"They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway…" and he’s absolutely right! Indeed, I finally know this firsthand for, at the end of my long and fun-filled voyage to the United States. I made it to my now absolute favorite city in the world: New York!
This had actually been a trip that was 20 years in the making. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to go to New York, to Broadway in particular which I recognize (along with London) as the theater capital of the world. I’ve always cherished the stage, having fallen in love with theater after I performed in my first play when I was six years old, and that’s a love affair that has only deepened through time. So it only made sense that I should want to worship before the stage. Unfortunately, for the first 26 years of my life I’d never made it to the Big Apple – either it was too expensive or something came up or it wasn’t the right time. But then, finally, the stars aligned and fate at last brought me to my beloved Broadway.
It took almost a year of planning – tapping all my relatives and friends in the States, finding out where to stay, how much money I should save up and bring, and who could cut some time out of their busy schedules to hang out with this first-time New York tourist. It was a long process, but finally after all those months of planning and e-mailing, I found myself on a train from D.C. to the Big Apple and I could barely contain my excitement.
It’s funny, actually, how so many people told me that the moment you arrive in New York and spend some time there, you know right away if you either love or hate the city. Basically, you would know almost immediately if, in your heart, you were a New Yorker or not. For me, I feel like I knew the answer even before I arrived in the city. Even though I was sound asleep on the train and barely moved as we stopped at every other station, I began stirring even before we pulled into Penn Station. It was as if I knew we were arriving, like the gentle stirring of a child who rouses from sleep right before their parents pull into the driveway. It was the gentle stirring of recognition. Strange as it sounds, I felt like I was coming home… to a place I’d never been to before.
And as I got off the train I already began falling in love with beautiful New York and I already knew that the three days I would be spending there would hardly be enough. As I grabbed a cab from the station to the hotel and sat, mouth agape in awe, all the way to 46th street between 8th and Broadway, I knew this wouldn’t be the last time I’d find myself here (especially if I had anything to do with it!).
After a short 10-minute cab right I pulled into the quaint boutique hotel, The Paramount, which was my home while I was in the city. I loved it! It’s a beautiful little hotel right in the heart of the Broadway district (you can only imagine my delight at that!). Across the street Tarzan was showing, down the block was Beauty and the Beast, and around both corners was a mind-blowing plethora of other Broadway gems that practically left me speechless as I walked through the district. And not only that, you also have the hundreds of little off-Broadway shows that are trying to make it big, along with comedy shows, dance revues, and every other show you can imagine. Indeed, you truly have a smorgasbord of entertainment options and it can be quite overwhelming.
To be sure, "overwhelming" is probably the adjective best used to describe my first five hours in the city. As I walked down the block and into Times Square I could barely absorb everything I saw. Billboards of all the big shows on the stage and TV, important office buildings (the new Reuters was quite impressive), all the best shops in the world, every restaurant you could possibly crave, and thousands of people making their way to thousands of different destinations, usually at top speed. Everything just seems to be happening at the same time. Lights are changing, cars are moving, people are giving you flyers, restaurants are advertising, hot pretzels (my personal favorite) are being sold on every corner. It’s sensory overload – in the best way – and I immediately knew I loved this fast-paced, creative, beautiful, crazy city and it quickly became my favorite city in the world.
And believe me, that wasn’t a conclusion I came to lightly. For years, Paris held the number one spot in my heart. When I first arrived there some years ago I instantly felt connected to the city. Ironically, it’s very different from my beloved New York. Paris, in contrast to the fast-paced, constantly moving Big Apple, is calm and controlled. You can see the French sipping cappuccinos in little cafés on the street. They leisurely make their way down the block, actually enjoying getting to where they’re going – looking in shop windows, buying things, taking their time, maybe even pausing to have a piece of pie before continuing on their way. Unlike the constant movement of New York, Paris is a throwback to the Old World, where people actually stopped to smell the flowers. I think that’s what I loved about it, along with the awe-inspiring, beautiful variety of masterpiece art that can be found in the city. When I was there I divided my time between the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Champs-Elysées – in other words, enjoying the works of masters like Leonardo Da Vinci, Monet and Van Gogh or shopping.
But, even though I really enjoyed the classic charm of Paris, when push comes to shove, I love theater more than art so Broadway had a bigger impact on my heart. Not to mention that New York does not lack art to satiate the art lover’s appetite. On my second day in the city, I hopped on the subway to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and spent hours going through the beautiful works within. I even came across a Renoir I had admired in Europe that was on loan from the Louvre. It was a lovely afternoon and afterwards I bought a delicious, salty, hot pretzel from a sidewalk vendor and walked through beautiful Central Park. After my pretzel I grabbed a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream bar (heaven!) and strolled through the Shakespeare Garden, the beautiful lake, Strawberry Fields, and basically just enjoyed all the sights and sounds and smells. It was so wonderful.
But the highlight of the trip to New York wasn’t the Met, or Central Park, or Times Square, or Rockefeller Center (all of which I enjoyed thoroughly, don’t get me wrong); it was Broadway, and, of course, I didn’t finally make it to the theater Mecca without tickets in my pocket to the hottest shows around. My kind cousin in the city managed to nab me awesome seats for two of the best shows onstage – the 2004 Tony Award winner Wicked and the 2005 Tony Award winner Spamalot. I could hardly believe my luck as some of these shows have been sold out for months. I’m so grateful I got tickets, because, if I’m perfectly honest, it was my ardent desire to see Wicked (my favorite play of the last year – though I’d only heard the music and read the book) which lured me to the Big Apple in the first place and while I gave my cousin a list of 10 shows to choose from just in case the tops on the list were sold out, I knew I would have been crushed if seeing Wicked were not a possibility. Luckily for me, she came through, and my New York sojourn was made complete by a spectacular display of theater brilliance that can barely be described (but that’s for another column altogether!)
For now, it’s safe to say New York has left an indelible mark on me and ever since I’ve returned to the Philippines, I’ve been thinking of when I’m going there again. It’s everything they talk about in the movies and the books, and so much more. Indeed, to quote from Elpheba and Glinda in Wicked’s killer song, One Short Day: "I think I’ve found the place where I belong!"