February 2026 NYC Trip

March 4, 2026

It's been a hot minute since we've popped down to NYC. We usually go for our anniversary and pack in some Broadway, but there was nothing I wanted to see enough last year to make the trip. This year, however, Daniel Radcliffe was back on stage. I was a Harry Potter fan who hated the movies but I find his post-Potter career interesting.

If you don't live within driving distance of New York, don't worry, I do know how insanely lucky I am! I spend about half of my time there thinking about how I would have killed for my life when I was in high school. Seeing an off-broadway production of Rent within driving distance of my hometown was 1)insane, 2) a cherished memory, and 3) something that people ANGRILY STORMED OUT OF at intermission. My life now is a treat.

Dreams do come true, it gets better, etc.

Anyway, this is what we did:

Friday February 27th

A comically tall 1/2 lb hamburger on a plate with some wedge fries. It's dripping. It's perfect.

I made a last minute decision to get a reservation at Wild, which I have never heard talked about in the gluten-free groups online. More people need to be talking about Wild in the gluten-free groups. This was the best burger I have ever had in my life. I don't even eat burgers. My husband doesn't eat burgers. I made him take a bite. He also wants to go back and get this burger. I don't care that it was $25. I've been upset that I can't eat Joe's Pizza anymore (the caprese was my go-to, they DO sell gluten free personal pizzas which I have been meaning to try locally when I'm not planning on doing things in the Danger of Getting Sick Window). I'm no longer sad. Joe's can go out of business. I do not care. This burger is The Burger, okay?

A rainbow sprinkle sugar cookie roughly the size of my face. I'm holding it in front of the box. The image is flashing red because an ambulance is going by.

Then we walked down to Posh Pop Bakeshop because we had like forty minutes to kill. Cookies are never bad. This was another fully gluten free facility. Husband said the cookies tasted like normal cookies to him. This is the highest praise you can bestow upon a baked good. I just realized the photo that I took caught the ambulance lights so you get the already overstimulating cookie as a gif.

Holding my playbill for The Unknown starring Sean Hayes in front of the curtain of the stage. POV from my front row center seat.

And then our main event for the day: The Unknown starring Sean Hayes

My early-aughts comfort comedy was Will & Grace. I have all of the seasons on DVD. I ignored the reboot and haven't really followed the actors since then, but when I saw that this show was happening at the same time as our trip anyway...I may have bought front row center seats. For some reason it is cheaper to sit in the front row at Studio Seaview than in the middle. Maybe during larger shows the viewing angle is a problem, but it's a great spot for a one man show.

I had no idea what to expect for this and was kind of worried it was going to be terrible, and that I was going to be locked in to watching this poor man for an hour with my resting bitch face, but it was good! It's a neat little thriller with comedic bits. I was impressed with the staging, lights, and the one singular costume. I had been joking that our run of one man shows this weekend was a recession indicator, but this didn't feel like they had cheaped out on anything.

Here's a pretty scathing review of the show if you're curious about the plot: link. It's possible they updated the lighting after this review, but I am choosing to believe that this critic just missed that they lit Sean's face halfway to mimic the Phantom's mask while the Phantom-inspired song was playing in a show about an unreliable narrator who may have been a stalker himself. Whoosh.

Saturday February 28th

Plate of 3 slices of French toast covered in powdered sugar along with assorted fruit. There's a plate in the middle just slammed with more wedge potato fries. In the back my husband has a plate with a panini, inexplicably more fries, and a house salad.

We started out pretty weak with The Worst French Toast I Have Ever Had at Senza. I missed going there on our last trip because they didn't have any available tables. I should have taken it as a sign. I don't always like lemon in baked goods (so guess what it was drenched in) and the french toast had the texture of pound cake. My husband's panini was pretty bland. He didn't realize that his panini came with fries so instead of clarifying that and asking if we wanted an additional order they just..brought us more. Wasn't worth making a fuss, we wont go back. This is the most talked about gluten free restaurant in NYC online. I have trust issues now.

Holding my playbill for Every Brilliant Thing starring Daniel Radclife partially showing my view of the stage from the second row balcony seat. They had a lot of oversized light bulbs with the visible filament hanging from the ceiling as decoration.

Our main event for Saturday was the 5 pm (because I like going to bed) show of Every Brilliant Thing. I had fewer reservations about Daniel Radcliffe leading a one man show. We saw him alongside Groff and Lindsey Mendez two years ago in Merrily and he was super charming. I was very excited for a full show of just him. We got to our seats early enough that we were given the opportunity to have a "line" (the premise of the show is that his character is creating a list of good things in the world to convince his mom not to kill herself, so the audience periodically yells out points on the list when their numbers are called). I had #316- Michael J. Fox, which does not particulary speak to me, but I am counting it as my Broadway debut. My husband would rather die than be given a line or be acknowledged by an actor while they are onstage so he did not partake.

The show was very well done for the amount of audience interaction it demands, and I appreciated both the message and that Daniel Radcliffe can do anything on earth that he wants right now and what he wants to do is to lead a show centered around mental health which involves him inviting the public to interact with him. I think if I had his level of fame I wouldn't be doing that. It's nice to see him trusting people and for that trust to be in good hands.

I also thought it was cute that Tom Felton was doing the Cursed Child at the same time. We didn't even look at tickets. Do you know what we saw instead?

My playbill for Aladdin with the view from my seat. We're in nearly the back on the floor but visibility is good.

Fucking Aladdin.

I knew it was a kid's show. The tickets were cheap. We figured there would be some good dancing, at least. No. The blocking was inexplicably uneven and off center from the perfectly symmetrical set. The dancers on either side were supposed to be doing identical choreography and never synced up. The audio has to be super loud because children, but then because it's so loud the kids inevitably start having meltdowns. I got a great surround-sound experience of a child screaming and being dragged out to one edge of the theater, only for the parent to realize they couldn't exit and have to drag them all the way across to the other edge of the theater. To be clear: I think that's on the ushers and not the parent. This is not an anti-kid rant. I was on their turf.

I put my foam earplugs in around the time the genie showed up and kind of zoned out for the rest of the show. My husband compared it to fast food "not good, but I'm enjoying it". I'd see Lion King because I don't learn.

Sunday March 1st

No show! We got breakfast with my husband's sister and then ruined my dog's life because we picked her up from her bestie's house. Dog tax if you made it this far:

Rosie and Fox sitting on the couch with some cozy blankets together. Fox is a Toller and Rosie is a tan mutt with a black mouth and dark eye markings that look like eyeliner and eyebrows