a story about a play
(and then an impassioned recommendation)
Years ago, we celebrated my parent’s 25th wedding anniversary with a trip to NY.
I was in college at the time, studying under Mary Zimmerman and she had just won the Tony Award for her Broadway play Metamorphoses.
Metamorphoses is a mythic love story.
Set in a pool.
One of the most gorgeous plays of all time, maybe.
…a perfect way to mark a quarter of a century of marriage, I figured.
So for their anniversary, my sis and I took my parents to see this show. Being college kids, we couldn’t swing full-price Broadway tickets, but lucky for us the theatre offered $20 Front Row rush seats (dream come true!)
These discount tickets went on sale at 10am, and since we planned our vacation around this play - we knew we needed to get there EXTRA early to ensure other enthusiastic drah-mah fans didn’t nab the seats before us.
4:30 am, our hotel alarm went off
Putting us at 50th & 8th just before 5am.
I packed snacks.
Guess what - we were the first ones there. By a longshot.
The next 2 people showed up at about quarter to ten.
(What can I say….I am nothing if not overzealous.)
The show was more gorgeous that I could have imagined.
From our seats in the front - we were splashed, we were moved, we were right up close for one of the sexiest scenes I have ever seen.
Shortly after our night at Metamorphoses, I moved to NY and started working in theatre….
So I suppose, this was the last show I saw with the wide-eyed naivete of a midwest girl who loved Broadway with every crevasse of her heart.
It was the last show for which I saved my ticket stub or ran to the stage door for autographs. This was the last show I saw as a fan.
I had no idea at the time, but on (& behind) the stage that night were three people who would come to be some of the most special in my life….
my first love.
my someday bridesmaid.
And the woman who would become one of my most cherished friends.
Pretty cool, right?
And now, here we are, 10 years after the Broadway Opening….
Metamorphoses is back!
Most of the original Broadway cast has returned for the revival playing at the Lookingglass Theatre (running through December)
Mary invited Simon and I to the opening night Gala on Sunday.
I can’t wait.
I know the play will be different because I now am different.
But I suspect my visceral response,
those enormous feelings of awe, wonder and love that have stuck with me through the years,
Will be exactly the same.
I really hope you all have a chance to go see Metamorphoses.
Tickets available here.
Please don’t miss it.
(image)
