totchipanda

I was puttering around my kitchen last night making mac and cheese with broccoli and washing dishes, listening to the recording M's friend made of the show we saw in February while thinking about writing up a love letter about it for Tumblr, and realized I hadn't written one for it here. Whoops. I was way too tired to start it last night, plus for Tumblr I want to add some photos which means loading up the antique Windows 7 machine. Yeah, it could wait til today when I have time and a nice keyboard lmao.

So, some back story. Like many musical theatre fans, I was aware of and enjoyed the short performances that had been put on by the Tonys and Good Morning America. If you are not familiar, it is a mostly-sung version of Orpheus and Eurydice with some Hades and Persephone for depth (ha) and set in an industrial Hades + unnamed town with a railway line leading there. It's very moody, kind of niche (the non-Jack fan of our group didn't enjoy it as much) and honestly took me a couple tries to get into it. When the play was developed, it actually played here in the city in 2017 before debuting on Broadway in 2019. It toured through here in late 2023 and I was really excited to see it. I don't remember a ton about it, beyond a few of the songs catching me (Wait for Me, the main "hook" song, in particular; besides being a banger, the stage direction and use of lighting is phenomenal), but I enjoyed it, listened to the soundtrack a couple times, went on with my life.

Then Jack was cast, not long after I stopped sleeping on his talent. Oh shit, we said, do we need to go to NYC? Like we've been wanting to for years?? In hindsight, there was no world in which we did not travel all the way to NYC and not see Hadestown regardless of who was in it, but this was an excellent excuse and a perfect opportunity, and we took it. I knew I would want to see it a second time, so I pre-purchased a seat before we left. Having now seen two different shows and listened to the Live in London album (abbreviated; they don't cover every song), the OG cast recording is so soulless. You don't get nearly the same amount of power and emotion in it, and even performances like the ones linked above are better. It's still GOOD, and is the only for-sure near complete recording, but missing a lot of heart.

Ready for some fangirling? Buckle up. ( And on the road to Hell there was a railroad line... )

On our last day in NYC, wandering through Times Square, M wanted to walk past the Outsiders theatre again as her first photos from Tuesday were blurry. While getting lost (again), we were talking about our favourite shows. Hers used to be Rent, but it has dropped down to 2nd place. I don't know if Hadestown would be number one... but it's up there. Phantom of the Opera was my first show all the way back in 1993 and I was insufferable about it. I'm only slightly less insufferable about Hadestown now lol. Wicked, Hamilton, Waitress... there are so many good shows. This is when I realized that there was no way we would have come all this way and NOT seen Hadestown no matter who was in it.

OH! Also, Hadestown is debuting their proshot this summer in theatres across North America! See the show without needing to travel very far. It's the OG cast but filmed in London. They better show it here, I will go every night.

TOO EXCITED ALL WEEKEND TO SLEEP. Monday I set alarms for like 2:30 and 2:45 so that I would have enough to putter for a bit before picking up M and getting to the airport. Once there, a shuttle driver cut us off and said "don't walk! Get in!" and gave us a paper to remember where we parked. Easy peasy getting through security, we had lots of time to get a drink and snack.

Security and customs in City 2, where my local friends were a couple dozen people behind us. We had just enough time to eat and caffeinate again before we boarded for NYC. I napped for a bit. Arrived a little bit early thanks to good airstream, but the plane sat for a good 10 minutes because it was so early.

We figured out the train situation and took the subway into Manhattan. Spent several minutes trying to orient ourselves. Luckily the hotel was not far from the station, and we got settled in a teeny room with bunk beds and a private bath. It worked. We said often, we weren't there to visit the hotel.

Dinner at Bubba Gump's in Times Square, which one member of the party confidently started walking, 10-15 feet ahead of us, and took us too far out of the way. Then we were all super tired and went to bed.

It wasn't cold, hovering around freezing, but at night the wind would pick up and it was BRUTAL. We enjoyed watching some people clearing snow from the side of a road by shoveling it into said road.

TUESDAY
Our party got up at different times so we did our own things for the day. M and I walked to a Bagel Pub (fantastic!), then to Empire State Building, where we spent 90 mins or so touring the upper floor and outdoor portion. It was rather peaceful up so high, and offered great views of all sides. Personally I loved how much older architecture was there, how purpose-built even an 86 storey building was when it went up.

Back on the ground, we tootled up to Bryant Park and then the public library, which was BEAUTIFUL. Not much of the actual library we could see, the book rooms were largely closed off for research use. But they did have a nice gallery of collection items to view, including the OG Winnie the Pooh toys!

We went back to the hotel to drop off our small purchases before heading to the show. We unfortunately got hangry and left later than we wanted, especially since the other half of the party was still out and about (they went to the Museum of Modern Art) and we had all the tickets. Snagged a burger and ate it while we walked, because there were 8 million people in the shop and nobody knew what they wanted, or did but were waiting for a member of their party to confirm, and they weren't answering. HANGRY RAWR. Too peopley in that state, so we peaced out.

