Back on the Road in NYC!
- Jessie Carl
- Feb 26
- 9 min read
Dec, 2024
Post-Thanksgiving break and I'm headed back to the NUTmobile! Reunited and it 🥜feels so good🥜!
New York began with a check-in to our hotel in... not New York. But luckily Secaucus has a lovely little bus that'll pop you out right in Midtown Manhatten, so there were no complaints.
This time, I was banking on those extra off days to really maximize my show-seeing - and SPOILER ALERT I was very successful :)
Monday was a simple day where we just picked up Marshell and then caught up on some office work that needed to be covered since the break.
Wednesday was my first day off, and I woke up early to try and snag rush tickets for a couple of shows. With a little luck, I got a cheap seat for Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club and Drag the Musical!
Time to head into the city.
I started my day with a lovely catch up to my dear friend Gabby, who just moved to NYC super recently! We went shopping in the Christmas Market, got matching rings and then warmed up with some delish ramen.
First up was Cabaret at the August Wilson Theatre - which for this production has been transformed into a real life Kit Kat Club (the main setting within the musical). I am all too familiar with the production from my many hours of rehearsal of this same show at UNCo, so I felt like I knew what I was getting myself into. However, they totally kicked things up a notch!!!
The immersion began as soon as you scanned your tickets. We were guided down this alleyway that had been decorated with posters and club lights to really set that "20s Berlin club" feel. I snapped one photo of a poster before they had me take out my phone and place a large sticker over the back camera. "Keep it in the Kit Kat Club". So you'll have to simply imagine the rest based off my description.
We were told to walk down a large staircase for the "pre-show" and I found myself IN the club - red velvet accents, chandeliers, eyeball motifs EVERYWHERE, and an exclusive in-house bar. Folks were standing around a small stage that was occupied by 6 vaudevillian-esque performers - they were playing their own instruments (violin, cello, accordian) and dancing to the music. Their costumes were a combination of very earthy colors and textures, but their accessories were all metallic and shiny. The performance was fascinating and lasted until we had to take our seats!
The upper mezzanine was not very crowded so when the show started I was able to move down a couple rows and get a better view (approved by the usher, don't worry).
The show was in-the-round so there really wasn't a bad seat in the house, though if you manage to score a seat on the floor of the club, you might get some small interactions with the KitKat performers or even invited up on stage! They really took the immersive nature of the space to a whole new level with this revival.
Some other highlights - Auli'i Cravalho was INCREDIBLE. She JUST came off the Moana 2 premiere and was kickin' it like Broadways best. Was so impressed by her!
Adam Lambert was not on for this performance but I got to see Marty Lauter (famous to me as Marcia Marcia Marcia on RuPauls Drag Race) and they also absolutely SMASHED!
Last but certainly not least was the one and only Bebe Neworth - so cool to see such an iconic legend perform.
After the show, I had some time to kill and stopped in to a nail salon to get a manicure before meeting up with my lovely friend Kyle Mason over a new york slice. We then headed to DRAG: The Musical! together - hopes high and bellies full.
DRAG was a true marvel - I cannot believe how good this show was. As a previously mentioned fan of RuPauls Drage Race, Kyle and I found extra delight in the cast consisting of Alaska, Jujubee, Jan Sport, Luxx Noir London, Lagoona Blu,
Kyle and I particularly connected with the young actor playing the nephew of the lead - when he came onstage I leaned over to Kyle and said "That looks like you in Suessical." Which, I must say, it was uncanny. As the show continues, this 12-year-old-Kyle-Mason-Look-A-Like becomes the HEART of the show and it's all about him becoming comfortable in his own skin in his adolescence and cut to - Kyle and I crying at DRAG: The Musical.
I still think about it weekly.
Thursday was the New York Stock Exchange Tree Lighting! This was by far one of the coldest events we had so far - and we had to wake up Mr. Peanut for it! It was also packed and, like many events, we were the only ones with free food - so our samples were flying off the table. We also got to meet up with Sam and Chris from the Hormel corporate office - they were set up right next to us with Skippy samples - which we got to steal a few of after the event. The Girl Scout PB Bites are incredible and I wish we had more.
It was my turn to be besties with Mr. Peanut for the day - so I hopped in the NUTmobile to "take a nap" and out came Mr. P.
But I’m gonna tell this next part "as if" I was Mr. Peanut. You know, almost as if I was seeing through his eyes? Catch my drift? 😉
We were guided through security into the Stock Exchange building (lots of doorways to duck through) and up to the giant conference hall/grand ballroom first. It was filled with CEOs and executives, and I got to meet the Energizer Bunny while I was walking down the hallway. And it was pretty interesting to see that through a monocle. The Energizer Bunny is, believe it or not even bigger than Mr. Peanut so you can imagine my surprise when I turned the corner and was met with a giant pink bunny banging a drum. I found out later in the day that the Energizer Bunny could not see... at all. Maybe that’s why he has glasses?
They pulled us into a small room on our way to the stock exchange floor to meet the “band“ - mind you, I didn’t even know what the band name was. However, they were very excited about Mr. Peanut, and so therefore I was excited about them.
Finally, we were on the stock exchange floor, and let me tell you, seeing all those screens and winding pathways through a monocle was a very interesting experience. It was very busy and hectic, and the floor had a lot more people than a typical day because the stock exchange was having this special event for the holidays. I get put in a line with a bunch of other mascots of other brands, and then they make Katie and Ryan go away from me! Which I was not expecting!
