I finally won the Wicked lottery...and still managed to lose

[andyf]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 2:38am

No, you didn’t misread the title. Yes, I’m going to complain about winning the lottery. If you want to cut right to the review, jump down a little.

So I finally won the Wicked lottery tonight, yay. I was called right in the middle, so my seats were going to be BB111 and 112 (note the past progressive at work). F-everybody’s-I, BB109 and 10 are DEAD center, so the seats were pretty ideal. So back to the past progressive, that’s where my seats WOULD HAVE been if I didn’t make the mistake of trying something new out and being nice.

My friend couldn’t make it, so I ended up only needing one ticket, but the lottery guy didn’t hear me say that, so I waited around. Anyway, he calls the last name, which ended up being for one, single ticket. Of course the person whose name it is (a guy with his girlfriend) needs two, so I run up to the lottery guy and explain my situation because I didn’t need the other ticket anyway and those people could have used it. So I’m thinking that the guy is going to get one of my tickets (front row dead center, can’t stress that enough because I’m really THAT bitter…just wait) and then whatever seat he got for winning the lottery. That would make sense, since I didn’t need one of MY tickets and he already won HIS one. Right? Wrong.

What happened was the lottery guy says “OK great!! You (to the guy who just got called) stand here (in my former spot)…..and I’m gonna need you (me) to go the back of the line.” So what ends up happening is the guy who should only have gotten one ticket, not only gets two tickets, but gets MY two…front row…pretty much dead center. Now he gets to bring his girlfriend, who wouldn’t even have been able to go if it wasn’t for my retarded decision to be nice, and they even get to sit in the seats that I won. In exchange for my idiotic act of kindness, I go from sitting front row center, to sitting second row, house left…one seat in from the aisle…CC3. Ewww.

For everybody who hasn’t sat that close on the sides…it’s obstructed view. The set gets in the way…blocking gets in your way…you’re still really close, but it’s less than ideal.

******BITCHING OVER******REVIEW TO FOLLOW********

Anyway, the show itself was great. Shoshana and Jen were really good, but I wasn’t expecting anything less. Carol was having a lot of fun with Morrible tonight. There was an understudy for Chistery, which for me just totally ruined the show since it’s such an instrumental part. It was nice to see David Ayers as Fiyero since he was the first person I’ve seen in the role that both looked the part AND could sing the role. (Sorry Norbs, but there’s something about a receding hairline that just doesn’t scream “college student.”)

HEY!! SPEAKING OF RECEDING HAIRLINES…WHAT’S UP WITH GUISSEPE ZANGARA PLAYING A COLLEGE STUDENT?? I really don’t have a problem with the idea of people playing younger…in fact it happens ALL the time (I mean sure, I knocked Norbs hair, but I did NOT hate the fact that Norbert Leo Butz was onstage). But seriously, when you have someone whose hairline has receded so far it’s pretty much at the point of male pattern baldness playing a college student…I think we’ve crossed lines. The only thing more outrageous than the fact that someone actually had the gall to cast Jeffrey Kuhn as Boq was the chromosome-deficient beret they slapped on his head in every scene to cover the aforementioned male pattern baldness. Seriously, have you seen it? It’s not even like a complete article of clothing, it looks like they just took some fabric and tape and went to town. But don’t worry, they made sure to have some wisps of hair poking out so you get that he’s not an cancer patient, but in fact a college student, a college student who has hair and is not balding.

And deep, healing breath in…and exhale…and I’m back. Back to the ladies. Jen: good, nothing special, just another excellent JLT performance.

Shoshana: the reason I got on the train this afternoon, so I’m happy I won, even given the ****ty circumstances (yes, I’m STILL complaining about it). So good. SO good. She plays the role a LOT dorkier in the beginning, but it’s really cute. Her scene before “Wonderful” is really great. She’s SO incredulous, it’s REALLY sassy. She does the “N*gga, please!” face ALL over the place. GOLDEN!!! I really like her acting all over the place, that scene was just a personal favorite. DEFYING GRAVITY. The upside to my less than flawless seat (I told you…I’m REALLY bitter) was that I was in Shoshana’s sightline of JLT during the whole end, so she kept looking down at her, which was in my direction…fun. I forgot how much fun it is to watch all those lights hitting Elphaba. So pretty. Oh also, I was really scared I was going to see the flying machine, but I didn’t…and I was looking…HARD, so that was good. For everyone who’s dying for me to be REALLY specific and overcritique it: her second “bring me down” she did the Idina version and didn’t hold out the F as per she normally does, but it was still SO sassy. NO GOOD DEED. So good. I really like how she does the end. I think Idina started doing the same thing towards the end of her run, but I think Shoshana pulls it off a lot better (if anyone hasn’t seen her - or “seen” her - she scoops up on the “a” in “again” and stays there for most of “ga” and then riffs back down on “in”…it’s hot).

Yeah, the end. The show is in good shape. OH, if you look up on the stairwell things during the opening you’ll see Michelle Federer stage right, wearing a leopard-print boot on her head as a hat, and Jeffrey Kuhn stage left wearing a really bright aqua-ish outfit…he really stands out, hard to miss. That was fun.

So, moral of the story: if you’re not ready for a healthy dose of irony, stay away from doing any deeds near the Gershwin.

THE END.


Oh, and to the girl who sat in BB111, I still kind of hope you get gonorrhea, but I hope you enjoyed the show anyway.

[MadeofGold]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 2:45am

Umm...no good deed goes unpunished! :)

Now that "I won the lottery but you ruined my life" voice mail makes more sense.

Just think that you made two random strangers happy tonight. How many people can say that?

[jgph]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:17am

quite a few people i imagine, but probably not in the way u imagine

[meagan9848]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 3:47am

CC3 was my seat on 1/9 :)

Granted, my friend's name was the last called.

