My Recent Broadway Experience

Although at one point in my life, I would have told you I was allergic to Broadway shows, I have been to a handful in my life…

Amy is a big fan – so I’ve definitely tried to make an even greater effort in atleast attending shows. I have been rewarded a couple of times with shows that I have really enjoyed such as Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays and Avenue Q, as well as a number of other times that I thought shows were pretty good…

Anyway, last night Amy and I went to see The Odd Couple, staring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. (I had to buy tickets over 6 months in advance) I feel like since their performance in The Producers, they have entered some kind of actor-elite club, so I thought it would be a good thing (at least culturally) for me to see them live while I live in New York.

The Outcome? Overall, I was a bit disappointed with the whole experience, although I am glad that I saw Lane and Broderick live on stage together….Their comedic timing was amazing and I definitely had a couple of chuckles during the dialog.

A big part of the disappointment for me was the overall theatre experience. Keeping in mind that theater tickets are far from cheap (especially for popular shows), I have never been more uncomfortable in a seat. My knees were fully pressed against the rail in front of me and the cushion that was supposed to support my ass (which is very sensitive by the way) was certainly far from heavenly….My ass was numb a good 15 minutes after the show. The crowd was mostly filled with bitter, old people dressed like it was a Sunrise Lakes Phase III mixer, which does include the finest moth-ball smelling perfume known to man…The urinal that I used (after waiting on an S-Shaped line for 10 minutes), was literally the most narrow place I’ve had to pee in my life. I had to stand sideways, yet obviously target straight ahead …. It was very difficult…

Anyway, Amy asked me last night what I will tell people if they asked me about the show. And my response is that I am very glad I saw Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick live on stage together. I thought that the play, itself, could have adapted some more current dialog/current events to spice up the apparently classic play a little bit, and that the overall theatre experience was way over-hyped.

I will continue to experiment with going to shows – but I’m still far from being converted into a true believer in the hype of the “Broadway Experience”