Looking back at Broadway

My bags were packed. I had memorized the subway maps and street names. I was on my way to the city that started it all, the city that never sleeps, the big apple, the big time.

Manhattan has been calling to me every since my parents began taking me to the California Music Circus in Sacramento. And add on seven-odd years of acting, singing, and dancing, it is not hard to understand the fascination I've had with Broadway. It is something that entices every theater geek, whether they care to admit it or not.

While I was never destined to headline any marquees, with each year of my youth that ticked away I felt I was long overdue to see where it all began, to make that sacred pilgrimage.

Manhattan is a right of passage for anyone. For those who covet fashion and Tim Gun, who swoon for the hip-hop of the Bronx, or even business moguls drooling for Wall Street, New York City is a hot bed of American culture. It is the city where dreams come true, and my dream was to get there.   

But like I said, my sights were set on 42nd and Broadway. My first glimpse of Times Square, standing outside the Will Rogers Theater, sitting in the old fashioned theater was something I never thought I would get to do. At least not as a sophomore in college.

My short stay on the biggest little island gave me two theater excursions: "In the Heights," the 2008 Tony Award winner for best musical, and "Billy Eliot: The Musical" the 2009 Tony Award winner for best musical.