Life Lesson Learned: Always double check your ticket
I think a lot of people can agree that the weather this summer has been….unfortunate (And by unfortunate, I mean mostly crap). Last summer was a dry one in northeast Ohio that required regular use of a sprinkler to keep my lawn from looking like fried onion crisps, but this one has been miserable in its own right: humid, hot, and poor air quality for most of it. (To make matters worse, we went from an unusually cold spring right to what Ohio weather memes have dubbed “Hell’s Armpit.”)
Needless to say, the humid and rainy weekend weather has made it tough to do much on the weekends right now that doesn’t involve sitting inside my air-conditioned box cursing things. One thing I have been able to do? Catch a couple of shows at Rabbit Run Theater! Sure, you’re still breathing in that sticky, smokey outside air as it ventures into the barn but at least it’s cooler that time of day and requires absolutely no physical effort in the heat on the part of the audience.
And, of course, it still is a great way to spend a summer evening in town!
This year I decided to see two different shows, with the first being the musical “Anything Goes.” I had heard from my tap instructor Kara back in May that she and a few others I had met through the dance program would be in the show, so I thought it would be fun to go check it out!
A day or two before the performance (after like a week of mentioning the upcoming show to my Mom), something felt off. I was making my plans for going but something told me to check my email purchase confirmation, and thank God I did. My ticket was for June 30, not June 23 as I had written on my kitchen calendar. (Maybe my brain was thinking it was my lucky #23? Who knows). At least I managed to dodge what would have been an incredibly awkward conversation at the box office….
So a week later I slipped into one of my summer dresses and made the quick drive over to the theater for what I thankfully knew was the correct performance. The one aspect that manages to be a surprise no matter the show is my actual seat, because by the time I get there I forget where I had selected when I bought the ticket. As I’m being helped by an usher my internal response is usually “Oh third row? Sweet!” because it might as well be news to me.
Other than the brief synopsis of the play that was featured in the program, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. From what I could tell, it was a light-hearted musical taking place on a cruise ship. Sounded promising enough!
My first reaction to the show was, “Damn, this cast is talented.” Of course, they always do a great job casting the plays at the barn, but as someone who has no singing ability whatsoever, I’m always impressed by the triple threats they get on stage. The humor in the show was also fantastic thanks to both the script and the actors. Well done!
I will say I never know how I’ll feel about the actual musical numbers in musicals. I’m also not someone who loves a musical just because it’s a musical. (In fact, I hate seeing random pop culture movies and television shows being turned into musicals just because they can do it. Hairspray is an exception for me; and it’s one of my all-time favorites!). That being said, I thought all of the songs in Anything Goes were fantastic. I also enjoyed all of the dancing and the ensemble tap number (are you surprised?), which made me excited for my tap class to start up again in September!
Yesterday was the second show I decided to see (and this one didn’t have a date mix-up): The Hound of the Baskervilles. This was a title I had heard throughout my life, but have never read the story. But being such a huge fan of mysteries (that’s usually my go-to genre when I review books for work), I wanted to go see it. I don’t think I realized the play adaptation was also a comedy, but honestly that was just icing on the cake.
I showed up in yet another summer dress to find that I had apparently chosen yet another seat in the same row (is this deja vu?) and began my usual pre-performance routine of combing through the playbill. “Wait, there are only three actors?” I thought to myself. (Evidently, I was thinking the same as everyone else, because not long after I heard a fellow theater-goer flabbergasted as they said the same thing to someone). Thankfully the “introduction” to the play quickly proved that the three actors would easily be able to carry the show and bring in a lot of laughs!
I don’t think I knew when I booked the show that it would be opening night, which creates a great energy in the theater. If there were any kinks that needed to be worked out in later performances you couldn’t tell; even when things were a bit “messy” it only added to the humor! For instance, stage hands were responsible for sliding out the furniture pieces in the ever changing set, which meant chairs, fireplaces and more hilariously ending up in unexpected spots or not always meeting their mark. But the show was meant to break the fourth wall from the very beginning (a theater term that means acknowledging the audience and the fact that you’re watching a play), so these little moments were perfect. In fact, one of the actors even took a moment mid-scene to call out a woman who had a hard-to-miss laugh throughout the show. I’m guessing that was improvised, but it was very well done!
I won’t give away any spoilers, but it really was a delight getting both a dose of mystery and comedy meshed into one show. It was also my first straight (non-musical) show at Rabbit Run since moving back, and I believe my first straight showsince I saw The Cursed Child in 2019. Crazy!
The only hiccup yesterday? My ticket was determined to ditch me, and I mean determined. This wouldn’t have been a huge issue for most people, but I have been scrapbooking memorabilia and souvenirs for years, so I would have been disappointed to get home and find the ticket was MIA. I apparently dropped it while waiting in the courtyard at intermission, and thankfully an older gentleman on a nearby bench saw it and let me know. Then as I was leaving the theater, I noticed an upside down ticket laying in the aisle. I picked it up, and sure enough…mine again. Clearly it had some underlying attachment issues to the theater, but come on, at least I won’t be throwing you in the trash at my house.
So…. the lesson here, folks? Always double check your ticket. Check the date to make sure your brain isn’t playing games with you, and check to make sure your “trying to get lost” ticket isn’t doing the same.
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Life Lesson Learned: Trust no one
Back in 2016, I was so excited to hear that John Krasinski was acting in a play at the Public Theater in Manhattan. I would be seeing John Krasinski in the flesh? Ahhhh!
Spoiler alert: I did not. (Not in a play and not in 2016 anyway…)
Evidently I was still learning at that point that popular things, especially popular things in NYC, sell out quickly. You can’t expect to waltz up to the box office the day of and buy a ticket. In fact, you’ll probably get laughed at. So, by the time I heard John was even doing the play, all of the tickets had completely sold out. Sigh. I believe I entered a few day-of lotteries but was never lucky enough to snag a ticket. Live and learn I guess….
I did, however, manage to get a ticket for a play called Privacy that would be held at the Public Theater later that summer, featuring Daniel Radcliffe. Wicked!
First, I would like to take a moment and file a formal complaint against myself for the lack of photos I took during my trips into NYC. I lived 10 minutes away for six years, and do not have nearly enough photos to show for it. It’s borderline embarrassing, Shay. Tsk, tsk.
So all I seem to have is an awkward snapshot of my lap and an unexciting photo of the outside of the theater.
But no photos of the lobby? Or signs promoting the play? Or the stage pre-performance? Or, you know, anything? Ugh.
Anyway…
This was another play that i knew absolutely nothing about going into it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to see it solely because Daniel was in it and because I was still kicking myself for the John incident. This play could have been about zombie llamas and I likely wouldn’t have cared at that point.
But it did prove to be an interesting show. I don’t remember as much of the plot as I would like (Look… it’s been 7 years and I can’t even remember today’s date, okay? ), but one aspect absolutely still sticks out in my brain: the inclusion of audience members. This play took breaking the fourth wall to a whole new level.
Various audience members were brought onto the stage to interact with Daniel for a variety of exercises (can you say lucky?) which was highly entertaining. But there was a surprising reveal at the end: some of those audience members were actually hired actors. (If I remember correctly, we were supposed to guess who was an actor and who was a real audience member. And everyone definitely got it wrong!)
It was definitely quite the twist for a modern play that already had a unique, out-of-the box approach. (And helped prove the point that you should never blindly trust what you’re seeing!)
I never had the chance to meet Daniel or get an autograph after the show, but it was still an enjoyable and memorable experience in a small, intimate theater.
Now if only I had more than two photos to remember it by….
That's What Shay Said 