Well, I figured I would give everyone an update on what happened . . . .
We made the trip, and the night we arrived for the show (Thursday, 12/18, our 15th wedding anniversary), we discovered that MJW was NOT performing! UGH . . . . after all that planning, after all that stress over being SURE she would be there, only to sit down, open our Playbill and have 4 pieces of paper fall out with the names of the 4 understudies who would be performning that night. I was DEVASTATED! Thankfully, my wife took it better than I did. It was only after the show that we discovered that MJW had gotten hurt just the night before. We showed up the next night hoping she might be back, but she wasn't. So off we went.
The show was incredible, and Marissa Perry was playing the part of Tracy that night. I totally could not stand her the first 30 minutes or so, not because of her performance, but because I was still so upset that all my plans to get my wife 4 rows away from MJW had completely flopped. By the second half I was much better, and we had a fabulous time. Oh, and the lady who played Motormouth Maybelle? UNBELIEVABLE solo!!!! I still have chills . . . .
The "Stage Door" experience was quite cool, with the entire cast being so nice and accomodating to the fans. I was really impressed.
What a saga this whole month has been . . . . from the MJW announcement on 11/18, to the preparations to get there, to the show on 12/18 . . . . simply amazing.
Here's a picture of MY Tracy, along with the Hairspray version . . . .
Hairspray Photo with Marissa Perry