Last month really ended in such a whirlwind of fun stuff mixing together into celebrations for Halloween AND my birthday!
My school was given a four day weekend for progress report meetings among teachers, and I knew I had to make the most of those two days off...but still had to maintain some student responsibilities at given times.
Outside of that, I was super excited arriving at 42nd street that Thursday afternoon. I booked a time slot at the Showstoppers NYC costume exhibition, which was pretty much empty when I arrived. It was almost like I had my own private viewing of the place!
The majority of the exhibit features Broadway costumes, from some of the most newest fan favorites such as SIX, The Cher Show, and Moulin Rouge. And of course they have some the big long running hits like Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, and Hamilton.
They also have some New York Ballet costumes and props, circus and cruise ship show garments, and some film and television wardrobe displays, notably The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and the new Aretha Franklin biopic.
What really puts this exhibit over any museum setup is the intimacy of the whole atmosphere. There's no fencing around the display platforms, so I could really get an unclose look at the details within stitching, fabric, patterns, and textures of the pieces.
I mean the Wicked display alone; they have some of the most elaborate Emerald City costumes featured alongside Glinda and Elphaba's final Act 1 outfits.
Showstoppers has been such a big success they've extended its run twice already. It was supposed to close at the end of October, but now it's sticking around until December! Who knows? If it stays popular, they may keep extending it until it's permanent!
That was quite the ticket well spent, but so was the next evening when I went to see Little Shop of Horrors at the Westside Theatre. It's an Off Broadway venue on 43rd Street that was converted from a church to a show space with a theatre on each of the two floors.
Little Shop is featured in the upstairs venue, and they have the whole lobby decked out with all sorts of different designs of Audrey Twos. I don't know if they were made for fan submissions or if there had been an open call for the puppet designs before the show opened, but each one had a person's name on its flowerpot and they were all definitely "strange and interesting".
I was super excited to see the show; it's an old favorite of mine music wise, and I even performed in a production back home in California. I got to do all the puppeteering for our Audrey Two, and was partnered up with my older sibling as the voice of the plant. We got to really work as a team, practicing combining my puppet lip syncing with their vocals from off stage. We even got to take our bows together, side by side at the end of the show which was always a special moment.
I got to have my own behind the scenes experience every performance when I would move from each level of growth with the plant. Personally my favorite moment of the show to perform was Feed Me, because I really had to use my entire body to work the plant and go all out as the song gets bigger. Being a part of Little Shop of Horrors will always be a special memory for me.
Anyways, back at the Westside Theatre that Friday night, we were lucky enough to be getting to watch some amazing understudies as the show's two leads.
Josh Daniel stepped in for Jeremy Jordan as Seymour, and he absolutely smashed it! And turns out it was his complete debut performance no less! Vocally and acting wise, Josh has the shy, bumbling, manipulated Seymour down to a tea.
Alongside him as Audrey was Chelsea Turbin in place of Tammy Blanchard, and she really made the character her own. Her connection within her performance of "Somewhere That's Green" was such an inspiration, and tugged wildly at my heartstrings.
Audrey Two was voiced by a female understudy; Aveena Sawyer, who regularly plays Crystal, one of the three Doo-Wop street urchins. Watching the giant carnivorous plant be voiced by a woman puts quite unique spin on it, and it was almost like it gave the plot a different twist with Seymour being seducted by two alternate personalities.
Janna Djenne Jackson stepped up and brought some sass and vocal power as Crystal in place of Aveena. With the rest of the trio made up of Joy Woods and Salome Smith, they show a true sisterhood and give the rhythm and soulful harmonies of each musical number they are in.
One of the biggest highlights of this production by far is two time Tony winner Christian Borle, playing miscellaneous Skid Row figures as well as the sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello. He practically steals the scene whenever he is onstage, with the slightest mannerisms and character choices that can send audience members into fits of laughter.
The puppet design and manipulation was also a huge standout. From the standpoint of a past Audrey Two puppeteer, I was enthralled every time the plant opened its jaw or made the slightest gesture to show it had life and personality.
I could go on way longer about this production of Little Shop of Horrors, so let me just say now that if you are coming to New York City in the near future you HAVE to see this show!
Immediately after I got home once the show ended, I was thrust into the bustling of costume preparations for a Halloween party happening within the hour on another floor of my building. Already? I assumed there wasn't going to be any Halloween festivities until the official start of the weekend on Saturday.
Either way, almost all the rest of the girls on my floor were in costumes fixing their hair and makeup, so I thought screw it! This is what college life is supposed to be, just embrace it. So I threw together my sexy masquerade bunny look and joined everyone on the elevator.
I don't usually stay in party mode for very long depending on the atmosphere. Luckily the dance playlist was basically throwbacks of the 2000's which was both my childhood and early adolescence. So I was dancing with friends for a while before I started having drinks after midnight.
After midnight- It was now officially my 25th birthday!
Well, day wise. Time wise, I wouldn't be 25 for another nine and a half hours. But whatever.
Like I said before, I don't alway stay a party person for long, so it was only a little past one-thirty when I decided to call it a night and went back to my floor to go to bed.
I woke up past noon, past my official birth time: nine-forty seven a.m.
Despite the wishes of "Happy Birthday" from my roommate and the others on our floor, it was sort of melancholy. I'd never spent my actual birthday away from family before. Sure I had taken trips or done fun things in celebration, but it was either at an earlier or later date than the official day.
I was eagerly anticipating the FaceTime call I planned with my parents and siblings that evening. Unfortunately we ran into some technical issues on the first try so we had to go old school with a five line audio call.
Still, I was so happy hearing their voices and getting to catch up on what we were all up to. And getting a rousing out of sync rendition of the Birthday Song was really something! I couldn't help but jokingly complain when it was over and we all burst out laughing.
After wrapping up our call it was time to go to another Halloween party. I did manage to stay a little later than the last one, but after working earlier that night I didn't have as much energy as before. Most of the time I was just standing around with a drink and hardly danced like I had at the last party.
The next day was officially Halloween, but everyone on our floor kept things low-key. We pretty much stayed in the common area, watching movies and sharing the fudgiest chocolate cake ever that my mom had sent over for my birthday. It was so huge and decadent it lasted the whole rest of the week!
Now here we are in November.
Things can only keep getting better.
