MANILA, Philippines - Will Carrie marry Big, or is that scene of her in a fantastic wedding dress in the movie trailer just part of an elaborate dream sequence?
Will one of the characters actually die in the movie version, as actress Cynthia Nixon aka Miranda hinted in one interview?
Those will soon be answered when the much-awaited summer movie ?Sex and the City? (SATC) hits theaters later this month (next week in London, May 28 here and May 30 in the United States). Several versions of scenes were reportedly shot to throw off kibitzers.
In New York City, an equally hot ticket these days is the SATC tour, which takes a busload of women?and a few brave men?to the hot spots used in the phenomenal HBO series (example: Carrie?s stoop, Samantha?s neighborhood in the Meatpacking district or the sex shop where Charlotte bought ?The Rabbit?), and a few places in the movie (e.g. Starbucks where Carrie interviews a prospective assistant, played by Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson).
SATC was one of only few TV series set in NYC that was also shot in NYC. Some fans refer to the city as the fifth girl in the series.
Other hit shows like ?Friends? and ?Will and Grace? are set in NYC but were, in fact, shot in a studio in Hollywood.
This is fun way to explore Manhattan?a better alternative to the double-decker tourist buses?and it doesn?t matter if you?re a moderate or hard-core SATC fan. It takes about 3? hours and runs twice a day year-round, but slots run out fast, so if you?re planning a trip to the Big Apple, book your tickets ahead (http://www.screentours.com/ tour.php/satc).
Diehards
Last week, when we went on the tour, two girls from Italy patiently waited to get on the bus; lucky for them a couple failed to show up. (SATC is famous worldwide so that tours are often like a United Nations convention, with tourists from as near as Jersey to as far Taiwan, Denmark, Australia and, yes, the Philippines.)
A ticket costs $40, and includes a booklet and a free cupcake from the now-famous Magnolia Bakery (401 Bleecker on W 11th Street), where Carrie declared her ?crush? on Aidan. Cosmopolitans are optional, and are served for an extra few dollars in one of the stops, Onieal?s (174 Grand Street near Centre Street), the location of Steve?s bar.
Clips from the show are shown on TV screens on the bus before you?re brought to the actual locations.
If you plan to take souvenir photos, you have to be real quick as the bus moves along with the city traffic. You?ll have better luck in the off-bus stops.
My colleague and friend Pam went on this tour early this year, and we were both lucky to have had the same guide named Lisa Blythe Perlman, a diminutive woman whose raunchy humor is reminiscent of Samantha?s. (Lisa?s a stand-up comic.)
Don?t ever get her started with the (sexual) things she could do while standing up on the very tall Aidan, played by actor John Corbett! (Warning to prudes: Don?t get on this bus! This isn?t Disney. Men are known to blush at these women-guides? language.)
The tour starts in front of the fountain on the corner of 58th and 5th right across the historic The Plaza hotel, now a residential condo. It also played a key part in many a Carrie-Big scene, one famously after Big?s engagement to Natasha. (Shopping tip: If you?re an Apple fan, this one?s right across the Mac flagship on 5th.)
Adjacent is the Paris Theater, where Carrie went to see a ??Joy for Two? for one? on ?date night,? to Charlotte?s disapproval.
Across the street is the Tiffany?s store where Trey proposed to Charlotte. (Trivia: Lisa said the store was, in fact, recreated in the city?s Silvercup Studios, just as some of the other sets, like Carrie?s bedroom.)
Must-sees
Other must-sees are Miranda?s gym (Equinox, 897 Broadway); the little church around the corner where Samantha meets ?The Friar?; the store where Charlotte goes bed-shopping with Trey?and his mom, Bunny; the Paul Smith store where Miranda wanted to buy Steve a suit.
If you want to bring something naughty for your girlfriends back home, you?ll find them at the first off-bus stop, The Pleasure Chest (156 7th Avenue South, between 56th and 57th), which sells not just Charlotte?s famous Rabbit, wink, wink.
The guides are known to share shopping tips, so don?t be shy and ask where you could find Carrie?s Jimmy Choos and Manolos, or where you could get designer purses on discount (example, Sample Sale Wholesalers on 42 W 36th St. between 5th and 6th, tel. 2129676548; or INA at 15 Bleecker between Lafayette and Bowery, tel. 2122288511).
Here?s our tip: In The Village, after the requisite photo in front of Carrie?s stoop?from across the street, actually, as the real house owner has made it illegal to even touch any part of the stoop; she put a chain on it shortly before our visit?there are several designer shops right around the corner that you may want to check out. (Just be quick or the bus will leave you.)
A super cramped Marc by Marc Jacobs store selling from $1 cocktail rings to $85 quilted purses is a popular stop. A few steps away is a Marc Jacobs Surplus store, though we sadly didn?t see it until after we were on the bus.
The guide won?t tell you until after you?ve left the neighborhood that Sarah Jessica Parker actually lives in one street near where you just came from. Though she?ll point out the park where SJP takes her son James (Bleecker Playground, also used in the series), or the restos and bars where the girls hung out.
There?s Pastis (9 9th Avenue), Tortilla Flats (767 Washington St.), Sushi Samba (245 Park Avenue South), among others.
There?s also The Cutting Room (19 W 24th St. in the Flatiron District), owned by Chris Noth aka Big, a popular post-tour haunt for women who are hoping to get a Big sighting (some get lucky, according to Lisa?though not in the way that your dirty mind thinks!).
If this tour doesn?t hit the spot for you, you can be sure you?ll be watching SATC reruns (and soon the movie!) in a whole new light. That?s exactly what we did on the flight back home. As Carrie would say, ?Likey!?
