Day 7–Our last Day…Hudson Theater Tour and I Sum Up

by | May 11, 2026 | Uncategorized

Wednesday was our last day in NYC, but our flight didn’t leave until almost 7:00 pm, so we had a whole day ahead of us. The only full-group activity on the schedule was a tour of one of Broadway’s oldest theaters, The Hudson. At 9:00 am, we met in the lobby and walked over to the theater, where we were again met by the best guide in Manhattan, Tim Dolan (that's him above, taking the ussie). I think that, as great as our other sessions with Tim were, this was his finest hour. He obviously loves Broadway, but I truly believe he would move into the Hudson if they would let him. Later, he showed us a secret apartment that has not been used since 1992, and I think he would love to live there.

The show currently playing at the Hudson was Every Brilliant Thing, a one-man show starring Daniel Radcliffe, so the theater was decorated for it. To be honest, I wish we had seen this play instead of Oh, Mary. I think everyone would have enjoyed it much more. There isn’t much more I can tell you about the Hudson Theater tour other than that Tim was at his best, telling story after story about the couple who built the theater, sailed on the Titanic, and eventually went broke during the Depression. We got to see videos of the theater’s ups and downs, from being a porno theater to housing the original Tonight Show with Steve Allen. It was the scene of performances from Elvis singing to an actual hound dog to Barbara Streisand’s first television appearance.

After the tour, we headed back to the Westin to check out by noon and then hung out until our bus left for the airport at 2:30. I grabbed a couple of sandwiches for lunch, and we were ready to go. Once the bus was loaded, it took more than 90 minutes to cover the 16 miles from the hotel to the airport. We, of course, made it in plenty of time. Kathleen and I hung out in the Admiral’s Lounge (American Airlines has a deal with Alaska to provide lounge access at JFK). The flight went well. We arrived on time, got our luggage, and joined 26 people headed back to Trilogy. We got home about 11:00 pm and found a very wound-up dog that just wanted to play.

Of course, I have a few photos left from our Hudson tour, so here they are. Remember, if you click them and view the slideshow, the captions explain what is going on.

Let Me Sum It

While doing tech support in our clubhouse here at Trilogy, many of our travelers stopped by to say how much fun they had and how they loved 90% of our time on Broadway. Their biggest complaint was all the walking and all the stairs. I have to admit that this trip far exceeded all my expectations. I had a great time, and about half of the reason was all the great people from Trilogy I got to know. Some I had known or worked with before we left, and others I barely knew.

We loved the shows, especially Maybe, Happy Ending. We (just the two of us) even liked Oh, Mary. I love a good, broad farce, and that’s exactly what it was. We loved about 95% of the food. Nothing incredibly special, but for us, dining was more about the people we were eating with. The best meal was the tapas dinner at Boqueria, and the worst was easily the chicken parm at Bond 45.

The Westin Times Square is an excellent hotel. Nothing special that we haven’t encountered before at hundreds of hotels in our travels, but it is incredibly well situated for attending Broadway performances.

I can’t say enough good things about Alex Tobias, one of the owners of Break-Away Tours, which planned this entire trip. The schedule was excellent. The tour guides at venues all over the city were outstanding, and Alex is a joy to work with during planning. As President of the Travel Club, I have talked, texted, emailed, and visited as we planned this trip. I could not have asked for a more responsive business partner. I look forward to working with him again on our London West End Theater Tour in June of 2027.

But the absolute best thing (at least for me) was all the sessions we had with Tim Dolan. This man is a walking encyclopedia of Broadway and the theater, and his delivery is amazing. After we got back from the trip, I subscribed to his newsletter and found that he writes just like he talks. It is truly awesome to both read it and hear it. He has a fan in me. That’s him in the giant selfie at the top of the page.

There is nothing that can match Broadway for stature and dignity. — Sammy Davis Junior

Day 6– Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Broadway Museum and “& Juliet”

by | May 10, 2026 | Uncategorized

This was probably the busiest day of the entire trip. I got up early for a quick morning walk to find the theater we were going to that night to see “& Juliet,” a delightful jukebox musical featuring songs from the early 2000s. We heard everything from “Oops, I Did It Again” to “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”

I thought I would just get in about a 30-minute walk, but it did not work out that way because, once again, I got lost. Not sure how I did that this time, since both the theater and the restaurant I was looking for were on the same street. You had to walk by one to get to the other. I got some interesting photos you can see below. The one at the top is, in my opinion, the best shot I got on this trip. It’s a Times Square panorama composed of 11 separate frames stitched together in Photoshop.

