelly songs; we are sure they will ALL air tonight. He also ran us through some NFL jokes involving Packers and other players. I'm sure the list of eligibility was reduced.
We spent about a half an hour in the studio. We were hoping to see The Roots but all we saw was where they sit. We hoped to catch a glimpse of guests Kevin Hart and Michael B. Jordan ("Creed"😉, but no such luck. Great fun seeing Jimmy, though.
Next up, we hit the gift shop, had our photos taken with some of the mini sets around the building (e.g., "The Voice”, Today Show, antique TV equipment, etc.).
We stopped at Magnolia Bakery where we picked up cupcakes and cake (carrot, hummingbird, etc.) to take back to the condo for later tonight. Cute, cute shop. Yum, yum desserts.
On a whim, we decided on a
drink at the Top of the Rock at the Rainbow Room. Famous place. Famous views. However, it wasn't cocktail hour yet so they wouldn't let us in.
We headed to the Lego Store where some purchases were made. We took photos there and at the skating rink. Classic New York.
We stopped in a chapel on our way back to the room (Saint Malachy's, an Actor's Chapel) and at a grocery store to get beverages, ice and breakfast food. It began to rain, so we skipped through puddles and made do.
We put our feet up for a while and were glad we had canceled our Tavern on the Green dinner reservations. We rescheduled them for lunch tomorrow since our morning plans are only half a block away.
We used Four-Square (thanks for the suggestion, Nancy Ackenhausen) and found a highly touted, reasonably price Italian spot just a half a block away. Our hotel and theatre district location has hundreds of ethnic restaurants within a five-block radius. We headed to Patzeria on 48th for some very good pasta and just a $20/person price tag.
We returned to our condo, had cake and candle for Kathy's birthday (it was weeks ago) and made plans for tomorrow.
7:30--Live
with Kelly and co-host Neil Patrick Harris
11:00--Lunch at Tavern on the Green. Cousin Pieter Orlandini from Denver is joining us. He is in town on business so it will be fun to see him. He is a Broadway theatre music major in search of a position here in the Big Apple.
1:00--Horse carriage ride through Central Park
5:00--Dinner TBD
7:00--“The Humans”, 2016 Tony Award winning drama
Stay tuned.
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![My "I love New York" manicure](http://photos.travelblog.net/370890/969888/t/9183043-my-quot-i-love-new-york-quot-manicure-0.jpg "My "I love New York" manicure")
Ressler, Dorene
non-member comment
It looks as if you touched all based of your trip. One to never forget. Go to Benoits for steak fritte for dinner