2025 Jan-Jun with minimal context… especially considering I started making this post two weeks ago on my commute and then forgot about it until today.
Mostly seeing Debbie at the Opera before she moved away and hanging out with Camille (Ka-meal) in Wilmington.
I only ever posted once in 2025, so here is my FY25 Annual Performance Review:
I saw 115 shows in about 44/52 weeks in New York. With an average ticket price of $37.11 it was a great year!
Some highlights pictured here!
1. Ragtime with my parents!
2. Perhaps my favorite thing of the year was the Arpino Festival at the Joyce. We need more Arpino in NYC!! So fun to see @derek_drilon in the first week and @r_y_l_e_e_a_n_n the second week, but we somehow never got pictures?!
- I could watch Misa Kuranaga and Angelo Greco dance L’Air de E’Sprit every day and be just as excited for it every single time.
3. I saw so much on NYCB’s programming with so many friends which is always a treat!
- Justin Peck’s Belles-Lettres was such a beautiful surprise to me going in knowing nothing about the piece and I was extremely moved by this one. The whole cast was exceptional. I hope to see this one again soon!
- Seeing Mira Nadon in Errante again, but also anything.
- Megan Fairchild and David Gabriel in Ballo was beautiful and they made the perfect pair for such a playful and energetic piece!
4. Saw so many friends performing in Broadway shows!
- Oyoyo in MJ was truly incredible. So glad she came back to cover for a bit so I could have the chance to see her!
- Preston in The Great Gatsby where you can tell that he is having a blast every second of the show.
- Hailey as Cherry in The Outsiders! She was, in all seriousness, the perfect Cherry.
5. Some standout shows/performances from the season.
- Operation Mincemeat: I’ve seen it 3x already. This is a must see for everyone.
- Buena Vista Social Club: This show surprised me in the best way and the musicians are truly incredible.
- Dead Outlaw: it was so quirky and entertaining. You never knew what was coming next. Honestly, I’m mostly just sad I only got to see it once.
- Gypsy: Audra McDonald. Enough said.
5. Tony Awards Dress Rehearsal! This was such a cool experience and something I hope to do again in the future!
6. Hardy in Salome at The Metropolitan Opera! So fun to get to see her dance on such an iconic stage and again with so many great friends!
Even though I was down 41 shows from 2024, it was a great year!
About time I post about the 3 Ryan Meetups I have been to in 2025! Two in San Diego in January and Boston in March. We celebrate Ryans everyday, but especially today on the birthday of our founder Ryan! It is always a great time with my fellow Ryans!
2024 round-up part 2: A year in performances
Two major milestones achieved in December, I saw my 300th show in New York City in my lifetime, including everything since April 2011! About a week later I saw Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at NYCB for the first time AND my 150th performance of the 2024! Here is a sample of playbill and stage photos that represent some of what is included in that number if anyone is interested. I’ve already been able to see some of the big shows for the 24-25 season! See the full stats below.
5. Saw Illinoise 8 times including closing night and could’ve gone many more times.
6. Audra. Gypsy. Must see.
7. Sunset Boulevard. Got to see Mandy Gonzales in this intense new production
8. I never stop thinking about Everywhere We Go.
9. ABT Fall season got to see @_sylviesquires and the divisive Crime and Punishment.
10. Took up going to the opera. (Huge thanks to @dr.pianista )
11. Pattie LuPone and Mia Farrow
12. Psychological thriller - a little twisted and I loved it
13. New play by Douglas Lyons with Kara Young. Hysterical!
14. Master Voices at Carnegie Hall is always a good time
15. Couldn’t miss Whoopi Goldberg in Annie for obvious reasons.
My final New York performance attendance count came in at 157 shows in 2024. That is one every 2.3 days! Do I have a problem? You decide. The breakdown is as follows:
Broadway: 62
Off-Broadway: 9 (surprisingly low to me)
Dance: 37
New York City Center: 5
Metropolitan Opera: 12
Other: 32 miscellaneous concerts and such
So grateful for everything I saw this year and so excited to see what 2025 has in store!
