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JANUARY

January 26th, 2025 — Puerto Rico: Lovely Island

What follows is a brief recap of my 5 days in beautiful San Juan, Puerto Rico a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

DAY 1: FRIDAY, JANUARY 10TH

After finishing all 50 states last summer, I thought it was time to start on the US Territories! Though, really, the trip solidified itself after a Google Flight search in October for the start of January presented a $250 round trip flight (though it ended up being $50 more for my carry-on bag on the way back with Frontier) and I thought — it’s warm, let’s do it! And, FYI, it was warm — 80 degrees and sunny the whole time!

My flight out was Delta on JFK, so I was able to watch 2 movies, both of which were good, and I would highly recommend them both: “The Wild Robot” and “Thelma”.

I reached Puerto Rico by 5PM, which felt like 4PM b/c PR is an hour ahead in the wintertime b/c they (rightly) don’t have Daylight Saving Time.

My AirBnb host suggested that I take an Uber to the location, which just shows you how little she knew me (which makes sense b/c she’s a stranger). Instead, I saw on GoogleMaps that the bus in PR was only 75 cents! How could I turn that down? In fact, it seems that the bus isn’t EVEN 75 cents b/c both time I rode it, it was FREE. Why anyone would pay for an Uber when there is a free bus, is beyond me, but multiple people at the airport seemed to not know where the bus stop was. So I will tell you: it’s on the upper level and it’s by Terminal 3 Departures! And did I mention it was FREE? So, I took the bus for about an hour to the terminal at Viejo San Juan (or for those of you (including me) who don’t speak Spanish: OLD San Juan (and of course the J is pronounced like an H if you’re attempting the Spanish!).

Old San Juan is very small, so it was only about 10 minutes from the terminal to my AirBnb, which was an incredibly affordable studio apartment right on the ground floor. It was a bit noisy since there was street noise, and a bar and a cafe on the same block… but being from NYC, it didn’t phase me one bit, and besides I always sleep with a blindfold and earplugs on vacation!

After dropping my stuff off, I took a walk around town to get my feel of the land. It was very much a grid layout, so it was easy to navigate. I was so very happy to see there were dozens of stray cats around town! I took photos of all of them, and they were mostly super friendly.

At 7:30PM, I went to Triana Tapes & Flamenco Restaurant for a flamenco guitarist and dance show. The guitarist, Juan Carlos is 84 and has been doing this show for decades. It kind of gave me a glimpse into my future… His playing was incredible, and the dancers were great. He mentioned being on the Ed Sullivan show when he was in his 20s, and he knew Marilyn Maye who is at Don’t Tell Mama a lot and has come to a few of my shows. Just like me, he was hocking CDs after the show, so I was happy to pay $10 for one since I don’t want to be a hypocrite.

I had dinner while I watched the show — chicken fettuccine Alfredo, which was okay. At this dinner, I also learned that sales tax in PR is 11.5%, which is even more than NYC!

After dinner, I strolled around town, it was crowded and noisy on a Friday night, which I appreciated. I hung out by the bay and the ocean, enjoying the 76 degree weather and the water… and I met even more cats!

I was pooped from getting up early to travel, so I managed to go to bed by 1am.

DAY 2: SATURDAY, JANUARY 11TH

Saturday I had a free walking tour at 10am. It was 2.5 hours and filled with history. My guide was really great, I tipped her well, and she also airdropped a great list of recommendations for restaurants.

We saw some churches, some architecture, walked around the wall, through the San Juan Gate, the Jardin de la Princesa, saw the outside of the world’s smallest house, saw some fountains, the water, lots of steps, and ended up by the castle. Oh, and also we saw a lots of cats!

Being on vacation, I didn’t take copious notes on the tour, but I did write down a few tidbits… Old San Juan was built on a hill, so there’s really good ventilation in the alleys. When the British attacked, they managed to take over the city, but freed all the caged animals without realizing they were caged b/c when they were free, the infected the water with their feces, so the British all got diarrhea and the Spanish were able to oust them. All the pretty pastel colors are government mandated, and you can change the color of your house, but it has to be one of the approved shades, and they will even provide the paint. That is how the whole city is the same color scheme — a really bright one, which I appreciated. There were some Art Deco buildings, including the tallest building in Old San Juan and some surrealist sculptures. PR became a US Territory during the Spanish-American War in 1898. The Americans realized that they couldn’t take Old San Juan, so they came from the other end of the island. PR is in a very important strategic position being the closest island to Europe, which is why so many people fought over it.

Sadly, they were setting up a lot of stages and vender tables; it seems there was a huge festival starting up a few days after I left, so I was sad to miss that b/c it probably would’ve been a lot of free music. Though, the flight and housing would also probably have been more, and it would’ve been so ridiculously crowded, so it’s probably for the best I went the week before.

The tour ended right at the Museo de las Americas (Museum of the Americas) which was on the second floor of El Cuartel Ballaja. It was only $6, and even though I lingered on a bench, the whole thing probably would’ve taken less than an hour. There were 6 rooms of exhibits, some smaller than others, including a room on history featuring artifacts from PR’s past, and some contemporary art, and a room dedicated to the Three Wise Men, of which I am not one, even though I consider myself wise b/c I still have my wisdom teeth!

Next up was the free Museo de San Juan which featured two rooms. The first was Sala Campeche and featured some painters from PR in the 18th Century. The second was a room for special exhibits, and they had a Picasso exhibit featuring his lithographic portfolios that he used during his Blue Period. (I’m not sure if he was super sad, or just really into the color.)

Then I went to Museo Casa Blanca (and saw more cats on the way!) which was where “legendary explorer” (sorry I didn’t wait for it!) Ponce de Leon’s descendants lived before the state took it over. Ponce gave to PR in 1508. It was basically an old house where people lived once, and there were also cats napping everywhere. It was only $5. Afterwards, I explored the idyllic gardens around the house (and saw even more cats!).

I was running pretty early since most of the museums didn’t take very long, so I thought I would squeeze in the Casa del Libro (House of the Book) which was on my schedule for Tuesday; however, it was closed… and spoiler alert: it just was closed the whole time I was there, which is a Google fail! I ended up sitting for a bit overlooking the bay in the Parque de las Palomas which was very, very, very filled with pigeons; they even had their own cubbyholes to take naps in. Lots of pigeons, but sadly no cats, which is weird b/c you’d think cats would like to chase or eat pigeons?

I decided to have a popsicle since it was on the list of things to try in PR, so I had a mango one from Señor Paleta.

My final museum for Saturday was the Arsenal de la Marina, which… was also closed the entire time I was there. Shame on Google. Shame, shame!

On my way to dinner, I saw more cats… and also chickens and roosters… and pigeons… I went to eat at La Madre, which was a Mexican restaurant that was on the tour guide’s recommendation list. It was delicious, and incredibly affordable. I had a salad (to be healthy) and a burrito (yum).

After dinner, since I had already had dessert, I sat by the ocean for a bit. I was going to try to get closer to the ocean by going down below the wall to see where some locals live, but as I was descending a really nice guy warned me by telling me there were no cops down there, and that tourists should not really walk around down there close to dark. Not wanting to be mugged or killed, I stayed up where all the tourists were, and just enjoyed a relaxing view of the Atlantic Ocean with the full moon.

For lack of anything to do at night since I don’t really drink, especially not alone, I just walked around in a giant circle, pausing at a few benches overlooking parks and waters, reading and taking in live music where I found it.

DAY 3: SUNDAY, JANUARY 12TH

On Sunday, I woke up for a 10am pick up at Plaza Colon, which was a really nice park 5 minutes from my AirBnB, and clearly the easiest pick up spot from Old San Juan.

This day trip was to Yunque Rainforest and Luquillo Beach. I would’ve loved to hike more through the rainforest, but they don’t offer group tours to do that, just private ones. This one was more like, dipping one’s toe (or really oneself) in a natural water slide and pond right on the edge of the park. The path down was treacherous and muddy; I slipped one time, but at least I met a cat on the way. It turns out there is a proper path to take, but that is maintained by the park and would have required the tour company use part of the money we paid them to buy us actual tickets for it.

Anyway, it was super fun to go down the water slide; I did it twice. The first time I ended up completely submerged in the water on the way down, but the second time I got the hang of it. Part of the tour was taking photos in the rainforest, and then we climbed over a lot of rocks to get to a calm pool, which some of us went swimming in for a bit.

Next up, the van drove us to Luquillo Beach for 2 hours. I had lunch at Perruño, where I had chicken mofongo with chicken (pollo). Mofongo was highly recommended by all my guides, and it was very delicious and super filling. It is made partially from plantains.

After lunch, I went to the beach and swam in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and pocketed some pretty shells.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the reason I was able to do water things is that I invested in a waterproof pouch! I would’ve had too much anxiety leaving my wallet, phone & watch with a stranger, or even worse, just having them sit there alone and unwatched with my shoes and shorts. This way, I was able to put them into the pouch and strap it to my waist! I’m happy to say the pouch was indeed waterproof, as advertised.

I really enjoyed the people I met on the tour, and ended up with 4 new Instagram followers: 3 from Miami and 1 from Atlanta!

Since I already had a big lunch, I wasn’t super hungry, but I did try a delicious arepa from a street truck.

I was planning on going to gelato, but the line was terribly long, so instead I went to Himalaya Ice Co. for some home made ice cream rolls. I got the Chocolate Overload: Brownie & Oreo Cookie withChocolate Drizzle. Very yummy!

Again there wasn’t much to do at night for someone who isn’t a drinker, so I basically visited the same 4 areas as the night before, sitting and watching the water. There were still people out til around 10pm, when I went home to read.

DAY 4: MONDAY, JANUARY 13TH

Monday I had a very lax schedule, and I must say the day ended up supremely inefficient, but I don’t feel like I really missed out on anything, so it’s just as well.

I slept in and took my time getting out, which was a relief after 2 days in a row of having to be somewhere by 10am.

First up was Castillo San Cristóbal. I walked around the main levels of the fort for a few hours, examining every nook and cranny. I saw a 12 minute video about its history on the lower level, saw some great views of the Atlantic Ocean and the Capitol building on the upper level, went down some tunnels and saw some ancient art on the walls. Oh, and I saw an iguana… and a few cats!

So, I was planning on going to the Maritime Museum, but when I went I saw a sign that they took luggage. On Tuesday, my checkout was 11am, and my flight wasn’t til 9:30PM, so I had been considering where to leave my bags, and since this museum was right by my AirBnB, I thought great! I inquired about the bag holding and it was $5 per bag, but if I left bags, I could go to the $5 museum included, so I decided to wait on the museum till Tuesday.

I didn’t quite know what to do with that hour, so I tried the Museo de Felisa Rincon de Gautier, which was closed, even though Google said it was open. And I tried the House of the Book again… still closed… by the time I went around in a giant circle again, I figured it was time for lunch.

I ate lunch at another guide recommendation: Deaverdura, which was Puerto Rican food. It was actually pretty crowded, and there was a queue, but being a single traveler has perks… and I skipped the line and just sat at the bar! I had Pollo Frito (fried chicken) and a side of vegetables (to be healthy). Those and a bottled water only came to $13! What a steal!

I went back to change into my bathing suit and at 3:30PM I went back to Plaza Colon to be picked up for my Kayak Bioluminescence Tour. The van was a bit late, but eventually came, and I snapped a photo of the Holocaust Memorial by the Capitol Building on my way out of Old San Juan. It took awhile to pick everyone up, but we finally arrived at Kayak Village.

It was a gorgeous night as we kayaked a mile through a rambling path to the lake where we were to see the bioluminescence. Because of the full moon, we ended up huddling under some tarps. We dangled our fingers in the water, and bioluminescence shot out of our fingers! I think being a pianist helped me create so much. It felt kind of magical, like we were shooting electricity from our fingers!

