Day 5, Part 2 - Freckleface Strawberry, the Musical! Greek Lunch, etc.

So a distant relative of ours, it's actually Samuel's Mom's Mom's, Cousin's Son, which makes it Kyla's 4th cousin I think, actually is directing the musical of  Julianne Moore's book Freckleface Strawberry.  Pretty cool!  Mimi (Samuel's Grandma) connected us on facebook, and Kyla & I made arrangements to meet him after the matinee show in Monday.  It was a special show since it was a holiday, they're usually weekend only.  Plus, they had a special 'talk back' to meet the cast and ask questions afterwards, which isn't normal either! 

 We had 2nd row, center seats.  It's a small theater, and the production was so good!  Kyla's cousin's wife was actually the choreographer too, although we didn't get to meet her this time. 

The set.  They spun it around and stuff to set the scenes, the musical was a little over an hour, and really, really good!  I enjoyed it quite a bit more than I expected, honestly.  Afterwards they opened the floor for questions, probably 2/3 of the people had left, but Kyla raised her hand up big and asked the first question after Buddy introduced her as Kyla, his cousin from Arkansas.  She asked about the set and how they changed the scenes so quickly, which actually fell into his area of expertise he said, so he answered it.  Then she asked 2 more questions later too, ha!  She does love a good question & answer session!!

The back of her program (not pictured) had a space for the actor & actresses autographs, which she got also, while I visited with Buddy for a minute.  What fun!

Kyla & her fourth cousin/Freckleface Musical Director Buddy :)

We were super hungry after this, and came across a nice Greek Restaurant walking to the subway, so that's what we had for lunch.  And, again, I feel like I keep saying this, but our waitress was just super nice, chatting with Kyla and stuff.  The salad & flatbread were both good.....

 But the moussaka was ah-mazing.  I've never had it before, but that was the one Greek food name I recognized (besides gyros, which I'd already had a different day, and wanted to try something new) and honestly had absolutely no idea what it was, ha!  Except that in my Big Fat Greek Wedding they eat it a lot, ha!  It was seriously soooo delicious.  I just googled it, since even after eating I wasn't quite sure what it was, the top was soooo creamy, just amazing....and it is "a casserole made by layering eggplant with a spiced meat filling then topping it off with a creamy bechamel sauce that is baked to golden perfection.  It is perhaps the most widely recognized of all Greek dishes and was made famous by the legendary Greek chef, Nicholas Tselementes."

 Carnegie Hall is apparently getting a pretty major facelift....

 Love this one!