Shows

 

I’m fortunate to have season tickets to Broadway Series South at DPAC.

Season tickets encourage me to see shows I otherwise might not see.

Some of the shows,

Like “Hadestown,”

Surprise me and make it onto my list of favorites.

Others of the shows,

Like “Oklahoma,”

Disappoint me and make it onto my list of never to see again.

Most of the shows, though,

Like “Six,”

Just entertain or challenge me and make it onto “Shows Seen” spreadsheet.

Most shows are shows that I’m glad that I saw

But that I wouldn’t necessarily seek out to see again.

(Although I’ll go to almost any show if someone asks.)

 

The latest of these shows was “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical.”

While it was a fun-ish show with lots of recognizable music—

I had no idea how many Neil Diamond songs I knew—

And while I appreciated the normalization of therapy that it presented—

Neil Diamond was a very anxious, somewhat depressed man—

Something about it didn’t click with me…

 

Having season tickets means seeing some of the same people at each show.

But there are also a lot of different people at the shows—

And the demographic of the people changes with each show.

This demographic was Neil Diamond lovers.

And I must say that I am thankful they are not the demographic for most shows…

Because there was a woman sitting behind me

Who talked and sang through the entire performance.

 

At one point, the woman got mad at the person beside me for adjusting herself in her seat.

She said, “I can’t see. The f#*%ing head in front of me.”

At another point, in a particularly poignant moment in the show,

She kept saying, “No! Cancel! No! Don’t go!”

As if her comments were going to change the course of history.

She sang along during the upbeat songs and

She sang along during the slow songs.

One time she sang right through a dramatic fermata.

I about went crazy!

I couldn’t even enjoy the show because

The woman behind me was watching it as if she were at home watching TV.

 

Now, I’ll admit:

Sometimes I make brief comments during shows,

Though I try to whisper them or speak them quietly during the applause,

And sometimes I accidentally sing a note or two of a song as well.

But I hope I don’t make the show miserable for those around me.

Because most live theater is not an active spectator sport

Rather a passive spectator event.

 

What about you?

Have you ever had a bad show experience?

Do you have shows that you hate?

Do you have shows that you love?

Do you have shows to which you are indifferent?

Let’s go for movies, too.

 

And…

Go!

 

I think some fun conversation might be good for us right now.

 

PS. Les Miserables, Ragtime, Rent, Wicked, Annie, Waitress and The Color Purple are on the list that I must always see. And Jekyll and Hyde, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, Little Women, Honk!, and Next To Normal are shows that I especially wouldn’t mind paying money to see again. Everything else, except for Oklahoma so far, is on the “I would see it again if someone gave me tickets” list.