About 12 hours of rain has cleared and we emerge on Wednesday to bright, sunny but cool weather.
Today we visit the Museum of Broadway. It’s close by and when we bought tickets last night the forecast was a lot more dire than it is.
The museum is a short walk from us in 45th street and we cut through the lobby of the Millenium Hotel next door to our hotel to get there.
It’s entred on the glitzy and glamorous world of broadway and its history. From humble beginnings to the roaring twenties. From the depression and almost complete shutdown to a revival in the 1950s. To the dark days of New York in the 1970s to the heights of the 2000s and today.
Iconic shows are featured as we walk through photos, videos, props and behind the scenes stories. The Ziegfeld Follies, Porgy and Bess, Breakfast at Tiffany’s are some iconic early shows. Modern masterpieces like Cats, Les Miserables, the Lion King and of course Hamilton are also featured.
We spend two hours wandering the exhibits, including a fascinating look behind the scenes. Staging, makeup, production, and costumes make up an important part of the process of getting a show up and running.
We nick back to the hotel for a quick break and decide to head downtown to a little French restaurant for lunch. Amelie is a little place in 8th Street near 3rd. We enjoy a delicious salad, parfait, Brussels sprouts and octopus.
After lunch we walk 8th street which turns into Astor place and then St Marks place.
We visit the home of Eliza Hamilton after she was widowed. A tiny three story brownstone that could do with a refresh.
We head home for a break before heading out for the night.
At around 7.30 we head down town to 34th and 7th. Our destination: Madison Square Garden. The area is crowded. A combination of concert goers, scalpers and t-shirt sellers. We simply follow the crowd and work our way through security. We are then funnelled into ticket scanning queues.
We make it into the venue and follow signs to our level and find our seats. The massive space is quickly filling as people eagerly await the show.
We sit and people watch for the 20 minutes or so it takes to fill the 19,500 seats. Most people are on their device, taking selfies to prove they are here or filming around the arena.
The lights go down suddenly and the crowd cheers.
The musicians assemble on stage as the music starts to play.
It’s you we’ve been coming to see…then that unforgettable voice sings “seems the lights go out on Broadway” and the crowd roars as Billy Joel sits at a grand piano.
For the next two and a half hours he belts out another 30 songs. Aside from his hits he samples the Rolling Stones, the Supremes and Led Zeppelin.
Piano Man is especially awesome as the crowd belts out a verse as the band sits silent. It’s a special moment during the show.
A five song encore reverberates around the arena before we head out down a dozen or so flights is stairs and spill out onto the streets.
Uber drivers flash their phone at us trying to entice us for a ride. Pedi cab drivers play Billy Joel tracks offering us cheap rides. We walk around them and walk the ten blocks home. It’s a relatively balmy evening. In the way home we grab a hot dog from a street vendor. Traffic along 7th Avenue is at a standstill. With the parade on tomorrow there are numerous road closures in place.
We get home around 11.30 and call it a night.
Read the set list here: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/billy-joel/2023/madison-square-garden-new-york-ny-23a16cfb.html
