So… A note.
It has been well over 15 years since I’ve been to New York City. I actually have tonnes of relatives all over 3 of the 5 boroughs. I even have an ol’ college buddy who lives on ‘Da Island.” Not to mention… it’s been over 25 years since I’ve seen a show on Broadway. Hmmn. Some theatre geek I am?
But.. it’s been 15 years. Interestingly my sense of direction kicked in after the jet lag wore off. I remembered how the subways work. I remembered how the city worked.
We went to see if we could get lottery tickets to see Rent. It was decided awhile back that Rent should not be a musical that poorer folks were deprived from seeing. So, the decision was made to take the center section, first two rows and make $20 first come first served seats out of them. People began camping out overnight at the theatre to get the tickets.
Local ordinances and safety eventually prevailed. There’s no longer camping out for the seats. But they now hold a lottery. 2 1/2 hours before a show they have a real-live new yorker (To the point of babbling to people in mixed English/Italian) sitting at a table with blank index cards. You put down your name and then tell them one or two tickets. 2 rows, 17 seats each. 34 tickets
So we both wrote down our names and that we wanted 2 tix. We wandered off to a nearby comic store which had an UNBELIEVABLE amount of grey market video. We only had 30 minutes because at 2 hours before the show they call names. So, they lined us up in front of the theatre. It was very Chorus line, Rent (stage) 2nd act opening.
They called a name and a girl squeaked happily and lined up. Then another name and another person. The third person was of… undetermined gender, but friendly. 4 more names… 7 more names. The person said (my friends already in line… I don’t need ’em), 9… There were only about 40 people standing around and I was doing poker odds. They hit 15 and it wasn’t looking good.
The third person on line looked at us. Do you want our extra pair? It turns out, that while most people forfeit their extras once they have a pair of seats, this person decided to be a true good samaritan. When the two of them both win, they claim all 4 seats and then look for the two people who look like they really wanted to get in and pass them (for cost $20 each). Which in New York absolutely blew my mind.