Tag Archives: new york city

Broadway Theatre District

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The Broadway Theatre District refers to the area around Times Square where more than 40 theatres are located. The plays and musicals performed at these theatres (along with those performed at the West End in London) are generally regarded as the highest quality. As such, it’s usually considered as quite an achievement if a show (or a performer) makes it to Broadway. Most of the shows there are running on limited engagement (typically for a few months), though there are some popular ones that run for years, even on open ended engagement (the longest running show on Broadway currently is The Phantom of the Opera, which opened in January 1988 and is still running today).

My first exposure to Broadway musicals was in high school, when a classmate performed The Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera for a piano recital. I liked the music, and found out that it was part of scores for the musical. The first musical performance I had ever seen was my high school’s production of My Fair Lady.

Later on in college, I went to see several Broadway musicals who happened to be on tour and visited the city I lived in. When I graduated from school and started working in Dallas, TX (thus having some disposable income and I could afford going to more shows), for a couple of years I had season tickets for the Dallas Summer Musicals (a series of musicals that come to perform in Dallas during the summer months). That gave me exposure to a wide range of shows, from the very famous ones like The Phantom of the Opera to the not as well known, but still pretty good ones like The Scarlet Pimpernel.

During my first year working, I was assigned to work on a project in our New York City area office for a couple of months. Since for that project I could only go back home to Dallas every other weekends, during the weekends when I had to stay in New York City I took advantage of being there by going to see several shows on Broadway. That was definitely a unique experience, as you would go to the Theatre District area and see people going to the shows (most shows have the same show time, 8 pm) and later leaving from the shows. It’s pretty neat to walk from street to street and see billboards of many famous shows — Cats, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Lion King, etc.), and in some cases, for limited time some shows would have big-name actors/celebrities performing (Nathan Lane in The Producers, Antonio Banderas in Nine, etc.).

The last show I saw on Broadway was Les Miserables few years ago. Les Mis is my favorite musicals and I have seen it many times (including twice on Broadway). That last one I went with my cousin who was visiting from Indonesia and wanted to see a musical on Broadway. Since then, I have seen many Broadway musicals being performed in Washington, DC, area where I live, but I haven’t been back to Broadway to see one there. May be sometime soon I will do that again.

The photo below was taken right after seeing Les Miserables. You can see on the same street, there was The Producers showing across the street, and at the theatre next to the one where Les Miserables was showing, there was a billboard showing that famous mask from The Phantom of the Opera.

Les Miserables

Times Square

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Times Square is another landmark in New York City that pretty much all visitors to the city would visit. Located in Midtown Manhattan where Broadway crosses with Seventh street, it’s a commercial district that along with the Statue of Liberty is among the most recognizable part of New York City. Most people recognize the Times Square from a couple of things: the general vicinity usually called ‘Broadway’ with the theatres where you can see plays or musicals, and the New Year’s Eve Ball Dropping event to celebrate the turn of the year that every year is broadcasted everywhere.

I’ve been to Times Square many times, either to go there with other visitors who had never been there, or to watch one of the musicals that is playing there. It’s one thing to say you’re going to see a Broadway musical when the touring company comes to your hometown; it’s another thing to say that you’re watching a musical on Broadway itself. If you’re visiting New York City and would like to experience that, but either can’t afford or are not willing to spend money for the full price of the seats (which these days can run more than $100 per seat — it gets really expensive especially when you have many people in your party), you can try to get last minute availability tickets at the TKTS booth in Times Square area itself. You can possibly get tickets at half price or less; though it’s likely for less known shows (the big ones usually sells out ahead of time).

The photo below was taken at the Times Square area. You can see the skinny, tall billboard at the end of Times Square, where during the New Year’s Even the ball gets dropped.

Times Square

Grand Central Terminal

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The Grand Central Terminal is a train station in New York City in the Midtown Manhattan area. It is the largest train station in the world by number of platforms (there are 44 of them on two levels). The Grand Central Terminal serves commuters traveling to and from New York metro area including to some locations in New York State and Connecticut.

I’ve taken trains to go to New York City many times, but the Amtrak train connecting the Northeast Corridor actually goes to Penn Station in Manhattan instead of the Grand Central Terminal. My experience visiting the Grand Central Terminal was several years back when visiting my brother who lived in the Upper East Side of Manhattan but worked in the northern suburb outside New York City. We wanted to meet up after he got out from work, so the most convenient place was at the Grand Central Terminal where he got off from the commuter train and we could continue on from there. Visiting the Grand Central Terminal building itself is quite an experience. The architecture was quite nice, and there are store and restaurants inside, including a gourmet food store and the newly open Apple Store.

The photo below was taken inside the Main Concourse of the Grand Central Terminal while I was waiting for my brother.

Grand Central Terminal

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

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The St. Patrick’s Cathedral is located on Fifth Avenue right across from the Rockefeller Center area. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. The church building was built in 1858-1878. Today it received around five million visitors every year, some come to participate in the masses held at the church, and many come to visit to admire the building’s exterior and interior. Its location that is close to the Rockefeller Center makes it convenient for visitors to combine visits to both sites in one trip.

I’ve visited the St. Patrick’s Cathedral a couple of times, all as visitors to check out the interior of the cathedral while there was no mass going on. It’s definitely a beautiful building to worship in. On September 16, 2001, the Sunday after the 9/11 terrorist attack, there was a service held at this church in remembrance of the fallen victims. I can only imagine what it’s like to be part of that — some people already knew they had lost their love ones, some others were still looking for the missing ones and holding out hope, and others were scared of what might happen in the near future, all turning to their faith for strength, comfort and peace.

The photo below was taken from across the street outside the church. It’s an interesting contrast to see the church with its spires and the tall modern building right behind it.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Rockefeller Center

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The Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings in Midtown Manhattan part of New York City, located between 48th and 51st Streets and between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. The buildings are among the best examples of the Art Deco and International architecture styles in New York City. They were built in the 1930s around the time of the Great Depression, so at the time it was a source of employment for a lot of people in New York. Today these buildings are home to offices and the center building, the GE Building (30 Rockefeller) is the headquarters of NBC, one on the main television broadcasting companies in the United States. It’s a major tourist destination in New York City with the NBC’s Today Show broadcasted every morning from there, and occasionally the anchors would go out and interview crowds of visitors watching as the show being shot live. During the Christmas time, there is a nice Christmas display outside the the RCA Building, and there is also an ice skating rink open to the public. And nearby within there is also the famous Radio City Music Hall, a performance hall that at the time it was open in 1932 was billed as the largest and most opulent theater in the world. Since then it has hosted many big events like the Grammy Awards and the Tony Awards.

I’ve visited the Rockefeller Center like many tourists coming to the New York City. The buildings were definitely impressive; you really get the sense that you’re in New York City among the skyscrapers when you stand in front of the GE Building and look up to see the 70-story building standing tall in front of you. The Rockefeller Plaza Christmas Tree and the ice skating rink area are also interesting to visit, though you might have to wait in line for a while during the holiday season to even just see the Christmas Tree. During a visit one afternoon, as I sat near the ice skating rink resting and people watching, I saw people’s attention drawn to the center of the ice skating rink. It turned out that there was a television show shooting at the ice skating rink. I think it was a scene from a TV show called Monk.

The photo below was taken at night on the Fifth Avenue part of the complex. It is a large sculpture depicting Atlas carry the world on his shoulders. At night, it was lighted quite nicely, and you can see the tall GE Building in the background.

Atlas