ONCE in a lifetime

How do I explain the magic?  How can I describe a day that I wish I could live over and over again.  Today was that day.  It started early at about 4:45 am, because my goal was to get tickets to see ONCE the musical.  Since the rush tickets are in high demand people start going there at around 4:30.  My goal was to get there then, but I overslept and didn't wake up until 4:45.  Then, I went to the subway station and waited for 45 minutes until I gave up on the subway and took a cab.  I was sooo worried/angry/worried again, but I decided against worrying and started to enjoy the morning in NYC.  I didn't make it to the theater until around 5:30. Once there, I faced a woman who told me that they had just counted and I would be buying tickets 21 and 22.  BUT, they only sell 20.  Trying not to panic, leave, or cry I plugged into Adam's iPod and listened to the soundtrack to Ghost the musical.  It was magic! That is how I started to bond with the lady who told me the bad news.  She and her daughter are in NYC for 3 weeks from Florida.  Her daughter turned out to be a figure skater (my life dream) and very sweet! She is 17 and was at a skating camp last week with all sorts of Olympians.  I'm attaching a link to a video about her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSKqkf7Alpc
After zoning out and listening to my cd for about an hour, I started talking to them and they re counted. It seemed that I was 19 and 20! Oh gosh I hoped so! But I couldn't get my hopes up!!! After hour 3, we met Amy.  She is a die-hard fan of the show and has seen it twice (or more times) per week since it opened.  Turns out she goes to everything and knows everyone.  After talking for a little bit about the main characters, all of whom she knows personally, she started talking about some softball game.
After a few minutes I came to realize that Broadway has a softball league, and apparently the casts play each other!! WHAT!!??!?!?!?! How had I not heard of that!!! They play every Thursday at Central Park, and she said no one knows and no one goes.  Sooooo... though I planned to go to the zoo with the interns, Adam convinced me we had to go.  It is the only Thursday that I don't work, next week's games are cancelled, he was out of work with a swollen eye, and it was too perfect. After Adam's short visit before going to work, I was ecstatic to know that I would watch the ONCE cast play the cast from Newsies.  This means that I would get to see JEremy Jason from close up! AAAAHHHH ! As it got close to opening time at 10:00, the figure skater started showing interest in going to the game too, but her mom said she wanted to nap. SOoooo, of course I told her to come along with me!! At 10:00, each person started to get their tickets, the line wrapped around the block, my heart was pounding, and it came down to me... I took the last two tickets!!!!!!! AAAAHHHHH! It was crazy! We left thrilled and headed to Adam's work to get him.  From there we headed to central park.

Here things got even more surreal.  They were all just playing.  Not more than 5 people were watching per game (there were 5 games going on).  Once (and death of a salesman)  played Newsies, Rock of Ages played War Horse, How to Succeed played Wicked, Mary Popins played Anything Goes, and Book of Mormon played Spider Man.

Once vs. Newsies

Nick Jonas

The cast of ONCE! 

The Man that scored Once all the home runs !

It was hilarious to watch.  They pranced, they danced, they ran and had fun. All the while Adam, Deanna, and I sat 2 feet from them.  It was crazy.  Deanna and I ran over to see Nick Jonas playing for How to succeed, but most of the time we watched Newsies vs Once.  After the game, we headed to the subway to go eat at NYU.  Here, we met David.

David! 

As we were getting into the subway we saw someone with a ONCE jersey, so naturally we followed him into an empty car and didn't sit in any of the empty seats available, instead we walked and sat right next to him.  At that point, Adam says, "so congrats on y'alls win!" And so the conversation began!  He thanked us for being loyal and waking up early, he asked us about our internships, asked names, and got us pumped for the show.  He told us to show early so we could GO ON THE STAGE AND HEAR THE OPENING NUMBER FROM THE STAGE!!!! WHAT?!?!?!?!?! We were pumped! After saying goodbye, we grabbed lunch (I treated them to the fancy dinning hall!! haha) After that I headed to take Deanna back uptown and Adam went home.
After dropping Deanna off, I stumbled on a special for manicure and pedicure, and since my day had been going so well, I said, what the heck! And i enjoyed 3 HOURS!!! of a woman massaging my legs, feet, hands, and shoulders.  It was ridiculous!!! SOOOOO NICE!!!

Pedicure! 

After there I returned to shower and get ready for the big show that we'd been waiting all summer to see!!!
We arrived early and the magic continued.  We met up with Deanna and her family, and rushed to the stage, where we purchased a water at the bar (the stage is an Irish Pub) and watched the cast play the first songs.  David asked us how we were doing from a distance while playing the guitar, and we soon hurried to our box seats with Deanna and her family.
The show was... spectacular, amazing, breathtaking, impressive, unique, exquisite, surprising, magnificent... I don't have the words to describe it.  Its simplicity, its sadness, and its magic are only understood when sitting at that theater.  It was the original cast, it was a cappella like i've never heard before, and there were tears in my eyes for most of it.  (and lots rolling down my cheeks too) . The actors played every part of the orchestration while dancing, acting, singing... it was impeccable. After the show we waited for signatures.  Each cast member talked to each person and even thte 7 year old in the cast signed our  program.  The main guys (AKA all of them) took the time to chat with us and even talked over the softball game, since they were impressed we were there!
David (the head musician, amazing actor, and incredible singer) remembered Adam's name, asked us what we thought, continued to thank us for coming, and even wished us luck on our internship.  It was unreal.  He remembered us and he cared...  They all genuinely cared that we were there.  It was breathtaking.  For those that don't know anything about the show... watch this clip to get a very little taste of the magic!

WATCH IT!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZeT3uyL4MY

Tony nominated Amazingness! 

Tony Winner! He is AMAZING and could make me cry at the drop of a hat

After the show with Deanna!