After I got back from getting lost, grabbed a takeout breakfast from the diner across the street, and got Kathleen fed (she was not having a good reaction to the chicken parm from last night), I got down to the lobby to join the rest of the group

One thing I have not mentioned so far in our Broadway story is how we took over the hotel’s lobby almost every time we were going somewhere. It was a very comfortable lobby with room for about 50 people to sit. With 41 of us, that pretty much filled it up. It was a great place to meet in the morning to talk about the play from the night before, the tour from the day before, how much our feet hurt, or the aforementioned chicken parm. I have some photos I took this morning in the group below. Don’t forget that if you click them and look at the slideshow, they have captions, so you know what is going on.

After our early-morning lobby roundup, we headed to Rockefeller Center, where we took a short (not really) elevator ride to the Top of the Rock for amazing views of NYC. The views were truly amazing, but the hazy skies kind of ruined the photography. I know I could go into Photoshop and replace the skies, and I did that with a couple of photos, but as an actual photographer, I feel like that’s cheating. I posted both shots below so you could see what I mean. It was pretty darned impressive, though.

After our Top of the Rock experience, we had some free time to walk around the Rockefeller building and the surrounding buildings. I kind of became the tour guide, since I had been to this part of Midtown a few days earlier during our walking tours. A few folks wanted to see the inside of St. Patrick’s, so I walked them over there. Then we took a quick trip to see the site of the greatest art crime of all time (Rockefeller replacing Diego Rivera’s incredible mural with a piece of crap tribute to wealth and industry), and finally grabbed a drink at Starbucks.

We then met up with the rest of the group outside Radio City Music Hall. We got the full tour there as well (told you it was a VERY busy day) from a delightful young lady from California. Lots of photos of that are below as well. We even got to meet a Rockette. Many in the group had their photos taken with her, and she did a great job answering our questions. It was an excellent tour.

After that, we walked back to the hotel, where we could rest for about five minutes (almost not an exaggeration) before heading out for our last tour of the day to The Museum of Broadway. This place was amazing. The exhibits were outstanding, taking you decade by decade through the history of Broadway. The captions on the photos will explain more.

Then we were on our own for dinner (we hit a Greek place called Delos, which served good, basic Greek food), and then it was off to the theater to see “& Juliet.” Then back to the hotel to collapse…or to pack, since we had to have our checked luggage ready to go by 8:45 the next morning. More about our final day in NYC tomorrow.

I remember the old Times Square from when I was younger, and there was a seedy thrill to it. Some of that is gone, which I have a little bit of nostalgia for.  —Janeane Garofalo

Day 5–Theater Talk Breakfast, Fire & Harbor Cruise

by | May 8, 2026 | Uncategorized

This would be a good day for most of us. But not for the theater where Book of Mormon was playing on Broadway. Keep reading.

I didn’t go out for a pre-tour walk, so there were no photos from that. Our day actually started with a quick walk up the street to The Brooklyn Deli, where Alex had rented out the entire place for 90 minutes so we could hear from Tim Dolan. We had been with Tim for a separate theater talk two days earlier, when he and Cassie Silva from “& Juliet” spent an hour explaining how Broadway works. This time, we heard Tim talk during breakfast. We walked up the street, grabbed food, and then heard from Tim.

We would also hear from Tim on our last morning in NYC, and I can say that after being in his presence three times and touring Broadway with him, he is by far the best guide I have ever had the chance to tour with. There is no one like him. His encyclopedic knowledge of Broadway's history and lore is unmatched. More about him on the day we do the Hudson tour. So much of his talks are just us asking questions and him answering them in great depth. I know our tour to London next year will be a bit worse without Tim.

Sadly, you can’t tour with Tim personally unless you travel with Break-Away Tours. Tim owns Broadway Up Close, a business that provides tour guides for many parts of Broadway. He told us he has about ten guides working for him and that he seldom leads tours himself anymore, except for Break-Away. He alone is a reason to tour with Break-Away. Tim also owns a souvenir shop right on Times Square. If you are ever there, it is just south of 45th Street in Times Square. It’s a really cool, bright green booth.

After our outstanding theater talk, we walked back to the hotel. On the way, the streets were jammed, and there was a constant wave of fire truck sirens. When we got back to the hotel, we must have passed at least 20 of them. No exaggeration. After I got Kathleen back to our room, I headed out to buy postcard stamps (yes, I am still that guy) and took my camera in case I saw anything to photograph. As it turns out, I did. The fire was only three blocks away from our hotel. It was at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, where “The Book of Mormon” is currently playing. At least it should be by now, as they had a lot of water damage to fix. Happily, it wasn’t much of a fire, and we heard later that it started in a top-floor lighting rig. The NYFD had it out in no time, but in the meantime, they sent just about 20 trucks. I saw numerous engines, ladders, and ambulances. I got pretty close and shot some street photos of the whole incident. I asked Tim about it later in the week, and he said that they take no chances with the old theaters because so many of them have a bunch of flammables inside.

