And the World will know...

My Operation:Adventure comes to a close this week as I return to work on Wednesday. Boy did it go out with a bang!  I was able to go to NYC with the same friend I adventured with in D.C.  I guess she is now a go-to travel buddy. Yeah!  We had two goals for this weekend adventure.

1) See her friend Austen Nash Boone in the Off-Broadway production of Skippyjon Jones.

2) See the Broadway production of The Newsies.

Everything else we ended up doing was an added bonus. And there were a lot of bonusi bonuseses extra stuff.

Here is a great picture taken by Jeremy Daniel of Austen being Skippyjon. 

Skippyjon is a Siamese Cat with an over-active imagination that takes him on many adventures.  He feels that "his ears are too big for his head and his head is too big for his body" so that must make him a chihuahua!  In the picture above he is in Mexico and is the great  El Skippito Friskito.  He finds himself up against the mean Alfredo Buzzito (José Restrepo), a giant bee, who steals the beans from Los Chimichangos, a family of chihuahuas.

Such a cute musical.  If the people of Pixar wrote plays, it would be similar to Skippyjon Jones.  Based on children's books, it is geared towards kids, but the adults that tag along will find themselves laughing out loud at the jokes and play on words throughout the production.  Congrats Austen N. Boone, José Restrepo, Veronica Reyes, Gabrielle Ruiz and Graham Stevens for an amazing performance.

Skippyjon Jones is a hour long free performance at the Lucille Lortel Theatre through August 17th. (Just in case you make it to New York.)

On to number 2 on the list. The Newsies.  I grew up with this movie and had a total crush on Jack Kelly (Christian Bale) and Spot Conlon (Gabriel Damon).  Ahhh.  Fun times.  Thankfully my friend Hannah felt the same need to see the Broadway musical and off we went. 

It was A.maz.ing. 

Here is a little taste of the talent that is in this show....Skip to 3:30 min.

The dancing was unbelievable.  This was the curtain call.  Just the curtain call, people, think about how fantastic the show must be!  So much energy!!!

Jeremy Jordan's voice is so powerful and astounding!  Absolutely beautiful.  I guess I still have that crush on Jack Kelly.  The cast was super nice.  After the show we met a couple guys from the orchestra.  We talked to them for awhile and I asked them to sign my playbill.  They laughed a little and were like "we're just in the band".  Hello!  It's a musical you are a very important part to make this magical.  They liked that, I think.  We also met a few of the stars...Kara Lindsay who played Katherine Plumber, Ben Fankhauser who played Davey, Andy Richardson who played Crutchie and Ryan Steele who played Specs.  So super nice!!!  

Thanks all for making my first Broadway experience a fantastic one!!!!  And congrats on a smashing production!  

Let's see, when can I see it again.....