And I just had to stand there waiting for something to happen for the next 15ish minutes until finally, they rang the bell, and the stock floor was closed for the day. It all felt a bit anti-climatic, but you know me, just here for a good time. Finally, we headed back out to the NUTmobile, took pictures with guests of the event, and then finally we woke up Jessie who was napping that entire time. I’ll let her take over the rest of the storytelling.
The rest of the event was pretty chill. We got to explore the different booths and meet some other vendors. To cap off the evening - a countdown to the tree lighting - which was quite magical and made me feel very much in the holiday spirit.
Friday morning, and I have another day off in New York and big plans to really enjoy it!
I had to get into the city quite early - and of course, as I was walking up to the bus stop my bus was pulling out - I started running and actually screaming until he finally stopped for me. The city girl aesthetic was already being achieved. The bus dropped me off at Port Authority in Midtown in such perfect timing that I arrived at the August Wilson Theatre at exactly 10 o’clock to get my rush tickets for Stereophonic later at night.
While I was waiting in line for my tickets, a group of ladies ahead of me complimented the crochet scarf and hood that I was wearing and we got into a conversation about crochet and they ended up following my crochet Instagram! It was so sweet, and to make things even sweeter, they were buying rush tickets that happened to be right next to my ticket! I knew I was gonna see them later that night for the show. It started off my day on a totally positive note and I’m very thankful for my interaction with them.
I had a little bit of time to kill so I went and got a little bit of breakfast, hid out inside an I❤️NY store by the heater, then I got myself over to the meeting point for my first attraction of the day: The Ride. Now, I had heard about this from some family friends and so I figured it would be something that I would really enjoy because the recommendations that I’ve gotten from them have always been pretty incredible. If you haven’t heard of The Ride before, it is a bus tour of Midtown, Manhattan, but there’s an extra special twist - musical guests appear on the street and perform for you while you are inside the bus. It seemed like a super unique experience and totally magical. Unfortunately... I did have my expectations way too high. While I thought it would be an entire musical plot line that was going to be played out on the streets, it was more an architectural tour of Manhattan with a few performances mixed in. However, the two host of our bus did find out that I drive the NUTmobile, and they were hilarious about it and really, really nice. Overall, I don’t think it was worth a $90 ticket, but if I was a 13-year-old Jessie Carl going to New York for the first time, that would’ve been probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done. So a past-version of me really really appreciated The Ride.
During our trip, however, I saw on the side of the building of the Museum of Arts and Design that they were currently hosting a Barbie exhibit. I had a couple hours to kill before my show that night, so I ended up walking over to the museum and exploring the Barbie exhibit This actually became one of my favorite parts of the day - and a highlight from my entire trip in New York. Simply, I love Barbie so much. Barbie means a ton to me, and so it really was turning into a day of me just enjoying my inner child.
Finally, I made my way back to the theater to see Stereophonic. As I was guided to my seat, we kept walking further and further down, closer and closer to the stage, and I finally realized that I was going to be sitting in the very front row of the August Wilson Theater. Now on paper, that sounds really cool. However, the way that the set of Stereophonic is set up, there’s a giant soundboard at the most downstage point closest to the audience, and then a recording booth at the most upstage point, which is the farthest away from the audience.
The front row was actually underneath the stage - we were not level. Meaning that whenever the cast would go into the recording booth, we couldn’t see them because there was always somebody sitting at the soundboard.
However, you can’t complain about front-row seats to a Broadway show for $35. And, the show was absolutely incredible. It was like going to a Fleetwood Mac concert, combined with an amazing Broadway play, and I loved it. It deserved every Tony award it received.
And don’t worry, I did get to see my crochet friends again and we had a great time.
That night, I made my way back to Port Authority station, waited an hour for my bus, and finally made it back to Secaucus, New Jersey. I collapsed on my bed and smiled at the wonderful day that I’d had in New York City.
On Saturday, Katie booked us an event in Staten Island with the NYC Ferry and the FerryHawks Stadiu. So we made our way over to Staten Island in the NUT.
I just have to say that Staten Island does look exactly how people describe it. Why is there no color in Staten Island? Why is everything gray? Anyway, that’s beside the point.
We got to the FerryHawks Stadium and our event coordinator asked us if we could drive up onto the curb to park the vehicle which - with the angle of the vehicle and the height of the curb - was impossible. So we had to resort to some street parking spaces that were... not as approved. Meaning, both Ryan and Katie went on the NYC Ferry to get content, I had to stay behind with the NUT so that I could make sure I could talk to any officials if they had any issues with our parking situation. Luckily, there were no problems whatsoever, and by the time they got back, I had already given out a bunch of peanuts to passersby. The rest of the day was very chill, and the FerryHawk and NYC Ferry people were so nice! They gave us free hats too, which Ryan was particularly excited about.
That night, one of my old pals from my Cranbrook Theatre school days, Alex Gilkey, came all the way to Secaucus to catch up, which was so sweet! We ended up going to Red Lobster because it was the only restaurant that seemed even slightly appealing. And also kind of funny. And had a great time catching up. Alex, if you’re reading this, I can’t believe you came all the way from Brooklyn to Secaucus! 😆 You’re the best!
This was by far one of my favorite New York City experiences to date. Running around, snagging last-minute tickets, Broadway for hours and hours - I definitely felt connected to my 13-year-old self who went to NYC for the first time with my mom.
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