Shakespeare in the Park Lines — Page 9

The standby line for tonight started with the folks who were online by midnight/12:30am who did not get tix during the 1pm distribution today. I don't know how many people long the standby line currently is- they were telling people who got on line anytime after 2am that they were not going to get tix, and trying to send them home (some of them just decided to wait.)

I am highly doubtful that your friend joining the standby line right now will get tix for tonight. But hey, stranger things have happened in life.

eta: while leaving the park after the 1pm distribution the group of people on 81st and CPW was about 10-15 people long; I know the first guy in the group is the guy I met earlier, who is already waiting for tix for Sunday night, but I couldn't tell if that was an actual line already forming behind him, or just some people randomly hanging out in that area.

Updated On: 7/11/09 at 03:27 PM

I'm afraid your friend is going to be disappointed. What applied to Hair DEFINITELY does not apply to Twelfth Night. As was noted earlier in this thread, they have not seen lines like this for ten years.

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My friends arrived at 1 a.m. and while early this morning they were told they were "guaranteed" tickets, received vouchers. Around 10:30 this morning when I went to bring them some food, security was telling people that the cut-off was around 2:30 a.m., and that there were at least 200 people on the end of the line who knew they would not be getting tickets, but planned to stay and just become the stand-by line.
Judging by the point at which they ran out of tickets, the cut-off probably ended up being earlier. People had their air mattresses, tents... I've never seen anything quite like it.

The house manager's speech to the remaining people on line after the 1 p.m. distribution got it to shrink down to, by 2:00, probably about 150 to 200 people. He said the chances were miniscule, but that he is occasionally wrong.

NYC is currently looking at a 60% chance of rain for the period impacting the show. Staff at the Delacorte is telling people that the show will go on in rain unless it becomes dangerous, but if there is lightning in the area, they will have to stop. They'll hold up to thirty minutes mid-performance before giving up. And, given that only one show actually got cancelled during all of that rain, the odds are good.

They're saying that this is the worst it's been since The Seagull, but that while it's always crazy on the last weekend, what they're dealing with now is really extreme. They think in addition to the reviews, the Hollywood star and the hometown favorites, it also has a lot to do with the fact that this follows Hair, which obviously went on to be a huge success. So, people think that maybe this is the next Hair and want to see it now. That being said, though, I don't think you can cross-compare the line situations, simply because this, as a result OF that, is way worse.

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Updated On: 7/11/09 at 03:50 PM

Well, I think that's one of the problems, is that now people will say, "Oh, well last year I got there at 3 a.m. and it wasn't early enough," thus creating the risk of people doing this the ENTIRETY of the next run, or a run next year. And they'll work based on that without thinking back to WHY this happened this year, or that it was the end of the run, or whatever.

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Remember the good old days when you could get there at 6 and easily be the first person in line? lol

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I just have to throw in that I am so happy to see New Yorkers so excited to see a Shakespeare play. Even among theatre lovers, I don't think Shakespeare is appreciated enough in this country. And if it's because of Anne and the theatre vets, fine, I'm just happy people are coming out.

(But really people...half full houses on rainy nights earlier in the run. You missed it, that's your fault.)


All this chaos makes me feel very fortunate to work at this show!

So that means about 300 people (maybe less, give or take) got tickets today, which, if they all took two, would mean that about 600 tickets went to the line? They say it's the majority, but if the house seats roughly 1900, that leaves 1300 that don't go -- a little less by the time you factor in the disability and senior lines. Ah well, it is what it is. I was just always wondering about the numbers, but that at least lets you put a rough estimate to it.

And yes, kudos to the staff; this is clearly really overwhelming, and they've had to deal with a lot of antics (a homeless man stole someone's cell phone in the wee hours and then held it for ransom money!), but they're doing a good job.

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Updated On: 7/11/09 at 04:59 PM

You've got to be kidding me... any clue how many people? Am I going to need to get there at 8? O_O

whoops

Updated On: 7/11/09 at 05:31 PM

Do people think, in light of the craziness, there is any chance of this transferring and with most of the cast in tact? Because the cast is kind of high profile, which = busy actors (Hathaway has movie engagements, McDonald is in a TV show), I've been thinking it is not likely, but I haven't read anything about it either way.

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I'm really not excited about THE BACCHAE but I think I may go see it in previews anyway and avoid the huge crowds because I'd still like to see how they follow up TWELFTH NIGHT. It's gonna be hard to top.

Me, too, Mrfreeze.

Ironically I'm watching the bonus DVD for the documentary about him, Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts. Just watched a rehearsal of Dracula w/ the Kronos Quartet and now watching a performance of Metamorphosis done in Melbourne, Australia.

How is/was the weather? Did they get rained on?

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