They did it, they really did it.

This story could be about going to New York city in a 24 hour period, but it's not about that. That was simply a means to an end.

I woke up at 7:00 on Friday morning to go to work. I worked all day, and came home with the intention of going to Elich Gardens amusement park for some rides and haunts. It turned out that Brian was running late though, and so we decided to go to spider mansion haunted house instead. We went there and it was pretty good, better than frightmare this year. After that (and Brian making some cookies), I went home to get ready to leave. We were at the airport by midnight, and on the flight by 1:00.

We flew Jet Blue to NYC, and I must say that they are the best airline ever. Tickets were $100, and there was much more room than most planes. There was no first class, so everyone feels equal. The stewards and stewardesses were very friendly and helpful, and the choice of snacks and drinks is impressive, and made me forget that there was no meal. The best part of all though is you can watch direcTV the whole way for free.

After a delightful flight, we arrived at JFK airport, and took the AirTrain to the A-Line subway. We took the subway through Brooklyn and Manhattan (with a transfer to the 1) and finally arrived at 110th and Broadway, just a couple of blocks from Tom's Restaurant.

Tom's is famous to me because its the facade of Monk's coffee shop from Seinfeld, but others might know it as "Tom's Diner". I had been there before, and it was just as good as I remembered it. Rachel and I had the lumberjack breakfast which re-energized us for our day. After breakfast, we walked about halfway down central park, and then took a confusing number of subway trains to get to 51st and 5th. Rachel did some shopping, and then we headed to the Time Square area. We had some pizza (New York pizza is the best pizza, New York style does not cut it) and then hit Toys R Us before heading to 46th and 8th.

We walked up to the address expecting some sort of theater, or at least a sign. Instead there was a church, and a small placard that said "The Last Starfighter: A New Musical". We walked in the door, and headed up the stairs. This strange area seemed to be not part of the church, though it appeared that way on the outside. It was dingy, with peeling paint and a musty smell. The man at the desk looked very "theater" and I was happy that he was living his dream. He said the house wasn't open yet and so we waited on the benches.

By the time the house opened, there were about 20 people waiting, and that was pretty much the whole audience. We went into the theater, and I saw the Starlight Starbright trailer park in glorious plywood cutouts. And off to the side, a perfect recreation of the Starfighter arcade cabinet. At this point I was definitely impressed. The play began, and all the characters that I knew from the movie made their appearances, most were drastically different from the characters in the movie, and the lines were switched around. The strange thing is the lines were often nearly verbatim, but spoken by a different character. The songs were wonderfully cheesy, and the show was progressing just about how I imagined it.

Then Centauri drove in on a picnic table. The space effects were not very good, and for some reason, they just decided to use parts of town as space props. The picnic table was the starcar, and the gunstar. The star car, had absolutely no embellishments. It was just a picnic table. The gunstar at least, had a plywood cutout engine array, and a milk crate (undisguised) for the navigator to sit on.

The most troubling part of the play was that Grig was hurt in the initial attack, and so Centauri (who was only slightly injured by the zandozan) took up the role of navigator (Centauri and Grig were also brothers).

Overall, the play was hilarious and wonderfully cheesy. Seeing it was like some sort of feverish nightmare version of the movie. All the actors played two parts (trailer park, and space characters) which gave the play sort of a Wizard of Oz feel.

I am extremely happy that I saw the play, and I would do it again. I also recommend going to NYC for some weird reason in 24 hours to all of you.

Yes there are photos