“The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time.” Terence Mann, played by James Earl Jones, said those lines in the 1989 classic film Field of Dreams. Even some thirty-odd years after the film’s release, those words still ring true.
It feels like there is a new stadium being built somewhere in the country, and the world, for that matter, at any given time. Given everything that it had “seen,” why would the Yankees want to build a new stadium? Fenway and Wrigley are still standing. They are cramped as hell, but they still function. From everything that I’ve read and remember reading at the time of its construction, it came down to money. Doesn’t it always?
The stadium was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. The renovation that was done in the 70’s made the stadium worse, somehow, and by the early 2000’s, upkeep was turning into a money pit. This is the version that is out there. The skeptical internet sleuths/trolls/tin-foil hat wearers believe it to be some kind of money laundering.
I never got to experience the old Yankee Stadium. But when we were planning our trip to see some shows, we saw that the Yankees would be in town and playing my partner’s favorite team, the Giants. It also happened to be on her birthday. How can you not be romantic about baseball?
We didn’t do the New York thing and take the train to the game. I know, I know, that’s what people do! But we got a late start and saw that it would be faster for us to take a cab there. Which is, in its own right, a rite of passage for New York transit.
Pulling up to the stadium was hectic. People were all over the place, crossing the street, getting out of cars, and packing the sidewalks to get into the stadium. It’s the Yankees. That’s to be expected. They had just come off a World Series appearance, and the beginning of the 2025 season sprang new hope among the fans in pinstripes.
The stadium is just over 15 years old, and it still looks new. It also feels a bit sterile. Tall, vaulted ceilings on the ground floor. A hibachi guy dishing out wok-based food like it’s Benihana. And a color scheme that evokes the team’s colors and the old Yankee Stadium. Referencing old stadium photos, the place had character and history.
This new place is still coming into its own. They christened it with a 2009 World Series and made it back last season, only to collapse in Game 5. Still, it is a lovely stadium, loaded with amenities that I am sure the previous place lacked.
The day was pretty perfect, weather-wise. A slight breeze. Clouds above, but nothing ominous. And the sun kept peeking out every so often to provide some warmth.
My partner and I have a deal. When we go to a baseball game, and only one of our teams is playing, we will support that team, but with a twist. Since both of our favorite teams originated in New York, we wear those teams’ jerseys. For example, I wear a Willie Mays New York Giants jersey, and if the Dodgers are playing, she will wear a Jackie Robinson Brooklyn Dodgers jersey. When the Giants and Dodgers play each other, we revert to our teams and heckle each other throughout. So here I am, in a Willie Mays New York Giants jersey.
The number of people who give me a “Go Mets!” when they see my hat is funny. The logo is similar, so it’s forgivable. The Mets, famously, borrowed their blue from the Dodgers and their orange from the Giants. Voila! Blue and orange mets.
Anyway, back to the game at hand!
The Giants went down early. 3 to nothing, to be exact. It was not looking good. It had all the shapings of a rout. Then Jung Hoo Lee and the Giants chipped back with a solo homerun and took the lead two innings later with a three-run homerun. This prompted the stereotypical boomer of a New Yorker in front of us to say that the Yankees “Needed a Korean” on their team. Uhhhhh what?
The Giants would hold on to the lead and eventually close it out for the win. It was an entertaining game! A wonderful present for her first visit to Yankee Stadium.
I tell you what, it is a nice stadium. The staff were friendly. I had a pretty decent hot dog! They kept many recognizable features from the old stadium and carried them over to this new one. I can see why some people would gripe about it, but it is a good place to watch baseball.
The Yankees are probably the most recognizable baseball team in the world. From Seinfeld to Fred Durst (if you have to look up Limp Bizkit right now, then boy do I feel old) to Spike Lee and to Billy Crystal. Their fans are as passionate as any around the league. They play in a big city and can attract talent and fans because of their history (and money). It can be an easy draw to watch them and become a fan. It’s a lot of winning! 27 World Series championships are nothing to scoff at.
Coming from a family that is half Red Sox fans, I can tell you one thing: I am never sad when the Yankees lose.
Our next day started at Chelsea Market because my partner knew that we could find some good eats there. And we did!
