CHEAP: My Summertime Affair with Mister Softee

Don't get me wrong. There are a lot of delicious frozen dessert options in the city. You've got your Pinkberry, Red Mango, Tasti D Lite, Shake Shack, etc, etc.

But in the middle of a blistering hot work day when the urban heat is overwhelming, nothing his the spot like Mister Softee. I never have to wander more than a block or two to find a truck. (Unless that truck is out of chocolate, and then I wander a few more block). For $3 it's heaven in the middle of urban humidity hell.

CHEAP: Newsies Sing-a-long

Because it's one of the most-loved, critically derided, cultural phenomenon of my generation, it is no surprise that the awesome folks at The Bell House in Brooklyn chose to host a Newsies sing-a-long yesterday. For $8 my co-workers and I make strike signs, competed in a dance off, trivia contest, and drank drinks called "The Cowboy", "Pulitzer's Punch" and "The Weasel". And oh yes, there were definitely people in costume.

Like any good sing-a-long, this required audience participation. When Pulitzer, Weasel, or another baddie showed up on screen loud BOOing occured. When a Newsie was trying to sell a pape, we threw gold coins. When someone yelled "cheez it!", we threw, well, Cheeze-Its. Duh. When Teddy Roosevelt arrives to save the day, there were confetti poppers.

A silly, super-fun night. Here's a quick video from the dance-off.

FREE: Shakespeare in the Park

I'm ba-aaack!

So, two years of grad school pretty much killed all desire/free time to write this blog. Now that I have my degree, I'm back!

If you are one of the many New Yorkers who doesn't not know about all the free Shakespeare in the Park, first of all, shame on you! There are tons of theater companies offering free Shakespeare in the summertime, but today's post I dedicate to the grandaddy of them all- the Public Theater.

Last week I went and saw "Measure for Measure" at the beautiful Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. (Go in at 81st and Central Park West, follow the path on the right, cross the street and head up the hill. The theater will be on your right.)

I fully recommend taking a picnic blanket and either bringing vittles or purchase dinner at the theater's cafe and enjoy dinner alfresco on the Great Lawn.

Folks, this is truly a New York institution. There is something truly magical about watching excellent live theater in nice stadium seats with the water, the moon, and Belvedere Castle in the background.

Video from Don't Quit Your Night Job

A few posts ago, I talked about Don't Quit Your Night Job. We'll they've put some video from the show up...and this is the most family friendly one I could find. Enjoy!

CHEAP: the new off-Broadway

Everything is moving to New World Stages these days. Avenue Q was the first to make the leap from Broadway back to off-Broadway, and many other shows are finding their 2nd, and 3rd lives at New World Stages......which is conveniently next to my gym.

Yes, I was the girl in workout clothes at the 3pm matinee of Toxic Avenger today. I know what you were thinking....damn, she looks good in spandex.... I digress.

How does one describe Toxic Avenger? Best run-on sentence ever: A tongue-in-cheek farcical re-telling of a bad movie about a dork in New Jersey who gets toxic waste spilled on him and becomes a mutant superhero who is in love with a blind nymphomaniac librarian and tries to save his town from the evil mayor and her toxic waste accompanied by two male actors who repeatedly dress in drag and have better legs than I do. Starring American Idol's Diana DeGarmo. With a Helen Keller joke. or two.

With songs like "Thank God She's Blind" and "Choose Me, Oprah!", it's a comedy for the whole dysfunctional family.

CHEAP: A Pot o' Gold

A few weeks ago, Gina and I saw Finian's Rainbow in previews. If you are unfamiliar with the original show or movie with Fred Astaire.....anyone? Anyone? Didn't think so. Let me give you a brief and simple plot summary:

A mysterious Irishman, Finian (Jim Norton), and his beautiful daughter Sharon (Kate Baldwin), arrive one day in Rainbow Valley, a small Southern town of tobacco sharecroppers in the mythical state of Missitucky. The town has its own resident dreamer, Woody Mahoney (Cheyenne Jackson).

Finian's come to the town because he's stolen a leprechaun's crock of gold and plans to plant it in the ground so it'll grow faster (or else why would the Americans have rushed to dig the gold out of California only to plant it back in the ground at Fort Knox?). But trouble arrives in the form of Og (the hilarious and charming Chris Fitzgerald) the leprechaun, who has followed Finian to America and is bent on retrieving his gold.

Meanwhile, the bigoted Senator Rawkins plans to take the remaining parcel of land needed to stop the project - Woody's, which Finian has purchased to save from the auctioneer's gavel. But then the government's geologists reveal to the Senator that gold has been detected on the property! Rawkins and his men confront the sharecroppers to seize their land using as an excuse an obscure law making it a felony for blacks and whites to live together, but when Sharon, outraged at this bigotry, cries out while standing right over the pot of gold, "I wish to God you were black ..." all hell breaks loose as wishes come true.

Then the Senator turns black.....and did I mention that Woody has a sister named Susan the Silent who speaks through dance?

OK. OK. The plot is...awful. It's hokey and contrived, and I can't believe that The New York Times gave it such a glowing review. (Ever since Charles Isherwood raved about Rock of Ages, I've been wondering about his mental health.) However....I love the cast, there are a few iconic songs sung beautifully by the equally beautiful Kate Baldwin and Cheyenne Jackson, and Christopher Fitzgerald steals the show as the leprechaun whose pants get shorter as he becomes more mortal.

If you can get a cheap seat, and really, who can't during this time of the year, go see Finian's Rainbow. Have a drink or two before, it's a "Necessity". (That was my cheesy allusion to the show-stopping number sung with sass by Terri White.)