A Manhattan Love Story | Day 3

Day 3.
Oh beautiful, wonderful, life-changing day 3.

Day 3 - otherwise known as the day of my first Broadway experience.

I had researched plays and musicals well ahead of time, knowing that I wanted to invest in a once-in-a-lifetime experience and kept circling back to "The Real Thing."

Now, I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking, but Macey, if you are going to see a play on Broadway, why wouldn't you choose one starring your favorite Broadway star, Idina Menzel?

And you would be right.  But I'll get to the that on day 4, don't worry.

"The Real Thing" is a play about life, love, playwriting and the uncertainty of it all.  This run stars Ewan McGregor, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Cynthia Nixon... how could I miss that?  It's a limited run on Broadway with this particular cast, and I just could not pass up the opportunity.

The experience was everything I'd hoped for.  It was a small theater with no bad seats.  Ewan is INCREDIBLE in person, and the play was so well done.  Seeing live theater with trained actors is something that just doesn't compare to anything else.  The excitement and energy in the whole theater is electric.  Ahhh, it can't be beat.

I was glowing for quite some time afterward...

I met up with Hannah after the play and we wandered around the area to find somewhere to eat.  We ended up in Koreatown and found a great place for Pho.  As we wandered we saw our first glimpses of the Empire State Building...

It's quite breathtaking in person.

We also passed the Conde Nast building.  When I was first in college I had dreams of working for this publishing company.  I can honestly say I don't know why I didn't pursue it.  Maybe I still will someday...

At dinner I couldn't stop gushing about the play and Hannah snapped another picture of me with my Playbill.  I love that I actually have a Playbill now!

After dinner we headed to Rockefeller Center since Hannah hadn't seen it yet.  I was excited to see the tree at night, and apparently 3 million other tourists had the same idea because the area was packed and insane!  There were people EVERYWHERE.

I talked Hannah into finding the entrance with the Jimmy Fallon marquee and then we wandered through the building and into the NBC souvenir shop.  I was excited to take pictures with all the Jimmy Fallon things.  I was really hoping to see a live taping while we were in town, but unfortunately he was on Christmas break and wasn't filming the entire time we were in NYC.  Next time though for sure!

We popped out for a quick picture with the tree and got the heck out of there!