2024 Catch Up!
• First up a group of smiles before we were shocked and maybe traumatized by the juggling performance at Fall for Dance. In a word, unforgettable.
• I saw Stereophonic again and collected all four of the October special edition playbills!
• Went up to the Great Pumpkin Blaze.
• Saw one of my favorite ballets at NYCB with a stunning cast and a great group of friends.
• A boy and his dog. I visited Austen and Jude in Palo Alto but it was mostly just playing with their new puppy Pippa. Who is also my new best friend.
• I saw Maybe Happy Ending not once, but twice! So fun to see Mikaela while she was in town!
• Sadie’s Broadway Debut!
• Celebrated Christmas with Coke and even got my picture with Santa.
• Went to The Magic Flute at The Met with Debbie, and then saw her play in a concert a few days later!
• Cousin New Year’s Eve party was a raging success as always!
Two years of living in New York City! The best part of New Jersey is the view back at New York! I made Peach and Chocolate ice cream yesterday and had a great game night. Friday I went to a Glen Hansard concert. Amazing as always! Sad to be missing the Ryan Meetup in Toronto this weekend, but I did get together with 150 Ryans for Deadpool and Wolverine last month!
Japan Part 2: Kanazawa, Takayama, Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima
Squeezing the rest of the trip into one post. More or less in order. We visited the Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa where I got a couple obligatory ballet pics. Shirakawa was one of the most picturesque places even in a constant downpour. Kyoto and Nara had some beautiful shrines including the stunning Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) and the world’s largest bronze cast Buddha. We finished the trip in Hiroshima which was a remarkable but somber experience. At the Children’s Peace Monument there were thousands of paper cranes arranged in all sorts of displays.
All said, I highly recommend taking a trip to Japan!
Japan Part 1 - Tokyo
Two weeks in Japan with my aunt Leigh and cousins Lucy, Addy, Davis, and Trey. It was beautiful and so green!! But more of that in part 2. We also went to Hakone just south of Tokyo, but it was just fog and rain so I don’t have many pictures of that day.
Tokyo is a pretty standard huge city. The metro system is very good and goes all over the place, luckily they make it easy enough to get around even if you don’t speak Japanese. So my random excursions around the city were quite successful sometimes just wandering the streets.
There was a lot of western influenced architecture even in some of their prominent historical buildings like the Tokyo Train station.
Note that Instagram is allowing up to 20 photos you get some bonus pictures that would’ve have usually made the post including some tie-dyed kimonos that I maybe was not supposed to photograph… the detail on these is stunning, and they were dyed in strips then sewn together which is even crazier to me!
Catch up time again! 77th Tony Awards edition! It’s a long one! Too many pictures to include, so here is a collection of playbill photos and a few others.
After a combined 7.5 hours waiting in two rush lines the week before the awards, I was able to see all 36 Tony Eligible Broadway Productions this year! I also saw Alex Edleman’s Just For Us which earned him a special Tony Award. Making in total 37/39 productions that played Broadway theaters this year. I missed two special engagements that had very brief runs. Three shows this year I saw previously during their Off-Broadway runs!
You may be wondering if that made it possible for me to predict the Tony winners better this year and the short answer is No. I guessed a little over half correctly, but most of the others I had marked as the runner up. Only a couple winners really surprised me. I agreed with the main four awards for new shows and revivals!
Starting with Grey House to ending with Hell’s Kitchen, it took me 371 days to see every show. At an average ticket price of $48.30 (due to the increasing price of rush tickets). Not surprising, my most expensive ticket was to Cabaret. My cheapest ticket was free to see Jana’s African Hair Braiding which I got comped when I asked for a rush ticket 3 minutes before the show started closing week!
Here are some random categories of standout shows to me.
Shows I can’t stop thinking about:
Illinoise
Appropriate
Stereophonic
Doubt
Should have lasted longer:
Here Lies Love
Harmony
Days of Wine and Roses
Deserved more recognition:
The Notebook
The Shark is Broken
Back to the Future
Thanks to everyone who saw a show with me this year! I feel so lucky to live in New York and have the chance to experience so much great art all the time. I love theater and I love discussing any and every aspect of it with anyone who will listen.