Afterwards, they had some snacks and water for us (I had Dorito’s) and it took about 90 minutes to get back to Old San Juan, which was the last stop.

Monday at 9pm, not much was open, but it will surprise no one that I got ice cream — it was soft serve vanilla/chocolate swirl in an orange cone from Sweet Haley’s.

DAY 5: TUESDAY, JANUARY 14TH

On my final day, I thankfully ended up waking up before my alarm b/c I woke up to no power! My first thought was OMG THIS MIGHT AFFECT MY FLIGHT (Spoiler Alert: it thankfully didn’t!) and I had to uncover and unlatch the window to get a little bit of light in to get ready and finish packing.

The neighbor didn’t really speak English, but said that there was power out everywhere, which wasn’t great for my anxiety, but then I saw some tourists and they said their hotel had power, so I realized it wasn’t the entire island after all.

I walked down the street and saw that Café Cupido at La Terraza de San Juan hotel had power, and had breakfast serving till 11. Since I was starving and up early, I ran to get my bags, then came back and had a Venezuelan Breakfast with eggs, rice, beans arepas, etc, and also an orange juice.

With a full stomach, I set out to drop my bags off at the Maritime Museum only to find that they had no power and were not accepting bags! And I had decided to forgoing seeing the museum on Monday, too. Ah, me! Thankfully, I had already done research and I knew that the restaurant Barrachina had free storage. Hoping they had power, I walked the 10 minutes across town with my bags. Hallelujah, there was power… and a huge queue. Barrachina is wear the Pinã Colada was invented, so it’s a popular tourist spot. I was happy to hear that they still offered free storage (though tips were encouraged) and felt a wave of relief to be bagless!

I headed to my main event for the day: Castillo San Felipe del Morro where I spent a good 90 minutes on 6 different levels exploring the castle grounds and enjoying the ocean views.

Afterwards, I meandered through the cat park to see, yet more cats; there are places like this park where people put out cat food, so that’s why all the cats seemed to be in decent health.

I circled back to the free Museo de Felisa Rincon de Gautier, which was open on Tuesday. This is a small museum dedicated to the first woman mayor, Felisa Rincon, who served from 1946-1968. There were many portraits, awards, collectibles, and dolls of her in 4 or so rooms. It was a cute stop for 10 minutes.

I was happy to see that Anita Gelato had power and no line, so I decided to get gelato for lunch. I had a cup of banana split, white chocolate and pistachio cream, and cookie man, opting for a cup b/c in the hot sun, it would be harder to eat a cone; though, they packed it in, so I had to eat the perimeter really quickly so it didn’t get all over my fingers. I sat at the pigeon park and watched the bay while enjoying my dessert.

By this point, I noticed that places that had been closed before were open, so it seemed to me that power had been restored, and I was right. After triple checking the House of the Book was still closed (it was – I only checked again b/c it’s right next to the pigeon park), I went back to the other side of town to finally go to the Museo del Mar (Museum of the Sea AKA Maritime Museum). Since I didn’t leave my luggage there, I spent $5 and it took about 20 minutes to see the various items they had from boats, like bells and a steering wheel. It was hands on, so it was kind of fun!

I had plenty of time to kill, so I walked around one last time, and stopped by a handcrafted souvenir store where I got a cute cat (duh) and also a porcelain frog that was reading a book about butterflies. I was trying to pick which to get, and then I realized that I might as well just get both!

I went back to Barrachina, picked up my bags (left a tip), walked back across town to the bus terminal, got on the free bus to the airport, then since I was flying Frontier and knew I would eventually be hungry, I had a turkey sandwich at the sandwich place before going through the gate to my terminal, where I spent hours waiting for my phone to charge at the charging station.

The flight was an uneventful 4 hours; I spent the whole time continuing to read the book I brought for vacation: “A Court of Mist and Fury” which is the second book in the series. It’s pretty easy fantasy reading, and exactly what is required on a relaxing vacation!

CONCLUSIONS

Well, I hope that was short enough for you! It felt like a pretty lax trip; in truth, I could’ve easily squeezed my whole itinerary from 5 days into 4. I tried to take time to relax, and even though that’s super hard, I think I did a good enough job because I came home ready to get back to work!

Speaking of, I know no one cares, but I am apologetic that it took me an extra week and a half to get this out. It’s a very busy time of year for me while I’m sorting 100 or so singers into spring showcases. Lots of exciting things coming up this spring, though, so it’s good to get the cabarets settled!

I still cannot announce all the “Malka” news, BUT I can announce that I will be at the Chattanooga Jewish Federation on Wednesday, April 23rd, screening the film and doing a Q&A afterwards. For those of you in NJ, we are setting up a screening at a JCC there in April, so make sure you follow me on social media, or respond and I will tell you the details when I have them!

We are also actively seeking out a spot for our NYC premiere, and it looks like we will be on Long Island, too. And hopefully lots of other states when we hear back from more festivals!

If you know a Jewish organization that might want to screen “Malka”, please let me know.

As always, please respond to let me know what is up for YOU for 2025.

Always,
Seth

APRIL

April 18th, 2025 — Springing into Spring with a Spring in my Step

It’s been too long since I’ve send a general update, so here it is! TLDR: LOVE QUIRKS is heading to London, MALKA is winning awards, and this summer will be filled with cabaret. Read on for details!

LONDON, OLD CHAP

Well, it’s officially official! LOVE QUIRKS will be running off-West End from September 18th till October 12th., which is incredibly exciting! We are ready for the theatregoers across the pond to see this beautiful show.

Mark is working with our British director Cecilie to revise the book and set the show in London instead of NYC where things like “college” will be changed to “uni” and the “baseball game” will become a “football game”. And “kissing” will become “snogging”!

I will be relocating to London for the entire 4 week run, which is both exciting and scary. I look forward to perfecting my British accent, and doing whatever local Londoners do, now that I won’t completely be a tourist.

I will be staying in Croydon, which is a 15 minute commuter train to the center of London in a furnished studio I found on AirBnB for a great price.

It should be a jolly old good time, quite, quite! Pip, pip! Cheerio! Hope you can come!

While I’m there, I also plan on seeing some more of the UK; in particular Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester… I might go back to Bath before everything closes this time… and then to check them off on my app since they count as separate territories: I want to fly to Belfast and also see Isle of Man.

I also intend to network a lot, and I’m considering doing some master classes and maybe a cabaret. We’ll see how much energy I have when fall runs around…

AWARD-WINNING MALKA

In case you missed it on social media (and are not a backer of the film and thus didn’t get the backer’s update), a few weeks ago, MALKA won the Best Narrative Short Award at the Oscar qualifying Cinequest Film Festival!!!

There are only 181 festivals that qualify short films to be on the ballot for the 2026 Best Narrative Short Oscar, and now we are one of them. 15 films are selected for the shortlist, so we have a 15/181 or 8% chance to get on it! We will be mounting a vigorous Oscar campaign soon to optimize our chances of being included on the shortlist, which is also both exciting and scary! If we get on the shortlist, then we have to campaign to be one of the 5 nominees, and then if we get nominated… well, that would be very cool, but yes, then we would actively campaign to win… but I mean, someone has to win… why not us?

Also, we have two upcoming screenings in the next few weeks! This will be my first time seeing strangers watching the film!

First up, I will be going down to Chattanooga, Tennessee on Wednesday, April 23rd to present the film to the Chattanooga Jewish Federation. (If you happen to be close enough to attend, email me for details.)

Next up, director Stacey Maltin, co-writer Lenny Schwartz and I will be in New Jersey on Sunday, April 27th at 4PM with the JCC of Central NJ.

RSVP here!

This is just the beginning. We have been accepted to at least one more festival, and anticipate at least a few more. Plus, we applied for another few dozen, so the odds are in our favor that there will be more chances to see our beautiful film.

We also are hard at work at the feature film version. I wrote 11 songs total (7 completely new) and we hope to film that sometime in the next few years.

As always, it is essential to keep my grandmother’s story alive given what is going on in the world, and I’m honored to take up her mantle to remind people what the Jewish people have been through.

IM CABARET, AU CABARET, TO CABARET

Other than that, I am doing cabarets mostly twice a week before I go to London! In May alone, I’m doing 9 cabarets…

Tony-Award winning composer William Finn passed last week, so in his honor, I’m producing a William Finn Cabaret on June 10th (and also maybe 12th).

And we are hitting 900 shows sometime this summer, so before I leave for London, on September 9th (and maybe 12th), I’m producing concerts of my songs to celebrate the 900th Showcase!

I’m very fortunate that my cabaret series has remained so popular over the years, and I hope to do something incredible for the 1,000th one in 2027! If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

MY NEXT PUZZLE

My newest published puzzle will be in Universal Crossword on Tuesday, May 13th!

I have a lot more submitted, so hopefully I will get another few in 2025, as well.

If you missed any of my previous 16 published puzzles, I’m happy to send you PDFs of them.

EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE A CAT

Sweetums has now lived with me for a full year! Can you believe how time flies? He has gotten feistier and more playful, but he is still very sweet and cuddly. He also has gotten more into knocking things down, which means he must be very comfortable living here! He’s on the desk right now, trying to distract me from typing.

The saddest part of going to London will be leaving him, but my friends have graciously agreed to take him in for the month, and I know he will have a great time with them.

BOOKS

Here’s what I’ve read so far in 2025:

Entitlement — Rumaan Alam’s new novel was a satirical view on being rich in America.
A Court of Mist and Fury — The second in the ACOTAR series was better than the first, but I hear the third is the best.
Sam & Friends — Enjoyed reading about Jim Henson’s first puppet series and seeing how it laid the groundwork for the Muppets. Kermit existed, but was not a frog yet!
Butter — This was a fantastic read — apparently this book is very popular in Japan, and it finally got translated to English.
The God of the Woods — Compelling and well-written thriller about kids who go missing at a camp.
The Life Impossible — This was a really cute book featuring magical realism
The Third Gilmore Girl — Kelly Bishop (who shares my birthday!) spills some tea about her life.
Creation Lake — This book was about an undercover agent and the murkiness of her mission.
How Sondheim Can Change Your Life — This was an interesting book of essays about Steve’s works. Some new perspectives.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles — THIS WAS A REALLY HILARIOUS and FANTASTIC BOOK with lots of funny twists and turns!
Show, Don’t Tell — I love Curtis Sittenfeld, and I imbibed this new collection of short stories. Such beautiful and true writing.

Next up I have the new Hunger Games prequel, and the new Haruki Murakami novel.

MOVIES

I actually have barely seen any movies in the cinema this year so far. Here’s the one free screening I can report on (the other one I signed an NDA but it was very funny):

Unstoppable – This Amazon biopic about Anthony Robles, a wrestler who was born without a leg, was very inspiring.

I did stream a few good movies this year:

A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg’s film about cousins who go to Poland to see where their grandmother lived before the Holocaust was very funny and very touching.
American Fiction – This was from a few seasons ago, but it’s a really fantastic satirical movie.

TELEVISION

I feel like so many shows have gotten canceled or in final seasons, yet I still manage to find plenty of things to watch. Here are some recommendations!

