Hairspray - the Broadway.

We watched a Broadway show - the Hairspray last Sunday evening. No, we did not fly to New York City for that. The show group was on tour to Richmond last week. Needless to say, the show was awesome. I just love love love musicals.

The Hairspray is our second broadway experience. We watched our very first broadway - 42nd Street on Dec, 2004 in NYC. You won't believe how we got our tickets. In NYC, most of the broadway groups would offer student tickets at special rates, ranging from US$25-$30, if they ever make such an offer. This price is considered as dirt cheap because the cheapest price of a broadway ticket often starts at US$50++, and with that price, the view often is lousy. In order to get a student ticket, however, is a tough call because more often than not, they only open the ticket for sale 2 hours prior to the show on that day itself. Yes, I know, this doesn't sound tough. It is tough because the line will normally form 2-4 hours before the sale time, and to get matter worse, they would only offer a limited amount of student tickets for sale, like say, 25 per show. Tickets are on first come, first serve basis. I could still remember vividly that we went to the ticket counter 4 hours before the sale time just to check out the site, only to realize that there was already a line! We were actually planning to visit somewhere else before returning to get the ticket, how ignorant! Of course that had to be cancelled as we were determined to get the broadway student tickets. So we joined the line. If we had to queue in Malaysia, that would not be a problem, but it was winter in NYC, and it was freezing out there! I remembered the couple who was behind us had to go to the nearest store to buy more clothes because they were underdressed. Everyone else often ran to the nearest McDonald's to get some HOT coffee/tea in order to warm themselves up, that included both of us. The line started getting longer and longer, without knowing the limited number of tickets that would be on sale. But we reckoned that we would be able to make it as we were the 3rd or 4th group on the line, so we persevered, despite the blardy cold weather. Many visitors walked passed the line, wondering what was happening. Ha! Finally, we made it till the sale time after a couple of hours. Oh, what a big relief! That was followed by great ecstatic when we finally paid for the ticket and held it on our hands. Yay! We managed to get the tickets! We felt bad for the remaining half of the line though, as the ticket were sold out to the first portion of the line.

So, there you go, we finally got out tickets. But do you know where were we seated in the show? The FIRST line! You may say that's a great view, in fact it was so great until everything was so clear, with inclusive of every performers' facial expression, costumes, stage set-up, etc. Nonetheless, I bet experienced theatre-goer will know that the central seats are the best, because you get to see the overall staging. When you are in the first row, you don't know where to focus on because it's so happenning on the stage! Oh that costume is so nice. Oh actress over there is so cute! Oh look at the dancing over here. Oh the singing over there is brilliant! Oh look at the stage design on your left. Oh I don't wanna miss the swing on the right too!

Ahh, you get what I mean.

Nevertheless, it was a great experience. 42nd Street was a wonderful show to watch. There were so many fabulous tap dancing, and the costume, lightnings, choreography, etc. Everything was arranged brilliantly and well-coordinated. Broadway shows are great gift to mankind's soul.

The ticket story for Hairspray, was simpler. Since we are no longer students (at least not at this stage), we could only purchase normal price tickets. It costs us around US$50 for a rather decent seat. It was a funny show, with conspicuous colour all the way on the stage. We really enjoyed it.

Hairspray.

Hopefully we will have the opportunity to watch more in the near future.