Favorite/Best Theatre Going Experience?

My school has a lot of planned trips to see shows (as I'm in a few theater classes) and one of the trips was to see the show The Color Purple. I had not really heard much about the show, but it was a cheap ticket and it was better than some of the other shows my teacher had listed (plus we got extra credit for seeing a show so I obviously had to go). It was a smaller theater, so I didn't even think of it much until the show began. Holy hell, it was perfect. The first song felt like being in a gospel church and literally everyone in the audience was pumped. I have never seen an audience that hyped up before and I doubt I ever will. I fell in love with the music and I died once the queer subplot came up, I didn't expect that but I love it! A part of me wants to see this show on Broadway again, but honestly it might not be the same.

My 11 year old daughter really wanted to see Wicked. At that time, a trip to NYC was far out of reach for us, but I discovered last minute that the touring company of Wicked was coming to the Kennedy Center. I wanted to take her as her birthday gift, but by then the show was nearly sold out, and we could barely afford the cheapest tickets. We ended up with literally the very back corner seats in the last row of the balcony, but I figured Wicked is a "big" show and a spectacle, and even from the last row it would still be a treat.

We took the bus to the Kennedy Center and my daughter was so excited, talking about her birthday. As we were walking to the theatre we got chatting with an elderly lady who was sitting near us on the bus who was a major Wicked fan. She told us she had seen the show five times and it was still her favorite. As we were going in, she said to my daughter, "Did I hear you say this was your birthday gift? Have you seen Wicked before?" My daughter said she was excited but we had never seen the show.

The lady said, "How wonderful! Do you have good seats?"

My daughter said we were in the balcony, but she was happy to see the show at all.

This lovely elderly woman said to me "My husband and I are season ticket holders but he was ill today and could not come. I suspect that my tickets may be better than yours. Why don't you trade with me since it is your daughter's birthday?"

I said, "That is very kind of you, but you would not want our seats. We are in the very last row of the balcony in the corner."

She said, "Please let me do this. I think every little girl deserves to see this show, but especially on her birthday. Let me talk to the usher."

We thanked her and bought her a drink, and she said to my daughter, "When you are an old lady like me, I hope you will do the same for some other little girl who loves the theatre."

When it came time to enter, she took our tickets and handed hers to the usher, who escorted us to her 5th row center seats. My daughter nearly died, she was so excited and overwhelmed. It was perfect, and we could never have afforded those seats. After the show, she found and hugged that wonderfully kind lady and thanked her profusely.

She has never forgotten it, and I expect in 40 years she will pay that forward to some other little girl. A wonderful experience!

All throughout my childhood and young adulthood my mother would take me to New York and see a Broadway show once or twice a year. We are not well off my any means, so we would often leave our home in Philadelphia extremely early in the morning so we could get to New York as soon as possible and stand in rush lines for whatever show we had our hearts set on. Pretty much every time it has worked in our favor.

Now that I am older I wanted to start taking her to Broadway shows more. I wasn't on this board at the time this show came around, but I fell in love with Bright Star a few years back. So did mom. We loved how strange and unique it appeared to be and how it seemed so pure and genuinely uplifting to see. My mother was especially smitten when she heard Steve Martin and Edie Brickell state that they were "weary of the vulgarity in our culture" and how it had been affecting movies/music/TV/theatre. She was so moved by how two people were able to say that AND that they could tell a serious story with conflict but not make it "crude and vulgar." It's all she could talk about.

I decided I was going to take her. The show wasn't doing that well at the box office so I was confident we could go up and snag a pair of rush tickets. Well then the closing notice was announced and the die-hard fans came and bought their tickets and the rush lines were packed of dedicated theatre-goers who had either seen it and loved it or had not seen it yet and would regret the chance to. The only day we were able to attend was on June 26th, 2016 AKA their final performance. We knew it was a long shot. We got to the rush line by 6:30 and were the 20th-ish people. We couldn't tell what would happen. When the box office opened, we were told that they had a limited number of rush tickets, a solid amount of full priced tickets (over $300), and that there would be no standing room. Everyone ahead of us was able to get tickets, we were the first people turned away. We were devastated. We didn't care much to see anything else in that moment because our hearts were heavy and thinking only of Bright Star. We debated going home.

