They do a drawing for tickets 2 hours before the show starts. You can put your name in once, to get either 1 or 2 tickets. If your name gets picked, you get to buy the tickets at a heavily discounted price. Brian and I decided that we were going to try to get tickets this way as an anniversary present for ourselves. We had tried to win tickets a few times last month, but never won. We then got busy and hadn't tried again for awhile.
We decided to try for the tickets again yesterday. The drawing was to be at 6 pm so Brian had time to come from work and meet me there to put his name in the drawing as well. I got there around 5:30, when the place opened to take names for the drawing, and the line was already super long. The front of the theater stretches the across the entire block and the end of the line was at the end of the block! I had never seen that many people there before. I figured that we probably wouldn't win, but I was there so we just as well ought to try anyways.
Brian soon got there and joined me in line. We made our way up to the ticket booth and put our names in and then stood around waiting for the drawing to take place. The remained the length of the theater front the entire half an hour they were taking names. I bet there were 300 or 400 people there. It really was crazy.
The cards with the names on it are placed inside a spinning wheel contraption and are mixed up. The guy then draws out the cards and brings them outside to announce the winners. They have 13 tickets to draw names for, which makes it a little better than just having one. We were listening to the guy as he called out names. My mind was only half listening, while the other half was thinking about what I would cook for dinner when I got home. Then the guy called out Brian's name! I was in shock. I really wasn't expecting our names to get chosen so it took me a moment or two to realize that we had won!
We got to go stand in line with the other winners in front of the crowd while the guy checked Brian's ID and made sure that we had cash to pay for the tickets. We then got to go inside the box office and purchase our tickets. I took a picture of Brian just after we had gotten our tickets.
The inside of the theater was cool. The map of Oz was printed on the walls.
We were at the Gershwin Theater on 50th St between 7th Ave and 8th Ave. I still can't believe I got to see a Broadway show on Broadway in New York City!
They had a dragon clock in the lobby as well beside a booth to buy t-shirts, programs, CD's, jewelry and other souvenirs.
We had about an hour before seating started so we went and got dinner nearby and then came back to the theater. We had a bit more time to kill so we took a few pictures of us around the theater.
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| We were so excited! |
This area had been completely packed full of people just a half an hour before for the drawing.
So photography is not allowed inside the theater, but there were so many camera flashes going off that I figured I would join in a snap a few myself! It was actually kind of ridiculous how many people were taking pictures for not being allowed to.
Here is a few pics of the stage and curtain inside the theater. The map of Oz is printed on the curtain. The theater was a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I was picturing this huge room with a ginormous stage. It was much smaller than in my imagination. I really liked it though.
We had ushers help us to our seats, which were on the FRONT ROW! We were about in the center of the front row. It was so cool. We were so close that we had to turn our heads if we wanted to see what was going on on either side of the stage. We couldn't just take it all in at once. We were constantly looking back and forth to take it all in.
The Emerald City is in the center of the map on the front curtain and was all sparkly and lit up with green light.
Here is a picture of the left side of the stage. The black wall separated us from the orchestra pit. We could lean over it and see the people getting ready inside it below us. There were lots of lights, sound equipment, computers and instruments down there. It was fun to get a sneak peak into what goes on down there.
You can see how close we were in the picture of Brian below.
Here is a picture of the right side of the stage. At different parts in the show, actors would climb up and stand on the little balcony there.
Here I am super excited and anxious for the show to start.
The play was amazing! Brian and I both loved it. The first actors to appear where dressed as flying monkeys. They came crawling out on the stage and they were so close! The curtain opened up to reveal Glinda and a group of Munchkins singing about the death of the Wicked Witch. It was so incredible. I loved the sets and all the costumes. Glinda's especially. I wanted to reach out and touch them, and probably could have if I wanted to. Don't worry though, I restrained myself! :)
I absolutely loved the story line of the play. I have actually read the book and that made it even more awesome! I loved how the background of the characters and the plot from "The Wizard of Oz" was explained throughout the show. I loved that we were so close we could see the facial expressions on the actors' faces and the spit flying from their mouths. I loved that we could see the effort the dancers were putting into their steps. I loved all of the characters and the music was fantastic. My favorite part was when Elphaba (the wicked witch) sang "Defying Gravity" and she was lifted up like she was flying. I laughed and cried and laughed again throughout the play. It was one of the coolest experiences of my entire life. It was grand, just grand and I didn't want it to end.
Eventually it did though. But I will never forget it. Best anniversary present ever! Thanks Brian, I love you!
Yay!
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