Der Brucer and I got to see Ragtime thrice! The first time was during previews, towards the back of the Shubert Theater. The opening number was stunning, but it was "Journey On" that literally brought tears to my eyes, I found it so moving.
Less than a week later, we got a call from one of our friends from Log Cabin, telling us that, if we wanted, we could get to see the show for free for the Los Angeles Opening Night. Hey, we loved it the first time, why not go again? The idea was that the publicity people wanted to make sure the theater was filled, so there was a sort of "stand-by" line of seat fillers. Very Oscar Nite, it a way, but without the seat shuffling.
So there we are, in our suits, and everyone else (who paid) has taken their seats, and we've literally been waiting a couple of hours in the sun on a Sunday but with no one sketching our pictures, and the rest of the people in line look OK but they're not in suits. Finally, they signal the line of us freebie-seekers to come on in, and we start to make our way, when der Brucer and I get pulled aside by one of the publicity people who pulls us into the theater through a different door and escorts us to the very front row!
OK, it was a little to the side. It was very to the side. By the end of the show, my neck had a crick in it from looking hard to my left for the entire time. But it was definately worth it. In fact, having seen the show from the back of the orchestra level (but quite center) the first time, seeing it from such a different perspective made it all the more interesting.
Stokes has an amazing amount of charisma onstage!
Third time, late in the run, most of the LA cast had moved on to Broadway or other jobs. But der Brucer wanted to see it again, and was able to get another deal, this time on tix up in the balcony. Most of the others around us were in college or high school. The guys couldn't figure out what the attraction was. The girls were very much in love with the piece, particularly in love with the self-empowerment of the character of Mother. (Maybe if the Titanic had sunk during the last hour, the guys would have enjoyed at least part of it.)
Yeah, the show loses steam towards the end. Let's face it, by that time, everyone is exhausted. But I still found it to be great theater, all three times.