Paradise — Clearly I’m not the only one who enjoyed this new thriller oh Hulu since it got renewed.
St. Denis Medical — This is a HILARIOUS comedy by the creator of “Superstore” starring the woman from “The Goldbergs”. Highly recommended!
Daredevil Born Again — So happy that Daredevil is back.
Your Neighborhood Spider-Man — I really enjoyed this new animated Spider-Man that takes place in alternative universe number something something
Interior Chinatown — This was a super weird Hulu show, and I enjoyed it a lot.
The White Lotus — Season 3 of this HBO show did not disappoint!
The Sticky — I’m sorry to suggest this Amazon show after its cancellation. I thought it was really cute!
The Ark — I was so happy (and shocked) my favorite show on SyFy (and the only one left) got renewed for season 3. The CGI effects are terrible, but the writing and characters are great. You can catch up on this one on Peacock – recommended for any science fiction fans!
Yellowjackets — Season 3 of YJ was incredible. A must see for fans of supernatural thriller shows like LOST.
Mythic Quest — I am so sad that this Apple show just got canceled b/c season 4 was hilarious.

THEATRE

Spring season is upon us, and there are many shows to see!

Gary Gulman: Grandiloquent — Comedy show which featured a lot of big words, which I always appreciate.
Liberation — This was a fantastic play off-Broadway about the playwright’s mother’s woman’s lib group in the ‘70s.
Still — 2 hander one-act about an older couple that reunites after many decades.
Operation Mincemeat — Hit London musical about a true WW2 mission involving a corpse.
The Jonathan Larson Project — Wonderful revue of some of Larson’s songs that had never seen the light of day before.
Grangeville — Good play about estranged brothers.
Dakar 2000 — Good play about undercover operations in Africa.
Boop! — Really fun Broadway musical based on Betty Boop. I still have the balloon!
Wine in the Wilderness — Good Alice Childress play revival off-Broadway.
Becoming Eve — New play based on the memoir of a trans woman who left the Orthodox Jewish community.
Love Life — This was so good I saw it twice! It’s a rarely produced 1948 musical by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner, which laid the seeds for Sondheim, Hal Prince, Fosse, Kander & Ebb to experiment with ways to use musical theatre. The score, which Weill orchestrated himself, is absolutely incredible, as was the entire production.
Last Call — Off-Broadway play about a meeting between Bernstein and his Austrian frenemy von Karajan.
All Nighters — Fun Off-Broadway play about roommates who uncover some secrets about each other right before graduation.
Hold Me in the Water — Solid one man show off-Broadway about love and lust.
Smash — New Broadway musical based on the TV series, though it completely changes everything.
Old Friends — This Sondheim revue was one of my best evenings in the theatre. Bernadette made me cry 6 times, and it was such a touching tribute to Steve! The entire cast is unbelievable, and it was such a joyous evening. Must see for any Sondheim fans!

CONCLUSIONS

Might this be the shortest ledger I’ve ever sent? I apologize if so, but I hope you enjoyed it, nonetheless. I feel a bit over-extended, but I am so grateful for all the great, full things coming up! I am so fortuitous to have such an amazing support system.

In these troubling, turbulent times, we must be there for each other. So, please let me know how YOU are doing and if there’s anything I can do to help you.

Thank you for reading, and I appreciate having you in my life.

Always,
Seth

JUNE

June 21st, 2025 — A Simmering Summer Update

Happy summer! I hope you are all staying as cool as possible. Here’s a brief update; for those who skim: Love Quirks starts previews in 8 weeks in London; “Malka” is in 3 festivals this summer; I’m hitting 900 showcases; and I got commissioned to write a book of 80s crossword puzzles. For more elaboration, plus a Sweetums update and the usual reviews, read on!

LOVE QUIRKS ACROSS THE POND

Love Quirks starts previews at The Other Palace Theatre, off-West End in London, in 8 weeks!!!!
The show runs September 18th – October 12th, and we just announced our cast! Check them out!

https://www.whatsonstage.com/news/cast-set-for-love-quirks-musical-uk-premiere_1687582

Tickets are available, here: https://theotherpalace.co.uk/love-quirks-a-new-musical

If you’re able to come to London to see the show, please let me know, as I will be relocating for the run. It would be so loverly to hang out in London, old chap!

I have bought 5 show tickets (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Starlight Express (in a roller rink!), Born with Teeth (starring the newest Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwe!), My Neighbor Totoro & Witness for the Prosecution), 2 opera tickets (Tosca & The Sicilian Vespers (Verdi))), plus Harry Potter Studios! I imagine I will see more things when I’m there, including many museums, especially the free ones. I will go to every free museum in London!

MALKA: COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU

I’m happy to announce that our Oscar qualified film, “Malka” will be screening at 3 festivals this summer!

First up, on Saturday, July 26th at 7:15PM, we will be a part of another Oscar qualifying festival called Indy Shorts (part of Heartland) in Indianapolis:

https://tickets.indyshorts.org/films/6841ac0cd9ecfeff9bec847c

Next up, for those of you who live in NJ, we will be screened at the East Brunswick Independent Film Festival on Saturday, August 2nd around 2:30PM:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eb-indie-film-festival-2025-tickets-1388764936309


And finally, for those of you in Russia (anyone, anyone?), we will be a part of the Moscow Jewish Film Festival, September 14th-21st. How I wish we could attend!

I will also be presenting the film in at least 2 retirement communities with Jewish residents, one in PA in November and one in FL in May. If anyone has any Jewish organizations that would be interested in sponsoring a screening, please me know.

We are so excited for the continued success of “Malka”, and there will be more screenings this fall!

CABARETS, WASHINGTON, PUZZLES & CHOIR

We will be celebrating the fact that by summer’s end I will have produced/emceed/accompanied 900 cabaret showcases! We will be doing 2 concerts of my songs to celebrate on Tuesday, September 9th and Friday, September 12th at 7PM!

I cannot believe that it’s been 900 in the last 18 years. After a few weeks of doing only 1 show, which felt like a vacation — I am back to 2/week in August/September before I go to London. Also before I go to London, I will be casting the cabarets for mid-October through mid-January since I will not be in the mood to work while away.

This weekend I head to Washington state for my second cousin’s wedding — that’s “second cousin” as in my mom’s first cousin’s daughter — not as in my second cousin to get married — I believe she’s the 7th! I’m looking forward to the family reunion, plus seeing more of Washington state, since I’ve only ever been to Seattle.

In puzzle news, I was commissioned to write a book of 80s themed crossword puzzles! This will be out by November in time for the holidays! I have spent the last month vigorously writing 50 puzzles to get the book done before London, as well. My editor and I have attempted to make the book on the easier side, so this is a great book for amateur crossword solvers who love the 80s. I’m pretty sure you can guess some of the topics, though I won’t reveal them so you can be pleasantly surprised that you were right! Anyway, this weekend I finished the first draft of the book — that’s 50 puzzles with 3,901 clues!!

No more other published puzzle news for the remaining months of 2025, though I hope to have another published one before the end of the year, and hopefully at least a few in 2026… but obviously, this book took up a lot of time!

Looking ahead, I’m ecstatic to be returning in December to Carnegie Hall with the NY Pops & Broadway star Megan Hilty, singing with my choir Essential Voices USA!

SWEETUMS: THE THERAPY CAT

My friend came over today and deemed Sweetums a therapy cat given how loving and affectionate it is. So that’s his new moniker! He still leap onto my chest every day when I wake up and cuddles with me till I finally manage to get up.

At the moment, he is sprawled out on my desk, napping and purring. And hee’s started to do that cat thing where he is very concerned when I’m in the shower. He meows to make sure I’m okay, and keeps poking his head in.

He also loves my new desk chair — speaking of which, I got a $150 desk chair with a very firm backing, plus it has a massage feature, so now I get a massage a few times a day! It’s not as good as a masseuse, but the vibrations are very relaxing. I also finally broke down and got a new Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse. When my original ones died, I tried cheaper options, and I relearned the lesson that only Apple products work. Never again will I cheapen out!

I also have a new iPad — my old one, which I got in 2014 finally died (and I used it till it stopped turning on)…RIP my first ever iPad.

I hope Sweetums forgives me for relocating him to my friends’ apartment for 4 weeks while I’m in London…

BOOKS

Here’s what I have read since the last update in April!

Sunrise on the Reaping — New “Hunger Games” prequel — I mean, it’s kind of anti-climatic when you know who is in the original series…
The City and its Uncertain Walls — Haruki Murakami’s newest book is beautiful!
Martyr! — I enjoyed this novel about an Iranian artist by Kaveh Akbar.
All Fours — I don’t know how I ended up reading 2 books in a row about people attempting open marriages, but I guess there’s something in the zeitgeist!
Crush: A Novel — See above comment — they both went in completely different directions though…
A Court of Wings and Ruin — The third of the ACOTAR series was the best of the 3 but no “Harry Potter” or “Hunger Games” — there are apparently 2 more to go…
Playworld — This is such a wonderful, beautiful, old school novel like novel. Highly recommended!
Long Bright River — I loved Liz Moore’s “The God of the Woods” and this one was also very good.
My Friends — This was such a sweet, if a bit saccharine novel about a painting and its inspiration… also quite funny in spots!
Atmosphere — I loved Taylor Jenkins Reid’s other books, but I must say I was a bit disappointed in this one — basically, if you want to see a similar story told in a more compelling manner, check out the TV show “For All Mankind”…

MOVIES

I saw a few free movies previews I can’t talk about, but I also saw ones the following:

Unbroken — This is a great documentary about a group of Jewish siblings who were hidden in a farm in Germany during the Holocaust done by the daugther of the youngest. It’s on Netflix now!
The Wedding Banquet — A cute remake of this movie (which I haven’t seen the original of) about best friends who are a gay man and a lesbian who marry each other to not lose his inheritance.
The Phoenician Scheme — Wes Anderson’s film is typical Wes Anderson, though this one doesn’t rank in the upper echelons of his oeuvre.
Superman — I mean, it’s literally the same movie as all the other Supermen movies and TV shows, but I still very much enjoyed it!

TELEVISION

Here are some shows I can recommend this summer!

Revival — This is a new SyFy show about a town where people come back from death, but as themselves, not as zombies.
Resident Alien — Season 4 of this hilarious SyFy show which moved to USA and streams on Peacock starring Alan Tudyk as an alien, has been on fleek!
Patience — I enjoyed this BBC show that airs on PBS about an autistic woman helping the police.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society — I’m late to the party, and I apologize — this is a really fun show with a crazy mystery, and it totally got canceled, but it’s on NBC/Peacock.
Nautilus — This new AMC show isn’t great, but it’s a fun, guilty pleasure!
Rick and Morty — Season 8 has been a mixed bag, but it’s nice this show is still super fun to watch.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — Only 2 episodes so far of season 3 (of only 5 since it officially is ending) and it’s 100% the best thing streaming right now! What a great 2 episodes!
Dexter: Resurrection — Color me surprised, but the 3rd Dexter spinoff/revival is really fantastic!
Our Friends and Neighbors — Switching to Apple, this Jon Hamm show is typical antihero fare, but totally bingeable.
Murderbot — Another Apple show — very funny and totally twisted humor.
The Pitt — This HBO show is a bit gory, but it’s basically ER meets 24, and you see a full 15 hour shift from start to finish — it’s incredible acting and writing.
The Gilded Age — Season 3 of this HBO drama has gotten even crazier! So many Broadway stars!
The Summer I Turned Pretty — Season 3 of this Young Adult show is really sweet so far.
We Were Liars — This Prime show was a total binge-worthy guilty pleasure show with an ending I did not see coming.
Poker Face — Peacock has one good show, and it’s this one! Season 2 had epic guest stars, and a season ender twist that even I didn’t figure out!
Such Brave Girls — Hulu scores with this BBC show featuring completely inane, inapt characters, with season 2 being absolutely hilarious.

THEATRE

The summer is filled with free things to do — Bryant Park has classical concerts on Friday nights, the pier by me has jazz on Wednesdays, the pier up in the 50s has Broadway cabarets on Mondays, Lincoln Center has free things the rest of the week, as does Central Park — and I haven’t even made it to Little Island! But it’s been awhile since the last ledger, so here’s everything I saw this spring!

