Finding #HairGoals (NOT) at The Met, Standing — Then Sitting — for “Chicago,” and Seeing John Oliver

Buckle up — today was another busy day (this is what happens when you give me an entire day off from work).

First up this morning: Broadway’s “Chicago.” I took the subway to the Ambassador Theatre box office first thing to get a standing-room ticket for tonight (“Chicago" is one of the few Broadway productions that have Monday shows).

“But Sarah,” you may be wondering, “I thought you had a ticket for Seth Meyers? How are you going to attend both a late-night TV taping and a Broadway show on the same night?”

You fastened that seatbelt, right? OK, just checking, because things are about to get a little crazy.

Seth Meyers tapes at Rockefeller Center from 6:30-7:45 p.m. (with check-in around 5 p.m.).

It’s a seven-minute walk to the Ambassador Theatre, where “Chicago” is playing.

My estimate on the “Chicago” curtain drop was 8:07 p.m. (I’ve seen enough Broadway shows by now to say that seven minutes after the listed time is about average, unlike in London, where every show starts EXACTLY at the posted time).

We'll see how this goes, I thought.

But for now, I headed to the Met to check out the Modern and Contemporary and European Paintings (1250-1800) collections. I’m still not even close to through with this museum (or even one floor of it). It is mind-blowingly large.

For that reason, I took one of the hour-long highlights tours this afternoon, which spotlighted eight works across galleries from both well-known artists like Jackson Pollock (who left a few shoeprints on his canvases — oops) and anonymous Roman and Indian sculptors. My guide had such a breadth and depth of knowledge of art from so many different eras, and I was impressed by her ability to provide such detailed answers to everyone’s questions.

One of the pieces the tour covered was Thomas Hart Benton’s “America Today,” a room-sized mural of ten canvas panels. Amazingly, it only took him three months to complete (because he planned it and modeled practice figures for six months beforehand). For reference, some of the large portraits in the European Painting galleries that are the size of ONE of these panels took the artists YEARS to finish. And a fun fact: Jackson Pollock, who was Benton’s student, served as the model for at least one of the figures (he was, umm, apparently very muscular). “America Today” was a commissioned work for a progressive education center in Greenwich Village, but the only payment Benton received was free eggs (he used the yolks to create his egg tempera paint).

Some of my other favorite pieces I saw today: The Pollock shoe print in “Autumn Rhythm,” which he accidentally stepped on.

An unfinished painting by Albrecht Durer, less for the work itself than out of admiration that someone could be so good that their unfinished work is worthy of inclusion alongside elaborate (and finished) portraits in a museum.

The Goya collection [most of which he painted just before his Black Paintings era of blindness and deafness, which I (shameless plug!) published an article about a year ago].

Cupid caught in the act of urinating on Venus (gotta love the symbolism).

And finally, that, my friends, is hair.

After today’s gallery-gazing, I was left pondering the question of what all these portraitists and painters would be doing if they lived in an era in which these jobs no longer existed. Which ones would be tech gurus, travel agents, graphic designers, data scientists, Uber drivers …? Would they be just as good at something else, or be lost to obscurity? *Cue thought spiral*

After my Met visit, I headed to the “Late Night with Seth Meyers” taping at NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center. The show tapes at 6:30 p.m., and I checked in around 5 p.m.

They announced before we went in that if anyone had a ticket to a Broadway show this evening, now would be the time to leave, because you wouldn’t be done in time to make it (me: Unless you’re crazy and get a ticket to a show at the one theater close enough to pull a double bill with. *Laughs maniacally*).

The theater is much smaller than you’d think — there’s no upper deck, and it seats fewer than 180 people. But that means it’s an intimate experience if you DO manage to get a ticket! And unlike the “Last Week Tonight” and “Live with Kelly and Ryan” seats (but especially the “Last Week Tonight” ones, which are folding-chair-like), the seats in this theater are padded, cushy, plush, and comfy.

Tonight’s guests were John Oliver and CC Sabathia. So thrilled to get to see Oliver again — I can’t pick a favorite, but he and Colbert are my two favorite current late-night comedians.