Spoiler alert.
We wandered the halls looking at the various stalls. We saw everything from BBQ to Japanese to Italian specialty grocery stores. But we settled on a more traditional breakfast spot that offered both bakery items and meals.
I went with French toast, and my partner chose eggs Benedict. Or at least I think that’s what’s pictured. I don’t know eggs. I hate eggs. I’ll eat them when they’re IN something like a cookie or bread, but I cannot eat plain eggs. It’s the smell, the texture, and really every bit of them that I despise. Don’t get me started on hard-boiled eggs! The sheer audacity of some people to eat those in public. Shame!
But enough about eggs!
The food was delicious. And after eating a ton of calories, we knew it was time to walk.
We had a show we were trying to get to, and we had plenty of time to walk there. We hopped on the High Line and took in a different view of New York City. So often, the sights we see are from the street level or above the buildings.
Welcome to a new perspective.
The High Line is built on an old, elevated rail line. And it operates as a single, long park that can be enjoyed year-round.
Being above the street and just below the buildings is a terrific way to experience the city. You walk by businesses and apartments at their level. Not often can you do that.
Walking in any major city would involve multiple interruptions. Stop lights, stop signs, and traffic in general would slow your sauntering. But when you are above it all and a couple of floors above the ground, you can walk to your heart’s content.
There are a ton of funky, amazing, and wonderfully designed buildings along this walk. I’m not I.M. Pei, but I can appreciate interesting and thoughtfully designed buildings.
The end of the road brought us to a honeycomb-like structure called “Vessel.” It’s in the Hudson Yards neighborhood and right next to a mall. A mall where we hurried inside because it was starting to rain harder than the modest drizzle we had experienced earlier on our walk. My partner is not so fond of heights, so that was another reason we went inside. No reason to tempt the fears by climbing up an M.C. Escher-like set of stairs.
From there, it was about a half-hour walk to the theatre where we would see Hadestown. My thoughts on that show have been well documented. If you missed it, I’m not a fan.
After the show, we found B-Side Pizza Bar. It did exactly what we wanted. Served us delicious pizza. Excuse the blurry photo below. We were hungry and only took a photo midway through our meal. Take our, and my, word for it. It’s good.
The title is pretty self-explanatory. I am going to run through a few places in this limited series for things to do and to eat while in New York City. This also means I can expand this series to other cities in the future, if I want to.
But for now, we will stick to one place to eat and one place to do something fun. People’s definitions of “fun” vary widely. Museums may be your idea of fun, or they could be the death knell of joy. We like to visit regular museums, art & sculpture, and the like, but we also enjoy other types of museums.
I am also aiming to highlight sites that are not frequently mentioned when you think of these cities. The Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Times Square, MOMA, etc. Those types of places won’t be featured here. I am looking for things that maybe engage other senses while also being fun.
Enter, The Color Factory.
The Color Factory is a hands-on examination of color. Is it mainly geared towards children? Yes and no. There were several children present when we walked through, and adults were also enjoying the museum.
It is a very photogenic place to visit. There is color, duh, everywhere! We first found this spot on Instagram, and the videos and photos we saw immediately drew us in. That, and looking for something that would get us out of the rain and cold. Win-win!
The world of colors and the sense of taste combine to begin our journey.
After checking our coats, we were treated to a rainbow assortment of fortune cookies. Each cookie had a different color and flavor. It was a fun way to awaken the palate. It was also a nice introduction to what we were about to experience. It was a standard fortune cookie with a flavorful surprise.
Toucan Sam would be all over the next room. We followed our noses to small, colorful vents and sniffed. Literally, breathing in the aromas of colors and the words that correspond to them. It was not a straightforward “you’re smelling cotton candy” or anything similar. The words chosen for each scent allow your mind to create a scent, and then you dive in, nose first, and smell something. Some areas were more pungent than others, but it was still a fun exercise.
