The Show Goes On!

Evenings ushering on Broadway is my night and weekend job. It's more like the place I go to relax than the place I go to work. Currently I'm working La Cage aux Folles. It's a make believe world. When I'm at the theater, I go to a place removed from the world outside. My cellphone is sequestered in my locker and other than the occasional texter or talker, my focus is the stage where magnificent masculine dancers in make-up and wigs garner whoops and hollers.

Last night started off like every other except for my encounter with Julie, a fellow usher, who was running late to the Majestic to usher at Phantom. Julie was headed the wrong way on 48th street to get to her post on 44th street.We spoke briefly as we ran in opposite directions, and I didn't get a chance to ask her why she was taking a detour. Once inside the Longacre, I readied my playbills and sat my patrons. After late seating I headed up to the lounge to take my break.

On break I sat with Roberto the bartender and chatted about his website, his photography, his recent tour in the cast of Fame in China. Roberto then got a text from a bartender friend at Billy Elliott. "Bomb scare on 45th Street. Curtain delayed."

Simultaneously, Cathy was on her cellphone getting news reports from home.  "I just hope the trains are running to Queens," she said.

Meanwhile, the candy boy was on his cellphone running through the scenes in a one act, completely oblivious to the threat of bombs going off or the possibility of being stranded in Manhattan.

That's what I love about New York. There we were, three blocks from the site of robocop breaking into a smoldering SUV filled with propane, gasoline and explosives and in the background I'm hearing, "I am who I am and who I am needs no excuses." No one was scared of a bomb, we all just wanted to get home without delay.

The curtain went up at all the Broadway houses last night. Some only had the 300 or so people who got in before the street was cordoned off. And ours filled to capacity with no hint of the disruption unfolding outside our doors. The patrons that did make it into the 45th street theaters were treated to police on stage at the end of the show asking if anyone saw any suspicious activity. And then they were led out stage doors and alleyways as if they were extras in a suspense movie. I'm sure every out of towner who experienced delays and detours was jazzed by the inconvenience. The New Yorkers might have been a bit miffed but that's just normal behavior.

I walked home at the end of the night and from 9th Avenue peeked at the empty street and myriad flashing lights on 45th Street.  As I walked downtown I saw every bus imaginable rolling down 9th Avenue - the M20, M10, M7 - every bus except the M11, the only bus that is actually supposed to go down 9th Avenue. Oh well, it was a beautiful night so I walked all 22 blocks. Just an ordinary night in the city where the shows must go on!