I woke up from my nap exhausted and half-talked myself into not going.
It would be easier to sit about and drink, there's lots to be done in around in the apartment.
But it's a day off, the last practical day off for a couple of months.
And so I dragged my ass out of bed and took a bath, grabbed a bus and found my way to the lunchbox theater. Where I discover that tickets have been sold out.
Now this was discouraging, especially given the enormous mental effort it had cost me to get out of the house.
Still, it's a night off, and I wasn't going to let it slip away as easy as that. So I popped into the Auburn Saloon next door for a drink. At the very least I could watch the people and the pre-show.
A lot of recognizable faces. People you recognize because you see them about at all the OYR and theater events. The community is small. There's the tall, thin guy with the pale face and dark hair and goatee, somehow associated with OYR. There's the dude with the shaved head and two little "wings" of hair left on his otherwise bald pate, it's a look for sure. There's the red headed guy who looks like James Spader a bit, I recognize him as well, but am not sure where. And Rebecca Northan comes in, dressed as Mimi the mime, and does her pre-show meet and greet, it's all pretty good and I'm damned annoyed I couldn't get a ticket.
She comes to the bar where I'm sitting. Now probably I should have brought wine and some flowers but as she has sort of called off "our" date by not holding my ticket and I hum and haw while she politely interrogates us ... "Brooding" she describes me, and I launch into a tirade about the "Grab your ticket at the lunchbox theater" that was posted on their website and I misinterpreted (rather naturally I thought) as "Buy your ticket", and she looks a little taken aback, then asks the older gentleman sitting next to me at the bar if we're together and I have another tirade about how we're dating and she better damned well keep her grasping paws off of him.
She wisely gets distracted by another table sitting near us.
Probably I shouldn't have done that. Certainly I should have had something to eat with my drinks....
The gentleman sitting beside me takes the opportunity to introduce himself. He's quite pleasant, civilized, we chat. I hope I haven't demolished his chance for a date with Mimi. And the customers with tickets line up to go to the play and I go to see if there are any returns at the ticket window. The little toad at the window tells me to wait, and at the last possible moment, when the doors have been closed, invites me up to claim my ticket.
It's my lucky night.
Now the show, I won't give it away. If your curious you can click here for a trailer interview with Mimi. Suffice it to say it's 5 star brilliant. Not the kind of brilliant that leaves you musing about the meaning of life, but a laugh-out-loud, gasp, cheer kinda great. And she does it well, Rebecca Northan, better than well, she's provocative, sexy, flirtatious, audacious, she engages the audience, her date, her date's date...
It's highly amusing. I'd give it 5/5 stars. And it's only in town a few more nights, so if you've a chance, catch it. It's very worthwhile.