Series: My Perfect Broadway Day – Laurel

Here at Broadway Inbound, we proudly know a thing or two about Broadway. We’re frequently asked what shows we’d personally recommend and what we like to do around the city. We thought we’d take you behind the scenes on what our perfect Broadway day would look like! Check out Laurel’s day below, and tell us about your perfect Broadway day over on our Facebook page.


I love a good theme, so when I plan a Broadway Day, I want to tie everything together. I have the great privilege of living in Brooklyn, where everything you never heard of is just a short walk or a subway ride away.

After I pick out a thematically appropriate outfit, my first stop is Smith Street Bagels (202 Smith St) for a typical New York breakfast. They always have off-beat flavors, but my Fall go-to is the Apple Spice Cream Cheese. It’s perfect for those crisp days we’ve been having where the air keeps you awake. Apple Spice Cream Cheese on a plain bagel with a blueberry-POM juice in hand, I can relax and read some Lore Olympus for a little bit.


If it’s early enough in the day, I’d like to visit my preferred flower shop: Lasting Art on 28th & 6th. There, I can find all kinds of flowers that will last forever…because they’re fake! That’s right, in the middle of NYC’s floral district is a shop devoted to fake flowers. I would pick up a red carnation to put in my hair and head off to my next activity.

New York has all the best tourist spots, but even better are all the underground thrifting opportunities! My favorite spot is Reminiscence (74 5^th Ave). While you’re there, say hi to the shop cat! Her name is Valentina and she especially likes head scritches. 


Newly-homed purchases in hand, my gut aches for something a little more nutritious than a bagel. I head over to Pokeworks (21 E 15^th St) for some fast-casual fresh fish and veggies. I would take my bowl to the Union Square Park and watch as folks walk side by side together.


One of my favorite things to do is take friends who have never seen a show I love to see it. That way, I can enjoy the show and enjoy their reactions to it! So after such an invigorating and relaxing day, I would grab my friend and go to this season’s hottest Broadway show, Hadestown at the Walter Kerr. I have been following this show since I first heard the original concept album in college. As soon as I saw a subway add for the New York Theatre Workshop production, I bought the tickets on my phone and counted the days until I could see it.


I loved getting to see the changes that were made once the show came to Broadway and there were lyrical changes galore! My personal favorite new lyric is Eyridice’s refrain at the end of “Wait For Me (Reprise)”: “I’m coming, wait for me/ I hear the walls repeating/ the falling of our feet and/ it sounds like drumming/ and we are not alone/ I hear the rocks and stones/ echoing our song/ I’m coming!” 


Hadestown is a spectacular event on its own and it’s easy to see why. But my friends are young and ready to party, so we want our night to keep going. What else can we find so late in the evening? There’s only one choice and that’s to make our way to Chelsea for a New York City staple of nightlife: a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Thoroughly exhausted and reeling from all of the day’s activities, I would hop onto the subway back home, listening to “Our Lady of the Underground” the whole way.