The Importance of Being Earnest
In both high school and college, the most favorite piece of literature I've ever read was Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." It's a wonderful satirical play where the dialogue is completely tongue-in cheek and absolutely hilarious.
The play centers around 5 main characters and 3 side ones. The 5 main ones are John/Jack Worthington, Algernon Moncrieff, Gwendolyn Bracknell, Cecily Cardew, and Lady Bracknell. The 3 sides are Ms. Prism the governess, Dr. Chausible the vicar, and Lane the butler.
I cannot do the plot justice, so just read it yourself HERE
Well, it turns out that there is a production here in NYC by Roundabout Theatre Company for this play, and not only that, the role of Lady Bracknell was played by Brian Bedford, a man.(If you click on the Roundabout link, you'll see a video clip of Brian in the role!)
He. Was. Amazing!!
First let me tell you how my day shaped up.
I'd know about this production for several months now, and if I hadn't been going to Japan this summer, I was planning on seeing a slew of Broadway plays and musicals, but especially this one because it was a limited engagement and was going to end on July 3rd. But since I am going to Japan, and leaving July 1st, I thought I wouldn't be able to see it.
School ran late for me today because I had to finish some last minute work that administration gave me (really? just before we leave on a 3 day weekend, I have to stay late to finish?!?). Luckily my principal and one of my best friends drove me home. He insisted I should go to see Jane Eyre, so when I got home I tried looking it up.
Somehow, the process of looking for showtimes triggered the memory of "The Importance of Being Earnest" so I decided to head down to the theatre and see if I could get an inexpensive ticket for tonight's performance. That was when I found out about RUSH tickets. :)
I'd made use of them when I was in college - but they weren't called RUSH back then. Basically, they are tickets that are sold on the day of the performance and they are hugely slashed in price.
For example, most of the tickets for the performance were originally $72 - $122. I bought my ticket for $22.!
Although, I nearly paid $102 for them! When I purchased the ticket, I just blindly signed the receipt - having used my credit card. As I walked out, I checked the ticket to see which seat in the last row, I had. It was then I noticed the price. I went back to the box office and got refunded the difference.
I had nearly 2 hours to kill, so I went to the local Red Lobster and found out I had a 30-45 minute wait for a table. So I signed in, took one of their beepers and then walked outside. I was a few blocks away from MidTown Comics, so I stopped inside. A fellow teacher had told me about the graphic novel, "5 Ronin" which basically took Marvel superheroes and reinvented them in the Tokugawa/Edo period (which is the history period I'm studying in my Japanese class!)
I returned to Red Lobster and ended up getting a white russian while I was waiting - yummy!! - and then when it was time to order dinner, I got my traditional ultimate feast and a mango mai tai to go with it (yes, I'm turning into a lush apparently...)
I made it back to the theatre 5 minutes before curtain, walked up to the second floor balcony, and presented my row G ticket to the usher. The $22 ticket was for "nose bleed seats," of course (ie, top back row), but when she saw it, she said I could move down to row D.
So not only did I move down there, I took the middle-most seat! My view was perfect and the play was absolutely wonderful. Brian Bedford was exquisite as Lady Bracknell. I loved it when he would take a very short line and lower his voice so that it had the tone of a bass guitar's single string. The entire audience was laughing so much! I haven't been to a musical/play here in NYC for sooo long so it was a joy to watch a live performance like that.
I'm going to try to get tickets to see "Wicked" too now. But those are lottery RUSH seats. It's the first row, only $26.00, but they have only 25 seats and you "enter" to win a chance to buy them 30 minutes before curtain. I'll have to see if I can get them or not.
The play centers around 5 main characters and 3 side ones. The 5 main ones are John/Jack Worthington, Algernon Moncrieff, Gwendolyn Bracknell, Cecily Cardew, and Lady Bracknell. The 3 sides are Ms. Prism the governess, Dr. Chausible the vicar, and Lane the butler.
I cannot do the plot justice, so just read it yourself HERE
Well, it turns out that there is a production here in NYC by Roundabout Theatre Company for this play, and not only that, the role of Lady Bracknell was played by Brian Bedford, a man.(If you click on the Roundabout link, you'll see a video clip of Brian in the role!)
He. Was. Amazing!!
First let me tell you how my day shaped up.
I'd know about this production for several months now, and if I hadn't been going to Japan this summer, I was planning on seeing a slew of Broadway plays and musicals, but especially this one because it was a limited engagement and was going to end on July 3rd. But since I am going to Japan, and leaving July 1st, I thought I wouldn't be able to see it.
School ran late for me today because I had to finish some last minute work that administration gave me (really? just before we leave on a 3 day weekend, I have to stay late to finish?!?). Luckily my principal and one of my best friends drove me home. He insisted I should go to see Jane Eyre, so when I got home I tried looking it up.
Somehow, the process of looking for showtimes triggered the memory of "The Importance of Being Earnest" so I decided to head down to the theatre and see if I could get an inexpensive ticket for tonight's performance. That was when I found out about RUSH tickets. :)
I'd made use of them when I was in college - but they weren't called RUSH back then. Basically, they are tickets that are sold on the day of the performance and they are hugely slashed in price.
For example, most of the tickets for the performance were originally $72 - $122. I bought my ticket for $22.!
Although, I nearly paid $102 for them! When I purchased the ticket, I just blindly signed the receipt - having used my credit card. As I walked out, I checked the ticket to see which seat in the last row, I had. It was then I noticed the price. I went back to the box office and got refunded the difference.
I had nearly 2 hours to kill, so I went to the local Red Lobster and found out I had a 30-45 minute wait for a table. So I signed in, took one of their beepers and then walked outside. I was a few blocks away from MidTown Comics, so I stopped inside. A fellow teacher had told me about the graphic novel, "5 Ronin" which basically took Marvel superheroes and reinvented them in the Tokugawa/Edo period (which is the history period I'm studying in my Japanese class!)
I returned to Red Lobster and ended up getting a white russian while I was waiting - yummy!! - and then when it was time to order dinner, I got my traditional ultimate feast and a mango mai tai to go with it (yes, I'm turning into a lush apparently...)
I made it back to the theatre 5 minutes before curtain, walked up to the second floor balcony, and presented my row G ticket to the usher. The $22 ticket was for "nose bleed seats," of course (ie, top back row), but when she saw it, she said I could move down to row D.
So not only did I move down there, I took the middle-most seat! My view was perfect and the play was absolutely wonderful. Brian Bedford was exquisite as Lady Bracknell. I loved it when he would take a very short line and lower his voice so that it had the tone of a bass guitar's single string. The entire audience was laughing so much! I haven't been to a musical/play here in NYC for sooo long so it was a joy to watch a live performance like that.
I'm going to try to get tickets to see "Wicked" too now. But those are lottery RUSH seats. It's the first row, only $26.00, but they have only 25 seats and you "enter" to win a chance to buy them 30 minutes before curtain. I'll have to see if I can get them or not.