After testing the olfactory sense, it was time to rest our feet and let our ears in on the fun. We put on headphones and listened to a prompt. The prompt led us to draw the person across from us and use the colored pencils provided. But it wasn’t a straightforward drawing session. We used the colors as a gateway to the inner workings of our drawing partner. What is their aura? What colors remind you of them? Things like that. It also asked us to stare at them and draw their face without picking up the pencil. That was hard, no lie. I did not do my partner’s face any justice. What I drew was round but also misshapen because I drew a circle too small and then overcorrected and made a bulbous circle. Straight to the bin went that paper!
We then entered a world of sound. And as I typed that, I read it in a Rod Serling Twilight Zone-esque voice. But we did enter a room with multiple percussion instruments, xylophones, and were tasked with playing along. By playing along, I mean using the mallets and making some music.
The next two rooms were explorations of brightness and darkness. Or, that’s what I’m calling it in my thesis for my non-existent paper on the exploration of color and society.
We first made our way through a room that looked like Barbie’s dreamhouse had exploded. It was a party room, and the only thing I thought about after leaving the room was how much of a pain it would be to clean all that confetti up.
The second room was a silent disco. No audible sound, unless you were wearing headphones. Once the headphones were on, the funk was all around, and you could let the music move you through the dimly lit room. It is a fun phenomenon to experience. You see people dancing and wonder what song it is. Then you join in and find out, and once you’re finished, you go back to being out of the loop for the dance party.
The last room took us back to our days visiting Charles Entertainment Cheese. Or, as he is more commonly known, Chuck E. Cheese. It was a ball pit. Take off your shoes and enjoy “swimming” around an inordinate number of monochrome plastic balls. This was just a fun way to end the journey. It was also fun to throw the balls at my partner, who said they smelled “like feet”.
If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.
Now for something to eat.
We were extremely stereotypical and went with the tried-and-true New York bagel. PopUp Bagels was our spot, and they hit the mark with these bad boys. Delicious and flavorful, while not being too heavy. The perfect balance.
If you are a gamer, then you know what a “speedrun” is. For this unitiated, it is when you attempt to complete a game in as little time as possible. Lately, the word “speedrun” has bled into the real world. For example, there was an attempt to complete the largest party of people completing a BART “Speedrun.” If you didn’t know, BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit. It is the public transit system used throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. With that in mind, back to our journey.
My partner’s birthday is in April, and we bounced around numerous ideas of what we should do to celebrate. She usually goes to a baseball game since the beginning of the season coincides with her birthday. We looked up the Giants’ schedule and saw that they would not be at home. BUT I saw that they would be playing the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. It just so happened that neither of us had been to that stadium, and it became a no-brainer for us to schedule a trip out to New York and watch her favorite team. **Writer’s note: I will go more in-depth on this stadium visit in a later post**
Then we started thinking about what else we could do while we were there. Both of us really enjoy musicals, so we began to see which one we could see. The theatre gods must have heard that we were looking because, in my search, I came across a new musical starring one of her favorite performers, Idina Menzel. I knew nothing about the show Redwood that she was starring in, but I know that my partner has a favorite tree, and it just so happens to be the redwood. It could not have been more serendipitous.
I will review these shows, just so you know. I have some choice words for a couple of them. One in particular just really bored the crap out of me. But that will come later!
We let the idea of going to New York and seeing a Broadway show marinate in our minds for a while. Then one afternoon, we started thinking: what if we saw more than one show? We began to examine dates and times, as well as what was available. We had it down to seeing one show on Thursday night, the night we arrived. One show on Friday night. Then a matinee and an evening show on Saturday. Lastly, after baseball on Sunday, we would see a final evening show.
Five shows in four days.
A Broadway Speedrun.
What could go wrong?
Only one thing, in fact, went wrong, but it turned out to be kismet.
Our flight into LaGuardia was diverted to Baltimore due to a mechanical issue, which resulted in a new arrival time. That new arrival time was just maybe minutes before our first show was supposed to start. Maybe Happy Ending was supposed to be stop number one on our Broadway Speedrun. “Sounds to me like someone has a case of the sposdas.”
I was super duper grumpy. This was a show that I wanted to see. Darren Criss is a phenomenal performer, and I was excited to see him live. My partner kept messaging me in our silent Uber that we could still make it to the show and probably arrive about 30 minutes after it opened. I knew it was a one-act show, and it would be a tight fit. We both looked up to see if we could check our luggage at the theatre’s coat check to save ourselves time. No dice. I was resigned to not going out or doing anything because I was so despondent. My partner, not so much, and it is why I love her.
