My first B'way show was "Aspects of Love" about five weeks after it opened. It was my first time visiting NYC with my friend, and everyone said 'You gotta go see a B'way musical!' Our first choice was 'POTO' which was sold out (of course) and the guy at the hotel ticket booth insisted we see 'Aspects' which had just opened. Something should have warned us when he had center orchestra seats in the fifth row available on a Saturday night (he said it was a cancelation). I think both of us snoozed through that show - the only saving grace was seeing Michael Ball in his white muscle shirt (I think that's the only thing I remember from it today).
HOWEVER...
A year later, we're back in NYC on business once again in May, 1991 staying at the Marriott Marquis, and this woman who was Joan Rivers' doppelganger is selling theater tickets for Saturday night show in the lobby. We try to see POTO but it's still sold out. She tells us to trust her - and convinces us to see 'GYPSY' with Tyne Daly. We're both rather reluctant to see MaryBeth Lacey on stage as Mama Rose, but this woman was adamant we get the tickets for that night. "I promise you, you will enjoy every minute and remember it years from now". How could we doubt Joan RIvers ? She also said if we didn't like the show, to stop by and see her the next day and she'd refund our tickets right out of her purse! LOL. We did buy the tix, and told her we hoped it would be better than 'Aspects' which we saw last year. She asked us "Who in their right mind recommended that piece of crap to the two of you ? I would never..."
Thank God we listened to her - we had aisle seats, right where Tyne Daly stopped and shouted "Sing out, Louise! Sing out!" BEST SHOW I ever saw. It made me a true B'way musical fan from that day forward, and I've seen dozens of them over the next 30 years (I haven't returned to NYC since the pandemic). I stopped by the next day to thank her and we both slipped her an envelope with $25 in it as a 'Thank You' (back then that was half the price of a ticket!). Instead of reimbursing us $100 she earned an additional $50. She was thrilled. Told us to keep going to her whenever we wanted to see a B'way show and we did for the next five years (the last one we saw because of her was Betty Buckley in 'Sunset Blvd' in August, 1996. We saw so many great shows in those five years - whatever she said to see, we bought the tickets. Never doubted her. (Sadly, when we returned in the Spring of 1997 she wasn't there - we were told she had passed away unexpectedly over the winter).
