Our trip finished with a showing of "Steel Magnolias" at the Lyceum Theatre on 149 West 45th Street. The show was based on the movie starring Julia Roberts, Sally Fields, Dolly Parton, Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine, Dylan McDermott, and Tom Skerritt. It is a story of family and friends who work through tragedy and celebration including a death and a wedding The play is centered around a beauty shop owned by Truvy Jones, who was Parton's character in the movie and was portrayed by Delta Burke in the play.

While I enjoyed the movie immensely--after all, it is considered one of the top chick flicks and biggest tearjerkers, right alongside that Debra Winger classic "Terms of Endearment"--I thought that the play was geared more as a comedy rather than a drama until the very end. There were plenty of laughs and some tears at the conclusion, but the overall show was extremely entertaining. Delta Burke was phenomenal. At one point, she looked like she was having so much fun that at a serious point in the show, she looked like she could barely keep from laughing.

Our seats were located in the orchestra section, within the first ten rows. My seat was actually front row, stage right. Not a seat I would recommend. You are looking up almost at a right angle and besides being a little uncomfortable, you could not see the entire stage set. The best seats in my opinion are center stage orchestra 4-6 rows back.

Our tickets ran $78 per person due to our group rate, and the show we saw was one of the last, as the run was almost completed and expected to end within the following two weeks.

A little about the theatre:

Originally built in 1903 by Daniel Frohman and as told by our usher at the performance, the theatre is haunted by a person waving a white handkerchief from the top level. According to our program "Still visible is the famous peephole from which Frohman could see actors on stage and wave a handkerchief to his actress/wife Margaret Illington if she was overacting."

The apartment above the theatre previously owned by Frohman and his wife is now home to the Shubert Archives, part of the organization that now owns the theatre.