Watching a Newsroom Go Broadway, Eating Unicorn Taiyaki, and Visiting Hamilton’s Grave

Today contained much Broadway and much journalism — two of my favorite words. I saw “Ink," a British play that tells the story of Rupert Murdoch’s takeover and transformation of the British tabloid The Sun, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The show closed today, so I got to see the last performance, a kind of nerdy theater thing that had been on my New York bucket list.

This was yet another show that I got a discounted student ticket for thanks to the Manhattan Theatre Club’s 30 under 30 program, which offers $30 tickets to theatergoers younger than 30. The box office lady scrutinized my ID for a good long while checking my birth date (I gave her my NYU student ID at first, but she said she needed something with a birth date, so I fished in my bag for my driver’s license). I understand the need to verify ages and all, but do I look over 30? It’s not like there wasn’t a long line behind me at will call!

I was up in the front of the mezzanine for this one, which meant I got a full view of the towering newsroom set.

It’s impossible to see this play as a journalist and not be excited by it. I never knew the publication process could be so dramatic — we’re talking smoke, editor conga lines (!), a photographer holding a printing plate over his head like Simba in The Lion King, singing nightclub girls, and a booming “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”-esque soundtrack.When the photographer descends to the basement presses on a trap door, hoisting the print plate above his head in a cloud of swirling smoke, it brought to mind the “I Can Make You a Man” scene in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”!

The conga line comes at the beginning of the play when editor Larry Lamb is recruiting staffers to work under him at Rupert Murdoch’s newly purchased paper, “The Sun.” Picture a grizzled old sports editor, a women’s issues editor, a horoscope writer, a balding and bespectacled news editor, and a long-haired photographer in bell-bottom pants who looks like Shaggy from “Scooby-Doo” all dancing around the stage in a conga line, accompanied by a bass beat, and you’ve got the recruiting scene. I was chortling because of how outlandish but also hilarious and captivating it was. Now I wish every day in the newsroom were so musical!

“Ink” is a very British play — it transferred from the West End, where Bertie Carvel won an Olivier Award (the British equivalent of a Tony) for his portrayal of Murdoch. I felt like I was back in London between the accents and slew of British slang, such as “fag” for cigarette, that definitely would’ve confused me if I hadn’t lived in England for a while!

Carvel sounds exactly like a young Michael Crawford in “Some Mothers Do Have ‘Em,” a 1970s British sitcom. Watch this clip, and you’ve heard Carvel’s high-pitched Murdoch voice.

The set also reminds me of the one used for “Cursed Child." The backdrop ripples between front pages like the Cursed Child backdrop warps when they travel through time (which is also, I suppose, what's happening here).

The first act is heavy on the drama as the fledgling paper gets off the ground and does anything and everything to attract readers (the editor offers a bonus to his staff every time they get the words “free,” “sex,” and “love” on the front page). The second act is equally compelling as the paper deals with coverage of a crisis that affects one of their own, and also introduces the infamous topless photos of women in a bid to outsell “The Daily Mirror.” Murdoch is never keen on the topless photos in the play, but he agrees to allow them in the end, because, as he asks, “Who needs friends when you have readers?” The only place the play slows down is in the end, which is an unnecessarily long “let’s wrap this all up” extended reflection chat between Murdoch and Lamb.

Nevertheless, “Ink” is easily in the top three plays I’ve seen during my time here — another production that I’m sorry to see close! (Tap-dancing editors in bowler hats are always a plus.)

After the play, I headed to the Trinity Church graveyard near Wall Street. I visited the graves of Alexander Hamilton, Angelica Schuyler, John Watts, and more influential early Americans.

Then it was time for some crazy Instagrammable fun at Taiyaki NYC in Chinatown. You get the idea when the shop’s slogan is “That fish cray.”

I opted for a unicorn taiyaki cone, which is vanilla ice cream and rainbow sprinkles inside a red bean-filled taiyaki fish cake, topped with an edible gold unicorn horn and ears.

The taiyaki may look like your typical cake cone, just in a fish shape. However, it’s actually spongy and thick like a pancake, and pairs well with the ice cream.

However, I was not a fan of the red bean paste in the bottom of the cake.

Taiyaki are traditionally filled with red bean paste, but also come filled with custard, cream cheese, matcha, and more (remember that custard-filled one I got last month from Delimanjoo?). This one was traditional, and the paste reminded me of refried beans. Why on earth would you want that inside an otherwise perfectly good ice cream-filled pancake cone? Thankfully, there wasn’t much of it.

Taiyaki NYC specializes in Instagrammable food, and also offers unicorn floats (that’s a taro slush inside the inflatable above, which you get to keep) and fluffy matcha souffle pancakes (Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.). I may need to come back for a plate of those pancakes.

Coming up: It’s another week of late-night shifts. I’m planning to tour Madison Square Garden tomorrow afternoon and Yankee Stadium at some point this week with my NYC Explorer pass. There’s also a free Broadway in Bryant Park concert Thursday afternoon, featuring the casts of “Be More Chill,” “Stomp,” “Wicked,” “King Kong,” and more. It’s the first of the summer, and from here on out the concerts happen every Thursday from 12:30-1:30 in Bryant Park with a different lineup of shows each week. It’s a great way to sample Broadway shows for free!

Bonus pics: I strolled down to Rockefeller Center to watch the sunset this evening, and also captured the iconic statue (which is kind of in the middle of a table-service restaurant I might’ve pretended to eat at to get this photo).