But we made it ahead of our friends before the doors opened. It's so different being in a theatre that has a dedicated show vs one that is adaptable to many. The lobby was maybe 8 feet wide and then we were in the theatre. The seats were small, but also larger than our season seats at our newer theatre in town. Usually M and I are touching, and for this show we weren't. We were about 6 rows back and y'all. I need a separate section to wax poetic about this. The show (Hadestown) was SO GOOD. M's local friend snagged us a spot at stage door, where only two cast members came out. Then the five of went to the local friend's favourite post-show bar, Hold Fast, which is run by a Canadian lol. We ended up staying out past 1 am. It was really nice.

WEDNESDAY
Bagels again, but at a slightly closer location that we didn't like as much. It was right in the middle of the garment district, and M had to hold me back a lot bc I sure did not have money or suitcase room for any of the shinies! They were busy, and didn't seem to know what was going on. Then we located a subway station and popped on to go visit the Museum of Natural History. We did not see nearly as much of it as we could have, and we said to ourselves, that is alright. We'll just have to come back another time.

Outside, we stopped for a street pretzel and then walked through Central Park from the side where we entered down to where the "zoo" was (as it was marked on Google Maps). Back to the hotel area where we went for tacos (authentic, and fucking delicious) and our next show, Wicked. We enjoyed it very much! Afterwards, we stopped into a store dedicated to various theatre shows and adjacent things. I found the costume books, including one that I have only ever seen scans from OOOOOOO AAAAAH.

THURSDAY
Met Trick downstairs to get some cash as they decided they wanted a Hadestown t-shirt but were leaving for Katsucon shortly after. Once M and I got going, we went back to the first Bagel Pub for our final breakfast there, and then hit the train line to go to Brooklyn to see the bridges. Fantastic views, the sun was out and it was warm in it (although still windy and bitter). Back in town, we went to the Strand bookstore and then Joe's Pizza nearby, which was delicious. In the city, we went into Grand Central to stare at the ceiling for awhile before going back to the hotel to charge phones and de-people for a hot minute.

I saw Hadestown again while M went to the show across the street. She did not get to see the principal cast member she wanted to see, but she ended up loving both the show and the understudy. Same experience at my stage door as on Tuesday, so I went to join hers to take photos for her. We chatted a bit with one of M's friends who'd flown in from the UK to see these shows, and then took ourselves out for a snack. We thought we'd just hang around as we wanted to see the displays in Times Square switch over to art for three minutes at 11:57. It was hard though, because the wind was the worst of the whole trip!

FRIDAY
We checked out around 10 and they were AWESOME about storing our luggage for a couple hours while we finished our trip at the Museum of Broadway. It was neat because the beginning and end took you through the stair wells and backstage areas of an actual theatre. Of course I loved all the costumes and it was SO HARD not to touch one of the Hamilton jackets that was on display. (It looked like wool. I wanted to touch.) Stopped off at Dunkins for our very last NYC meal, picked up our luggage and headed to the airport. We were rather early, but that gave us time to get through security and find our gate and rest for a bit before getting a pre-5-hour-flight meal. Coming home was tougher, much more peopley. We were both so overstimulated and so done with all the travel. Couldn't we just stay? Alas. I missed the turn off coming into the city and took a detour before dropping M off, and I got home just after 2 am.

Amazing trip. Over the course of the 5 days, we did 73k steps, saw 10 landmarks, ate 5 of the 6 things we wanted to eat, and within 48 hours we felt right at home. I even started to learn the language of all the honking drivers did. We are definitely going back, hopefully October 2027!

I can't believe I forgot to post this with yesterday's recap. On Friday morning I decided to look into flights for our NYC trip in February as there was a (pitiful, really) sale on, and the total would be just over the amount I had budgeted. I was starting to feel antsy about that, and having so much $$ waiting in my account (it is dangerous to "oh I'll just borrow a bit against this"). I messaged M since whatever else our companions are doing, we have to plan our own trip too. And then spent the rest of the day thinking she was in strict "I cannot deal with this right now" mode because she didn't respond!

Turns out Messenger was a butt. She thought I was mad at her because I wasn't replying to her messages saying "yes, that's a great price" and "I have a break coming up, shall we do it?" but was still responding on other platforms. Nope, it's just no messages being delivered. And it's happened with other people too, and is also showing me either messages I sent as new ones, or delivering ones I saw anywhere between 2 days and 2 months ago as new. Wtf.

But it does work pretty reliably on desktop/web app, and I had the big internet out anyway, so we bought the tickets! Now we have one show and the flights, and literally anything else is gravy. Holy forking shirtballs. Trick couldn't commit right away since their partner was working, but they also have different plans from us; we're going just to NYC, and they're going a few days early as part of a trip to DC.

NEW YORK CITY HERE WE COME!!!!!!

Not been doing a whole lot of anything interesting. On Friday I went to Winners to try and find something Melissa has been looking for, but they did not have it and I walked out with some cat toys and scratchers, and one of those book nook kits. The toys were a big hit, I could only see Sophie playing in the entryway, but she knocked those little fish around for 30 minutes.

