So, last Thursday on my way to work some showtune or other popped up on my iPod and I decided I wanted to see a show. So I did. After work I went to the In the Heights box office and tried for lottery tickets. While I was there waiting outside before names were picked I played photographer for a group of very theatrey people about our age who kept posing like the posters behind them. I was trying to stay in the corner and protect myself from the wind, but they were having none of it and kept making me move so they could take their pictures. The lottery finally happened and one guy won but said, "we really need three..." so when he passed I said I'd give him my extra if I won. Which I did.
So I went home, did some laundry, ate dinner, and went back to the theater. The seat I got was fantastic. Front row, almost center, 3 foot stage against my feet, awesome. The guy who got my ticket came in and we struck up a conversation. Within two minutes I learned that he is a native new yorker who sings opera and that his name is Paul. Very nice older, large, gay gentleman. I was thinking, well this'll be nice, at least there will be someone fun next to me. Then his friends started signaling that the person next to them would move. So he left.
His replacement was one of the perky theatre girls from the photo shoot out front. She was the kind of girl who let me know that she went to AMDA and is trying to make it in the world of musical theatre, but never told me her name, nor felt the need to find out anything about me. Throughout the show she would point out her favorite parts(not that she had seen the show before), and at intermission she pointed out some things, but wasn't actually interested in talking. She was the kind of person who makes you feel sad that you're at the theatre by yourself- not because you feel bad, but because she feels sorry for you.
Moral of the story: I'll take a large older gay man over a perky theatre girl any day of the week, and I will continue to go the theatre by myself whenever I so choose. Also, In the Heights is one of the best musicals I've seen in a while.