Real Women Have Curves — Really enjoyed this Broadway musical based on the play/movie — super fun and poignant.
We Had a World — Wonderful Josh Harmon play off-Bway at MTC — this was a really beautiful play about a son, his mother, his grandmother and the different relationships they all had.
Purpose — Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play about a family with dark secrets.
John Proctor is the Villain — This play is PHENOMENAL and it’s an absolutely fantastic production that turns “The Crucible” on its ear. (What an odd expression…)
Floyd Collins — Great production of this chamber piece, though it was a very big space for such a small show.
Grief Camp — Off-Bway play about… you guessed it — a grief camp.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow — Lots of spectacle, setting up the final season of the Netflix show.
Sunset Boulevard – Caught the minimal revival of this Andrew Lloyd Webber classic… Nicole really earned that Tony!
Redwood — Idina Menzel remains in great form!
A Freaky Introduction — Off-Bway one-person show about being a bit freaky.
The Picture of Dorian Gray — This was a not to be missed production where Sarah Snook brought this book to life, playing all the characters, sometimes acting with herself on a screen. Unbelievable!
Salome — You can never go wrong with a Strauss opera! Dead Outlaw — Quirky Broadway musical about a corpse.
The Imaginary Invalid — Great off-Bway production of this Moliere classic starring “Perfect Strangers’” Mark-Lynn Baker.
Ceremonies in Dark Old Men — Norm Lewis in a solid off-Bway revival of this forgotten play.
Antony and Cleopatra — John Adams’ new opera version of this Shakespearean play.
Town Hall Letters — An evening with Bryan Cranston, Ariana deBose and others reading historical letters dramatically as a benefit.
Low Country — Off-Bway play about a relationship that goes awry..
Lunar Eclipse — Sweet Off-Bway play about a couple watching a lunar eclipse.
Machinal — Saw my friend Kimmy in this tap-dancing revival of this 1928 allegory.
All’s Well That Ends Well — NY Classical Theatre production of this odd Shakespeare comedy – where they move around locations for each scene.
Broadway by the Season (1974/2001) — Another splendid Scott Siegel concert featuring classic Broadway songs and singers.
Pirates! The Penzance Musical — New adaptation of this classic Gilbert & Sullivan show set in New Orleans starring David Hyde Pierce.
Call Me Izzy — Sadly, Jean Smart was out (which is how I got the tickets), but her understudy Johanna Day did a fine job bringing Izzy to life… incidentally, not including repeat viewings, this was the 495th production that I’ve seen on Broadway.

CONCLUSIONS

Well, there you have it! If you made it this far, thank you for reading.

I look forward to relaxing a bit for the next few weeks before I fly across the pond!

I hope you are having a most productive summer, and I’d love to connect with YOU soon, so please let me know what you are up to this summer!

Always,
Seth

AUGUST

August 3rd, 2025 — A Trip to Washington — The State, Not The City

This is a very, very, very brief recap of my trip to Washington last weekend for my cousin’s wedding, so that I have the write-up copy/pastable for my next book “Seth Rates the States” which will come out eventually when I have time to write it!

THURSDAY, JULY 24th, DAY 1

I flew out on Wednesday on JetBlue. I will never fly them again; the TV screen was broken, and I was stuck in a middle seat, which they wouldn’t let me move out of unless I paid, even though there were seats. Nuff said!

As I mentioned, I went to Washington for my second cousin’s wedding. Almost everyone on our side of the family came, so it also doubled as a family reunion. It was hard to coordinate with such a large group, but on Thursday, we managed to get 16 of us (my aunt, my parents, my 2 first cousins & sister + their families) on a day trip to Whidbey Island! I picked the island; my sister did the itinerary. First off, we had to coordinate 4 separate cars taking a ferry to the island. This wasn’t my first time on a ferry, but it was the first time I took one where you actually drive a car on it! So we drove the car on, parked it, then went up to the passenger deck for the journey.

After we got off, we headed to the other side of the island to Deception Pass State Park. My father was able to get me added as a driver to his rental car for free, so I did most of the driving for the trip. Deception was about 90 minutes from where we arrived. Deception Pass was really cool. There was a totem with a story about the Maiden of Deception Pass who married a sea god and provides fish for the community to this day. There was a really easy hike with a beautiful view of Puget Sound. And there was a cool tide pool with marine life like hermit crabs. It was a super fun place to visit with 10 adults and 6 kids!

Next, my sister found this incredible authentic Mexican restaurant: The Mill at the Kasteel for lunch. This was one of the best Mexican meals I’ve ever had, and my nephew and cousin’s daughter left 5 star reviews on Yelp! I joked to the waitress that I didn’t leave Yelp reviews b/c I was so famous and didn’t want stalkers… and it was a dud. I guess they don’t care about famous people on Whidbey Island!

Our final stop on the island was Fort Casey State Park which had a lighthouse we could go to the top of, and then a huge fort that was built in the early 1900s, and was operational for both world wars — however, no one attacked that part of the USA so it mostly was just there for show! It was a really fun, huge fort with interconnected rooms and lookout points. Three levels with rickety ladders — perfect for 5 kids (the 6th is a baby) to run around amok… I don’t know where they have all that energy, but I would like some, please!

We went back on the ferry to Everett, stopped by Trader Joe’s so I could get breakfast for the rest of the days since I got a (really nice, and super affordable) AirBnB 14 minutes from the hotel where most of my family was staying, then went back to the hotel b/c there was live music and food trucks on the pier. Unfortunately, the food trucks were kind of lame, and the music was just a cover band, so we didn’t really linger that long. We did go watch the sunset on the far end, though, I mean, I’ve seen it set in Sweden by the fjords and Hawaii on Magic Island, so it wasn’t that exciting…

I took the car and drove back to my AirBnb and went to bed b/c I was still tired from all the travel. On the west coast, it’s really weird — I’m up by 9am! At least for the first few days…

FRIDAY, JULY 25th, DAY 2

On Friday, I slept in, and then my mom’s first cousin (the mother of the bride) had invited the out of towners over to her house to view her gorgeous gardens and her phenomenal view of the water. And she has a gorgeous, well-tuned grand piano (there was actually an upright at my AirBnB, which was the first level of someone’s house, but it was not in tune). There were some delicious refreshments, as well.

After an hour, we went back to the hotel, and I sat outside by the water and read. That night was the Welcome Dinner, and by then even more cousins had arrived! The venue was super great; the food was incredible; it was a super fun time.

SATURDAY, JULY 26th, DAY 3

Saturday was the wedding, so no one wanted to do anything before. Since I didn’t have to be at the hotel till 4pm, I decided to take myself to the Boeing Factory Tour — Future of Flight! Even though it was a bit overpriced, it was pretty cool. First I had to lock up my phone to go on the actual tour of the factory. We saw a 5 minute promotional video, then took a bus over to where the actual factory was. Basically, we went into only one section, and we could view the floor from there. And after a half hour, we went back to the museum gallery building.

So, it was a bit underwhelming, however, they did have some plane materials we could touch (as opposed to plain ones), and I learned some interesting facts:

1. In my phone, Boeing autocorrects to boring…
2. By 2025, Boeing hopes to be carbon neutral — I’ll believe it when I see it!
3. The 707 plane was named as a marketing ploy — it was just the 700 series and someone went — 707 sounds cooler — I guess 007 was already taken by James Bond…
4. The 800 series is space, and I actually got to go into a space module in the gallery.
5. Boeing only designs the outer hull and then the overhead bins — everything else in a cabin, the seats, how many seats, etc, is decided by the airline who has to ship all the parts they want in the cabin with instructions…
6. During WW2, they made a B17 every 90 minutes, working around the clock.
7. The complex complex is the larger building in the world – larger than Central Park.
8. Millions of parts have to be inspected before a plane can be deemed operational, so that’s why it takes so many years.
9. The Riveter Rosies at Boeing during the war made the same rate as the men, and were provided housing and childcare so they could work their 12 hour shifts.
10. They are working on a scram jet that would get people from NYC to LA in only an hour.
11. Each plane has 3 coats of paint which adds 250-500 extra pounds to the plane.
12. They tried robot painters for a bit, but they didn’t do a great job, so they rehired humans (for now)…

I spent about an hour in the gallery, which had a lot of displays and videos. There were some cute photo opps, and there was also a sky roof that overlooks the tiny airport in Everett. All in all, as I said, overpriced, but definitely better than spending 3 hours at my AirBnB twidding my thumbs!

There was a shuttle from the hotel that went to the wedding venue. The ceremony was outside, 30 minutes, and multi-cultured. I had a very strong cocktail afterwards, and was pretty tipsy for a good hour before the food, which was absolutely scrumptious. My cousin and her husband made some wedding puzzles, including a Connections one in the app where you can make your own. Very fun! And then there was a massive amount of dancing going on for a few hours after dinner. My family knows how to cut loose!

SUNDAY, JULY 27th, DAY 4

On Sunday, there was a wedding brunch from 9-1. I was told not to rush, so I came around 11, completely missing an impromptu family photo that I might photoshop myself into. There was eggs, pastries and french toast; I filled myself up very well.

My other second cousin mentioned that there was the original Funko Pop store in town about 5 minutes away. Being so preoccupied with my projects and living in London soon for a month, I totally didn’t read all the stuff to do on the wedding site. Thankfully, it takes my family a bit of time to get ready, so I ran out to the store. It was so cool! They had life sized Funko Pops all over the huge store — a Harry Potter section, Marvel, Star Wars, Batman, Disney… I ended up getting a Seven of Nine Funko — a “Star Trek: Picard” one, on sale for only $8! How could I say no to that? She is my 3rd Funko – I also have Jim Henson holding a Kermit and Miss Piggy as Mrs. Cratchit from “The Muppets Christmas Carol”.

After I returned, I had more brunch for lunch, and then my parents and my sister’s family headed to Seattle for the day. We parked by Pike Market at the pier. Went to the market, including a collectible shop and a magic shop… then had delicious milk shakes (mine was Cookie Monster ice cream — vanilla with a lot of cookies). We saw the original Starbucks, the flying fish, and the disgusting gum wall. Next we went down to the water, and took a ride on the Ferris Wheel which a great view of the Space Needle. Afterwards, we called it an early night. Thankfully there wasn’t much traffic on a Sunday night, so I was back in my AirBnb by 6pm. I did some crosswords and watched Netflix…

MONDAY, JULY 28th, DAY 5

The last day of vacation it was down to just my parents and myself. We drove down to see Mount Rainier. It was really beautiful! Like completely majestic, and it was beautiful weather with a clear sky. We went to the Sunrise area, and that was about all we had time for. There’s only one road in the park, and so the South area would’ve been a good 2 hours from where we were, and with red eye flights back that night, it just wasn’t happening. And there was a lake I wanted to see in the Northwest, but that section was only accessible from another entrance and the bridge was down, so it wasn’t actually accessible at all. My mother and I did a few mild hikes, and we leisurely took photos. Since my parents have Senior passes to all the National Parks, it was only $2 (which was the reservation fee – thankfully, my cousin had mentioned you had to reserve so we had gotten a time a month ago or we wouldn’t have been able to enter at all).

We had dinner at Hops n Drops on the way back to Seattle; returned the car, and then I was at my gate 3 hours early. Thankfully I got a spot at the little desk area with plugs, and set up my iPad to catch up on emails, etc.

