I had the amazing privilege of watching my first Broadway play a while ago. It was something I’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t actually gotten around to doing for a few reasons. One being that these plays tend to be a bit pricey. For good reason, though!
Here is what I saw:
If you can’t tell by this blurry picture (sorry about that), it was Dirty Dancing! It may not look like it, but the seat I had was actually a very good one. I was able to enjoy the whole play without having a hard time because of people in front of me. I’m not very tall, so it wouldn’t surprise me if taller people in front of me blocked my view. So glad no one did!
Anyway, as I went through the experience, there were 7 things I learned. Some of them will show just how sheltered I must be, but oh well:
- People will sing along to the music. And who can blame them?! Dirty Dancing is full of great 80s (and earlier) music! When Hungry Eyes came on, I had to bite my own tongue because I wanted to belt it out! I even wanted to dance! Trust me, though, no one would want to see or hear that!! If there isn’t a lot of music, I have found that people will even talk along to certain phrases that make up the movie! With Dirty Dancing, “No one puts Baby in a corner,” is pretty iconic, so it only made sense that when that part came up in the play, everyone said it!
- People dress up! I, myself, wanted to look special for the evening so I made sure I was in my Sunday best, but that’s just who I am. I like to dress up for a lot of things. I didn’t expect others to be so formal. And they were! Some were even overdoing it I felt. There were still some that came in casual attire, but most of the guests were very well dressed. In a way that was nice to see, too!
- Actors/Actresses in the play actually swore. You can go ahead and laugh at me on this one. I’ve even laughed at myself! I’m not sure what I was really thinking. I mean, in the movie there is swearing. Why wouldn’t the play have it?! I guess a part of me thought Broadway plays were cleaner, but that just shows how sheltered I am. Anyway, it didn’t bother me. Just really surprised me.
- There is a mad dash during the intermission. The first half is only just over an hour. But the moment the play is on intermission, everyone high tails it out of there to use the restrooms or to do whatever it is they do. I just sat in my seat, enjoying the extra breathing room. After all, I made sure to use the restroom before the play even started.
- Late comers get in the way. This is true with any event. You’re just going to have people that are late. For the most part, everyone made it on time before the play started. However, it was after the intermission that I really noticed this. People would walk in quite a bit after the play was underway again. And the problem with this is that they now get in the way of the viewing. I know it doesn’t help I had an end seat so of course people have to file in by walking in front of me, but it was slightly annoying. Then again, that might be better than feeling claustrophobic when sitting in the smack dab middle of the row.
- Broadway does the best with what they’ve got. What I mean by this is that some scenes are hard to do in reality on the stage. Movies can make certain things easy to portray, but on stage you’ve got just the actors/actresses and props. I think that with Dirty Dancing they did a fantastic job on the scenes that were tougher to show. One scene was when they were practicing moves in the water. Of course there’s not beach on that stage, but they used screens and sound effects to really pull it off.
- Sexy scenes were hilarious! There was one brief moment where you could tell two of the characters were supposed to be having sex. Of course they didn’t show anything so I do appreciate that. But what made it funny was that it was a little overdone by the actor/actress. There was another scene where an elderly man ripped open part of his shirt. And the crowd got all into by oohing and ah’ing. That was funny!
Overall, it was a great experience. One that I’d like to repeat in the future sometime. Of course I wouldn’t just go see anything, because as stated before, ticket prices are not cheap. But if there was a play coming near me that I know a lot about, I might be tempted to go.
My favorite part was the music. My next favorite part was all the dancing. Everyone did a great job. It was truly phenomenal!
Before I go, here’s one last pic:
That’s me holding the brochure with all the details inside. Great stuff, folks!