Fabulous NYC.

I finally have a minute to sit and reminisce about my fabulous New York City vacation!

Highlights:

* Two Broadway shows -- Catch Me If You Can starring Aaron Tveit and Norbert Leo Butz and Priscilla Queen of the Desert starring Nick Adams' biceps and drag queens.

* Catch Me If You Can is a new musical based on the book/Leonardo DiCaprio movie about Frank Abagnale Jr, who was a con artist and millionaire by the time he was 20 by writing bad checks. The fact that he got away with it all is pretty astounding, really.
Aaron Tveit played Frank and Norbert Leo Butz was the FBI agent who was searching for him. The music is by the people who wrote the Hairspray musical, so it's still stuck in my head two weeks later. Very fun show with tons of lush colors and costumes. And the voices. Holy shit. Aaron Tveit is best known as the original Gabe in Next to Normal, and he did not disappoint. I started wondering if the role of Frank had been written expressly for his voice, because I recognized a lot of the power notes from my marathon listening/sobfests to the Next to Normal soundtrack. Also -- shirtless twice. Because let's face it, shirtless Aaron Tveit is a big reason to see a show.
(On a gay sidenote, Aaron is in Howl, the movie about Allen Ginsberg and the publication of the Howl poem and subsequent controversy, playing Peter Orlovsky, Ginsberg's boyfriend. Allen Ginsberg is played by James Franco. Hot.)
And Norbert Leo Butz is amazing and sort of adorable. He was easily the shortest cast member at 5'7 but his stage presence and all around amazingness had me watching him in every scene he was in. His acting was the best of the cast as he morphed himself into the schlumpy Agent Hanratty. His Act I song "Don't Break the Rules" stopped the show; the applause went on for a solid two minutes. Phenomenal.

* Priscilla Queen of the Desert was another very fun show. Three drag queens in the Australian outback on a road trip to a show in a casino run by one of the queens' estranged wife. It's based on the 1994 movie starring Hugo Weaving, Terrence Stamp, and Guy Pearce (swoon). The songs are all recognizable camp drag queen karaoke hits, like "It's Raining Men," "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "Hot Stuff," "Material Girl," etc. At one point, I was moved to tears, which I was completely not expecting yet totally saw coming (one of the characters goes out into the Aussie hick town dressed in drag and kisses a guy, who rips off her wig. The subsequent bashing, as well as the fireside conversation of the queens that follows had me sniffling and feigning allergies to the lovely gay boy sitting next to me).
It's not a particularly groundbreaking show, or even an original show, but it's fun. One of the producers is Better Midler, and let's face it, I will love anything Bette Midler touches.

* On a related note, Nick Adams is my new gay boyfriend. Good god, that is one attractive man with killer glitter lipstick. Hello, lover.

*My friend and I went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade which was a clusterfuck. I had no idea what to expect but I know a bunch of drunk and disorderly teenagers wasn't it.

*We saw Celtic Woman at Radio City Music Hall on St. Patrick's Day. They have amazing voices and a violinist we dubbed "the fiddle ninja." Seriously, she was jumping all over the stage so much that I thought for sure she would hit herself in the eye with her bow.

* Of course, I had to wander around Christopher Street and Greenwich Village. A friend and I went to Stonewall Inn and Gay Street for the photo op. I can't resist a good touristy photo op. We also went to Marie's Crisis Cafe in the West Village. A gay piano bar that plays all showtunes. It was like I saw a vision of heaven. It was glorious.

* All in all, the trip was all about love.