Late posting tonight. But I have a good excuse, no really I do! Bill and I went out for his birthday today. I had off from work today. Just 2 more days of real work then I guess I’m on the dole.

Today I slept in, until 10:00 and got myself together and set about running errands. I had a schedule to follow since we had tickets to a Broadway show, In The Heights.

Bill had laundry to be picked up so I did that for him. I ran into Stine and Alexander who was fascinated by a string on a tree. Also stopped by the Guitar Bar where I lent Jim Mastro the Brian Eno biography I just finished.

It was a beautiful day once again, no rain. I headed into the city and wandered around before meeting up with Bill at 6:30.

I was early and so was Bill. That was nice. We walked around Times Square before heading into John’s Pizzeria on 44th Street. It’s the midtown branch of the John’s Pizzeria on Bleecker Street.

This is a nice place, high ceilings and loads of tourists. Good pizza though. I really like the stained glass ceiling.

I also spoke to the waiter and told him it was Bill’s birthday and had 2 slices of chocolate cake, one with a candle on it. No singing from other customers just me and Bill doing a quick run through. A few pints of Guinness were involved as well.

I was lucky and surprised that I was able to keep Bill out of the loop with regards to the show we were seeing. A few weeks ago on PBS we watched a documentary on the making of In The Heights, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2008.

There’s nothing quite like seeing live theater and this was a very special show. We both loved the documentary but I didn’t think about getting tickets for the show until last week.

I get email subscriptions for some Broadway ticket discount groups and In The Heights was having a special. Orchestra seats for about $50.00 a ticket which is quite a bargain these days.

I had seen the commercials for In The Heights on TV and you can feel the emotion of it’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda in the ad. Maybe it’s because he just won the Tony, but hey, the guy followed his dream which took him to the Great White Way.

He’s not in the show anymore but his replacement Javier Munoz did a very good job

Did a better job than Paul Simon’s The Capeman too. Also Justina Machado is in the play, she played Fernando’s wife on Six Feet Under. Man, she could sing!

Just a great, fun and moving show. Gets close to cliché but doesn’t cross that line. In fact there were one or two times I found myself getting misty during some songs.

Really a well done show that both Bill and I enjoyed very much. Bill also thanks the many friends that sent him birthday greetings.

A nice walk to the bus terminal where we both helped a little old lady across the street. Really, we did. Another splendid day, all for Bill which was quite nice.

So far we’ve seen shows both on and off Broadway for the past three years. In 2007 we saw Passing Strange at the Public Theater. That was really good.

Last year we saw Xanadu which was a lot of fun and also a thrill having seats on stage. We’re doing our bit keeping theater alive, as are the thousands of tourists roaming around. If you get a chance, see In The Heights.

Or visit Harpy in the heights, and I’m sure he will do his interpretive Anglicized version of it. You might have to ask nicely. Or merely ask.