Recently, my siblings and I were strapped with ideas on what to get my mom for Christmas. By chance, around Thanksgiving, I saw that she received a flyer for Porgy and Bess on Broadway.

Basically, we grew up listening to my mom sing this musical around the house. When you’re a kid and your mom just starts yelling about living on Catfish Row…you can imagine one would be rather confused. But over the years, I guess we grew to appreciate the musical…So, we decided to get her tickets to see the play on Broadway. She is pretty excited about it.

I was just as excited when my sister surprised Russell and I with tickets to see Stick Fly. I had recalled hearing something about the play one morning on New York One, and I knew that it was produced by Alicia Keys…What I did not know was that it had a star-studded cast including Mekhi Phifer (Soul Food, 8 Mile, Dawn of the Dead) Dule Hill (USA’s Psych), veteran actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Condola Rashad (Phylicia and Ahmad Rashad’s daughter) and more note-worthy actors and actresses.

I won’t give the story away, but it includes family drama, racial, social and economic debates, and it inspires truth and honor.

I’m honestly not a huge fan of plays or live performances, but Stick Fly grabbed my attention from beginning to end. Alicia Keys did a wonderful job with the music and the cast is made up of a truly talented group of actors.

If you’re also running up dry for gift ideas (for a birthday or even for the steadily approaching Valentine’s Day), don’t rule out purchasing some tickets to a Broadway play. Broadway Week is also coming up, so you can snag some 2 for 1 deals too.

Benovic Bradley