Student Blog: Why Rush Tickets Are The Best Tickets

Five minutes before curtain, we were still ticketless. “30 dollar tickets for obstructed view of Suffs?” We looked at the line of impatiently waiting theater-goers behind us. Before we knew it, we had tickets in our hands and were scuffling to our seats. “What even is obstructed view?” I asked my friend who was seeing the show for her fifth time. “It doesn’t matter,” she said, “I know all the blocking and choreo anyway. I’ll just tell you what they’re doing when you can’t see it.” I nodded, unsure what we had just signed up for. Little did I know, I was going to fall in love with these seats and this musical.

Through three flights of stairs, a sea of people, and two restroom lines later, we opened the curtain to Dress Circle Right Box Four. Wow. Gold detail lined the architecture of the balcony. The chandelier shined brightly over the sea of faces, a crowd bustling to their seats, eager to watch the show. We felt like royalty in this theater, yet at the same time, we felt like flies on a wall. A thousand lives circulated beneath us all at once. We spotted a mother heckling her children, an old couple sitting down, and a group of friends with matching shirts. For the first time, I saw the audience as more than just a blur of unfamiliar faces, but a collection of stories unfolding in real time, patiently waiting to experience the beauty of live theater.

My eye darted directly to the orchestra pit. As I watched the conductor prepare for the overture, I noticed a familiar face at the keyboard. It was the accompanist for my weekly voice lesson! Before I even had a chance to point him out to my friend and say, “What a small world,” I heard the overture begin.

Trumpets blared in the opening number, “Let Mother Vote.” The actors in their shiny white dresses and purple satin ribbons caught my attention. Even though I could see less than half of the stage and a little more if I peeked through the side booms, I still had chills in ballads like “Finish the Fight” (sung by a talented BoCo alumn!) and laughs in songs like “Great American Bitch” and “Ladies.” The cast was so tightly knit to each other and to the story that I did not need a perfect view to feel their energy and enjoy the show.

I blinked and it was intermission. Overlooking the entire Emerson Colonial Theater, my friend and I spotted two open seats in the third row. We shared a quick glance at each other, and immediately hopped up to go sit there. Our view from the orchestra for the second act was even more incredible than we imagined. As actors broke the fourth wall, we swore they were looking directly at us. We could see every little texture and every little detail of their costumes. We could see the sweat on their faces and the tears in their eyes. The experience was so intimate even with over a thousand people in the audience.

My favorite part of this last-minute rushing experience was right after bows, when the actors came out with red buckets to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS association. The actress playing Carrie Chapman Catt declared, “I’ve heard Bostonians are some of the most competitive people.” The crowd giggled. “This cast is pretty competitive too. The Outsiders has currently raised more money than Suffs, so let’s pretend The Outsiders are the Yankees and Suffs are the Red Sox and see how you do.” The crowd went wild, and the strong sense of community lingered as we exited the theater. Who knew that a last minute ticket rushing experience would lead to such a memorable night at the theater!