On Line

I'm waiting on line (for West Coast readers that's how they say "in line" out here) to see Two Gentlemen of Verona at Shakespeare in Central Park. Tickets are free but they don't give them out for five more hours. I'm 23rd in line.

Usually by this point I'd be behind all the folks in the photo (now only 3.5 hours left), but reviews don't come out until tomorrow. Unless it's panned the lines will be longer starting tomorrow. With press in the house tonight could be the best show of the run! It's a gorgeous day. The woman two places behind me said after waiting for hours for the last Shakespeare in the Park it was rained out.

The longest lines in their history were for The Seagull. Mike Nichols directed Kevin Kline, Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and on and on. John Goodman had the smallest role. The woman next to me said she had a friend that got on line at 4 am. (I'm surprised she got a seat. I was there at 8 pm the night before.) One of the employees was counting people and tried to stir someone who had fallen asleep under a bush. They discovered the person was dead.

"That's worse than rain," declared the woman two spots down.