Within minutes of our arrival at the hotel, she was looking up what other shows were available and starting later than the usual 7 o’clock. She found one, and its title fit our situation quite perfectly.
Show #1
Just In Time.
We knew nothing about this show, except that it was about Bobby Darin, when we arrived at the box office and purchased our tickets. This is where the kismet occurred. This show was, without a doubt, one of the best shows I have ever seen. Jonathan Groff is sensational. The energy he exudes is palpable. The music fills the space and your bones, and the dancing is infectious.
I will start by saying that you can’t walk up to this show’s box office today and hope to get a ticket. We happened upon this show as it was still in previews. Now, it is a hot ticket, and we know why. The Circle in the Square theatre sits just below, literally, the Gershwin. Jonathan Groff welcomed us all to the “Basement of Wicked,” as that is the show that goes on above you. He also thanked the dozens of people who watched Mindhunter who were in attendance, to which I cheered because I loved that show.
Then the show begins in earnest, and we embark on a journey through the life of Bobby Darin. Gracie Lawrence delivered soulful and fantastic vocals as Connie Francis. She was a real surprise and amazing to watch. Just in Time is one of those shows where the cast walks the aisles and between the audience who are seated on the floor of the theatre. Jonathan got so close to us that he grabbed a man on the aisle, two seats over, and twirled him around at his seat. He’s also known to be a prolific spitter, and it was on full display.
This is an intimate and fantastic show and should not be missed while Jonathan Groff is on the marquee.
Show #2
Our second show took us in a wildly imaginative and fantastical direction. A touch of the macabre and a heavy dose of humor and wit, mixed in with some supremely talented vocalists, give you Death Becomes Her.
I grew up watching the 1992 film of the same name. It’s campy, yet also funny and dramatic, mainly due to the talent on screen. On a recent rewatch, it is also surprisingly sexy. I mean, Isabella Rossellini is barely hiding her chest and body behind sequins and beads and a sarong. How did this one sneak by my parents? In the words of Dean Pelton: “This better not awaken anything in me.“
Back to the show at hand!
The writers, both for the music and the book, took the existing material and updated it for a modern audience while maintaining the essence of the cult classic film. Michelle Williams starts off the show, and her vocals set the tone. She is a natural on stage and commands the audience’s attention. Must have been all those years standing next to Beyoncé finally paying off. Kidding!
Megan Hilty and Jennifer Simard are equally fantastic. They have undeniable chemistry and wickedly brilliant comedic timing. They took the film characters and made them their own. Amping up the camp, comedy, and sexiness. Christopher Sieber shines as Ernest Menville, “Surgeon to the Stars!” In totality, the show is excellent. The costumes, the makeup, the effects, the music! All of it comes together in a show that is supremely entertaining from start to finish.
I have found myself listening to the Original Cast Recording quite a lot. They are catchy tunes!
Show #3
After seeing two sensational shows on back-to-back nights, we were riding high going into our matinee on Saturday.
I have always been fascinated by Greek mythology. I, for some reason, took Classics classes while I was in college, as there has always been something about the Gods and ancient Greek (and Roman) society that has piqued my interest. This has since extended to modern times, as I have devoured the Percy Jackson series of books. Hadestown seemed like a no-brainer. It is a prestigious show with Tony Awards out the wazoo and has a rabid fanbase.
I was not a fan.
I found the show immensely boring. On this day, the Hades of Hadestown was distracting, and overall, I found the show to be incredibly pretentious. The folk music is not for me. I will admit that plainly. So if you like folk music, this could be right up your alley. It’s not mine.
I truly felt like leaving during intermission, but I have never left a show or movie without returning, unless it was absolutely necessary. We stuck it out. I did not care for the characters or their plight. Also, you mean to tell me that Orpheus had all that time to come up with a song to save the day, and the only lyrics he could come up with were “La la la la la” on repeat??? I understand that it is supposed to be poetic, but it also comes off as half-assed and pretentious for the sake of art. Yes, look, he came up with a melody, and the words don’t need to be profound because it’s what’s in his heart that counts. I get that, but it fell so flat for me.
