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Even though you could probably guess, I'll say it anyway—I love New York. It's the best city in the world, and it vibrates with talent, creativity and possibilities.

As a theater arts major, the fact there's a city where I can go to a Broadway play or two every day is a little bit of heaven on earth for me. I'm always looking for reasons to hop a plane and go there. Fortunately, over the past few years, I've had a couple very good reasons to visit.

The first was to see my friend Holland Taylor perform at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center in ANN, the play she wrote and starred in about former Texas governor Ann Richards. It was a master class in acting watching Holland literally inhabit the spirt of Ann Richards.

Now you say, "Oh sure, of course he'd say that. He knows her." Just to be clear, she received a Tony nomination for Best Performance By A Leading Actress In A Play for her performance, so apparently I wasn't alone in my thinking.

This past April, the family and I hopped a plane to NY to see Hamilton. We'd had the tickets for a year, and even though it was coming to Los Angeles, we wanted to see it on Broadway. It's one of those rare plays that transcends the massive hype around it—for all you've heard, it's even better than that.

This October, I have yet another reason to head east. I don't know if you know this, but there's this singer from New Jersey I like quite a bit. Come to find out he's doing an 8-week residency on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theater. It will be a night of stories, music, with just him, the guitar and piano. It's a 946-seat theater, the smallest venue Bruce has played in 35 years. And I'm going to guess at that size, there are no bad seats.

For as hard as it is to get tickets to a regular Springsteen concert, I'm going to wish it was that easy come August 30th when they go on sale. I've already seen one estimate that said it'll sell out in 45 seconds.

While Bruce has never done a show this intimate, I imagine it will look and sound a little something along these lines, minus the farm:

I'm going to say my prayers, keep my fingers crossed, live right, and be nice to everyone I know in New York and just hope I can see this once-in-a-lifetime Springsteen show. I know, I can hear you saying, "Geez, hasn't he been to a billion Springsteen shows? When's it going to be enough?"

That's easy. Never.

Holland & Tony

As some of you may know by now, I decided to take a trip to New York a few weekends ago. I hadn't been there in a number of years, and for a variety of reasons it felt great to be back.

Not the least of which was the main reason I went in the first place: to see my friend Holland Taylor in ANN, the play she wrote and stars in about former Texas governor Ann Richards.

You know that feeling when you have an expectation about a show and hope the reality lives up to it? And you know that other feeling, the one where it wildly exceeds your expectations?

The second one.

The play was beyond whatever it was I'd imagined it would be. With the turn of a phrase, or a subtle change of tone or expression, Holland would have me laughing hysterically one minute, then crying the next. It's a performance filled with subtle nuance only a talent of Holland's caliber and experience could pull off, in the writing and the performance. A tour de force - one you come out of with the immovable conviction that the actor you've just seen is the only one you could ever imagine in the role.

The other thought I had was what a remarkable woman Ann Richards was. Outspoken, straight-shooting, wicked sense of humor and a low threshold for fools made her entry into politics an even more intriguing choice. It's not hard to see why Holland was drawn to her given their many common traits.

Anyway, to the surprise of absolutely no one who's seen her in the show, Holland is now nominated for Best Leading Actress in this year's Tony Awards. I keep telling her she needs to start working on her acceptance speech, and she keeps shushing me.

But she really needs to start working on her acceptance speech.

I know what you're thinking: I'm going on and on because she's my friend. How can I possibly be objective? It's a valid question.

Well, here's the thing about a once-in-a-lifetime role and an unforgettable performance: everyone can agree on it.

Holland Taylor is ANN

My friend Holland Taylor is starring on Broadway in a play she wrote about former Texas governor Ann Richards. If you're in New York, go see it. If you're not in New York, get there and see it.

Meanwhile, I'm going back to my own pet project: finding out where she gets the energy to do it all brilliantly, then bottling it.

Right after my nap.