Rush Line Drama?

Hi everyone!

So last week I rushed Ain't Too Proud. I got there at around 8 AM and was 3rd in line. Got a nice seat at a great price. Show was electrifying, powerful, hilarious, exciting. Absolutely loved it! However, there was an experience that morning in the rush line that really caught me off guard.

Basically, we were down to the last 15 minutes or so before the box office opened. Since it's a student rush and most NY schools were not in session at the time there were only about 10 people total. A man who appeared to be in his 50's showed up around 9:50. There had been rain that morning so the line wasn't really formed as a line because everyone wanted to sit under the Imperial's small marquee overhang. We all knew our order and towards the end we got into our order. When the previously mentioned man in his 50's arrived we still weren't formed in our line. So, the box office doors open and we are asked to come in. He attempts to walk in the door first. Most of us look puzzled and are like "Sorry, but we've been here for a few hours waiting." He said "there's no line. It doesn't matter." So another woman in line went back and forth with him about the rules and such. A worker in the Imperial came out and explained to him about how we all had been there for a long time and this is a strict "first come, first served" business. He started shouting obscenities and claiming that this was a racist act against a "middle aged black man". What's odd is that the man who was working at the Imperial was also a middle aged black man, not to mention the majority of the rush line was African American. He hesitantly walked to the back of the line but we could still hear him talking under his breath.

After I got my tickets I talked to someone from the line that I had become friendly with. We were gonna grab something at Pret nearby and talk about shows we've seen, etc (We had a great time! Yay for new theatre buddies!). As we were planning and checking our seats on a seating chart, the same man was finally up to his turn at the box office. He asked for THREE rush tickets. The lady at the box office kindly explained that it was 1. A Student Rush. 2. Limited to Two tickets per person. He again started to shout obscenities about her racism and lack of respect and her stupidity. The poor woman was on the verge of tears, she only replied "Sir, I'm just trying to do my job." I really felt for her. How can you respond to this when you're simply going by the rules. He ended up storming out of the lobby screaming at all of us. We all waited a few minutes to leave so we would feel safer. It's just so sad and frankly disturbing. I thought maybe some people may have similar experiences with short tempered customers in the theatre? Care to share?

Updated On: 8/24/19 at 01:07 PM

ND_2000: So sorry you had to see that, it was totally uncalled for on his part. Based on his behavior, I have a feeling that this is his M.O. Get super aggressive and loud so that people are intimidated and cave in. I feel terrible for the ticket agent!

Rush line drama always makes me so uncomfortable - true, there are no "written in stone" rules and you never know who you're getting into a disagreement with, but I wish everyone would behave properly. Didn't their parents teach them better?

My worst peeve are the last-minute line joiners who meet up with their friends who've been in line all along. It "steals" a spot from someone down the line that got their butt to the theatre early.

Glad you had a good time at the show and definitely YEY for rush line friends :)

Theater3232 said: "So this individual played the "race card" and was given 3 rush tickets in violation of the rules? Very unfair for the person who needed that last rushticket. Of course if they called the police or security, the politicians would play the race card and say how unfairly he was treated."

Where did you read that he got any tickets? The OP clearly states he stormed out after being denied any tickets. His behavior was atrocious, but yours isn’t too far behind: misrepresentation of the facts to support your thinly veiled racist agenda.

n2nbaby said: "That story could have happened at literally any customer service job (and happens to me at least 10 times a day). Certainly nothing special or specific to the rush line."

Absolutely. So common.

taylortrensch said: "regarding student rush, is it only available to US students? i'd like to see ATP but i'm an international student"



I don't want to say anything with 100% certainty, but I very much doubt that you'll have any issue.

At least no one was punched in the face and knocked unconscious and taken to the ER?

For the final performance of Gypsy with Patti LuPone, I got on line at 8 PM the night before with my ex. There were two people waiting and the first person told me that she had something like ten other people that would join her later (they were in the theatre to watch the 8 PM show and one of these girls was the one who audio recorded the whole show which had Patti yelling at the photographer who took a pic (another girl on line later convinced her to share it with her, by PROMISING she wouldn’t share it anywhere)) I told her that’s not how this works, and that they would have to join the end of the line if they weren’t back in the next few minutes. I went inside to tell someone at the box office that the single first girl in line planned to have a bunch of friends join her hours from now and he came out and told us he’d be there tomorrow and the first four of us that he saw on line now better be the 4 of us that he’s looking at tomorrow. After the show, all the girls cut the line and I told them to get to the back. A cop got involved because he saw them waiting in line all day. I told him I didn’t care if they’d been waiting all year, they chose to go do something other than a bathroom break or food run and they forfeited their spots, he threatened to take me to Bellevue so I stopped complaining, but later in the night I informed them of the box office managers involvement and you’ll all be removed in the morning. I didn’t have much support from other people in the line, so I gave up trying to get them to go to the back after they decided to let me be first in line, which was good because the box office manager wasn’t there like he told us he’d be, but they were extremely entitled and rude and I’m pretty sure they had all long graduated school.

Updated On: 8/25/19 at 04:22 PM

I haven't had an experience like this, but that's awful! I'm so sorry you had to deal with that

I guess I've been lucky enough to never hit rush line drama thus far. Though I guess I've only done 4 shows, 5 if you consider picking up tickets for King Kong at 12:00.

If anything, I was first for Waitress back in January. An employee at the Brooks Atkinson kept nudging my shoulder and pushing my back (albeit very lightly, but still unsolicited) saying that I was starting the line too far ahead and that it was dangerous. Apparently because the handicap door button could electrocute me? Wasn't even near it, but okay. Benefit of the doubt, but I was annoyed and didn't want to start trouble since, as I said, I was first in line and would be beyond livid if I got kicked off of the line for this. After more people showed up, he stopped though. So there's that.

More like my own personal nuisance than line drama though.

Updated On: 8/27/19 at 08:51 AM