My return red eye flight was really not great. Again I was saddled in a middle seat, which they refused to let me move from — and the guy next to me was coughing the whole time. My TV screen was working, though it kept freezing – and the brightness menu kept toggling on randomly – I did manage to watch 3 movies, or most of them:

1. The Last Showgirl — Pamela Anderson was incredible in this one. I thought it was beautifully done, about a bygone era of show biz in Las Vegas.
2. The Legend of the Ochi — This was a cute fantasy film about a mysterious species living in the forest.
3. Paddington in Peru — I actually managed to doze off for most of this one, but the last 20 minutes were cute!

I managed to get home by 8:45am, and went back to sleep for 5 hours, though it took at least 15 minutes to calm Sweetums down b/c he was so happy to see me. And it’s been a very busy week, but I’m happy to have gotten this write-up done!

LQ/MALKA/900th CABARETS

Since the last ledger a few weeks ago, there has been some more news:

Yesterday, “Malka” won the Best Cinematography Award at the East Brunswick Independent Film Festival!

And Love Quirks has confirmed its second college production this January in Rhode Island!

Reminder: the 900th Showcase Celebration concerts are Tuesday, 9/9 and Friday, 9/12 at Don’t Tell Mama… would love to see YOU there!

I leave for London 6 weeks from tomorrow, so it’s going to be quite a busy month and a half…

Hope to talk to YOU soon!

Always,
Seth

OCTOBER

October 22nd, 2025 — A Lovely Month in London with “Love Quirks”

This will not be a short email. I’m going to recap all 29 days of my London sojourn, so strap yourself in! This took a few days to write, so I hope you enjoy it!

LOVE QUIRKS’ SMASHING OFF-WEST END DEBUT

It was the best of times… it was the best of times. What a blessed, wonderful, magical dream. The short version is I had such a wonderful, stress-free experience working on this production. Everything about it from the directors to the cast to the crew was brilliant, and I am so grateful to the whole team. I cannot believe how fast it went. Theatre is beautiful, yet ephemeral, but it happened!

Over 1,300 people got to see this incredible production, for which we received two 5 star reviews, five 4 star reviews, and twelve 3 star reviews… which are really 4 star reviews in any other country!

We also received 4 Fringe Theatre Award Nominations including Best Lyrics & Best Production of a Musical… which is basically like the Drama Desk Awards here. It’s a huge honor (or honour) and a big deal!

I put a bunch of really great quotes on my new Press page: sethbh.com/press but here are my favorites (or favourites):

First a feature with the Jewish News: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/seth-bisen-hershs-warm-witty-off-broadway-musical-opens-in-london

All That Dazzles, 5 stars: https://www.allthatdazzles.co.uk/post/review-love-quirks-the-other-palace-studio

“It’s not easy to write a musical score that is both memorable and emotional, but Seth Bisen-Hersh does exactly that and then some. The songs are smart, fresh, and extremely catchy. They manage to help with progressing character development without ever feeling too explanatory. The harmonies in group numbers like ‘Love Quirks’ and ‘In Love’ are rich and tight, and the cast sings them beautifully. There’s a particular magic when their voices blend, as if the sound of their friendship is fixed in the music.”

Jolien’s Theatre Diary, 5 stars: https://laeremansjolien1.wixsite.com/jolienstheatrediary/post/review-love-quirks-at-the-other-palace

“Let me just say, I think I’ve found a new favourite musical.”

Theatre News, 4 stars: https://www.theatre-news.com/review/UK/6301/Theatre/Love-Quirks-The-Other-Palace-Studio

“The brilliant score provides an engaging and witty musical backbone. A huge credit goes to the composer Seth Bisen-Hersh who has composed to fit the play’s tone and add to the dynamism.”

Reminder: You can stream the off-Broadway cast album (or purchase a physical CD at Kritzerland!) and we’re still licensing the show for small theatres and colleges! (Next college up is Salve Regina University in Rhode Island on 1/31/26!)

UPCOMING MALKA SCREENINGS

You can catch our special short film, which is currently eligible for an Oscar nomination, 3 times in November!

Sunday, November 2nd, 7PM AMT International Film Festival on w. 45th St in NYC: https://www.amttheater.org/amtfilmfestival (Block O)

Sunday, November 16th, 7PM, Philadelphia Jewish Film & Media Festival: https://phillyjfm.org (Under Jewish Shorts Night)

Sunday, November 30th, 7PM, Bell Street Chapel, Providence, Rhode Island, message Lenny for tix! (Or message me, and I’ll message Lenny…)

Here’s a great interview I did about Malka when we were at the East Brunswick International Film Festival in August (where it won Best Cinematography!):

https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/entertainment/movies/2025/07/31/east-brunswick-nj-film-festival-august-2/85320858007/

sethbh.com/malka now lists all the screenings… by the end of the year, I think we’ll have done 10 film festivals, in addition to the private screenings we have been producing ourselves. I’m told that’s really good for a short’s first year!

Hope to see you on the 2nd or the 16th; I will be at both!

1980s CROSSWORD BOOK

I was commissioned to write 50 puzzles with themes from the 80s by Beverly Clark (who is a fictional character). The puzzle book was edited by my friend Melanie T. Morgan, and YOU should get it if you like puzzles, the 80s, and/or me! (And please leave a 5 star review if you enjoy it… or even if you don’t!)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FWZ54WQY

We worked all summer on this book, and we’re very proud of it. I also had my 5th puzzle in the Wall Street Journal on 10/9, and will have my first in Apple Crossword on Wednesday, 10/22. My 20th published puzzle will be in Fireball Crosswords in 2026.

CABARET, CHOIR, SWEETUMS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Other than that, it’s 15 more cabarets before the year’s end, plus singing at Carnegie Hall with Essential Voices USA choir, the NY Pops… and Megan Hilty!

Sweetums was really happy to be home. When Sarah dropped him off, he leaped right out of the carrier and spent 20 minutes visiting every inch of the apartment to make sure it was all still where it was. He found his fuzzy ball under the bed, and within an hour, was back at home. I’m really relieved that he was just excited to see me and hasn’t been mad at all! What a sweet cat!

Since this email is going to be incredibly long, I’ve decided to eschew the usual book, TV, movie, theatre recommendation sections. They will return for the end of the year recap in 2 months!

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH, DAY 1: LONDON & LQ

I actually flew out on Monday, but it was almost midnight, so let’s start the recap on Tuesday. I ended up getting a great deal on the flight because I got the Delta AMEX card, which gave me a $400 credit! The joke was on them b/c I was looking for a card without a foreign fee, so it was perfect timing. Sadly, not everywhere took AMEX, but in London, most places did.

I was really lucky and on my red eye flight had an entire middle row of 4 seats to myself. I watched 3 movies: Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall (typical YA movie), All We Imagine as Light (foreign film from India), Lilo & Stitch (live action Disney remake).

I got into Heathrow Airport around 10am (5am EST) London time, and was pleasantly surprised how quickly their new system for entry is. I just scanned my face, and I was in! I had to get a visa for $22 for 2 years, and apparently you have to get a similar thing to go to the EU now…

Anyway, I purchased my (very expensive) 30 day pass for Zone 5/6. I found an incredibly cheap AirBnb furnished studio in East Croydon… and the ad said that there was an express train that got to Victoria Station in only 15 minutes. That is very true… when the train was running! But more on that later…

East Croydon is actually not very close to London, but the apartment itself was really exactly what I needed. It was about a third the size of my NYC studio, but I didn’t check any bags, so I only had a full duffel and backpack worth of stuff! (Though, I also filled all my coat pockets…)

After dropping my stuff off at my tiny furnished studio (about a third of the size of my NYC studio – it didn’t even have a bathroom sink!), I headed out to the theatre!

My friend Hannah had suggested a cheap eSIM, and while I debated at first if it was worth $10 to have 10GB of data for the month… it was very worth it b/c London streets are very twisty and turny, plus, $10 is really not a lot of money! I ended up only using a little over 6GB b/c I was very careful what I downloaded when not on WiFi, and I’m really happy that I had GoogleMaps and the ability to text people whenever I needed to.

The first time I saw The Other Palace, I teared up. It is an absolutely beautiful space that was designed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and it was literally 5 minutes from Buckingham Palace! A pristine, state of the art theatre, it was so incredible that my show was running there.

I was very tired, but it was so nice to meet the entire team in person, and Mark & Brian had arrived the day before me, so they were already in rehearsal mode.

Mark and I went out to a pub for dinner, and I ended up inviting a guy I met in the loo to the show. (I don’t think he came!)

I stopped by the grocery store on my way home, which was the only time I could do that b/c everything closes in East Croydon by 11pm, and I never again was home that early…

I fell asleep by 9PM and slept 13 hours!

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH, DAY 2: LONDON & LQ

I headed to rehearsal on Wednesday, but since Mark/Brian were going to a show at night, I decided I should do the same.

That night I went to see “Bacchae” at the National Theatre. It was a fantastic production, and I somehow managed not to fall asleep!

The National Theatre itself is on the South Bank, so I took a leisurely stroll from Buckingham Palace down the Cakewalk, passed Big Ben, across the Westminster Bridge to the theatre.

I got home, and slept another 11 hours.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH, DAY 3

On the day of the first preview, we first watched the final dress rehearsal, which was the first time we (Mark, Brian & I) had seen the whole thing. We were floored by how wonderfully the production came out! Wow, we couldn’t believe it!

Between the final dress and the first preview, the entire cast and creative team went out to dinner at Zizzi which is an Italian restaurant chain right by our theatre. It was a celebratory dinner!

The first preview, as is often the case, was completely electric. My friend Josh who I met at MIT (in Cambridge, MA) came from Cambridge (UK) with his wife, and so did my friend Caroline who was the person who helped me set up the entire show in London!

Afterwards, we had a small gathering in the bar at the theatre before heading home assured in the knowledge we were going to be a huge hit.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH, DAY 4

On Friday, I went to the first of the free museums on my itinerary — the Horniman Museum (though I jokingly called it the horny man museum). The Horniman happened to be on my way into the city from East Croydon (right on the 197 bus that had a stop in front of my building). It was a quaint little museum – there was a long hall of musical instruments, which I enjoyed, though I have been to quite a few museums which are only musical instruments (in Brussels & Berlin — the Met in NYC also has a few rooms). There was also rooms of anthropology and natural history featuring a lot of taxidermied animals.

After I saw the museum in under an hour, I went to the beautiful gardens which had a stunning view of London. I sat and read for a bit (on the trip I read Murakami’s “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles” and then “The Outsiders”) and then saw the animals they had on the grounds, including an alpaca and some sheep.

One of my cast members, Ayesha, recommended the Nunhead Cemetery as a nice place to visit and reflect, so I walked over for a half hour through the burbs. It was a really serene setting, and I wrote a journal entry reflecting on gratefulness and how incredible this whole experience was already on just day 4 before heading to the second preview.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH, DAY 5

My best friend Niki (who longtime readers will recognize as my travel buddy for decades!) was able to come to London for 2 days before a work trip in Scandinavia! We had the best time!

However, the day started off ornery. The first issue was the express train to Victoria was not running for the weekend! So I had to take another train into London Bridge, which is on the South Bank (not that I realized it at the time). Niki was happy to meet me there, but the station is huge — and includes both a National Train station and a Tube station (very common that there are hubs like this with separate entrances). She told me she was by LEON. However, neither of us realized LEON was a chain — and literally everywhere! There were 3 LEON around London Bridge Station b/c it’s so spread out! I ended up going to the Southwark Cathedral — and we later realized I was just up the street from the LEON where she was! Oops! She went to the Cathedral, but the main entrance, and I was up top by the bridge. Thankfully, I had paid that $10 for the eSIM, so I was able to call her on FaceTime Audio and tell her to just stay at the main entrance — which was a few minutes from the other side… we were both tired and hungry, but relieved to have made the meet up happen!

