We went in the side door and saw a woman selling Iceman souvenirs, but we didn't want to stop in the large crowd that was coming in after us. The first look inside the theater was unreal. We were in the right orchestra section, which later we would come to realize is the best place to be! We sat down and watched other people coming into the theater and wondered where these people were going to put their briefcases and Fed Ex boxes. Not only are the seats narrow, but there is no leg room. I'm not very tall, and I spent the show with my knees almost pressed into the back of the seat in front of me. I wondered how they would evacuate the theater in the event of a fire since we were packed in so tightly. In fact, the woman sitting next to my sister said that she'd been in nearly every theater in New York City and had never seen such small seats. But at the first intermission it became clear that getting out of the seats would not be a problem.
This same woman told us it would have been fun if "that guy" who lost the Tony the night before had won. That guy was probably backstage thinking the same thing.
Watching the stage was almost creepy. About 10 or 15 minutes before the start of the play, the actors start coming out one at a time, in character. The first guy comes slowly walking out and goes to one of the tables to get a drink and ends up on the floor. Then another man comes out. This is all happening while the lights are still on and people are coming in looking for their seats. Very creepy. This goes on until the bell chimes and the lights go out. The play has started.
At the first intermission, everyone bolted to their feet! And ran for the bar and restrooms. Those places were too crowded so my sister and I just stood off to the side near the outside doors. The rest of the play went on and I couldn't believe I was there. I told my sister that I could understand why people were seeing the play more than once. This was said before my feet had started to hurt from walking all day and I'd started to lose all feeling in my lower body from sitting for so long.
Seeing Kevin in front of me gave me a feeling of deja vu a few times. There had been taped scenes from the play on TV a few times and to see those same scenes in front of you was an interesting experience. Plus, I would be watching Kevin and suddenly realize I wasn't paying any attention to the play, then later would notice that I was watching the play instead of Kevin. This is how good everyone in the play is. I actually found myself watching the other actors while Kevin Spacey was in front of me! Clarke Peters was very good. The women were as well. The way the stage was angled downward was interesting. So were the bed frames on the back wall. To indicate a second floor, I'd assume. At times the actors were near the edge of the stage. Once I thought Kevin was going to step right off the edge into the audience.
I found myself having an odd reaction to seeing Kevin on the stage. Most of the time it was like watching him on film. Very surrealistic. I felt very calm and composed. And then he would do something with his grin and it was like looking at his pictures. One time he was over near the edge of the stage, on the right side and was looking over to the left of the stage and I suddenly became aware of his hair and the way it curls under his left ear, and I thought ... "It's Kevin Spacey!" and was afraid I'd said that out loud.
Fortunately for everyone, especially my sister, I had kept this to myself. Although it took about 10 minutes for me to get back into the play. One funny thing happened. At least it was funny to me. Have you seen the old Carol Burnett show skit that had Carol and Vicki Lawrence being inside a women's jail? Vicki was a dimwitted woman with a high and squeaky voice and Carol was the tough broad. Vicki holds her hands up to her mouth and plays a sad song. Carol tells her it was great and Vicki says in this high, squeaky, dumb blonde voice .. "If you thought that was good, wait until I get a harmonica."
Weeell .. Kevin was sitting at the edge of the stage and he's holding his hands up to his mouth and the strains of a song can be heard and the women sitting behind me are whispering that he's great at it and the thought pops into my head that if they think that's great, wait until he gets a harmonica. And I suddenly thought I'd said it out loud. Fortunately for all and especially for me, I had not. But I did have a hard time not laughing.
Don't ever take a dose of Sudafed before you go to the theater, no matter how much you can't breathe from sinus problems!
My feet were starting to hurt from walking around all day and I tried to unobtrusively remove my shoes for a few minutes and had a few nerve-wracking moments towards the end of the play when I couldn't feel one of my shoes on the floor. I finally found it and put my shoes back on just as the play ended and the audience was standing to give the cast a standing ovation.
I had wondered if the loss of the Tony the night before would effect the way the audience treated the play and the cast. Saturday, Kevin and TIC were the toast of Broadway. Monday morning the press was treating them as if they were the biggest losers to come down Broadway in years. I wondered if the people who had tickets would react the same way. But the audience was very supportive of everyone. People who have seen the show were always commenting on how the audience would applaud for Kevin when he makes his entrance. Well, he got a rousing round of applause Monday night from the sold out crowd.
We were sitting towards the back and in the right orchestra seats. The outside doors are to the right, so we walked out of our seats directly into the street and turned left to the barricades. My mom and friend were standing right next to the dumpster as they had been instructed to do. My friend had the Hopper cover from A Bug's Life and my mom had the window card and a gold metallic ink pen. My sister and I were at the opposite barrier with our PLAYBILLS. Plus I had one of my 8x10 glossies in my purse, along with a blue sharpie. We took our positions and waited!
Driving Mr. Spacey!: The positively untrue life and times of Kevin Spacey,
with a few real facts thrown in for fun.
All collages and photo enhancements were done by me using Microsoft® Picture It!® 99
