The Big Finale in the Big Apple.

To explain how we got to the ending of our last day, i must explain the incidents of the day before, on our route back to the Hotel. As we were walking form the train station to our Hotel, we passed the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway. This theatre was where Aladdin was playing (a show i really wanted to watch but i agreed to Book of Mormons due to the fact that it would never come to SG, but I’m not complaining cause that show was awesome). My mum decided to take a peek to see if any last minute cheap tickets were available. Unfortunately, there weren’t any, so my mum asked for tickets for the next day. We were transferred over to another counter and we learnt there tickets available (not at any discounted price) in very good seats. After some little deliberation, my mum just decided to embrace the concept of YOLO and booked the tickets! My brother, cousin and i was just stunned. Not in our wildest dream had we expected this to happen. So we bought the tickets, and headed back, so excited for the next day. We were going to see Aladdin!!!

Day 5 started with us heading to The Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Natural History afterwards. The Guggenheim Museum was cool, with the slick architecture, but i didn’t have a deep appreciation for art so i did not enjoy it that well. After spending a short time (we mostly went there for the architecture) we headed to the Museum of Natural History. Yes, this was the museum that was featured in the Ben Stiller movie, night at the museum. I loved Dinosaurs. I have loved Dinosaurs since i was a kid (maybe it started because of the disney how Dinosaur). So i was very excited as they had a huge Dinosaur exhibit. Similar to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) , we had limited time due to our tight schedule. I once again, had to race through the exhibits but i did spend a lot of time at the Dinosaur one and it was so awesome. There were huge fossils and the first full T-Rex skull ever found on display! I had a stunning time at the Museum and just like the MET, it was not possible to finish the museum properly in one day let alone then time we spent. After the museum, we headed back to the hotel to rest so we were fresh for the show. The best part of staying on broadway was that all the shows were a 5 minute walk away :):)

The line for Aladdin was long, due to the larger theatre. The theatre felt far better than the ones i had been to before due to the fact that you had a clear view of the stage no matter where you were sitting. Luckily we were the second seat from the front of the Mezzanine so i had fantastic view despite being last-minute, spur of the moment buy. The show was breathtaking. The vocals, the dance routines, the set, the modern humour infused in, all of it was just stunning. The musical made me feel the childhood intrigue and love for the show that i had as a kid. Not many things are as good these days and my experience here really reminded me of the quality of shows like this. The part that amazed me the most were how the cast could do everything. They could sing, dance, jump around and not miss a beat or be out of breath. On top of that they knew the lyrics to all of the songs to perfection. It was just mind-boggling how they could do it all (i could not do this at all, with however much training). The standing ovation was so well deserved. Not to leave it out, but there was a proposal that happened during the intermission! What a setting for the guy to do so, hats off to him and the supportive crowd that kept cheering away. At the end of the show, just like Book of Mormons, we went to meet the cast and get signatures. We met various cast members and we actually had an awesome conversation with Ms Courtney Reed (she played Jasmine in the show)! She was so friendly and nice and when we mentioned the proposal, she posted a video of my video on her instagram and i was in it! My few seconds of fame! HAHA.

What a way to cap a spectacular trip in New York City. A Big Finale in the Big Apple.

(small disclaimer, if someone were to ask me which of the two plays i liked better, it would be impossible to say so as these were two different genres of musical and both were crazy good)