After that, it was back to the room to get ready for our afternoon trip, when we would take a guided harbor cruise around most of Manhattan, including a close-up view of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Brooklyn Bridge. We had a great guide on board the boat, and we spent a lot of time with him. I didn’t take many photos because the sky was very flat that day, but what I did get is below, along with the rest of my pics.

After the harbor tour, it was back to the hotel to get ready for our third group dinner at Bond 45. This was the worst of the three group dinners, and it did not pass the Steve Test. See the quote below if you don’t know what the Steve Test is. There was some pretty decent pizza for an appetizer, along with a make-your-own Caesar. I just wish they would cut up the lettuce. These wedge salads are a pain. But the real pain was the entrée choices: Atlantic salmon (YUCK!), pasta (pretty blah), and what they called chicken parm, which was chicken breasts smashed as flat as a thin pizza crust, covered in tomato sauce and cheese, and then topped with a literal half pound of pepperoni. Just what you give old people battling cholesterol.

I forgot to mention that while I was out taking photos of firefighters, the rest of the group (minus Kathleen and me) were visiting the 911 museum. We had just been there a few years ago, so Kathleen took a nap, and I took photos of firefighters.

My photos are below. Don't forget: if you click the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE... don't look at my photography on a phone. Please...

The Steve Test: I call this the Steve Test because my brother Steve came up with it. I think it’s brilliant. (If you eat in a restaurant while traveling, and if that restaurant is near you once you get home, would you go there again?) If it were in your hometown, would we eat there regularly?

Day 4-Carnegie Hall, Maybe Happy Ending

by | May 6, 2026 | Uncategorized

I realized after I posted yesterday that the headline said we went to see the play “Oh, Mary,” but I had not written about it. As you may remember, we are seeing four plays, and as I write this, we have been to all four. I would have to say that most of the folks on the tour were very nice when they said that “Oh, Mary” “was not my favorite.” Others were downright critical and said it was one of the worst plays they had ever seen.

I have to admit that I liked it. Kathleen liked it even though she is not a big Maya Rudolph fan (she was playing Mary when we saw the show). It is a VERY broad and dark comedy. If you have not seen it and think that you might, spoiler alert. “Oh, Mary” is about our 16th first lady, Mary Todd Lincoln. It takes place in the last weeks before Lincoln’s assassination. Mary is a drunk, she is bored and wants to be in a cabaret show (is this the start of a great comedy or what?). Maya made her entrance to great applause and proceeded to crack us up with almost five full minutes of over-the-top physical comedy without speaking a single intelligible word. For some, it was all downhill from there. Lincoln is portrayed as gay, and Mary is a horrible person who only wants booze and to perform. She is pretty much nasty to everyone. Her husband hires a man to give her acting lessons, who turns out to be John Wilkes Booth, later revealed to be Abe’s secret gay lover. There is even a scene where Lincoln is sitting at his desk screaming (you think it’s about the war), but when Mary leaves, he is actually having oral sex with a soldier who was under his desk. See what I mean? This play was easy to either love or hate. And I haven’t even (and won’t) told you the biggest twist of all. It ends with Mary's cabaret show.

Enough about that. More about the other plays later. Today’s post is about a kind of short day since it was Sunday. We were up late (we didn’t have to meet until 10:00 am) and off on a tour of Carnegie Hall. It was awesome. We had a great guide, and we learned a lot. The hall is beautiful. I only wish we could have seen a performance there. Photos are both above and below. And I almost forgot to mention that since we did not meet up as early, I had more time to roam around Manhattan and take photos. They are down there as well.

That afternoon, we saw our only matinée, “Sometimes, Happy Ending,” about two robots living in Seoul, Korea, who fall in love. I know, that sounds more absurd than “Oh, Mary.” But this was the play that most of us loved the most. I won’t go into all of it, but it was a beautiful piece with a cast of only five, so much heart, and so much to say about the human condition that we just loved it, no matter how impossible the situation seemed. I also have to mention that the sets were breathtaking, and the way they handled the entire show with sets, lights, and costumes was off the charts. No wonder this show won last year’s Tony for best musical.

That was about it (slow day on Sunday!), except for a group dinner at Marseilles restaurant. You don’t even have to guess that this was a French place and the food was excellent. I like escargot and have them when I can (mostly on ships). Their escargot was the best I have ever had.

After dinner, it was back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. Monday would be much busier.