Theatre Night!

I'm quite satisfied with this trip to NYC. I've accomplished most of what I planned: explore the different neighbourhoods, visit certain shops and streets, drop by the touristy attractions. My failure to complete everything on my list is largely a result of: (1) my laziness; (2) my penchant for exploring the streets rather than visiting attractions; (3) the weather and (4) lack of $$.

Hence I did not:
(1) ascend Rockefeller Centre or the Empire State Building (cloudy skies, bad view);
(2) visit the MET or MOMA or any other museums (museum fatigue after DC);
(3) visit BodyWorks (keep procrastinating on the belief that the exhibition will always be there);
(4) visit Coney Island;
(5) eat pizza at Grimaldi's in Brooklyn;
(6) watch a Broadway musical or play.

The last "miss" annoys me the most. I refuse to pay US$150++ for a good seat or $70++ for a bad seat. I refuse to queue at TKTS for discounted tix cos I figured that the time spend queuing could be better employed (anyway they don't have discounted Wicked tix). It's kinda ironic cos in the end, we paid US$25.00 to watch Terminator Salvation and Drag Me to Hell (don't remind me) when we could watch them at half the price in S'pore.

I did managed to visit a theatre, albeit not a Broadway theatre, and was part of the audience in an extremely entertaining live show for US$17!

According to Wikipedia, Apollo Theatre is "the most famous club associated with African-American performers". No surprise that it is in Harlem or that we were one of the few Asians that night (inc. a few Jap tourists). Amateur Night is a talent show or, to quote Cui, "American Idol on steroids". The audience (and everybody) were crazily enthusiastic. Thankful that I could hide in the shadows and rest my weary feet!



Harlem comes with its share of horror stories but I'm very sure I'd be less jumpy if Cui did not keep reminding us of them as we walked the streets. It did not help when I saw that the counters at Popeye's Chicken have a solid wall of fibreglass between the servers and the customers. "In case there's a shoot-out", Cui says calmly. !!! With my mind occupied elsewhere, I realise that the area's more dingy than the other parts of Manhattan and the people more shady but otherwise it's fine in daylight and in groups (we're on 125th St. It gets worse as the numbers increase).


While waiting to enter the theater, Cui decided to use the make shift "blue screen" to take some "studio-worthy" shots with her pro/expensive SLR while I fiddled with my expiring point-and-shoot.