While I loathe Times Square (always have and always will), it is a necessary evil if you want to see a Broadway show. Back when I was younger, I was more amenable to the bright lights and meandering crowds, but today I avoid the space if at all possible. Since both of the shows we were seeing – ‘Kinky Boots‘ and ‘Pippin’ – were playing in theaters on W. 45th Street, there was no escaping the crazy scene. You can either fight the crowds and get upset and angry, or embrace it and go with the flow, following the swarms and masses that swirl and make their hapless way through the jam-packed streets. I did a little of both.
We fought it by trying to escape into lofty hotel lobbies, but embraced it by having an in-between-shows dinner at Sardi’s (early and old-school enough to be rather quiet). More about the shows that book-ended the day in other places (‘Kinky Boots’ here, and ‘Pippin’ to come), but let me just say that they were incredible. There’s something uniquely thrilling about seeing a hit Broadway show with its original cast, at the height of its post-Tony glory. And it’s worth every moment we had to spend in Times Square.
