There are
tricks of the trade for fans of everything from Broadway shows to baseball
games to obtain tickets at low costs, avoiding the mentality of feeling like a bit
of a sucker and making the rest of us envious of their frugal abilities. These
loopholes exist in the system for stadiums, on events where there isn’t
expected to be a sell-out, to at least cash in on seats that would likewise
stay empty.
Ally had a
history with sliding to the front of those loophole lines for her Broadway fascination
in Chicago and New York. The past Sunday we went to Chicago quite early, my back
and mood out of sorts, my eyes still with a haze of the morning about ourselves
on the toll way as we drove into downtown, parking at a cheap lot for the day. Doing
do reminded me that unlike my students who venture into the city for an
assigned cultural adventure, I won’t get suckered into paying twenty-five plus
for parking for convenience. You are in Chicago, one of the best walking cities
in the states – put those soles of your shoes to work.
To her
credit Ally had a history with the Tony award winning musical Jersey Boys at
the Bank of America Theater in downtown Chicago. For every performance she had
seen of the musical, she could tell you by her mammoth stack of playbills how
each show was, who was playing The Four Seasons and why the two hours plus of
being immersed by classic early rock hits burns in her memory – all of those
with the loophole seats.
So in that
vein, at 10am outside the theater, like a couple of eager kids, braving the frigid
Windy City blowing at our backs, we waited over an hour for others to join us
in line. No one came save for a few beefcakes who rattled the doors at thirty
minutes till the box office opened, not bothering the read the hours of the
office on the door they were furiously shaking as they spit out a few garbled
slurs. Sliding into the first lobby of the theater we had first pick of two
front row seats for the matinee performance of Jersey Boys for $25 a piece!
With several
hours to spare before the show, my curiosity for all things civic design
coasted us down Michigan Avenue to the Chicago Architectural Foundation. This
organization has enjoyed the business of thousands of tourists, locals and a
few of my students over the years as they provide over thirty different types
of architectural and historical tours of Chicago from the classical structures
of Gilded Age Chicago to the Prairie Style structures of Chicago’s own Frank
Lloyd Wright. That day, Ally joked with me to not get turned on too much in the
entrance hall of the Santa Fe building, built by one of my favorite figures in
all of human history, Daniel Burnham. In that square neo-classical entrance
hall, light provided by a frosted glass ceiling, we killed time studying tidbits
of Chicago history on the largest model of a city you’re likely to ever see.
This model of the Chicago loop, parts of the West Loop and most of River North
fit like a glove into the architectural gem, controlled not by some corporate conglomerate,
but a foundation bent on preservation and education. The ten year plans for
Navy Pier were quite intriguing as horizontal frames showed the number one
tourist attraction in Chicago will get a futuristic facelift with a greenhouse,
public spaces and sculptures that make the location look like an experiment at
a hall of a World’s Fair.
Lunch was
planned at The Park Grill, located in an enclosure that sits below the iconic
Bean or Cloud Gate, at Millennium Park. Sitting down next to recently closed
doors, fearful of the rain that was about to pour down from a thunderous sky,
Ally and I were disappointed to find on Sunday that they didn’t do lunch, just
an extended brunch until dinner. Not in the mood to go elsewhere, we hunkered
down with an accommodating waitress who allowed my Kobe Burger scramble to be
separated by portions, mixing a lunch and brunch together. The Kobe was
succulent with the usual burger toppings of a bun, lettuce and sides. I think
the decision to stay away from the peppercorn crust was smart seeing that the
spice would have taken away from the flavor of one of the best cuts of meat for
a burger. The sides of hash and chopped bacon were over salted. The running innards
of the poached egg were a nice compliment to the hash and burger when the side
dish of the egg wasn’t sitting in a bit of water from the poaching that the
chef didn’t bother to remove. The Park Grill, which has a large open seating
arena in summer where the skating rink would be in winter, has decent food for
a location that gets some of the greatest exposure in Chicago. Once the rain
started to fall, we braved the periods of downpours and sprinkles to walk the
few blocks to the Bank of America Theater and Jersey Boys.
That Sunday
this past week wasn’t the first time I saw Jersey Boys. Last May when Ally and
I took on a five day trip out to Las Vegas for my friend Stevie’s wedding we
had the pleasure of seeing the story of pop musicians Frankie Valli and the
Four Seasons at a specially designed theater at the Venetian on the Strip.
Those productions, in Sin City, are trimmed down with less scenes and a shorter
intermission all in order to make sure you don’t forget those slot machines
bells and whistles are beckoning you back.
Our rush
tickets Ally and I obtained for the Sunday matinee earned us two front two
seats, our knees a mere inch from the orchestra railing, the edge of the stage
about three feet from the outreach of our hands. When the production started, I
myself was surprised at how close some of the performers came to the front row.
I could see every nuance of their quick costumes changes and faces that are to
age from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. Though the profanity laced and fast pace of
the show might throw off some viewers, one has to consider the subject matter.
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were a bunch of young Italian-American men
(teenagers in Frankie’s case) from rough and violent upbringings in Jersey and
Brooklyn. Throughout the show we are exposed to the history of the band, told chronologically
from each of the major members their criminal early days, rise to stardom,
nationwide success with an album of top forty hits, and their eventual moments
of coming down to earth when one of the members of the band, the intimidating
and temper ridden Tommy DeVito gambled away his and most of the Four Season’s
fortunes. The crowd knows the hits Sherry
and Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You
performed a bit more up tempo than the originals in Jersey Boys as if you are
privy to their first performances.
Whatever
city is fortunate enough to host a limited run of a tour of Jersey Boys, be it
New York, Las Vegas, or Chicago, you would be wise to look into their rush
policy. Jersey Boys is one of my favorite musicals that when talked up enough by
Ally, that I was comfortable enough the first time I went to pay full price in
the absence of a loophole.
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