About an hour after this had all transpired and we had walked the streets dozens of times pacing and thinking, my mom suggested something we had never done. "Let's see if there are any scalpers." That's how badly we wanted this! Well we walked back to the theatre and there was no one selling anything. BUT. As we stood outside the theatre looking, a man from the box office said "Are you here for tickets?" We explained the situation and that we had already tried and did not succeed. He told us he could help us and took us inside. Sold us two Front Mezz seats for the Rush Price which I believe was $37, but I can't remember for sure. It literally felt like a dream come true. I will admit some tears were shed LOL. It was just so refreshing to see the goodness in someone's heart and the empathy. Not to mention, we had been on edge that whole day wondering IF it could happen. And it did. The show was stunning, practically met them all afterwards, Steve playing at intermission was unbelievable. Just an incredible day. Someone was looking out for us!

Being in the right place at the right moment really paid off and made me think so much about coincidences. What were the odds we would walk to the theatre in that exact moment when this man would be walking in as well? My mother and I still talk about this day and smile with giddiness and gratitude. We know how lucky we were that day and just how rare stuff like this is.

Updated On: 3/27/19 at 10:12 AM

persephone88 said: "My 11 year old daughter really wanted to see Wicked. At that time, a trip to NYC was far out of reach for us, but I discovered last minute that the touring company of Wicked was coming to the Kennedy Center. I wanted to take her as her birthday gift, but by then the show was nearly sold out, and we could barely afford the cheapest tickets. We ended up with literally the very back corner seats in the last row of the balcony, but I figured Wicked is a "big" show and a spectacle, and even from the last row it would still be a treat.

We took the bus to the Kennedy Center and my daughter was so excited, talking about her birthday. As we were walking to the theatre we got chatting with an elderly lady who was sitting near us on the bus who was a major Wicked fan. She told us she had seen the show five times and it was still her favorite. As we were going in, she said to my daughter, "Did I hear you say this was your birthday gift? Have you seen Wicked before?" My daughter said she was excited but we had never seen the show.

The lady said, "How wonderful! Do you have good seats?"

My daughter said we were in the balcony, but she was happy to see the show at all.

This lovely elderly woman said to me "My husband and I are season ticket holders but he was ill today and could not come. I suspect that my tickets may be better than yours. Why don't you trade with me since it is your daughter's birthday?"

I said, "That is very kind of you, but you would not want our seats. We are in the very last row of the balcony in the corner."

She said, "Please let me do this. I think every little girl deserves to see this show, but especially on her birthday. Let me talk to the usher."

We thanked her and bought her a drink, and she said to my daughter, "When you are an old lady like me, I hope you will do the same for some other little girl who loves the theatre."

When it came time to enter, she took our tickets and handed hers to the usher, who escorted us to her 5th row center seats. My daughter nearly died, she was so excited and overwhelmed. It was perfect, and we could never have afforded those seats. After the show, she found and hugged that wonderfully kind lady and thanked her profusely.

She has never forgotten it, and I expect in 40 years she will pay that forward to some other little girl. A wonderful experience!"

This is absolutely amazing!! I got emotional reading it. I’m so thrilled your daughter got that experience!!

Similar thing happened to me at A Night With Janis Joplin. My friend and I both LOVE Janis, and were sitting in the back of the balcony losing it (tastefully) over the show and the greatness that is Mary Bridget Davies, and at intermission a guy came up to us and offered us his 3rd row center orchestra comps for the second act. He knew he had to leave, and came up to the balcony specifically to give them to people up there who he knew would be stoked to sit close. It was just the nicest thing!

I also have to bring up that I accidentally went to opening night of Wicked. I had *just* moved to NYC, my parents were coming up to visit, and I suggested that we get tickets to that Oz musical starring the girl from Rent that sounded like it would be good. My dad got the tickets, and then the day before looked at them and asked why the show started at 6:30. Such a happy, star-studded accident!

(Might have been 6:00, but you get the point.)

