I am new posting, but I have been reading on/off some of the posts in these threads for a while, because my friend is a regular poster. I believe you guys call it *Broadway Legend*?
Anyway, my comment is to set the record straight about Florida theater audiences, because a lot of misconceptions and belittling language has been used to describe the scene here.
First, not every theater patron is old, or from a nursing home. Where I live, we have a very grand center for the performing arts, where they have a Broadway series supported by *Broadway Across America*. I try to see as many shows as my schedule allows, and have a lot of young friends who do the same, on a regular basis. Sure a lot of the patrons are *old*, but they do not seek them from the nursing homes, believe me.
In Sarasota, where I saw A Tale of Two Cities, they have mostly an older theater fan base, but there's also a lot of younger people who attend. You would be surprised to know that the older residents there are very mobile, active members of the community, and seems like none of them are in a nursing home, at all. They are also very savvy about theater, since a good number of them resided in New York in their younger days, and saw a lot of Broadway.
I also found interesting folk there, who had been dancers, actors, stage hands, choreographers, and had, at some point, other theater related careers. The lot is very colorful!
As in Sarasota, we have plenty of student based productions in South Florida, as well as community theater, and these are very well attended by the locals. Then, there is the Broadway series. The biggest performing centers are in West Palm Beach, Miami, Ft Lauderdale, and further up, Tampa, and Orlando. And there is so much more!
Although limited, there is also a healthy movie/TV industry down here.
So you see, we are not a bunch of uneducated crackers here. We support theater, the arts, and know when a show has the excellence to be Broadway bound, just like the best of them.
It has given me inmense pride and satisfaction to have taken part in the *pilot* program to advance a show like Tale to the likes of Broadway.
Now, *on with the show!*
Regards from all us *crackers*