The other night, in Florida, I had the fun of going to see the Broadway show Avenue Q with my pal (douche-y namedrop time) Jeff Marx, one of the creators of Avenue Q.
I'd seen it before. I love it like candy. Good candy. Like Chaleston Chew when those were the best.
But there was something about getting to see it with the guy who dreamed it up -- with his parents and family and friends and all of us there. Broadway and the Tony are nice. But at intermission, we were talking about the beauty of having YOUR play come to YOUR theater in YOUR hometown.
And as I mentioned this beauty to Jeff, he turned to the back of the theater, pointed up to crappy seats up in the balcony, and said, "That's where I used to sit when I came here years ago and saw Phantom."
Let me be clear here: most people, when they find success, never want to think of those days when they had the suck seats. But we should never forget those seats. Those are the best seats we'll ever have in our lives.
What you see below is the picture Jeff took -- of his Tony-award winning play -- from his old seats up in the balcony.
I love him for never forgetting. But I love him more for leaving our amazing center-orchestra seats to take in the view from way back.
PS - Other best part? When the 99-year-old lady usher shooed him (and us) out of the theater, threatening that, "The show's over, young man, time for you to get out."
1 comment:
Wow, amazing.
I saw Avenue Q last New Year's Day on Broadway and had the time of my life. I expected to laugh, but I couldn't imagine I'd identify with the characters-- puppets no less!-- so strongly. In fact, my friends and my wife kept looking over at me during the particularly Hughish lyrics in "It Sucks to be Me," and they bought me the soundtrack and a "Sucks to be Me" T-shirt afterward, and it put a giant smile on my face.
Sometimes all you need to hear is that you're not alone. :)
It's an amazing thing to create characters that people identify with, but it's even more amazing when you can see the hands going into the glorified socks and still feel like these characters speak to you.
Tell your bud he created an amazing thing. :)
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