Three that come to mind. Last May my family and I went to see My Fair Lady (the new revival at Lincoln Center) and it was incredible! My mom loved the show when she was little, and she went with me and my dad (who knew nothing about the show other than OBC Fiyero was in it). We sat House Right in the seventh row, right in front of the stairs that went below the audience. During Act II, during “Get Me to the Church on Time,” Norbert turned in our direction and led the ensemble in a line directly towards me. It was magical. (The stage door was particularly cool - we met Norbert and Jordan, as well as Harry Hadden-Paton, who talked with us for a few minutes about the show. It was so much fun.)
In December, we went to see my grandparents in Vero Beach, Florida. My dad said that while we were there, he wanted to go see a football game between the Jaguars and the Dolphins. I decided to appease him, mostly because I wanted to call out “BORTLES” and see if anyone got the Good Place reference. My mom handed me the tickets right before we left - but they weren’t football tickets. Unbeknownst to me, the Philip tour of Hamilton was in Fort Lauderdale, and somehow, my parents had gotten tickets for all five of us! We went to see the show, and it was so good. We saw Joseph Morales as A.Ham and Shoba Naryan as Eliza (about whom I was extremely excited), and we were seated really high up, so I noticed a lot of things with the set and with lighting. Midway through “The Room Where It Happens,” someone in the crowd (who must’ve thought the show was done) started woo-ing, and our Burr (Nik Walker) let out a little laugh. It was amazing.
We also got to see Waitress in January with Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel. Other than Hamilton, it was the first time I really knew the plot, and literally the moment the light came up on Sara, I started crying. It was so surreal. We had Tyrone Davis, Jr. as our Ogie understudy, and he stole the show! After the show, we got to sing Happy Birthday to Andrew Fitch (our Cal) at the stage door, and I got to meet Sara and Gavin! Sara was awesome, and Gavin was super nice. He talked to me for a bit, and it turns out we both shop at the same music store! It was such a wonderful experience, and I’m so glad I got to see the show with that cast. (I did ask my mom about maybe seeing Jeremy in the show, but she said she didn’t want to see Jack Kelly in the “Bad Idea” reprise scene, which is understandable.)

---

persephone88 said: "Please let me do this. I think every little girl deserves to see this show, but especially on her birthday."

Stick a fork in me; I'm done.

---

Last summer, I saw Once On This Island with my best friend and her mom. It was my my first Broadway show that wasn't part of a school trip, and my first time stagedooring. Coincidentally, we happened to be attending the 300th performance, and the cast brought out cake and cookies. The experience of seeing that show was different from others I'd seen, especially because of the 360º space. I was crying during Why We Tell the Story, it was so beautiful. The storm scene and how they actually made it rain onstage, and Ti Moune emerging fully grown for the first time, everything. I will never be over it and it breaks my heart that the show closed too soon.

Soon after I saw Once On This Island, my family and I saw Come From Away in Toronto. If I had to choose only one, Come From Away is my absolute favorite show of all time. It means so much to me because it takes one of the most tragic events to ever happen and yet they don't focus on that - they focus on all of the connections that people made, and how they took the time to spread kindness and help each other, something we should all do more of. I'm pretty sure I was crying continually throughout the entire show. I didn't stagedoor then, and I haven't seen it on Broadway yet, but I did go to the stagedoor on Broadway on my NYC trip in January and met most of the cast, most exciting the one and only Jenn Colella! I wouldn't be the person I am today if it weren't for Come From Away, and I really, really hope to see it on Broadway someday.

On my January NYC trip, my best friend and family and I saw The Band's Visit. Similar to Come From Away, it focuses on people helping each other and coming together despite their differences. The story is simple, yet stunningly beautiful. Seeing it live and meeting several of the cast members - including the one and only Tony Winner Katrina Lenk - was an experience I'll never forget. I am a choral singer, so I really identify with the idea that music is so much about creating a community with the people around you, and I really feel as though The Band's Visit is a perfect illustration of that. I'm so grateful I was able to experience such a beautiful piece of art and I really, really wish I could see it again before it closes, although I hope to see it somewhere on tour. If you can possibly see it, GO!

---

Seeing "Come From Away" front row centre aisle.....and then meeting the cast at the Stage Door after.........seeing Glenn Close in Sunset Blvd.....original and revived versions.