Dance Article
New York, New York …It’s a Wonderful Town!
by Terry ClarkI’m originally from New York and try to get back for a visit at least once every year. I usually take a friend or some of my dance students along. This year was a solo trip. I was a bit apprehensive about going because of the heightened security alert just before I was to depart. But realizing that New York wasn’t going to come to a screeching halt, I decided to take my trip.
First off, the plane was three hours late into Fresno, which left me with five minutes to make a connection in Phoenix. I took off running with my carry on rolling behind me. Of course, the connection was the furthest from where we landed. Halfway to the plane a young man with a wheelchair just yelled at me to get in. Obviously taking pity on me. He put the chair in high gear and ran yelling all the way…V- I -P coming… Move! Well, I made my flight. I gave him a nice tip and I was on my way. I like to fly into Newark, N.J, because it’s a smaller airport and easier to get into the city.
Upon landing, I rushed to pick up my luggage and to call the super shuttle to pick me up….No bag. So off I go to file a report. Fortunately, all luggage is tagged with a computer scanned marker. So when I made my claim, they knew where my bag was. It would be sent on to New York in the wee hours. (I always carry an information card with the name, address and telephone numbers of the hotel, shuttle service and anything else I deem important.) Finally, I was on my way into the city. As we were driving down the streets of ole New York, I felt relieved to see so many police out in force.
I arrive at my hotel sans baggage at 1 A.M. I like to stay at the Novotel on Broadway and 52nd Street. It’s close to all the theatres and has a taste of Europe, which I enjoy. I told the front desk that my luggage would be coming in later. They told me that they would flash the light on my phone to let me know when it had arrived. That was considerate. Off to my room. I decided to get some ice and have a nice tall glass of water before trying to get some rest. The ice machine was broken. So there I sat in my beautiful room over looking Broadway, tired, alone and drinking a warm glass of water. Hello, New York!!
I awoke after a restless few hours to find that the light was not blinking on my phone. I called and checked and no bag had been sent. Great. I called New Jersey. They were vague, and I persisted. Finally, I was told my bag would be at the hotel between 7:30 A.M. and 9:30 A.M. This was good. I had planned to take my daily dance class at Luigi’s Jazz Centre on W. 68th Street at 11 A.M.
My bag arrived at 7:30. I travel with a coffee maker and my own breakfast so that I can leisurely get ready in the morning. With very little sleep, I set out on my walk to class. I like to walk in New York because it gives me the feel of the city, and I get to see the latest styles and check out the restaurants and stores along the way. I noticed this year that New Yorkers don’t wear sunglasses!
I arrived for class at 10:30. This gave me time to visit with Luigi, the master of jazz, who has been my teacher since I was a kid, and my other friends that I haven’t seen in a year. My friend Tammy Ohara flies in from Japan every year for class. She was there. Liza was there. Marissa Berensen was there. I was ready to dance! I was putting on my jazz shoes when I noticed a tear in the leg of my jazz pants. Oh well, new pants and already torn.
Too many people were in class that day, and I just didn’t do well. The ripped pants, the no sleep and the trauma from the flights didn’t help.
I left feeling that maybe I should have stayed home this year. After a few minutes, that thought was out of my head and I was stopping at my favorite place the “Bread Soul” to pick up a sandwich. New York has the best deli food in the world. The sandwiches at this café are big and delicious and cheap! (Another favorite is the Carnegie Deli, but the sandwiches are so big, it takes two people to eat just one. They are also more expensive, but they have best pastrami ever! You can also order from them on line at Carnegie Deli.com. Check out their cheese cake.) I threw my sandwich in my dance bag and proceeded to walk to the theatres of the Broadway shows that I wanted to see. I needed to pick up all my tickets.
Now, you can get tickets on line, go to Times Square and wait in line for two hours and take your chances on getting tickets at half price, you can phone order them, you can have the concierge at your hotel get them or you can go to the box office and buy them. This is what I do. Before leaving home, I go online to Broadway.com and I look up all the shows and write down the theatres at which they are playing, the addresses, the times of the performances and the prices.
I pay top price, but I’ve never had a problem seeing the shows that I want to see. With a choice of days, I hit the theatres. This was Tuesday, and I went to the Eugene O’ Neil Theatre and got row 5 center to see Caroline or Change for that evening. Next, I went to the Al Hirschfeld Theatre and got a matinee ticket for Wednesday to see Wonderful Town. It was for the fourth row center. Then, I went to the Imperial Theatre and bought a ticket to see Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz. This ticket was a ridiculous price, but I was in New York and this was the only time to see it. I tried to get a ticket for Wicked, but had no luck. Hmm, that’s not like me not to get a ticket!
That evening after a good lunch and a nice nap, I set out to see Caroline or Change. It was an excellent show and well done. Unfortunately it would be closing soon because it just didn’t have a good following. On the way back to my hotel I stopped at Ray’s pizza and got a few slices and went back to my room. You can’t beat New York pizza!
The next day I was up and ready for class. Today I was determined to do well. I arrived refreshed and ready to go. I was wearing black jazz pants and a red top. Luigi was wearing the same. Tammy was wearing the same. We had a good laugh, and I had a great class. I couldn’t do anything wrong. Luigi yelled across the room at one point, “Terry, I forgot how good you were.” I was floating down the street after class. Redemption!
I picked up a sandwich and a banana and rushed back to the hotel to re-shower and eat and get to my matinee. Off I went to Wonderful Town. This show was excellent. The best one I saw. The dancing was fantastic (Kathleen Marshall won the Tony this year for best Choreography and rightfully so.) The staging, the acting, the actors, the singing and the energy were all excellent. I loved this show and would recommend that every one see it!
