I spent some time in New York last week seeing my parents and sister Shaina, who is staying there for the summer while attending a program at NYU. Kevin was kind enough to offer me a lift and we saw two shows, Rent, which I’ve now seen three times and continue to enjoy quite a bit, and Altar Boyz, which was a hilarious spoof/take-off on Christian boy bands, staged as if it was a concert. The songs are annoying in that boy band kind of way but incredibly catchy and funny, and I find myself listening to them over and over. Highlights include the love song where the hunky one sings, “girl, you make me wanna wait,” and the acceptance song where the obviously gay one sings about how terrible it is to be tormented and made fun of for being Catholic. And what good Christian boy band is complete without a Jewish member who writes all the lyrics?

With the family I saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring the funny John Lithgow along side Norbert Leo Butz, the hunky star of Last Five Years with a silly name, who steals the show with his wacky physical comedy. Sherie Rene Scott, also of Last Five Years fame, along with things like Aida, plays the love interest, while Joanna Gleason is uninspiring as a side character. I didn’t find the book wonderfully inspiring, and the groan-inducing jokes rubbed me the wrong way much of the time, but it was a feel-good romp with a slighly unpredictible ending and some really, really funny moments.

I’ve posted some photos of the trip on Flickr, you can also watch them in a slideshow.