Anyhow, if I were you, I'd be pissed to!

[ken8631]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 7:46am

The lottery guy there seems to either fix the winners sometimes or screw those who do win....

[Corine2]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 8:05am

Life is strange. I won the Wicked Lottery on the first try and it took 18 times for me to win Q.
I saw Wicked once and liked it but Q is my favorite show.
That is how life works.

[OrdinaryJukebox1]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 8:06am

That was really nice of you. Please tell me they said thank you. If they didn't say, AT LEAST a heart felt "thank you," I suggest you find them and demand a financial compensation.

-Vincent

[QtKt]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 8:13am

Scabies... they'll get scabies...
At least you still had a good time....
I agree about No Good Deed....
Yay for Andy being such a good samaritan and spreading love all over NYC You're just the bestest!

[TGIF]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 9:25am

Oh Andy

But atleast you got to see the show without shelling out 100 bucks.

[TheGaIsSilent]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 9:29am

andy,

Nice review, first of all. And keep in mind that you did a good turn, and the girl who got your dead center seat will get the clap next week :)

I love the thing you mentione dabout Shoshana's "aaaaa-gain". Idina picked it up towards the end of her run (like the last week or so), but Shoshana really knocks the song out of the park.

[Trisky]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 9:40am

Only you could managed to make the wishing of gonorrhea on someone seem, well, almost pleasant. I'm sure your karmic retribution for being so kind will come back in spades. Like maybe you'll win [insert name of show you hate - um, Hairspray?] lotto four times in a row or something.

Good to hear Shoshanna is doing well. I still have to get myself over there to check her out.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 9:41am

Nice review. Sorry the lottery guy's dumb.

[mirramar]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 11:06am

I really feel for you! The one time I managed to win the lottery it was also for the obstructed view seats. If I was in your position I'd be VERY angry. . . to be so close, and then to lose! That really sucks.
Well, you know what they say, "No good deed goes unpunished!"
:)

[andyf]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 12:16pm

No they didn't say thank you, but there was some dialogue exchanged as I was waiting on the line to buy my ticket:

Me: Oh hey, are you with guy-in-grey-jacket?
Skanky McGee (detached): Oh yeah...did I just ruin your day...
Me: .....Oh, only a lot...
Her: :-O
Me: ...But ENJOY THE SHOW!! You got some REALLY great seats!!!

And then the guy came out and they left.

When we were seated I was just staring at her and thinking about how she SO did not deserve to be prom queen (she was sitting in the middle of the front row and was reading the playbill, really bored...why??) and they saw me wishing the clap on them and just looked over, so I did my best "Lay down in traffic!!" smile and waved and they just looked away.

[Justice]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 12:31pm

Just a note on receding hairlines...

My ex boyfriend started losing his hair at 19.
One of my friends is twenty, and is practically bald.

It happens.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 1:07pm

Andy, I don't think CC3 is bad, I sat there once and had an excellent view, it's not restricted.

I tried the lottery yesterday too and saw the whole thing. I guess the lottery chap was trying to be logical and didn't want the couple to be split up (which would have happened if you hadn't given up your seat in the centre). Ok, fair enough, that's not your problem but I can see his point too.
Did you only realize it once you got your ticket or already when he asked you to go back to the end of the line? You should have protested there and then if you felt so strongly about it.

Oh by the way, when I put in my name yesterday, the lottery chap (am I the only one who thinks he's actually a really nice guy unlike the guy with the cane!!!?) was telling his colleague how he was told that some people on a message board were discussing how he was fixing the lottery? They were both laughing about it and the lottery guy said: 'From now on I will pull up my sleeves, if it's not too cold, so they see I don't have any cards in my sleeve'

After losing the Wicked lottery, I went off to win the DRS lottery instead by the way... I love that show!

QM

Updated On: 2/16/05 at 01:07 PM

[mirramar]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 1:17pm

That's so funny that the lottery dude said that people (me) think that he fixes the lottery!
This was the lottery guy that wears the black sweatshirt all the time? OK, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, but it's a lot more exciting to think that there's a huge conspiracy going on. (It's not like I have any excitement in my life, I need to make things up where there's nothing). So sorry lottery dude!
Oh, congrats on winning DRS, about how many people were there last night?

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 1:27pm

Mirramar, he doesn't always wear the same black shirt. He wears black all the time, that's because he is .... mysterious.

I'd say about 60-70 people were at the DRS lottery last night, Enjoyed it even more the second time around.

QM

[mirramar]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 1:35pm

QueenMuppet, have they cut/changed scenes since you originally saw DRS? I saw it the second night of previews and I'm just curious if a lot has changed since then. Hopefully I'll see it again soon, but right now I'm on self-admitted lottery rehab. We'll see how long that lasts.

[andyf]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 1:47pm

I actually did say something to him and he just said "Sorry."

I knew I should have slipped something extra!


And yes, the whole "He didn't want to split them up, but they would have been split up anyway if I didn't give up one of my tickets" thing is quite the paradox.

[QueenMuppet]

Posted: 2/16/05 at 1:50pm

Mirramar, you should try the DRS lottery soon. At the moment, your chances to win are still good, it won't stay that way.

They haven't really changed DRS a lot as yet. The only two differences I've noticed were the opening of the second act (where they cut out a joke that really fell flat when I saw it for the first time) and added a joke in the very final scene (that fell very flat last night). I wouldn't be surprised if they cut it again. Overall, pretty much the same, I guess they got it pretty right after SF.
I just want to mention how well John, Norbert and Sherie work with one another. You can just feel 'the love' between them. Wonderful

ETA: That sucks, Andy.

QM

Updated On: 2/16/05 at 01:50 PM