We went to Borough Market, which had really great food stalls. I had a meat pie — not one by Mrs. Lovett, don’t worry — and then we had some delicious goat milk ice cream. We meandered around the market for a bit, and Niki didn’t want to have an itinerary, so we just walked around, which actually, was very helpful in locking in my innate GPS. NYC is such a grid, but London has streets that curve in weird ways, and you think you’re going one way, but then it curves, and there won’t be any way to get off of it… so it took awhile to acclimate to the city! We went to dinner at Browns, another chain by the theatre… and I do not recommend that place…

Anyway, Niki came to the show that night, and so did another MIT friend of mine DC Carter! It was so nice that they both flew all the way to London!

We went out to the Phoenix pub right by the theatre after the show with some of the cast and crew, and also Mark/Brian’s friend Christian who lives in France, but was able to come for the show that night.

With Victoria Station closed, I had to take the tube to Blackfriars and train out of there to East Croydon.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21ST, DAY 6

Knowing that I had to come into Blackfriars again, Niki and I decided to pick a brunch place nearby we found… named Found! They didn’t actually open till 11, and we got there a bit early, so we ended up hanging out with a Canadian couple also waiting for brunch — it turns out the guy is a mildly famous comedian in Canada and friends with Jeff Foxworthy! I actually always talked to everyone I met in London, but I found that only the non-Londoners were excited to have conversation… London people are very reserved and mostly keep to themselves… very quiet, for the most part too, so I stood out as a loud American many times…

After wonderful brunch, we went to the Tate Modern. Ayesha from my cast actually works there, so she was able to nicely get us free tickets to all 3 exhibitions that were happening: Do Ho Suh: Walk the House, Emily Kam Kngwarray (aboriginal artists) and Theatre Picasso (you probably have heard of him!). And she timed them perfectly for us to be able to see the regular exhibitions in between, which there were plenty of, including Dali’s lobster phone, and some Warhol. When we were done, we had hot chocolate/coffee at the top of the museum in their cafe overlooking London.

Next, we walked around more, and eventually I went to the preview at 6PM, and Niki went to watch a football game in a pub. After the show, most of the cast/crew went out, which would happen on Sunday nights since Monday was the day off. We went to Phoenix again, and I had my first Sunday Roast – which was a full meal – this time of roast chicken with lots of sides. It’s a British tradition!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND, DAY 7

On the first full day off from the show, I headed to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. There was some old stuff like Michelangelo, Rafael, and the rest of the Teenage Mutant Turtles, but I prefer the French Impressionists: Vermeer, Monet, Degas, and especially Van Gogh and Seurat. They had some sketches for his Sunday painting, but also the other one featured in the show: “Bathers at Asnieres” which I stared at for awhile. Just breathtaking!

Next up, since the gallery didn’t take that long to see, I went to the National Portrait Gallery around the corner. It was mostly portraits of British people I’ve never heard of, including historical figures, but there were some I knew like Ncuti Gatwa (more on him later), Judi Dench, King Charles, Shakespeare (it was actually a bust, which means they could literally brush up the Shakespeare!), Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton and even a few Americans: Ben Franklin & George Washington.

On my way to dinner, I ended up on Leicester Square and took photos with statues of Mary Poppins, Harry Potter, Gene Kelly, Charlie Chaplin, and more.

Brian’s boyfriend Paul was SO NICE and treated us all to a congratulatory dinner at this really posh spot Hakkasan Mayfair, which was absolutely the best meal I had all trip, and perhaps in my entire life. Duck salad, some beef thing for dinner, and then incredible hazelnut ice cream dessert… just a most wonderful night.

After dinner I went to see “Born with Teeth” starring Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa! It was a two-hander with dynamic performances. I was excited to meet Ncuti after, but sadly he wasn’t feeling well, so he did not come out to sign. However, they made the announcement really early, so I got to go home early. Oh, incidentally, I took some photos inside the Wyndham Theatre of their posters, including “Side by Side by Sondheim” and “Sunday in the Park…” whose revival also ran there.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23RD, DAY 8

On Tuesday I went to see the matinee of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” the musical, and it was absolutely unbelievable! It was all done with actor/musicians, or as the Brits call them “musos”. Completely orchestrated to a hilt, and apparently if someone is out, they have to have a cast meeting to figure out which of the 159 variations they need to use with the understudy. And it took 17 years to get to the West End where it won the Olivier, and I give it mad props! (Though, the props in the show were not mad.)

Before the show, I actually got recognized on the streets of London, which was super exciting! I mean, it happens in NYC constantly, but in London? Lauren, one of my showcase performers from 2015 lives in London now, and saw me by the theatre, and ran over to say hello! What a small world!

Before our preview that night, I sat in the gorgeous St. James’s Park which became my favorite spot to just rest on a bench, looking at the birds (swans, storks, ducks) on the lake and sitting by Buckingham Palace.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH, DAY 9

Wednesday started with a cast/creative team outing to see “50 First Dates: the Musical” which was playing in the larger theatre at The Other Palace, upstairs from us. We got to know a lot of their lovely cast from sharing a space, and I also met both the writer Steve Rosen and the director Tony-winner Casey Nickolaw.

I ate at a random Italian restaurant (can’t ever turn down Italian food!) and made friends with 2 Texan couples on one side, and a couple from California on the other. I don’t think any of them ended up coming to the show, but it was nice to have conversation — and the woman from California worked for the Jimmy Awards (high school theatre awards) so we had a bunch of people in common that we knew.

That night, Mark, Brian & I decided we should skip the final preview of our show to alleviate some anxiety, so I ended up going to see “Oliver” on the West End, and it was just such a fantastic production! Obviously, I had seen the show in community theatre, but this was hands down the best production of the show I’ve ever seen. And the woman playing Nancy, Ava Brennan, was phenomenal.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH, DAY 10

I started Thursday at “My Neighbour Tortoro” which was a stage adaptation of the Ghibili classic. The first thing they did was to add the U into neighbor… The puppetry was absolutely fantastic, as they brought the movie to life. However, it wasn’t really a musical — it was a play that had a live orchestra, and then a singer who sang some songs on top of the action, including the title song made popular by the movie. Well worth going for, for the puppetry, though.

I met up with Joyce & Jacquie who were coming to our opening night of “Love Quirks” that night. We ended up eating at Zizzi’s b/c Phoenix was really busy on a Thursday night with people post-work.

Opening night in London is actually known as press night b/c they, for some reason, invite 50 reviewers to all come on the same night! However, we also had cast friends, and the energy was wonderful. What an incredible night that was, and then I ended up giving an impromptu speech at the party!

After the party at the theatre, we went out to another bar till 1am. However, then, that bar closed. I don’t know what’s with London, but closing bars on a Thursday night at 1am!? I don’t know. Very ridiculous. A few of us ended up going to a 24 hour casino bar, but then I google mapped it, and I realized I could actually take a 2:40am train from London Bridge and avoid taking an Uber, so I took a night bus to the station, and made it home in one piece. The 2:40am train was PACKED, so I think that London really should be offering better transportation after midnight!

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH, DAY 11

I had 2 glasses of wine at the party, so I was, of course, quite hungover the next day. When I finally got myself out, I went to the V&A Museum, which I gave myself 2 hours for, which was barely enough. I guess I could’ve tried to get out earlier, but I just didn’t have the energy.

Hands down, the V&A Museum was the best free museum I went to. The collections included architecture, ceramics, design, glass, ironwork, jewelry, metalware, prints & drawings, sculptures and even a whole section on theatre & performance, which was obviously my favorite. Really, if you have time for only one London museum, this is the one you should go to!

I actually got a text from Brian with our first 5 star review while walking around, and I had to sit on a bench and sob for a bit b/c it was the best review I’ve ever received in my life… and the British people were completely taken aback by such a public display of emotion!

After the museum closed, I went to meet my good friend Linseigh (who lives in London) for dinner at Tozi, a delicious Italian restaurant by Victoria Station, and then she came to see the show.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH, DAY 12

On Saturday, I met up with my friend Tarang and her husband & kid to walk around Hyde Park. We visited the Princess Diana Memorial, and also got some ice cream. Then, Tarang & her friend came to the show, while her husband & kid went to a Minecraft Experience.

Afterwards, we went out to an Indian restaurant, and then I decided I didn’t need to see the night show… and instead, I went back to the “Born with Teeth” stage door, and this time I got to meet Ncuti, who was the nicest person ever! I invited him to LQ, but of course, he didn’t end up coming… but he did take the flier!

I ended up making some new Instagram followers and a new friend Caroline, who might be the only person out of 150 I gave fliers to who actually came to the show…

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28TH, DAY 13

Sunday I had to do laundry. My AirBnB was part of an apartment complex, and while they had a laundry room it came with caveats… Due to noise, laundry had to be done by 11pm, and it was also coin operated. My General Manager was nice enough to give me some pound coins, and then Mark dropped off all his coins before he left. I was able to use these, which was good b/c I didn’t bother to get cash out my entire month there since it’s completely not necessary in London anymore. (I ended up giving the rest of Mark’s coins to various musician buskers my last week in town.)

Anyway, given that I was never home before 11pm, I decided to skip the matinee to do my laundry. And that’s when I found out the dryer didn’t actually work, so I ended up having to hang up all my damp clothes… but they took forever to dry — I guess the air in London is more saturated than it is here?

My new friend Sarah, whom I met in a WhatsApp group for Jewish London Theatremakers, even though she’s from NJ, came to the show. She sat in the front row, and laughed so loudly that the cast thanked her afterwards!

Given that it was Sunday night, we went out with the cast to the pub, though I made sure to get home before the trains stopped!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH, DAY 14

Monday I went to Harry Potter Studios!!!! Getting to HP took an extension to my Zone 6 pass b/c the train station is Zone 7. And when you get to the station, you get on queue for the HP Shuttle, which features a video with Malfoy actor Tom Felton.

I spent 3.5 hours at the Studios; they were very full with costumes, props and sets from the movies. The first part of the self-guided tour is timed with some videos and then the Great Hall b/c they don’t have capacity for people to linger there. Thus, we made it into the Great Hall, and then after 5 minutes or so were shuffled out so the next group could come in. But it was still really cool b/c it was the actual set where they filmed all the scenes!

Next was a massive warehouse sized room filled with so many sets from the shows with their props… like Dumbledore’s Office complete with the memory pensieve, both the Gryffindor & Slytherin common rooms, the Leaky Cauldron, and the Weasley House.

This was the start of Halloween season so there was a Defense Against the Dark theme, with some dancers, and then a dementor demonstration in the Forbidden Forest. (You can also bow to Buckbeak.)

There were also photo opportunities where you could pay extra money to get a photo of yourself on a broom flying which used a green screen, and one where you could be on the Hogwarts Express. We did walk the Hogwarts Express, but there weren’t any places to sit and selfie.

In the middle of the 2 warehouses is the cafe, and then an outdoors area with the Knight Bus, the car Ron drives into Hogwarts when they’re late, and Hagrid’s motorbike… There was also a house that was 3 Privet Drive where you could go in and see the house, including the cupboard below the stairs. And there was a greenhouse where you could lift up those screaming plants…

The final section included some videos on the making of all the goblins, dragons, owls, werewolves, small Voldemort, etc, with the guy who designed them and the hilarious Warwick Davis. And there was Gringott’s and all the treasures from their vaults. And then Diagon Alley!

It was the most expensive thing I did all trip, but definitely worth it.

