I Won The Lottery!

Well, not that lottery. I didn't win money, but I won something pretty damn cool. Front row seats to the musical WICKED. On Broadway. For $25. It was amazing! I was so close I could see the pores in the actors' faces. I was sitting just off to the right of the center, and there was more than one occasion where one of the leads was singing right in front of me. At one point, Elphaba (the "wicked" witch) was so close I could practically reach out and touch her broom. Did I mention it was only $25?!

Here's the deal: I'm in New York (for a few more hours), got here on Tuesday, and have just been keeping myself busy for the last couple days, as Dylan left town on Friday and it was just cheaper for me, flight wise, to have a Saturday stayover. It's been a great trip. I've checked out a hilarious variety show at a tiny local improv theatre, went to the Guggenheim finally (where all I could think the whole time was about how I wanted a pair of rollerskates), went to the Queens Museum to check out their huge panorama of all five boroughs). And that was after Dylan left. When he was here, we went to a party at a SoHo hotel penthouse, danced, and saw you-know-who. But I digress. Back to WICKED.

The lottery works like this: For every show, there is a drawing for 28 front row orchestra seats. 2 1/2 hours before each show, they start taking names to be entered in a drawing. Then, 2 hours before showtime, they call names until the 28 seats are given away. You don't pay to put your name in the drawing, and if your name gets called you pay only $25 for front row seats. But the odds are not good. I tried for the lottery for the Saturday matinee first. Got there at 11:30 and there were already at least 50 people in line. Finally got to the front of the line, and put my name down. By the time they read the names, there were at least 100 people huddled around, and probably more. But the guy read the names, and in less than a minute, it was over. My name didn't get called. It was so anticlimactic. And while they have 28 seats, they really only read about 15 or 16 names, as each person is allowed to ask for two tickets.

But I decided to give it another go at the evening show. Already had my plan B too: I would put my name in the drawing, they would call out the names, I wouldn't get called, and then I would head back to the subway and go to the Brooklyn Museum (it was the "Target First Saturdays", with free admission, music & films, and they had this new graffiti exhibit that sounded interesting).

There were SO many people there for the evening lottery. When I got there at 5:30, there must have already been 100 people in line. And the line just kept getting longer and longer. The girl behind me in line was by herself to, so we each decided to request two tickets, and if one of us got called, then the other one would get to go too. They started taking names at 5:30 and didn't stop until about 6:10. Easily 200 people there, maybe even 300. All I knew was I didn't have a chance.

They called the first few names and I was already mentally walking back to the subway. They called a girl standing a few feet behind me, and as she walked past me I kinda gave her back a dirty look (what can I say, I was jealous). But then right after her, they called my name. I was so giddy and excited I was shaking when I was trying to pull out my ID.

So I got the tickets, and Grethel (the girl that was behind me in line) and I went to get drinks before the show. It was such a fun night. I'm still in shock. I mean, winning those tickets, to see WICKED, on Broadway, on a Saturday night, on a holiday weekend? Damn.