Do Yourself a Favor and get Tickets to "Sleep No More" An Unparalleled Interactive Theatrical Experience.

Sleep No More. @ the McKittrick Hotel, Manhattan.

A Review of Tonight's Performance.

5 stars!!!  Two thumbs up!!!  Broke through the "fourth wall" with flying colors!  Imagine being in a movie that combines Stephen King's "The Shining" with "Eyes Wide Shut" and you're pretty close to the actual experience of wandering the halls of "Sleep No More".

The Setup.
The venue is an old hotel in Chelsea that is no longer in service and probably looks just as it did back in it's heyday in the 1920's. You enter into a speakeasy style bar where they serve shots of absinthe, among other things, and wait for your number to be called.  Bar area reminded me of the movie Midnight in Paris when Owen Wilson travels back in time (great flick BTW).

Interactive Theater. 

The hotel contains 5 floors of fabulous bone chilling themes and actors, each containing multiple rooms and tons to explore.  No blood or gore, just old fashioned creepiness. Rooms included: A maze of trees. A graveyard. An insane assylum right out of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".  embalming studio, funeral home, ballroom, lounge, bedroom, bars, taxidermy, operating room, the list goes on and on.

My Comnentary.
Hands down one of the coolest experiences I've had.  Everyone was anonymous and free to roam.  You really got out of your own head and just went with the flow.  No rules (except for no talking), you really had the run of the place.  All guests were given masks upon entering and were instructed not to speak while going through the hotel.  We all wore the same white mask with a beak and couldn't tell one person from the next.  I went with three friends and didn't see them all night. 

"We're Bobbing on the Surface..."

  

The Lever House, Midtown East, always has interesting displays in the lobby.  This one's no exception, with an odd looking fish tank surrounded by plants.

Side Note: This post is yet another outcome of trying to utlize a photo and not having much in the way of commentary.  My go to solution has become the following: Insert cool Phish song lyrics & video 

 "...And the shadow glides below...They say she feels my heartbeat, Oh, but how I'll never know..."

"...That it’s the ocean flowing in our veins, Oh..that it’s the salt that’s in our tears, Oh..’cause we could have come so very far, Oh..in at least as many years! Take the highway through the great divide, I’m building you a pyramid, With limestone blocks so large, I drag them from the mountain top, You’ll need a two car garage, And it’s the ocean flowing in our veins, Oh..that it’s the salt that’s in our tears, Oh..cause we could have come so very far, Oh..in at least as many years, Take the highway through the great divide." 

Phish: The Wedge.  If you're not familiar, this song is great! A video is provided below for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy!

"Patience, Grasshopper" (This is what happens, Larry: when I want to use photos of Buddist statues in a blog but have no idea what to write)

 Kung Fu lines?  Why not...
 
"Ha, ha, never assume because a man has no eyes he cannot see. Close your eyes. What do you hear?"






"I hear the water, I hear the birds."

"Do you hear your own heartbeat?"

"No."

"Do you hear the grasshopper that is at your feet?"

"Old man, how is it that you hear these things?" 

"Young man, how is it that you do not?"

Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste...

I've been around for a long, long year...

...Stole many a man's soul and faith.

Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, oh yeah

Ah, what's puzzling you

Is the nature of my game

Have some courtesy

Have some sympathy, and some taste

Use all your well learned politesse

Or I'll lay your soul to waste.

Took the liberty of adding the soundtrack to this random Oreo Cookie birthday bash in Union Square.  Because really, is there anyone you'd rather celebrate your 100th with than Sir Mick?

Confucius Say: "Sunshine on Money Tree Bodes Well for Business"

 My office window needed some good luck.  Pretty sure the money tree was a solid addition to the decor.  Time to make it happen, Captain!
Who says money doesn't grow on trees???

New York City Lights = Equation that Needs No Proof Statement.

Park Avenue +

+ Dusk + Clear Sky = Pretty. 

Breaking news: the above equation may hold up better than Einstein's theory of relativity and Newton's three laws of motion combined.  However, further hypothesis testing is currently underway, the results of which will be recorded in relevant scientific journals.  But only after the double-blind testing phase is complete.  Tune in for updates.

So True.

Your Daily Dose of Culture. Brought to you by Smithsonian.

Compliments of the Native American Museum:  Can't go wrong with this museum.  Really interesting displays and surprisingly good food court.

Native Americans are into rainbows...

Concentric circles...

The interplay of light and dark...

 And beautiful wood carvings.  So am I.

Compliments of the The Freer Gallery, which has a world-renowned collection of art from China, Japan, Korea, South and Southeast Asia, and the Near East.  Very cool.

 These were used in Buddist temples.  Represent North, South, East and West.  Each are standing on demons, representing the Buddist's triumph over evil.

                    Mask.

                              Bodhisattva. 

BI were Jade funeral objects used in China.

 Well hello there.  Some cool cats.                       

This guy: (right) was a guardian at the gates of some fine establishment in Asia.  Looks pretty imposing.  He really just wants to party. 

DC Blitzkrieg

No better way to spend a Sunday afternoon...

....than hanging on the National Mall with good friends...

...and cherry blossoms

Haven't we met somewhere before?

Alligators at an Irish bar in the Village...

...are out of control.