This is a holiday week for most people in the U.S., so it feels appropriate to take a little break from recapping New Zealand and instead flashback to my favorite summer memories. Why not start with the greatest city in the world?

There’s nothing like New York City ANY time of year. And despite the heat, summer is no exception.

Last July I began my time in NYC by catching a performance of Peter and the Starcatcher.

I snap this photo outside the stage door following the performance. That’s Greg Hildreth, who I also saw in Rodger & Hammerstein’s Cinderella earlier this year. And Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson a few years back.

Peter and the Starcatcher is to Peter Pan what Wicked is to the Wizard of Oz — a prequel of sorts, featuring prototype characters like the Boy (future Peter Pan) and Molly (future Wendy) and Black Stache (future Captain Hook). The show takes a story I loved as a child and makes it relevant to me as an adult. As I said to Christian Borle at the stage door (it was his last week of shows before he returned to Smash), “I laughed, I cried, then I laughed and cried some more,” to which he replied, “Mission accomplished.”

The set is bare-bones; the brick wall at the back of the theatre is even exposed. Yet this extraordinary ensemble conjures up shipwrecks and desert island and hidden treasure with a few simple props. Co-directors Roger Rees and Alex Timbers create magic with a single piece of rope. It’s the most inventive staging I’ve ever witnessed.

While the entire cast is stellar, Christian Borle is a stand-out. His Tony Award winning moment comes in Act II when Black Stache loses a certain appendage. Borle holds the audience in the palm of his hand (pun intended) for three minutes of non-stop laughter.

While this production has since closed, you can still catch the U.S. national tour OR see it’s new incarnation off-Broadway.

The next day I wander through Central Park. I even spy the Delacorte Theater, one of the few major venues in NYC in which I have not seen a show. I’ll fix that one of these summers.

If I could turn back time (did you just hear Cher?), I’d check out Diane Paulus’s 2008 production of HAIR with Jonathan Groff or Shakespeare in the Park’s Twelfth Night in 2009 with Raul Esparza, Audra McDonald, and Anne Hathaway. The current season of Shakespeare in the Park is quite good — Comedy of Errors just finished its well-reviewed run and next up is Love’s Labour’s Lost, A New Musical, running July 23rd – August 18th. Ironically that show is co-directed by Alex Timbers, of Peter and the Starcatcher fame.

I walk up Belvedere Castle for the first time.

I press onward to the MET. Several years have passed since my last visit and I thoroughly enjoy walking around.

At this time, the Cloud City exhibit is in full swing. I take photos but don’t climb inside the structure.

Later that afternoon I wander down towards the Public Theater. This is really because I want to stop at nearby trendy Big Gay Ice Cream… and it’s so delicious that I snap low-quality photos with my old Blackberry instead of my DSLR because I can’t wait 30 extra seconds to eat my “salty pimp” ice cream. I’ll spare you the cell phone pics.

That evening I meet up with my friend Carrie! She’s a gem. She very kindly allows me to crash at her place when I’m in the city.

After a hilarious misstep in which we knock repeatedly on the wrong door, we finally find the secret entrance to Bar Centrale, a popular pre- and post-theater bar. Our second misstep of the evening occurs when we incorrectly pour the ice into our drinks… turns out, it’s intended only to chill the glass. They add salt to the ice to keep it from sticking to the glass, and salt ruins the drink. Our waitress swoops in and insists on mixing us new beverages. Whoops.

Afterwards we see the Tony Award winning musical Once at the Jacobs Theater. Earlier that morning I waited in line for three hours to purchase standing room only (SRO) tickets for Carrie and myself.

Cut to 7:30pm. Carrie and I arrive at the Jacobs for the pre-show. We watch the actors-doubling-as-musicians perform a rousing round of Irish music as audience members walk on-stage to buy overpriced alcohol from the bar set (we go on-stage for a song but abstain from the drinks). Recent Tony winner Steve Kazee (swoon!) comes out for a few numbers. Then we take our SRO positions at the rear orchestra. At 7:59, a woman approaches us to ask if we want her two extra tickets for the front row of the mezzanine; her friends couldn’t make the show. Carrie and I look at each other for a half second (“is this really happening?”) before gratefully accepting them. We rush upstairs and take our seats overlooking the stage (literally the last two open seats in the theater) and I notice that the face value on the tickets is $157 each. My head is still spinning at the house lights go down and the show begins.

Despite many high-energy Irish songs, Once is a quiet show. Its best moments, both musically and in dialogue, are tender, bittersweet, and unassuming. Over the years I’ve grown accustomed to the showiness of Broadway musicals and I appreciate that Once takes a different approach.

The atmosphere is my favorite thing about Once: floor boards scuffed up from dancing, hazy mirrors, well-worn bar stools. The set feels both lived in and alive with the energy of the performances. I’m reluctant to depart Ireland at the end of the night and step outside to 45th Street.

Towards the end of the show, many people around me begin to sniffle. Afterwards I turn to Carrie and ask if I’m missing something… why wasn’t I overcome by the show’s melancholy? We suspect it’s because I’d just come off seeing Peter at the Starcatcher, which is hard for any show to contend with. I thoroughly enjoyed Once even though I didn’t get swept up by the emotion of its conclusion.

Writing this post has me quite nostalgic to return to New York City to see MORE shows. Kinky Boots, Matilda, Pippin, and Big Fish are at the top of my list for Christmas time.

While my favorite activities in the city are always centered around theater, there is SO much to see and do. What are your favorite summer activities in NYC?