When the cast came out for the curtain call, we clapped politely and then left. This show has a fan base like Hamilton; it’s not for me.
Show #4
We hit a low note. Pun intended. Our next show was the one that we designed our entire trip around.
Redwood.
A quick aside here before I review the show. I used to work for a catering company in Los Angeles. One New Year’s Eve, I was given the paperwork to head out and deliver to a part of The Valley. I won’t actually say which city I went to out of respect for the celebrity’s privacy. Her name was at the top of the delivery sheet. Idina Menzel.
I arrived at her house with all the food and began bringing it inside. Her family was in the kitchen, guiding me, and I was telling them about the various foods I had laid out. Then, in walks Idina herself. Or maybe she answered the door, and I played it cool, but telling the story this way is much more engaging. As I was finishing up, she told me to wait right there. I did. She comes back and asks her family and friends if this looked real to them as well. She’s holding a 100-dollar bill. She hands it to me and says, “This is from my kids’ Christmas money. If it turns out to not be real, you come back and find me.” She laughs, and I tell her that she doesn’t need to take from her child’s stash. She brushes it off, saying that they won’t know and that she’ll replace it later. So, I let it go.
The money was real, by the way.
Flash forward to the present, and here we were front and center for the Broadway return of Idina Menzel. Was I secretly hoping that she would recognize me? Yes. But that was six years ago. I have a beard now.
The Nederlander Theatre, where Redwood was playing, was where Idina made her Broadway debut in Rent nearly 20 years ago. At times, the way the universe unfolds is quite amazing.
The show itself starts out rough. The opening song thrusts us into the life of our protagonist in a quasi spoken-sung song, filling us in on why she is where she is. From there, the show improves, but it is marred by some dialogue that is cloyingly sentimental and eye-rollingly bad. The show is, really, a vehicle for Idina to sing her heart out. And she does just that. She is the reason the show exists (or existed).
The other standout, musically, is Zachary Noah Piser. He has, for us, the song of the show. When he sings “Still,” it hits us like a ton of bricks. Even though I cry every time I hear it, it remains the only song from the show that I come back to. It’s a simple message that he sings – everybody dies, but not everybody lives – but his voice is so powerful and impactful that it transcends the triteness of the words.
Another aspect of the show that we found exceptionally well done is the set design. The production team used screens to create the forest and other environments, and then placed a central redwood around which the actors would climb and be centered. It made a truly ethereal environment. It is a shame that the rest of the show does not fully gel. After the announcement of the 2025 Tony Awards and Redwood receiving zero nominations, the writing was on the wall. The show closed its run early.
Still, we were glad to have seen Idina Menzel live on stage.
Show #5
The final act of our Broadway Speedrun took us to the land of Shakespeare. AKA William Shakespeare, Bill Shakespeare, or Billy Shakes.
There is a vocal minority that has some sort of beef with the Jukebox Musical. We are not a part of that group. Who cares?! If it is done well, that is all that matters.
It was time for & Juliet.
Before the show truly began, performers took to the stage and interacted with the audience. This was more than the cursory wave to the balcony. They were actually engaged with those in the front few rows. They were setting the stage, yes, yes, I know, for how the show would break the fourth wall and immerse the audience in the performance.
The show begins, almost where the original play of Romeo & Juliet ends, except it asks us, “What would happen if Juliet didn’t follow a man and instead forged her own path?” Anne Hathaway, wife of William Shakespeare, implores her husband to rewrite the play so that it is not so tragic and actually gives Juliet some agency in her life. This is where Anne takes over, and our story begins.
The show uses that outline and infuses it with pop songs written and co-written by Max Martin to propel our characters through a world where people are accepted for who they are and embraced for their differences. It’s lovely. We are treated to songs by Robyn, *NSYNC, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, The Weeknd, and many more.
I truly loved every aspect of this show. It’s funny, it has heart, and it is supremely entertaining from start to the confetti-raining finish.