I went back to my hotel to await a call from my sisters’ Godchild, Lauren that I helped get to New York the year before. After she telephoned, we agreed to meet and go to see about tickets for Wicked. Each day for this show they hold a lottery and give away the front row for $25.00. We arrived at the theatre at 5:45. There were at least 400 people waiting to get a lucky ticket. I told Lauren to go ahead and wait and I’d go inside and wait in the cancellation line. They announced that if you were not outside, you couldn’t win. Oh please, with those odds, I’d stay inside. There were 6 people in front of me. One wanted 2 tickets, one wanted 5 and the rest one or 2. After the lottery, Lauren came in to wait with me. I spent the time filling her in on my season of classes and everything else I could think off. She told me about her year and everything she had been doing in New York. The clock ticked. Our line got longer. Now most theatres in New York are small and intimate. This theatre held 2,145 people. It was getting later. They would call one person up in line and we’d all get excited. Finally it was 3 minutes to curtain and we were in the front of the line. It dawned on me that we might only be able to get one ticket. So I told Lauren if we could only get one ticket, you take it.
I have already seen a great show today. As we were tossing back in forth as to who should get a ticket, we were called up to the window. How many? The man said gruffly. I timidly said two. He smiled and matter-of-factly said, ”Oh I have 2.” We paid and ran threw the line, up the escalator, into the theatre to find we had row G center. We got there in time to sit with big smiles and the lights went down. The male lead was weak and Idina Menzel (the wicked witch) had to pull back when she sang with him. Good show, but over rated. We then met up with another friend of Lauren’s and went to the Stardust Diner at Broadway and 51st Street. This restaurant has singing waiters and waitresses. It’s a lot of fun. The desserts are really good there. It was a perfect day!
Thursday after my jazz class, I walked over to Broadway and 57th to take a tap class at the Broadway Dance Studio. Now this studio is large and impersonal. They are lacking in the ability to make you feel welcome. They have so many students, that I guess it’s easy to just be short with people. After, I paid for my class (I had looked up on the internet the class schedule and found the class that would work for me,) I was told I had to go over and fill out a registration form and get my picture taken.
Of course someone was on the computer that they want you to use. I waited and had the worse time with this machine. It kept skipping around on it’s own. Also some of the questions were not appropriate. When I went to submit the form, it said I was too young to fill it out. Excuse me? So, I just deleted the form and just went to class. The teacher was Germaine Salsberg. She was excellent. I felt it after having walked to jazz class, danced all morning, walked to tap and danced another hour and a half. I went down the back stairs and out of there and stopped and bought some lunch, which I was eating at 3:30 in my room. I had planned to meet up with Tammy and visit with her that eve. We met in the lounge area of my hotel and had a good time. The lounge is on the second floor as is the registration so we had a good view of Broadway. Tammy not wanting to eat, left to go to another friends rehearsal at 9 and I went back to Ray’s pizza (just around the corner) for some calazone. Boy, was it good.
Friday after another fun jazz class, I went to do all my shopping for my friends. Eighth Ave has the best prices for T-shirts and touristy gifts. I then walked over to 9th and proceeded to keep walking and walking. I wanted new tap shoes and LaDuca has a shop on 9th. I had forgotten to take the exact address with me, but figured that it couldn’t be too far. Well, it was on 38th Street. By the time I got there, I was exhausted! I bought two pairs of shoes, which were very expensive and I hope will be worth it.
Back to the hotel and another late lunch and a short rest before going to see The Boy from Oz. Hugh Jackman’s voice was powerful and he was very entertaining. Mitchel Federan, played Peter Allen as a boy and was very good. Knowing Liza, it was hard to watch someone play her. Stephanie Block had her speaking voice down, but as far as the singing, I don’t think she achieved that. The story line was weak. It could have been better. Thank goodness for an exciting finale.
After the show, I had planned to meet Tammy at the Starbucks on Broadway and 52nd Street. (There’s a Starbucks on every other corner.) The crowds were filling the streets and I was afraid that I missed her.
However, she was coming up from seeing 42nd Street on 42nd Street. Alex, one of the dancers in the show, takes class at Luigi’s. Since 42nd Street will be closing in a few months, she wanted to see it again. It’s a good tap show. Having choreographed it, I find it hard to see the new version. The ending has been changed from the original. When I saw this production a few years back, I was dumb founded. To me, it was like changing the Mona Lisa! The show is good and lively, but didn’t need to be changed! Anyway, Tammy showed up about 10 minutes after I got there and we talked until closing time at 1A.M.
Saturday, was my last day in New York. I got up and went to class and said my farewells to Tammy, Luigi (who is 79 years old and still teaching great classes 6 days a week) and to Frances, Luigi’s assistant. I then walked back to the hotel and packed and left my bags down in the lobby and went for a walk. I ventured over to 5th Ave to all the best shops in the world and window shopped. Then I went to The Yankee baseball shop and bought my Dad a few Yankee Items to send to him in Georgia. The last thing I got was a New York Egg Cream. It’s really a chocolate soda. No eggs in it. The shuttle picked me up at 4 O’clock and all too soon I was on a plane back home.
Can’t wait for my next visit.
Terry Clark
Terry Clark Dance Centres
terryclarkdance.com
Terry Clark has extensive experience as a performer and choreographer in television, live theatre productions and commercials, along with being a teacher for several national dance seminars and "Disney on Ice". These accomplishments in addition to being a published author and finalist in a national poetry competition continue to produce exciting and rewarding experiences for her.
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