You might be a tourist before you board “The Ride,” but you will come off a New Yorker. Just ask Josh Groban, he had such a good time he even mentioned it on Regis and Kelly. I saw Josh a week later and teased him about it, and he gushed about his experience. Created by avant-garde theatrical entrepreneur Michael Counts, written by John Bobey (credits include late-night television comedy) and directed by Daniel Goldstein (Broadway credentials), “The Ride” is pure silliness and highly entertaining for both residents and tourists alike.
“The Ride” is part 3D tour bus, part game show, and part live entertainment with a crew of street performers and tour-guides to create a unique theatrical glimpse of the Big Apple. Boasting 49 seats that face windows stretching nearly the length of the bus, it is like being a part of one gigantic fish bowl experiment. The transparent side of the bus allows outsiders to see in and the riders to see out. During the 75-minute ride, 40 video screens and 3,000 LED lights are illuminated. Four buses are touring now, leaving from the Marriott Marquis in Times Square (44th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue).
Join us as we take “The Ride” with incognito producer Pat Addiss of “The Fantasticks” and next year’s Broadway hit “A Christmas Story.”
7:00 – We board as our guides Scott and Jackie tell us about their backgrounds. Scott was educated in urban planning at Columbia University and Jackie is a world traveler (I have since found out that there are 18 Scotts and Jackies).
7:05 – The bus talks (think “Quantum Leap”), we are taught the “Ride wave” and people around us freak out. They must be tourists because the New Yorkers ignore us for the most part.
7:08 – We cross Broadway at dusk. Figures rush to the theatre or just meander as neon lights fill our senses.
7:09 The Naked Cowboy flashes his tush as an Asian man with a boa and party paraphernalia reserves his spot for New Year’s Eve. He interacts with the riders and everyone walking past him. We end with a bus countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Happy New Year!
7:11 – We are told we should feel like celebrities because the bus is a celebrity, but I notice Jeremy Jordan of “Newsies” on the Disney Store, and “The Vampire Diaries” star Paul Wesley and his (pretty little liar) wife Torrey DeVitto getting out of a cab headed for a show. Nobody else realizes this.
7:13 – SpongeBob, Super Mario brothers, Smurfette and Elmo are all hanging out in front of Toys-R-Us.
7:14 – We pass Madison Square Park on Broadway (between West 42nd Street and West 47th Street.) They have a Free Summer Concert Series. On July 11th, singer-songwriter and stand-up comic Nellie McKay will perform. Her debut album, Get Away From Me, was a breakout with the hit Norah Jones record that came out around the same time.
7:15 – The vehicle spews out “fun facts” about the famous sailor kiss in Times Square.
7:16 – A man in a business suit drops his briefcase and leaps into a tap dance routine. Could he be an escaped Wall Streeter who longs to dance in the 1930’s musical “42nd Street?” Those on the street simply ignore him, which is hysterical.
7:17 – A man dressed as a devil, painted red with horns and in his underwear, strolls by with an “end of the world” sign. He is not part of the act, but that is the best part of “The Ride;” everyone is in the show.
7:20 – Our tour guides banter the entire way with “fun facts” about the sights and quiz show questions. Examples: “The grime cleaned off the ceiling of Grand Central Terminal in 1998 was a thick layer of tar and nicotine. Did you know? The Chrysler Building’s spiral was secretly prepared and mounted so that the result would surprise rivals as the world’s tallest building — but the effort was trumped by the Empire State Building and the soon to be Freedom Tower.”
7:23 – A man from the Foreign Legion starts tap dancing for us, just because he is waiting for a city bus.
7:24 – I spy a very pregnant Uma Thurman with her son, Levon. The other passengers again do not notice her.
7: 28: – At 140 East 45th Street, a late-night deliveryman hip-hops, spins and flips into an elaborate break-dance routine.
7: 30 – Spotted: rap artist in SUV. This one is the real deal.
7:33 – We pass the New York Public Library and Bryant Park where HBO and Bryant Park’s Summer Film Festival takes place on Mondays at 5:00pm on The Lawn:
June 18th: “Psycho”
June 25th: “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
July 2nd: “The Wizard of Oz”
July 9th: “On the Waterfront”
7:35 – Rap artists are in demand. Another bursts into song, grabbing passersby to join in and he succeeds, proving that everyone is a ham when someone offers them an audience.
7:40 – We pass New York’s newest tourist attraction, “Times Scare.”
7:43 – A man stretching on his way to an audition asks for directions as he sings, “How Do You Get to Broadway?”
7:46 – Radio City where Cirque Du Soleil’s fabulous “Zarkana” has returned.
7:50 – “The Ride” simulates the subway, thankfully without the smell.
7:52 – A woman in front of Carnegie Hall sings an aria from “Carmen.” (“I just got off the bus from Iowa, I’m hoping if I sing outside here, Mr. Carnegie will pass by and discover me.”) She then breaks into “Edge of Glory.” Eat your heart out Lady Gaga because she is good.
7:58 – The most magical part of the evening, as “The Ride” goes around Columbus Circle. A ballet dancer, whose outfit is completely lit up, romantically dances with a man wearing a backpack. They are wonderful and it is beautiful.
8:00 – We pass Central Park and its handsome cabs as the romance of New York continues.
8:02 – Arabs dance on the street for us.
8:03 – America’s largest TGI Fridays at 50th Street and 7th Avenue.
8:07 – Miss Kitty dances towards us, as our tour guides have us singing a karaoke version of Kander and Ebb’s “New York, New York.” The words flash on the screens and we successfully involve those on the sidewalk. This is a part of the shared phenomenon of who is onstage and who isn’t.
8:10 – Landing. We leave feeling like we have seen it all when in truth it was only a 4.2-mile ride.
The cost is $59 or $65 depending on the departure time, but there are coupons to be had.
Posted by Suzanna Bowling
on June 8, 2012. Filed under FAMILY,Family,NEWS,Secrets of Times Square.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
You must be logged in to post a comment Login