Getting it off my chest

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 5/18/20 at 6:01pm

My apologies if there is a similar thread or I missed something.

I just wanted a place to type thoughts that might be shared with others right now.

I'm not okay. I'm up and down most days. Thankful for health and food and comfort and family and friends and technology to connect. 

But there is a massive void in me. Theatre. I know it may sound silly to say and obviously we're all experiencing it, but I feel so useless right now. Usually this time of year I'm scrambling to see everything I can see. I miss that feeling. I miss reading the reviews. Waiting for the albums to come out. Sitting down with my Playbill and hearing the orchestra tune. I miss getting a new souvenir from each show. I miss being unexpectedly moved by a show I was skeptical of while walking in. I miss grabbing a drink with my friends after a show and conversing about what we had experienced. I miss walking out of a theatre with great music playing behind me. I miss Stars in the Alley. I'll miss Broadway in Bryant Park. I miss walking in Shubert Alley at 7:00 seeing actors and theatre employees walking in the stage doors gearing up for that night's performance. I miss reading preview threads on Broadway World. I miss all the content we usually get this time of year with openings and awards. 

I am grateful that so many people are going out of their way to do things for the greater good in the theatrical community. The Sondheim concert, James Wesley and Seth Rudetsky, Laura Benanti, just everyone who's dedicating their time and bringing some of the love for live theatre to us.

However, I still feel a bit empty without the things I take for granted outside of just seeing a show. Not looking for sympathy or trying to be all woe is me. I just wanted to express it. I know I'm not alone. 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 5/18/20 at 6:17pm

I feel you. I find myself longing for Shakespeare in the Park lately.

[matt1982]

Posted: 5/18/20 at 6:40pm

Thanks for sharing this....I'm feeling the same way.

I just keep reminding myself that before I know it, it'll be back.  I think I'll appreciate it and love it even more when I return!

 

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 5/18/20 at 6:43pm

matt1982 said: "Thanks for sharing this....I'm feeling the same way.

I just keep reminding myself that before I know it, it'll be back. I think I'll appreciate it and love it even more when I return!

Amen.

 

[BCfitasafiddle]

Posted: 5/18/20 at 6:44pm

TotallyEffed said: "I feel you. I find myself longing for Shakespeare in the Park lately."

Yes, I forgot that one! I was really looking forward to the lineup.

[Yankees02]

Posted: 5/18/20 at 7:14pm

I'm a sports guy also so i've been watching various sports stuff on youtube. I came across Kobe Bryant taking his daughter to a game and talking to the team afterwards. It was very simple advice but he said you can apply it to anything.

He stated when he was down and everything felt like it was crumbling around him, he would envision a happy place and a mindset of where he wants to be. So every time he was feeling low, he would just tell himself the bad times will end and envision that happy place.

I know it might sound weird or whatever and could be easier said than done. I have been using it though and just keep using it as something to hang onto during this. My happy place now is just normalcy again and I keep telling myself in time things will be better and i'll be able to enjoy everything soon enough and i'll appreciate it so much more when I can

[stoptheworld38]

Posted: 5/18/20 at 8:55pm

Believe me, I am 100% with you. I was supposed to see Hadestown with my family at the end of March for my graduation gift. Of course that didn’t happen and while we’ll definitely still see it, it now won’t be happening until fall or later. And the day after the shutdown announcement the community production of Matilda that I was volunteering on the costume team for also got postponed. It was first postponed til summer but that has now been extended to fall. My teacher from the fall semester is head dresser and she invited me to volunteer - we’ve really bonded over our shared love of theatre and she’s one of the best people I know. I feel so bad because the last time I was there, I didn’t know it was gonna be the last time for a long time, so when I left I just said “see you next week” and now it’s already been over 2 months, with the show not resuming til September at the earliest, and who knows if we’ll see each other before that... I’m also very active in choir and obviously that isn’t happening currently either. And, I’m not someone who goes to shows actually on Broadway very often at all. I see one, maybe two shows on Broadway itself a year, if that. (Usually less). Plus a handful of tours/local stuff, but I live 4 or 5 hours from NYC and have limited money (and family who aren’t big “city people” so it’s more of a special thing when I get to go. I was also supposed to see a performance from the Young People’s Chorus of NYC which is a group that really inspires me. I’m hoping I might be able to see a second show (and also hopefully YPC) when we can reschedule the trip cause it will have been so long since I’d seen anything and as I say I don’t go to broadway very often, plus I really want to support the shows when they come back...

[sparksatmidnight]

Posted: 5/18/20 at 10:24pm

Same. I couldn't even bring myself to watch any recorded show because reminding myself that I can't attend even I wanted to might be more depressing than just not watching anything.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/18/20 at 10:53pm

I feel a little weird because I haven't felt any kind of yearning for theatre lately. Maybe it's because I know it's not there for me to miss. I want it to come back, in an intellectual sense, and I love it, but maybe it's because I only had tickets to two shows (both Fun Home, in two countries) that were canceled so I had relatively little that I was looking forward to, though I love both shows. They were far enough out in the year that I wasn't psyched up about them just yet. But I also hadn't seen much THEATRE theatre this year anyway. I saw a ton of shows at 54 Below and the Beechman. The closest thing I'd felt to an "I want that NOW" feeling was the reunion of the Mostly Sondheim crew a while back. Mostly Sondheim was one of the first cabaret shows I ever attended when I moved here 9 years ago and it was so quirky and welcoming and niche that I wanted little else.