Our final show ended, and we began our walk back to our hotel. The high from the finale of & Juliet had waned, and we were exhausted. Five shows in four days, on top of all of the other things we did (which will be documented later), had taken its toll on us. If we hadn’t gone to a baseball game on Sunday, we could have made it to six shows in four days.
With the World Series in full swing and my Dodgers participating again this year, I figured it was time to add another stadium visit to my series.
Enter, Nationals Park.
I am going to start this piece by saying that Washington, D.C., should not have this team. This team was stolen from the good people of Montreal. This relocation to the Nation’s Capital is on par with moving the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City and becoming the Thunder, the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis, and the Raiders leaving Oakland for Las Vegas. While we’re at it, FJF and the Athletics as well, for good measure.
Was anyone in the D.C. metro area really clamoring for a baseball team? The Orioles still exist. I went there in 1999 with my dad and remember seeing Cal Ripken Jr. and Mike Mussina. I remember that because they had an animated moose on the scoreboard when he was pitching.
Relocation blows for professional North American sports.
Back to actual baseball!
My work had me staying at a hotel near the National Mall. If you have never been to the National Mall, it is a must-see. Numerous monuments and museums nearby can satisfy any intellectual itch you may have. You can avoid the White House, though.
Looking at my route to the stadium, I had a couple of options. I could take the metro, a cab, a rideshare, or scoot there. I was not confident riding a scooter around D.C. drivers, so I opted to take the metro. I do love trains.
After purchasing my transit pass, I found the correct line and began my journey in earnest. There were transit police stationed at the stop, guiding guests to the ballpark. The Phillies were in town, so numerous people were wearing Harper and Turner jerseys from both teams. If you are unaware, Bryce Harper played for the Nationals (even won an MVP in 2015) and then left them to play for the Phillies in 2019. The Nationals would win the 2019 World Series without him. Trea Turner overlapped with Harper, but he won a World Series and was then traded to my Dodgers a few years later. Trea would rejoin Harper after the 2022 season in Philadelphia, where the two have been since. There were a few boos and jeers mixed with claps and cheers for both players throughout the game.
First impressions were that it is a nice stadium, albeit a little bland. The views from the stadium are nice, but it doesn’t feel particularly unique.
I took a walk around the whole place and found my favorite thing: bobbleheads. They have a little museum of Nationals bobbleheads throughout the years. I liked it. It’s a cute feature for the park.
If there’s one thing I have heard my entire life as a baseball fan, it’s that Dodgers fans show up late. People will make jokes about the traffic (which is true!) and how people will always show up late to games. After attending this one Nats game, I don’t want to hear any more about my team’s fans showing up late. I won’t stand for it!
The above photo was taken during the National Anthem. There are many empty seats yet to be filled. Now, granted, the Nats were bad this year. OK, bad might be too nice. They were awful. They would finish the season at 66-96 and last in their division. At this point in the season, they were 49-72 while the Phillies were 69-52. So, the sparsely populated game could be excused to some degree. Then I was told that this is commonplace for D.C. fans.
My partner used to live in The District and told me that Nats fans are notorious for this.
Here I am at First Pitch with nearly the entire section to myself. People would trickle in as the game went on, but I found it alarming that I was the only person in my row and one of three in my section. I guess I am spoiled by having a team that fields a decent product. This is another case of an owner not doing enough to field a competitive team.
But back to the game at hand!
It was a fun back-and-forth affair with the Nats eventually holding on for the win. The highlight of the game was the Racing Presidents. I have mentioned before how much I love mascots, and this ballpark experience had a different kind of mascot race. They trot out past Presidents of the United States of America (not the band), and they race along the perimeter of the field.
The participants are: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt. I was able to snag a photo of Teddy during my initial walk around the stadium (see above). During this race, Martha Washington appeared like it was a WWE event, swung a folding chair at the other President’s face, knocking them out, and finished hand in hand with her husband. The stadium erupted in cheers, and so did I.
It was an overall decent experience. It’s an easy stadium to get to, so I could see myself coming back in the future. The real headache came as everyone was leaving, and the line to enter the metro station was so backed up and overcrowded that I wasn’t sure I’d ever make it through.
John Kidde Writes 