Next, I met Jacquie and Joyce at a pub called Punch & Judy before going to see “Tosca” at the Royal Opera House. I paid only £15 for SRO, but I was able to find a seat after the first act! It was an incredible production of this Puccini classic.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30TH, DAY 15

Tuesday I had to get up early at 8am to start my journey. This was an incredibly stressful day which had me taking 6 separate trains, 2 buses and then an Uber. However, I made every single transfer and thankfully there were no transit issues!

Anyway, first up I took the 197 bus to the East Croydon Station, then the train to Victoria Station, next the #2 bus to Marylebone Station, then the train to Leamington Spa, then I switched to the more subway like train to Stratford-Upon-Avon a little after noon!

Now, I will say, if I had realized that Shakespeare’s wife Anne Hathaway’s Cottage was so far in the other direction from everything else, I would done that first. That was my biggest regret of the day b/c there’s a lot more fun things to do over by Shakespeare’s Birthplace, and having checked off Anne would’ve made for a less stressful day given that I had to catch the 4:06PM train to stay on schedule.

Anyway, I started the day walking to the Old Town, which had some really cute shops. I did go into a few antique-y type shops, but sadly, there were no Muppet collectibles at any of them!

In the Town Square, there’s a great statue of Will, and then I had a 1pm timed ticket, and went to his Birthplace. I mean, it was very like any birthplace of someone from the past; it was an old house, and the only really cool thing was that Shakespeare was born there. Next up, I went to Shakespeare’s New Place, which had been rebuilt since Will lived there 1597-1616. When I got there, this guide was about to give a talk, so I listened to him talk about the history of the house for about a half hour. And then I explored the gardens which had some sculptures inspired by Shakespeare’s plays, and then there was a costume exhibit in the actual house itself.

Afterwards, I headed over to Holy Trinity Church to see where Shakespeare is buried. However, they wanted to charge £5 to go into the section with the plaques, and I decided it wasn’t worth it. Thankfully, this really nice woman showed me what I missed, and had me take a photo of her photo! It literally is just a plaque over a grate that says “The Grave of the poet William Shakespeare 1564-1616.)

I sat on a bench overlooking the Avon River for a bit while texting my “Malka” collaborators about our many upcoming screenings, and then I realized I had better skeedaddle to get to Anne’s cottage and back to my train.

Anne’s Cottage wasn’t that exciting, and I had lingered at the river too long, so I didn’t really get to spend much time there, but I had paid for it, so I went! And that’s how I know that Anne married Will in 1582 because she found out she was pregnant… she was 8 years older than he was, marrying him at 26 when he was 18… the cottage was built in 1463 and was home to 13 generations of Hathaways…

Anyway, I got back on the mini-subway like train and took that to Birmingham where I had to switch from the subway like train to the actual train at their large train station. When I got the itinerary initially I was concerned I was going from one train station to another, but I needn’t have worried b/c lots of people were walking the 5 minutes, and it was very easy to spot a huge train station. I ended up grabbing some food at LEON (in honor of Niki) to take on the train to Manchester.

I got to Manchester at 6:59pm and had a 7:30pm curtain to make. I hopped the free bus, and the driver told me that he would get me to the Manchester Opera House by 7:30pm. When I got off the bus, it was 7:27pm. Phew!

I went to the excitingly fun opening night of “13 Going on 30 the Musical” thanks to my lovely friend Perri who is an Co-Producer on the show. I also saw our friend Sam, and met a bunch of other producers at the interval.

After the performance, I hustled back to the train station to take a local train to the closest train station to my high school friend, Andrea’s house. Since it was late for her, instead of walking 40 minutes, I splurged on an Uber. It was so lovely to sleep in a full bed after my twin in my AirBnB, and it was so nice of Andrea to host me! I hadn’t seen her in over 2 decades!

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1ST, DAY 16

Wednesday was a restful day. I met up with my college friend Sheridan (who directed my star turn as Hysterium in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”) and she could sense the exhaustion radiating off of me. So while we walked around for a bit, it was a pretty leisurely day.

First up, we went to the John Rylands Library, which is a very old library with very old books including a 14th Century Hebrew Bible.

Next, we went to get smoothies, and just sat and caught up since we hadn’t seen each other in #)($#)( years. Afterwards, we went to Starbucks where she got a coffee. And then we walked to Piccadilly Gardens and lingered. On the way, I did see a really cute Chopin sculpture, and then the colorful Manchester sign.

I switched back to Andrea for dinner; we had burritos, then walked around after for a bit till it was time for my train at 8:15PM.

Taking the 2 hour express train back to London was so nice, and after getting in at Euston Station, I tubed to Victoria, then trained to East Croydon, and was very happy to be back in my tiny studio.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2ND, DAY 17

Obviously, I took it very easy Thursday and took my time getting ready. Then, after noon, I headed out to Wembley Park (Zone 4 so it was covered in my pass!) for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Starlight Express” with my friend Dan (who I’ve known since I was 11).

This production took place in an actual roller rink, and was stunning to watch. It was less stunning in other ways… the show has less plot than CATS, and fewer good songs… but it was still super fun to see people singing while rollerskating, and there were a few professional skaters doing tricks, as well.

Dan and I headed back to the theatre district, and ended up eating dinner at a Michelin Italian restaurant before parting ways till Saturday.

That night at “Love Quirks”, my friend Broadway Sam was in attendance, so I went to hang out with him before the show, and in the interval.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3RD, DAY 18

On Friday, I headed to Windsor (which was another separate ticket). Friday was actually the only day that there was major rain happening in the month, which is actually quite odd given London’s reputation for rain…

I saw the Ice Queen ice cream shop, and couldn’t turn down an inexpensive cone of soft serve. After I finished, I went into Windsor Castle.

My timing was impeccable b/c there was a free tour of the gardens and grounds right when I entered. And no one else joined, so it was basically a private tour for 25 minutes.

Afterwards, I went into the only area of the castle they allow visitors, which included Queen Mary’s Doll House, and then lots of collectibles and artifacts from over the centuries. No photos were allowed, which meant I could focus on looking at things, while completely forgetting what I say afterwards.

Then, I went to the King George VI Memorial Chapel, and saw the resting place of Queen Elizabeth II.

Overall, I found the whole thing incredibly overpriced, and I’m not sure I would recommend it to people. It was very similar to visits to other palaces/castles I’ve made over the years.

After the castle, I took the local Windsor bus to Oakley Cemetery, so I could walk a few minutes to Oakley Court Hotel… where they shot “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. It was fitting to me that it was raining, and I did almost ask the guy working there if I could use his phone, but he had already told me he hadn’t made it through the movie, so I didn’t think he would get the reference.

The exterior of the castle is virtually untouched, so that was very exciting for me. Inside, the guy gave me a quick tour to show me where they shot “Time Warp” and where the lift Rocky comes down used to be. The bannister was still there, and that’s about it! He said that a fan comes about once a week, so he wasn’t completely shocked I was there.

Totally worth it, though! Unfortunately, then I walked back to the same bus stop in the rain. The bus only comes every hour, so I had quite a wait, and then it was late, so I got an Uber, but then by Murphy’s Law, the bus came, and then I canceled the Uber. I had trouble getting my credit card to work — the buses didn’t take AMEX, but I had used my Visa debit the first time — the second time it was not doing it — which also happened in Belfast for some still unknown reason… anyway, this friendly Canadian covered my bus fare, and I am very thankful for Canadians.

I took the train back from Maidenhead, and headed to RC’s hotel where I met him and his collaborator for “Space Hamlet” for an incredible dinner in RC’s hotel on the Thames. His collaborator also helped me fix my British accent. I had been talking too nasally and high, like I do normally, but British people swallow the sound and their consonants! So now I can do a much more convincing British accent (though my friend Amanda at Broadway Bowling still thinks it’s terrible).

I dropped them off at the show, and then I actually went to a JDAL (Jewish Dramatic Association of London) party and networked with a bunch of Jewish theatre-makers in London, some of whom made it to the show the following weekend!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4TH, DAY 19

Saturday I went grocery shopping, and then headed into town to see Israel’s Gesher Theatre’s production of Oscar Wilde’s “Salomé”. I had only seen the opera before, so it was great to see this intense production.

It was super windy still, so instead of sitting in a park, as planned, I threw the free National History Museum into my itinerary. It was pretty much like the one in NYC, but it was a nice, warm place to sit. Then, I walked 45 minutes to the theatre, through a neighborhood I’d never walked down before. For dinner, I discovered that Mark & Spencers, the Target like chain, had great pre-packaged salads that came with a smoothie for only £6.50! What a great way to save money on delicious food!

At the show tonight, was Dan, and his friend Maria (who I met for the first time).

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5TH, DAY 20

Sunday, I met up with my MIT friend Jimmy (who musically directed my first musical “Trivial Pursuits” Senior year). We had a lovely walk through St. James’s Park before the matinee. At the show, I also had Andrea with her friend, and Moulakshi with 2 friends. Mou lives in NJ, so I see her occasionally (she came to the EB screening of “Malka”), but Mou & Andrea hadn’t seen each other in )#$$(*% years, so it was a mini-high school reunion!

Between shows, I had my 2nd Sunday roast at the Phoenix with Mou & her friend. At night, one of my showcase performers this week came. Cara actually lives by London, but is here in NYC for a few weeks; so it was great to pre-meet her before my cabaret!

Also, at the show, completely surprising me was one of the original Quirkies Leonard, who was at the original song cycle in 2010. Over the years, Leonard was constantly asking me when we were going to produce “Love Quirks” off-Broadway, and he came both off-off in 2014 and off in 2022. He planned his annual London trip to coincide with the run, and I was absolutely flabbergasted to see him there!

Since it was Sunday night, I went back to Phoenix after the show for a few hours with the cast & some of their friends.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6TH, DAY 21

I took it a bit easy Monday, but then eventually headed out to the free Wallace Collection, which multiple people had recommended. This was one of those rich people leaving everything they collected to a public museum type deals. It was chock full of antiques, art… and armor. It was definitely worth checking out.

Afterwards, I took a walk to the opera, and sat on a bench for a bit. The opera for the night was Verdi’s “The Sicilian Vespers” which I didn’t know at all. It was really fantastic, though 4 hours. Thankfully with the 6:30PM starting time, I was able to get home around the same time I did the week before. And I found a seat for the second act again!

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7TH, DAY 22

Tuesday I had to get up at 6am, which was so early that the sun still wasn’t risen. I took the train to Gatwick Airport (extra fee) and took an 8:25am plane to Belfast, Northern Ireland, which was my 33rd country!

I got into Belfast around 10am, then I took the express bus into town. Next I went to take a local bus to the Peace Wall. The original plan was to bus locally everywhere b/c it’s supposed to keep track of your rides and cap your daily use, but by the 3rd time I used my debit card, it wasn’t working… so I ended up busing for free twice b/c the drivers didn’t care, but then I defaulted to walking, which was better for seeing the city anyway.

Peace Wall was a very long wall of murals about peace. People are supposed to sign it, so I wrote down, “Be kind to each other. SBH”. It’s good I always carry a sharpie (in case people ask for my autograph), so I was prepared!

Next up, I took a bus back to the center of town, then another bus to the Titanic Quarter where I went to Belfast Titanic, which was a combination museum and experience all about the Titanic. There were a few floors of exhibitions, starting with the company that built Titanic, H&W. We went through the process of how it was built, with many interactive displays. There was a mini ride, which illustrated the process, as well. There was information on all of the crew. There were reconstructions of rooms from Titanic and even a display on the pianos that were on board.

The next section was all about the survivors including artifacts like the violin of Wallace H. Hartley, one of the musicians. After that, there was a section on what went wrong, then one dedicated to the discovery of the ruins, and then the final room was about all the art that was made about the ship and its fate. That room had some Celine Dion stuff, and also a brief mention of the Broadway musical.

