I'm from the Mid-west, but I spent this summer interning at a magazine in New York City. The one thing I wanted to do most while I was there was see The Seagull in Central Park. Going to a Yankee's game or to the top of the World Trade Center I could live without. I could do those things some other time if I didn't get a chance this summer. But the Seagull was different. Central Park, Chekov, all those wonderful actors, and all of it for free. This was once in a lifetime stuff. I was determined to go.
My roommate and I decided to wait for tickets on the Thursday after the show uponed. I had wanted to go Tuesday because had heard that the lines wouldn't be as crazy the first couple days. But I ended up having to go into work that Tuesday, so it had to be Thursday. I really hoped I'd still be able to get tickets.
I had gone to see Measure for Measure at the Delacorte Theater earlier in the summer. I had gotten there at 8:30 and been the 15th person in line. So I figured we'd need to get there earlier for this since it would be more popular. I thought 7 a.m. sounded early enough. Silly me.
Thursday morning my roommate couldn't come with me after all because of a last minute meeting. I was bummed, but I was on my way to get tickets to the Seagull, so what did I have to complain about? I took the subway up to the park from our dorm in the Village. Once I got to the park, I discovered something distressing. I was already several hundred people back in line and it was only 7:15! I was as far back in line as I would have been if I had shown up at 10:30 or 11 for any other play.
Oh well. I didn't care if I was all the way in back as Iong as I got a ticket. I spread out my towel and got out my book as I prepared for the seven hour wait ahead of me. A woman who works in the box office walked by and told all of us not too worry. We were pretty far back in line, but she could safely say we would get tickets. That was a relief.
A while later she came back by with some bad news. They were getting a lot fewer tickets than usually because some big groups were coming, such as Hands On, which did sign language interpretation for the deaf, and they were doing an outer-borough distribution that day. So this meant we were now in the gray area. We might get tickets. We might not. We might just get vouchers for the cancellation line. These only go to the first 50 people in line after they run out though, so we might get nothing at all.
I started to worry. What if I didn't get tickets? I was leaving New York in a week and I really didn't have another day to spend waiting in the park. I just had to get tickets.
Then it started to rain. Luckily, I had remembered to bring an umbrella. It started to pour so I got wet anyway. After a while the rain finally let up, and I was pretty cold. My wet shorts and tank top really weren't doing much to keep me warm. Luckily, I had struck up a conversation with the two woman next to me, and one of them had a semi-dry blanket she was willing to share. So I ended up huddled under a blanket with two complete strangers. Someone walking by said it looked like a hurricane had hit Central Park.
So eventually we made it to 1 pm and the line started to move. It took a long time, though. As I got closer to the front, they shouted that it was down to single tickets. You could still get two tickets but you won't be sitting together. Crap, that meant they were running out of tickets. Two minutes later they said they were just down to vouchers. Oh no. I hoped desperately to be less than fifty people from the front.
While I was waiting and hoping, a woman with a reporter's notebook came up to me and started asking about when I got in line and if I was disappointed not to get tickets. Being a journalism student, I decided to be nice and cooperate with her since I know how hard the job is. When she finished with her questions, I asked her what paper it was for. Oh, the New York Times. I was just interviewed by the New York Times! I was excited, but tragically did not end up in the story the next day.
I ended up getting voucher #30. I headed up to get a little bit of rest before having to head back to the park at 6:30 when they started handing out cancellation tickets. I tried to make myself feel better by telling myself that the cancellation tickets were really the better tickets since it's all the rich sponsers from Connecticut cancelling at the last minute.
I thought we wouldn't make it back to the park on time because the subway was running painfully slow, but we made it. Then they didn't start handing out tickets until 6:45. I was so nervous. I was so sure we wouldn't get tickets. I mean who cancels their tickets to go see the Seagull with Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, John Goodman, Christopher Walken, Marcia Gay Harden, Natalie Portman and most importantly, Philip Seymour Hoffman? They started calling voucher numbers and handing out tickets. They got to number 25 and stopped. I was number 30. The ticket man told us not to worry. He would be back. Twenty minutes later he finally returned. He called number 30 and we went up to get our tickets. I was so excited to actually be getting tickets. All that waiting hadn't been in vain! When he handed me the tickets he said, "Oh, pretty good seats." They were for Section C Row CC. Section C means center, right? Maybe? I tried to remember how the rows were numbered from the other play I saw and decided we were about the 6th row. Those are really good seats. We didn't have time to go get dinner, so we just grabbed a bite to eat at the concession stand.
At quarter to 8 we went to the gate to go into the theater. As the woman tore our tickets, she said, "Front row, way to go." What?! I didn't quite believe what I had heard, but I looked at my roommate and she had heard it too. I wanted to start screaming and jumping up and down. Front row center to the Seagull!! This just doesn't happen in real life. But I wasn't dreaming. It was true. The woman who showed us to our seats told us that everyone else in the theatre hated us. I didn't care. This was magic.
The show was truly amazing. I don't think that I could give a thoughtful review of the play because I just loved it so much. The whole thing seemed so magical. I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn't just on a movie screen. They were all there right in front of me. Everyone was wonderful, but by far Philip Seymour Hoffman was my favorite. I went into it thinking that he was talented. I left being head over heels in love with him as an actor. He just blew me away. The whole evening was perfect. It's my favorite memory from New York.
I'm sorry that my story was so long. As a special reward to everyone that made it this far, you get to read the epilogue. This is actually my roommate's story, but it all fits together. On Wednesday the next week, my roommate was on her way to meet some friends for dinner and she saw Phil on the subway. He was just on his way to work with Stephen Spinella who plays the schoolmaster in the Seagull. She said absolutely no else on the train recognized him and she couldn't believe it. The train was really crowded since it was rush hour and he was standing right in front of where she was sitting. She finally got up the guts to tell him that he was really good in the Seagull. She wishes she had told him our story about getting front row seats, but she didn't get a chance. After she got off the subway she called to tell me. We screamed a lot. I am so jealous that she actually got to see him and talk to him, but that's okay. I'm sure I just would have made a total fool out of myself.
Anyways, apologies for the length. I hoped you like the story.
-- Anne
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