I was talking to a couple of theatrically minded friends the other night about EVERYTHING going on, and one said, "Don't you feel left out?" and I said no, because everyone else is left out.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 5/18/20 at 11:35pm

BCfitasafiddle said: "My apologies if there is a similar thread or I missed something.

I just wanted a place to type thoughts that might be shared with others right now.

I'm not okay. I'm up and down most days. Thankful for health and food and comfort and family and friends and technology to connect.

But there is a massive void in me. Theatre. I know it may sound silly to say and obviously we're all experiencing it, but I feel so useless right now. Usually this time of year I'm scrambling to see everything I can see. I miss that feeling. I miss reading the reviews. Waiting for the albums to come out. Sitting down with my Playbill and hearing the orchestra tune. I miss getting a new souvenir from each show. I miss being unexpectedly moved by a show I was skeptical of while walking in. I miss grabbing a drink with my friends after a show and conversing about what we had experienced. I miss walking out of a theatre with great music playing behind me.I miss Stars in the Alley. I'll miss Broadway in Bryant Park.I miss walking in Shubert Alley at 7:00 seeing actors and theatre employees walking in the stage doors gearing up for that night's performance. I miss reading preview threads on Broadway World. I miss all the content we usually get this time of year with openings and awards.

I am grateful that so many people are going out of their way to do things for the greater good in the theatrical community. The Sondheim concert, James Wesley and Seth Rudetsky, Laura Benanti, just everyone who's dedicating their time and bringing some of the love for live theatre to us.

However, I still feel a bit empty without the things I take for granted outside of just seeing a show. Not looking for sympathy or trying to be all woe is me. I just wanted to express it. I know I'm not alone."

 

It's going to be a long intermission for all of us...it may take until next year-sping 2021 for us to get back in to our routine but it will happen....HANG in THERE everyone - No One is Alone

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 5/19/20 at 12:19am

Amen. I miss taking my Sundays, waking up early for a Greyhound, enjoying a nice 4-hour bus trip, having my Junior’s lunch, and seeing a show and doing the stage door, and going home.

I had tickets to CoC for April and my bestie and I were going to Mean Girls for Sabrina and the Beetlejuice closing night. I do wonder how many shows I would have seen by now. I know I was going to buy Throughly MM for the past weekend.

[OKBroadwayFan]

Posted: 5/20/20 at 9:52pm

I totally agree with you.

Going to NYC and seeing a couple of shows every month was my "treat".   It was the number thing that brought me joy.   

I miss it!

I have other things to worry about---health (mine and loved ones), employment, relationships....

But theater kept me sane.  

We will get through this....

[Patty3]

Posted: 5/20/20 at 10:42pm

I understand completely. This is one of my favorite times of the year. I had tickets for several shows right through July that were cancelled including next to last performance of Beetlejuice. We missed my nephew’s Spring college musical. I’m also involved in Community Theater. Everything shut down the weekend we were supposed to move into the theater and start tech week. We had one Zoom rehearsal just for fun and the camaraderie. But with everyones Wifi on different levels it was difficult trying to follow and not sing over someone else. It gave me an appreciation for all the online and streaming remote programming and the editors who are putting them together.

Updated On: 5/20/20 at 10:42 PM

[Jarethan]

Posted: 5/21/20 at 12:42am

I greatly miss the theatre...I have concluded that in two weeks, I will have missed 17 performances (this is my busy season, finish up in Sarasota, then head up to Manhattan).  This is the longest I have gone without theatre since my first son was born (we basically cut out theatre for most of 1991, since with the stressful job I had, I wanted to be home when I was not working).

That said, I try to remind myself that -- in the cosmic order of things, e.g., look at Nick Cordero -- this is just not a major issue for me; it is more about disappointment for me than 'devestation'.

I have also worked on myself mentally to maintain that 'cosmic...' perspective, because I am 70 years old, and I will not be attending the theatre until there is a vaccine or a prophylactic treatment, and I do not expect either to be available to me in 2020.  (Even if a vaccine is certified 60 days from now, how long is it going to take..., etc.)?

Of course, when I get the blues, I put on an OCR of a favorite show, and are still capable of remembering minutest details from the actual performance.  So that helps.  Creating memories are for me one of the major benefits derived form both theatergoing and travel.  And I have some great memories.

[MCW1227]

Posted: 5/21/20 at 5:25am

I feel for you and all of us who appreciate the role that theater plays in enriching our lives.  My philosophy for this time is that everything we hold important to us, whatever those things are, will be enriched and enhanced even more when we are able to gather freely again.  In the meantime, keep those special experiences alive by watching whatever recordings, Playbills, ticket stubs, etc are available and try and remember how that show or moment made you feel.  Whenever things return, they will mean even more.  God Bless!!