While Meyers is nice and a quality interviewer, I don’t find him funny in the same way I do Oliver. This seemed to be the case for many others in the audience as well, as Oliver far outranked Meyers in the laughter department during the interview portion (I’m sure Meyers was being gracious and letting him land the best jokes, but that only goes so far …). Even in the off-camera bits, Oliver was hilarious.

On-camera, I got to watch him tell Harry Potter stories (he does look like Harry Potter, especially when he had the round glasses a few years ago — J.K. Rowling apparently agreed) and tell jokes about British prime ministers being obligated to have tea with the Queen every week (wait, what?!). Looking forward to watching the episode!

Also of note: Oliver talks so fast that Meyers seems glacially slow by comparison (watching a “Last Week Tonight” taping leaves you breathless by the end as you struggle to digest all the rapid-fire info).

After his interviews, Meyers took audience questions for 15 minutes while his crew set up the stage for tonight’s music act, Mini Mansions. Meyers stood right next to me as he answered questions, which was pretty cool. I’m also in the upper right-hand corner of the promos he filmed tonight for his post-debate live shows on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Everything was running smoothly for me to make it to “Chicago” on time, but then right before they released the audience, the producer announced they needed to film the musical act again due to a technical problem. They re-set the stage and re-filmed the song while I inwardly cringed.

After they released us for real, I didn’t look at the time on my phone before running two avenues and a street over to the Ambassador Theatre, where I arrived around … 7:52! Much earlier than I was expecting — hooray (I suppose they build in a buffer when they tell Seth Meyers audiences the taping ends at 7:45 in case they need to re-shoot a portion).

I secured my standing-room spot in the back of the orchestra (when I bought the ticket, the woman at the box office told me it IS a great view, though standing — she was right. The Ambassador Theatre doesn't have a miles-long orchestra like the one at Old National Centre in Indy — there are only 17 rows). The curtain dropped at 8:03 p.m., and I was on my way to the Jazz Age!

This was the first time I’d seen the iconic show, and it struck me as “The Great Gatsby” meets “Legally Blonde.” The spare set makes the show ideal for a touring production, as the orchestra members sit onstage and the cabaret singers dance, climb, and sing on the various platform levels. I recognized many of the songs, from “All That Jazz” (of course) to “Cell Block Tango” to “Razzle Dazzle.” “Cell Block Tango” was my favorite of the bunch.

About half an hour into the first act, during a minute or two in the show while the orchestra played as things were moved around on set, I got a wonderful surprise: The ushers took the 10-ish standing-room people up the staircase to the front mezzanine and directed us to empty seats scattered throughout the section. Since it was just me in my party (and what a party it was!), I got a single second-row seat in the section, which is extraordinarily close to the stage (because, as I mentioned, the orchestra is pretty shallow). I could see faces before, but now I could REALLY see faces. So, basically, I ended up paying $27 for a $150 prime seat. WIN!

The standout in this show was the actor who played Roxie Hart’s husband, Amos (Evan Harrington). He was hilarious.and got by far the loudest applause at the end of the night.

As for where “Chicago” ranks among the musicals I’ve seen this summer: It’s below “Come From Away” and “Tootsie,” but above “Beautiful” and “The Prom.” I might try for an approximate ranking of all the shows I’ve seen this summer at some point, but it’s hard to compare a comedic musical like “Tootsie” or “The Prom” to a more somber production like “The Black Clown” or “Fairview.” There have definitely been clear standouts (“My Fair Lady,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune”) and clear flops (“Be More Chill” might be the worst offender), though.

Finally, today in food: A spicy lamb platter from The Halal Guys in the East Village. They have a brick-and-mortar spot on 14th Street in addition to the carts scattered around the 50th Street and 6th and 7th Avenue area, which is where I went tonight.

Unlike the joke-worthy platters from the carts, the salad in this one isn't just a few pieces of lettuce, but is legitimately half the plate (the other half is rice). I usually get a small combo beef/chicken platter, but the lamb (only available at the East Village location) is the best meat of theirs I've had.

I can’t believe I only have 11 days left in New York — the summer went by far too quickly!