Broadway Experience

What a day!

We headed to Times Square right after breakfast to try getting the best Broadway ticket.

After more than one hour on line, Sofia scored tickets for her first option: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

We got matinee tickets, so we better get ready and come back in one hour.

Wait... but before, we have time for one picture with the famous Times Square Naked Cowboy.

FROM WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Cowboy

Robert John Burck (born December 23, 1970), better known as the Naked Cowboy, is an American actor, singer, songwriter, writer, and street performer, best known for singing regularly in New York City's Times Square. Burck is also a regular in the streets of the French Quarter during the New Orleans Mardi Gras season. He wears only cowboy boots, a hat, and white briefs, with a guitar strategically placed to give the illusion of nudity.

On October 6, 2010, Burck formally announced that he was running for President of the United States in the 2012 U.S. election as a candidate representing the U.S. Tea Party movement.

                                                      

Waiting for the show to starts. 

Photos and videos are strictly forbidden during the performance. 

You have to just see us for now.

It's show time! 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a 3 hour show with one intermission, lots of magic, but no songs. 

We both loved it, but Sofia being a super fan - she's read all the books and has watched the movies - could not blink during the performance. 

The story is sad, funny and entertaining. A great show for everyone.

FROM WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Cursed_Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a 2016 British two-part play written by Jack Thorne based on an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne. Previews of the play began at the Palace Theatre, London, on 7 June 2016, and it premiered on 30 July 2016. The play opened on Broadway on 21 April 2018 at the Lyric Theatre, with previews starting on 16 March 2018. 

The story begins nineteen years after the events of the 2007 novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and follows Harry Potter, now Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic, and his younger son, Albus Severus Potter, who is about to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The play is marketed as the eighth story in the Harry Potter series.

Sofia had a very special moment after the show, with one of the actors. Edward James Hyland plays Dumbledore on Broadway and was kind enough to come outside to greet fans. Apparently other actors don't do it anymore because of COVID restrictions. As we were chatting with Mr. Hyland about reading the books to his daughter, he casually mentions that she is also an actor and has been one since she was four. Then he pulls his phone and shows us a photo of him and his daughter and Sofia goes "WHAAAAAATTT????" His daughter is Sarah Hyland, who plays Haley Dunphy on Modern Family! We told him we love Haley and that we have watched the show as a family. It was really cute to hear Mr. Hyland talking so proudly about his daughter. "She is going to be on Jimmy Fallon tonight... tape it!" :)

And she is proud of daddy too. Here is a twitter by Sarah Hyland about her dad getting the part on Broadway, 5 years ago.

The celebrations continued through dinner. Sofia requested an New York Style Italian pizza. We randomly chose Nizza, a restaurant very close to our hotel, on 9th Ave and 44 St. It was too hot to shop around for a restaurant, so we picked the closest one. But we were lucky... the food and atmosphere were great.

I had a Caprese salad and grilled octopus and Sofia had her all time favourite: Margueritta Pizza.

In the end she scored ANOTHER dessert for her birthday. It doesn't matter that her actual birthday was two weeks ago. She is still telling everyone she is celebration it. Smart kid!

Another sunset from the 17th floor of our hotel.