October passed in a blur because I had a trip I have been anticipating for well over a year now – Egypt! I traveling to Egypt from October 7-16. The timing was not great with everything happening over there but I was with a group and I was safe the entire time. It was an incredible experience to visit Egypt and I’m so glad I went!
Yet I still managed to keep busy at home too! I went to the Brooklyn Book Festival on October 1st – it’s held annually and I highly recommend checking it out if you’re local to NYC!
I attended 2 concerts and saw 5 Broadway shows.
I only read 3 books this month and DNF-ed 1, but I think that’s still pretty good considering I didn’t read at all while traveling and then recovering once home.
I’ve always heard about ALA (American Library Association) Annual and after the past 2 years living through a pandemic, I decided to finally attend this year since it was in Washington, D.C. – not too far from NYC where I live.
Freestyle Love Supreme was one of my all time favorite shows I’ve seen on Broadway back in 2019/2020 before the pandemic, and it brought me so much joy seeing it again when it reopened for a limited engagement in 2021/2022. While it is currently closed on Broadway, Freestyle Love Supreme (FLS) is touring the country and I decided to make a quick trip south to Philadelphia to see FLS over the weekend!
The tour is still stopping in San Diego and Los Angeles and I would highly recommend checking it out! (See website for details.)
I’m going to try and be as honest and open in my reviews as I can. Please note these are my personal opinions and I’m always open to discussions!
Show Name: Freestyle Love Supreme Show Type: Improv Location: Miller Theater (formerly Merriam Theater) – Philadelphia, PA Date Seen: Saturday, June 11, 2022 at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday, June 12, 2022 at 1pm Ticket Type: Rear balcony and lottery Price paid: $38.50 for rear balcony, $25 for lottery
For those who don’t know – FLS is a freestyle (hence the name), improvisational, hip-hop comedy show. Every night the performers take suggestions from the audience and spin them into instantaneous riffs and full-length musical numbers. Every night is different: no two shows are the same. Lin-Manuel is a founder, producer, and friend of the show, and at any given performance, he may or may not be part of the cast.
(There’s a documentary on Hulu called “We Are Freestyle Love Supreme” which I highly recommend!)
I had the quickest but best weekend in Philadelphia. When I won the lottery for 1 Freestyle Love Supreme show I figured might as well make a weekend out of it and see it a few times!
I forgot how much I truly love seeing this show, it brings me so much joy and each show is unique! I miss it and I told all the performers I talked to how I missed it on Broadway and we all hope it’ll come back
First Freestyle Love Supreme show – 2pm Saturday. Got off my bus, went straight to the theater, and asked for the cheapest ticket – $38.50 for rear balcony, I’ll take it! It’s funny bc you could clearly see where the price break was with the seats. There were rows and rows of empty seats in front bc those were more expensive
This show we had Jelly Donut as MC (I love him but he’s so R-rated he shouldn’t be the matinee MC LOL), Dizzy – who I’ve never seen before!, James Monroe Inglehart, and Kaiser Rozë as the beatboxer. And we had Chris Jackson as the special guest!
The audience was really good for this early show I must say! Our verb was self destruct. So good!!! And truth was karate.
James always does the best truths. I learn so much about him and it’s so interesting!!
Jelly’s second chance story was when he was a teenager he thought it’d be a good idea to set fire on the train tracks in his hometown of rural Maine – I had heard this story before but always a good one.
Everyone came out to stage door and it was so chill and so great ahhhhh how I missed this interaction!!!
Then it was over to my friends place to rest for a bit before grabbing dinner and bringing her to her first FLS show! I love bringing new people to see my favorite show!
Freestyle Love Supreme 8pm was a lottery win and I had a feeling it would be front row – and it was! Nice to see the show from front row – there was a huge gap between the stage and the seats so it wasn’t as close as at the Booth Theatre but still great!
This show was Two Touch as Mic 1, James Monroe Inglehart, Chris Jackson, and Kaiser Rozë with special guest Jellis J. This was my first time ever seeing Jellis J, so that was exciting! I thought he was great and I always love learning more about the performers.