All in all, it was really worth the money, which is unusual, I find!

After the Museum, I walked down the quay to see all of the Glass of Thrones! There are 6 stained glass depictions of scenes from “Game of Thrones” along the river, and they’re all really cool. It’s easy to find all 6 b/c they’re all right in a row if you just walk right on the river’s edge, though FYI, one is on the other side of the river than the rest! There were also other fun sculptures like one of a big blue fish along the river walk, too.

I walked into the center of town, taking photos of things like the City Hall, the Grand Opera House, some random murals, then Ulster University before going to the Ulster Museum.

Honestly, I was really pooped from being up early, flying, then walking around (about 26K steps) so I didn’t really take much time at the The Ulster Museum. There was one really good Renoir painting, but other than that, it was a lot of taxidermy, artifacts, and stuff I’ve seen in other museums. But it was free!

Afterwards, I sat in the Botanical Gardens by a pretty rose garden for about an hour, just relaxing and living in the moment. I also took the time to go to the AMEX webpage to find a restaurant that would take the card, since so much of Belfast did not.

I ended up finding a good Chinese restaurant that took AMEX, plus had Wi-Fi and an outlet I could use, so that was lovely. And it was a very affordable meal, as Belfast was cheaper than London.

Walking to my AirBnB, I passed the Lyric Theatre, and then realized they had a play happening that night in a half hour… so obviously, I stayed for the play “Dear Arabella” which was pretty good. Somehow I didn’t fall asleep! And it turns out that the box office guy went to school with LQ’s musical director’s girlfriend, so the world is very small! And the usher was from Chicago. And the playwright’s husband was in attendance and he was on “Game of Thrones” and “Derry Girls” though I didn’t talk to him b/c I didn’t actually recognize him. Also, I was really tired.

Belfast is so cute and perfectly safe, so I got to my AirBnB, and promptly went to sleep after a hot shower.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8TH, DAY 23

I had to get up early on Wednesday to go to my “Game of Thrones” tour of the top of Northern Ireland. I was up by 7:45am, and then walked a half hour back to the center of town to catch the very full bus.

Our 8.5 hour tour was really fun. We did a bunch of castles that were on the show including Carrickfergus, Ballygally (which apparently has a ghost), Glenarm & Dunluce, though we didn’t actually stop in any of them. Honestly, the tour was a lot of “they shot here, but we can’t go” and “they shot here, but the set is gone so you wouldn’t be able to tell”…

We did see a location where Arya came out of, though in Carnlough! It filled in for the Braavos Canal, so we got to recreate her crawling out of the water… though none of us actually did b/c we would’ve gotten wet…

We did pass a cute statue of Johann the Goat in Cushendun who represented the last goat before they slaughtered all the animals who were infected by disease. And we saw a disappearing lake that depending on the tides, might be gone completely or completely filled.

The trip’s climax was at the incredible Giant’s Causeway, which is a nature preserve consisting of “approximately 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption” according to Wikipedia. It was really cool, and we were there for almost 2 hours taking photos and enjoying the unique structure.

Afterwards, we stopped by The Dark Hedges, which was a scene in GOT where Arya was running away after [Spoiler Alert] her father’s execution.

We got back to town by 6PM, which gave me plenty of time to take the express bus to the airport for my 9PM flight. In fact, I was there early enough for the flight before, but EasyJet refused to let me take it, so I had to wait. I landed at 10:30PM and was back in my flat by 11:30PM, absolutely exhausted from a thrilling 2 days in Belfast.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9TH, DAY 24

Thursday, I did my final grocery shopping trip. I also posted my Wall Street Journal crossword puzzle.

The matinee I saw was “Witness for the Prosecution” which was a fantastic adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel performed in an actual court room in the County Hall.

That night, I went to LQ, but I didn’t know anyone there, so I went home pretty quickly afterwards.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10TH, DAY 25

My final day trip was on Friday to Cambridge to see the college town and hang out with Josh a bit more. There was a direct train from Croydon, so it was easy to get there.

Cambridge is such a lovely little spot with lots of history and architecture. My first stop was the Wren Library in Trinity College, which was free and open for 2 hours every weekday. On display was an original Gutenberg Bible, Isaac Newton’s annotated copy of Principia Mathematica with a lock of his hair, annotated copy of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”, Shakespeare’s First Folio, and the original, hand-written manuscript of A.A. Milne’s “Winnie-the-Pooh” which is pretty, pretty cool!

Josh had recommended I go through Kings College, so I got a $20 ticket, but again, that was so ridiculously overpriced. Basically, I could’ve seen everything from the entrance way, besides the chapel, which had a bit of an exhibit at least, including a panel on early 15th Century composers and their music. I did sit on a bench overlooking their gardens and the river for a bit.

Afterwards, I took a photo of the Corpus Clock, went to a cute little art store Gifts for Interesting People (I consider myself pretty interesting after all!) and got a little cat figurine for £2. (I have little cat figurines from all over the world at this point!) And then I went to the market square, and there were some used books… and I found a copy of Murakami’s “Kafka on the Shore” for only £3! (I paid $19 for both “19Q4” and “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles” so this was quite a coup!)

Shortly thereafter, Josh met me, and we went to take a boat on the river to see the bridges and other colleges I had missed. Josh was kind enough to be my gondolier, and it was a very relaxing half hour!

For dinner, we went to The Eagle pub. The Eagle was where Watson & Crick realized that the DNA was a double helix, and there were multiple plaques to commemorate this. The inn dates back to the 14th century! Also, there was a ceiling covered in graffiti of British & American WWII pilots. We had yummy burgers, then went next door to Jack’s Gelato for dessert, where I had a scrumptious cone of salted double chocolate & Bronte pistachio and rose.

Josh walked me back to the station, and I took the express train back to Kings Cross Station, then the tube to Victoria to catch one of the final nights of LQ.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11TH, DAY 26

Saturday afternoon, I went to my final museum: Sir John Soane’s Museum. John was an architect and collector, and this was another museum in someone’s former home. He was quite the hoarder! There was stuff everywhere you looked… paintings, sculptures, etc.

Afterwards, I sat in Lincoln’s Inn Fields for a bit before heading back to the London Bridge area (again, the Victoria train wasn’t working for the weekend, so I had to come into LB) to see “The Magician’s Table” which was perhaps some of the best close magic I have ever seen – which is saying a lot b/c I’ve seen a lot of magic.

I had been giving out fliers for LQ to pretty much anyone I could get to talk to me; one night at the bus stop in East Croydon, I ended up talking to a couple who had a “Wicked” programme, and it turns out that they were in the biz, and that Katie was in this magic show as an accordionist/singer. She invited me to the show, and of course I went!

A few of the magicians were absolutely unbelievable. My table was able to figure out a bunch of the tricks, but for at least 2 of the magicians, we were completely flabbergasted!

After the show, I tubed to LQ, only to tube all the way back afterwards. Good thing I had a travel pass so I didn’t have to pay per ride!

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12TH, DAY 27

Sunday had our final 2 shows. It was a bittersweet day, knowing that the show was coming to its end.

At the matinee, I met the father of a girl who did my virtual showcase in 2020. She lives in Atlanta, but her father lives in the UK, and she bought him a ticket to the show for his 70th birthday!

Afterwards, I had my final Sunday Roast — this time beef (the first 2 times they were out, so I had the chicken) with my friend Emily, who came all the way from Toronto to see the show. Emily was in the ensemble of “The Spickner Spin” my 2nd Fringe show, and it was the first time I’d seen her in !@#$W@#$ years!

Seriously, I have the best friends ever.

The final performance was very full, and it was probably our best audience. They were vocal (which is rare in London) and there were a lot of whoops and hollers!

Strike was pretty easy (at least for me), and I decided to take some mementos including the Arsenal scarf (that’s a football team), the fake houseplant (b/c I have the one from off-Bway, and now they can be friends!), the bathrobe (b/c it was a green) and some neon pillows. Of course, I could not fit these in my bags, but our set designer Bob is coming to NYC next month, and offered to bring them to me! What a mensch!

We went to Phoenix one last time, and then to this dive The Six Pins, which our director mentioned in the show. Next, we went to the MD’s flat, and we played this phone game called “Psych”. By the time we were all ready to say goodbye, it was 3:30am, and I was not going to be able to take a night bus to the train for the 3:40am… it was either take 2 night buses which would take 2 hours, go to the train station and wait for the 6am train… or take a $65 Uber. For the first time in my life, I took a $65 Uber, which still took over a half hour…

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13TH, DAY 28

Being incredibly tired and a bit hungover, I took Monday very slowly. I did some packing, and then I finally went into London for my final time. I actually had forgotten the remaining programs and pins at the theatre, so I dropped by one more time, and got to say goodbye to some of the staff that wasn’t there on Sunday.

I took my final stroll and bench sit through St. James’s Park, and then went to meet Joyce for one final Italian (duh) restaurant. Afterwards, we got gelato, which is a final day of the trip tradition for me.

I went to see “Every Brilliant Thing” starring the incomparable Minnie Driver, who was so pleasant at the stage door afterwards. Only 6 people were waiting for her, which is so iconic!

I ended up talking to one of the fans, and we ended up hanging out in Leicester Square for a few hours before I took my final trip back to East Croydon where I finished packing, including stuffing programs in every nook and cranny in my bags…

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14TH, DAY 29

My AirBnB was nice enough to allow me to push back my checkout time, so I slept as late as I could, and got out a bit before 1pm to head over to Heathrow Airport.

My duffel and backpack were completely full and super heavy, and all 5 of my coat pockets were bulging, but I somehow managed to get to the Airport, and then eventually home! It was a pleasant surprise that I could just scan my face and then my passport to re-enter the country without a huge queue. I’m relieved that they have finally made international travel easier!

The flight home was uneventful; I had an empty seat next to me again, and I watched 3 movies: Megan 2.0 (surprisingly good sequel), How to Train Your Dragon (unnecessary live action remake), & The Actor (very weird & surreal film).

I worked Tuesday night till 1am, then worked about 12 hours on Wednesday, as well, to sort and catch up on things.

Sarah dropped Sweetums off on Wednesday, and after 20 minutes of exploring the apartment to make sure it was as he left it (he happily found his little fuzzy ball under the bed where he left it!), he promptly napped, and then when he got up, things were perfectly normal and it was as if we never said goodbye! I was very relieved that he wasn’t mad at me for deserting him for 4 weeks, and he seemed very happy to be home.

And even though it was one of the best moments of my life, it is a bit of a relief to be back for me, as well.

CONCLUSIONS

It’s just crazy that this month even happened! Looking back on it, I’m kind of incredulous, but I know it it, and it was just wonderful.

In other happy news, I actually lost about 10 pounds in London… and spent a lot more pounds living there… so, I lost pounds in more than one sense!

One final, final note of thanks to everyone involved in making “Love Quirks” London such an amazing experience, from those involved in the production, to those who invested in the show, and to those who came from far and near to see it. I appreciate you all! What an achievement to have produced this show first off-Broadway and then off-West End. I think the list of people who have done this is pretty small.

Before I wrap up, I wanted to let you know that I have switched to yet another email hosting server. After MailChimp went down to only being free for 500 subscribers of less, MailerLite decided to follow suit. I am now using the Newsletter plug-in through my webpage, which uses WordPress. This service is free for unlimited contacts, and it is my hope that these emails will not go to spam folders. And just FYI, I’ve decided to keep all show titles in quotes, instead of italics, just this time b/c the new system would make me go through the entire email to add them, and well, I just don’t feel like it!

Anyway, please let me know you got this and it didn’t go to your spam folder; and if you read this far… you are a rock star! Let me know how you are!

Always,
Seth