I just got back from the final show of CoC. It was a magical experience. I have never seen more tears at a final show. I was in the front row and am so happy I got to be there to say goodbye to this wonderful show.
When the show started and Tonya came out the audience started clapping and wouldn't stop, and Tonya started crying. Tonya cried through half of the entire first scene in the basement. Everyone was so on. All of the principals got applause as they entered (including washing machine, radio, and dryer) and you could see the appreciation on their faces. The emotion was so powerful and everyone was into their performances. I don't think I've ever seen such anger from Harrison before and he did a cute riff during Roosevelt Patrucious Coleslaw(I know i probably spelled that wrong!!). The kids really had fun during the RPC dance. You could tell that they were making the most of their last performance together.
Tonya got a standing ovation after Lot's Wife and had to stand there trying not to break character because we didn't want to stop clapping. Lots of tears during I HATE THE BUS. Anika also had trouble getting out the final lines in the epilogue because she was starting to cry.
The standing ovation started before anyone even came out for the curtain call. The young boys who play Caroline's sons looked like they were trying to hold in tears the entire show and they finally let go during curtain call. They came out for the first boy and they were bawling through the rest of the curtain call. Lots of tears from everyone. Anika and the guy who plays the dryer (sorry I don't have my playbill w/ me right now) both had cameras with them onstage during curtain call and were taking pictures. They also had the swings, understudies, etc. join them onstage, as well as Tony Kushner, Jeanine Tresori (other spelling mistake i'm sure) and others. It was so emotional seeing how much this show has touched all of the people involved.
I was crying through almost the entire 2nd act and didn't want to leave the theater at the end. I wanted to stay at the stage door after, but had to catch a bus back to NJ (i didn't want to get caught in any of the protests). I only got to see this show 4 times, but I loved it so much and am sad to see it go.
Sorry about the rambling and any spellign mistakes, but I just wanted to get some of my thoughts out before I forgot them.
We've all got our junk and my junk is you!