The 8pm show was lively and I loved it! The verb was Skedaddle and the truth was Penne Pasta.
They always “pose” doing the verb at the end and for this one they literally just ran off stage – ON POINT!!!
Two Touch’s second chance story was a new one I hadn’t heard before! He even said “this is a follow up story after I tore my ACL for those of you that have heard that one.” When his baby was 9 months old his partner had to go away for a week for a work trip so he was going to be in charge for a week and take care of moving from one apartment to another. He has one job – crib was last thing packed up and first thing unpacked. But when he got to new place he couldn’t find screws for the crib and called his wife and said these famous last words “we will never be even again” – his wife still taunts him to this day with these words.
Stage door was busier at night than it was during the afternoon but I still got everyone to sign my playbill! I only took a picture with Two Touch this time since I had everyone else from earlier.
Then it was time for some much needed rest
Sundays afternoon show was at 1pm which feels much too early for Freestyle Love Supreme honestly. Just because of the nature of the show….this was the least favorite of the 3 shows I saw – it’s never bad per say, the audience just wasn’t as good. Again I asked the box office for the cheapest ticket and got rear balcony for $38.50 again – but right before the show started me and 2 other ladies moved closer front since those seats were still empty. Happy we moved forward!
This show had Jelly Donut on Mic 1, Dizzy on Mic 2, Chris Jackson on Mic 3, and Mandible on beats. With special guests Two Touch and a wild Kaiser Rozë! Happy to see those two one last time
The verb was vaporize and truth was diet soda. Not my favorite round of truth sadly
Jelly’s second chance story was as a 4th grader the kids would play chicken on the monkey bars – he was very good at it and one day a girl challenged him and he thought he’d win but she gripped his legs so hard his pants and underwear fell down so he let go of the monkey bars so fast but the damage was done I hadn’t heard this one before!! Almost all the second chance stories were new!
I’m glad I could see the show one last time! There was also a 6:30pm show but with getting back to NYC via bus, the timing just wasn’t as good so I had to skip that one.
One last stage door to say my goodbyes to the cast! It was gross and raining in the morning but by the afternoon it was bright and sunny! Took photos with the cast again, I had to!
They’re all so sweet but Kaila (Kaiser Rozë) and Anthony (Two Touch) really are my favorites. I told Kaila this was my last show and she hugged me I love her!!!
Overall just a great experience and I love this cast soooo much. I missed them! I’m glad I decided to go and see these shows – I was really on the fence about it but that lottery win pushed me over and made me do it. And I’m so happy Got me some pride FLS playbills!!!
Have you ever seen an improv show before? What did you think of it?
I’ve been a long time follower of Scott’s Cheap Flights newsletter and social media pages. I’m always in awe when I see super cheap flights pop up, but have never had the guts to just book a flight without intense planning and choosing dates ahead of time. This book was a refreshing read and motivator to remind me that I should take more vacations. Its difficult in present time with COVID restrictions, but travel isn’t going anywhere and cheap flights are here to stay.
Title: Take More Vacations: How to Search Better, Book Cheaper, and Travel the World Author: Scott Keyes Series: n/a Genres: Non-fiction, Travel
We can’t believe it’s been a week since Bookcon already. We look forward to this event every year; to meet new people, check out more books and hopefully grab some ARCs along the way to feature on this blog!
We made a very lengthy schedule that we tried to stick to as much as possible and it worked out pretty successfully! We like to plan as much as we can but accept you won’t be able to do everything.
This will easily be one of my favorites books of 2018. Everything about this book was beautiful, even when it was heartbreaking. The writing flows like a watercolor brush on a page.
CW: Suicide, Mental illness – Depression – these are prevalent themes.
Title: The Astonishing Color of After Author: Emily X.R. Pan Rating: 5/5 stars
Just because of the nature of the show….this was the least favorite of the 3 shows I saw – it’s never bad per say, the audience just wasn’t as good. Again I asked the box office for the cheapest ticket and got rear balcony for $38.50 again – but right before the show started me and 2 other ladies moved closer front since those seats were still empty. Happy we moved forward!
I love her!!! 
Got me some pride FLS playbills!!! 
Frayed Books 