An extremely talented, lovely friend of mine – Jared Gertner – is understudying one of the lead roles in The Book of Mormon.
Far, far away in California, I am ridiculously happy for him (and pained for me) every time he goes in. I have been absolutely dying to see him rock the part of Elder Cunningham ever since I first saw the show last year. I knew he would blow everybody away and bring the house down. Today was finally my day to see him in all his glory!
As you know, I’ve been on the east coast lately (for the Disney Princess Half and Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans. Once I signed up for New Orleans, it kind of seemed silly to fly all the way back to Los Angeles). Forget flying back to Cali! I’ll play around the east coast until it’s time for my next race.
On my last night in New Orleans, I wrote Jared, letting him know that I was finally back in the general area of the east coast, and if he went in the show, he absolutely had to let me know.
Within minutes, he had written me back, letting me know that he was on for the whole rest of the week through the Saturday matinee. What?! Oh my gosh! One of my dreams is now possible!
I immediately changed my ticket to fly into New York. Late the next night, I was back at (what feels like) home in NYC!
Around 3am, I headed to the theater. As you’ve most likely heard (assuming you’re hip to the musical theater scene at all, and if you’re not, we should probably change that), The Book of Mormon is the hottest ticket in town. It is next to impossible to get. But, 20-25 standing room only tickets are available on a first-come, first-serve basis every show. They go on sale one hour before show time.
I had heard of people camping out for tickets. In fact, when I was still living in NY, I had asked the box office out of curiosity what time you should get there for standing room tickets. They said very early. They told me people bring sleeping bags, so get ready.
I figured I’d go early in the morning/in the middle of the night and give my whole day to this adventure. I arrived at the theater a little before 4am. To my astonishment, no one is there waiting yet.
Around 4:30, a man walks by me. I say, “Every time someone walks by, I hope they are here to get in line for The Book of Mormon tickets, and they have yet to be here for that.” Turns out he had just gotten off work from the coffee shop down the street, and he stopped and talked to me for – get this – 3 1/2 hours! He wasn’t even actually waiting in line or anything. He was just a stranger keeping another stranger company. Cool, right?
In the middle of the night, it actually was getting pretty cold (at least, cold to me as someone who unfortunately doesn’t live here anymore). I didn’t even bring a coat with me. (I didn’t realize I’d be coming to New York on this trip (that originally started as being one weekend long).)
I still had my luggage with me, since I came straight from the airport. I ended up throwing on 5 shirts, 2 sweatshirts, 3 pairs of pants, and 2 pairs of socks. My new, very nice stranger/friend, Tom, went out and brought back a blanket!
Tom eventually had to go get sleep. (Boring, right?) As the sun came up, I sat bundled almost beyond recognition on a busy Manhattan street, while people on their way to work looked at me as though I was crazy. (Although, what do I care how people are looking at me? I am guaranteed tickets to The Book of Mormon tonight, suckas!)
Around 8:30, I was getting quite tired. I wrapped the straps of one bag around me and sat on my suitcase. I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was convinced I had slept away hours of my wait. 15 minutes had passed.
Lots of fun things happen in the standing room only line. (And the show is incredible!) I can’t wait to tell you more tomorrow!