<\/p>One of my favorite things about living in NYC is being able to experience the world\u2019s best entertainment. My dear friend Sara and I recently enjoyed two memorable nights of music and theater.\n

$\"U2\"$ <\/a>

U2 rocked Madison Square Garden<\/p><\/div>\n

U2 played on two stages and a suspended cage that served as both another stage and projector. Throughout the show, a series of images flashed\u2013from a rendering of teenage Bono writing a song for his future wife to family photos and shooting stars in \u201cIris,\u201d a moving tribute to his late mom. The setlist<\/a> covered tracks from their current album Songs of Innocence alongside classic hits including \u201cSunday Bloody Sunday,\u201d \u201cDesire,\u201d \u201cPride (In the Name of Love)\u201d and \u201cBeautiful Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sprinkled throughout were messages of social activism, filtered through the lens of the heartfelt reflection that comes with getting older. Bono spoke with gratitude for fan support of U2\u2019s Red campaign against AIDS, also expressing thanks for the band\u2019s longevity.<\/p>\n

For the encore, they ended with \u201cWhere The Streets Have No Name\u201d and a version of \u201cOne\u201d that had everyone happily obliging Bono\u2019s request to\u2013<\/p>\n

\u201cSing yourselves home.\u201d<\/p>\n

No doubt about it\u2014U2 is still one of the greatest rock bands of our time.<\/p>\n

Just a few days after being wowed by U2, Sara and I headed to the New Amsterdam Theater to see Aladdin<\/a>.<\/em> The stage version of Disney\u2019s beloved 1994 animated film delivers plenty of laughs, heart and romance.<\/p>\n

Dazzling choreography, colorful sets and rapid fire costume changes (337 costumes in total!) vividly bring the classic story to life. Aladdin features new songs penned for the show in addition to iconic numbers from the movie. Aladdin and Jasmin\u2019s magic carpet ride to \u201cA Whole New World\u201d is spectacularly recreated.<\/p>\n

$\"13.10_Aladdin2460g786\"$ <\/a>
James Monroe Iglehart dazzles as the genie (Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann\/AladdinTheMusical.com)<\/p><\/div>\n
Adam Jacobs is easy to like as Aladdin, Courtney Reed less so\u2014her portrayal of Jasmine comes off as more bratty than spunky. Jonathan Freeman, who voiced villainous Jafar in the movie, reprises his role with panache. He\u2019s almost upstaged by Don Darryl Rivera, a fireball of wicked energy as snarky sidekick Iago. But Aladdin\u2019s biggest star is Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart. With his infectiously charming portrayal of the genie, Iglehart brings down the house, truly making this iconic role his own.<\/p>\n
Aladdin<\/em> is pure joy \u2013 an Arabian Night that\u2019s enjoyable from start to final curtain call.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of my favorite things about living in NYC is being able to experience the world\u2019s best entertainment. My dear friend Sara and I recently enjoyed two memorable nights of music and theater. We joined a sold-out crowd… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[48,13,80],"tags":[132,131,133,130],"class_list":["post-388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadway-shows","category-concerts","category-pop-artists","tag-aladdin-on-broadway","tag-innocence-experience-tour","tag-james-monroe-iglehart","tag-u2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4J0fq-6g","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=388"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":396,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions\/396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}