I am writing this entry from my comfy hotel room in Times Square. After months in planning, my first trip to The Big Apple in 5 years is finally underway.

The flight from Burbank was smooth sailing all the way, and we arrived in NY happy, but tired. Feeling the afternoon crash coming on, we decided to instead fight it head on, and clean up for dinner, after our arrival at the Hampton Inn in Times Square.

Walking down the street after a mediocre meal at a local diner, something surprising occured. Literally a block from my hotel, we ran into an old friend of mine, Rhiannon Hansen, who was auditioning for a show about Charlie Chaplin entitled “Limelight” somewhere in midtown.

She is currently in the Legally Blonde Nat’l Tour, and apparently had a day off in the city. It was great to see her, and catch up for a brief minute. Before we left, she informed me she was seeing “American Idiot”, the Green Day musical.

I had no plans on seeing a show tonight, and neither did my girlfriend. We were simply exhausted from travel. But, in our wandering around Times Square, we went over to the TKTS booth, and found that there were 50 percent discounted tickets for this evening’s performance. I really wanted to see it- and after much cajoling, my beau relented, and said ok. So there we were, with great seats at the beautiful and rustic St. James Theater on 44th St.

Boy, we were glad we decided to catch it. The show, was simply brilliant. Electrifyingly performed, cleverly constructed, and masterfully staged, it was a truly one of a kind show. I have never seen anything like it. Every performer brought an incredible amount of energy to the stage, and the show pinned me to my seat for its entire duration. Green Day’s music, already great, was brought to new highs by the wonderful orchestration of Tom Kitt, and the story, while simple, managed to still pack a powerful punch.

It is a don’t miss theatrical experience, and while it may not appeal to all demographics, it speaks to mine, and blew my mind ( and probably some older people’s eardrums.) It was a psychedelic, pulse pounding rock opera for this generation, and it is not to be missed.

After the exhilarating 90 mins at the St. James, Marissa and I followed it up with a lovely dessert and coffee at “Pigalle”, a delightful little French Cafe on 8th and 45th.

SO, one day down, many more to go. It’s great to be here.