Saturday morning I rolled out to do my shopping so that I could be home before the ultra-local event started and not need to find parking again. I finished the skirt completely, pinning, pressing and stitching the hem, stitching on 2 matching buttons on the pocket flaps, and a hook and bar. I'll wear it this week so I can get a photo. Just kinda flapped about the house for a bit, as I was meeting M downtown for a theatre showing of Hamilton, which we enjoyed. The sound should have been like doubled though, so we could turn it into a sing-along lol. After, we went to the used bookstore just down the street (no goodies this visit), and then back to M's place so we could... (dramatic pause) BUY TICKETS. I was really just there for moral support lol. I immediately transferred my cost over bc I had it planned for already, so that's one cost down. Then we were scoping out various seats within that theatre since we plan to see it again, her and I, and then checked out other theatres of different shows. Hot damn why are they all so gorgeous!! Why do I stay in a province that wouldn't know what art was even if it slapped them in the face!

Anyway... got home MUCH later than intended, but hilariously I saw some of the same people on the train that I had seen in the afternoon. It was actually a rather full car, which made me feel a little safer. Watched an ep of drag race and crashed into bed. Sunday I was lazing around more, bc the day before the kittens had just wanted to be ON me and tried to do so while I had room around me on the couch for precisely one. We had planned to go see our friends in nearby city, but they weren't feeling well so we cancelled. Unknown date of rescheduling. I just laid in bed all day, had a migraine aura around 330 so I took some drugs and a nap. Of course that meant that I couldn't sleep until like... 1 am, and I woke up in the middle of the night too.

Still have not finished my swatch for the sweater which absolutely will not be finished in the three months at this rate. Yarnspirations (Bernat/Patons/Red Heart) put out a collection of 20s inspired projects, one of which is quite pretty and uses a yarn I happen to have two of (deep stash, purchased no later than 2016), so I fished that out of a bin and swatched (much easier, 13 singles by 14 rows). I did it mostly because i KNOW my crochet gauge tends to be VERY tight, which is fine for the toys I usually make but would be super annoying to make a whole damn garment and find out it's too small. I have to size down 2 sizes for knitting, but UP 2 for crochet, go figure.

Fibre fest this weekend, and my local friend is up for going <3 We haven't been to this one since 2018 (I think), I'm really excited. We had such fun on that trip. I'm not REALLY shopping for anything, maybe a couple of projects, especially because every thought right now is "do I want this, or do I want to go to New York?". I have a few days to sort it out. Time with my friend squishing yarn is MUCH more important.

I can't believe its been 6 weeks already since a fave actor was cast in a show. I'll just stop hiding since this info is super easy to find, but the show is Hadestown and the actor is Jack Wolfe (I know him from Shadow and Bone). He debuted on Tuesday and there are already slime recordings, one of which is a 46 second clip from my favourite song (Wait for Me) that I listened to for, no joke, an hour and 15 minutes solid.

The trio of myself, Trick and M were talking about going to NYC together for a show. I was initially planning for later this year because we don't know how long Jack will be there. Trick is headed to the east coast in February and they (along with their partner) were planning a day or two on either side of that trip to detour through NYC to go. February definitely works better for me, so I made sheets for both November and then, just to compare.

We have since found out that Jack's event management confirmed he would not be at a con in London at the end of February because he would be on Broadway still. So we have felt empowered to decide to go. M and I probably could manage it a bit sooner, but I am so thrilled with the idea of all three of us (plus partner) going together so we can hold each other up. Trick and partner invited me to their east coast event too, but if M was able to go, then I wanted to spend a few days in NYC with her since we have been talking about this for years. (She planned it first. I said that sounds great, let's do it -- someday. We never had a firm reason before now.)

Current plan is for M and I at least to fly in Monday, do touristy shit that evening/Tuesday-day, see the show Tuesday night and sob our eyes out, maybe catch a matinee on Wednesday, shows on Wednesday and Thursday evenings (we have already accepted that there are too many shows and not nearly enough time or money). In the days, up til mid-day Friday, we are planning to visit the met, the natural history museum, at least two bookstores, grand central station, the public library, a ferry around staten island if it's running, Brooklyn Bridge is a reach I think but it's on the list of "yes I want to see this", try pizza and bagels and tacos, and just generally LIVE NYC life for 2.5 days. M said it was convenient that we are the same people and want to see the same things lol. But we will have to have an actual itinerary that's not so strict as "1-2pm, book store", but we will need to look at what we want to do and how much we can group together.

We are like, SO excited. It still doesn't feel real. We've only just committed to buying tickets on the weekend as that's the thing we don't want to risk missing (no danger of it yet, but best availability and all). We figured we can sell them if things don't work out.

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totchipanda

May 2026

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Life, cats, knitting and sewing

Entries tagged with nyc

Hadestown on Broadway

NEW YORK CITY

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