Hi! Is there a chance I could get a Playbill?

Recently I’ve been writing more about TV, along side with my denial that the summer season is over.  As well as, how swimming in the pool outside is at a pause for the next several months. So I thought I switch it up a bit and write about something that I have been lacking on in my most recent of articles. Which is that of the theater! Oh, yes. Dramatic in tone, thy name is Jodi!

*Full Disclosure*  With the exception of the Footloose: The Musical Playbill, all Playbills shown in this article are for shows I never made it around to seeing.  You’re probably wondering now how it is I got these Playbills, with thoughts of, “But how? But huh? But how?”.  Well, here I write away explaining answering those very reasonable questions.  And here I go……

As someone who became super into TV not until after high school, theater on the other hand, has always been a love of my ever since well…..always!!!!!! I actually didn’t see my very first Broadway show, which was Footloose: The Musical, until 10th grade of high school. Ever since then though, I’ve been what some might call “That Regular Broadway Theatergoer”.

Every theater season I get SOOOOOO very excited and then SOOOOOO very overwhelmed because I simply WANT TO LITERALLY SEE EVERY SINGLE SHOW!!!! Well, that might be a bit over-dramatic. Let me rephrase……  I want to see ALMOST EVERY SINGLE SHOW, better? Do I get to see absolutely every show my little heart desires. The answer to that is a…..for the most part yes, although there’s always a few I miss out on seeing every season.

The one person I can count on in indulging in my love that is Broadway is my constant theater pal, my Mom. Me….. I’ll see anything. Plays, Musicals, I love it all. My Mom, on the other hand, is mostly a Musical person. So since she is the only one after all these years still willing to see shows with me and if there’s a show she’s not really interesting in seeing, I just let it go (a ha, Frozen!) and let that show slide on by. Plus, shows on Broadway are expensive and seemed to have gone up in price at least ten dollars every year, so I probably wouldn’t be seeing every single show either ways, regardless.

So for those shows I will more than likely not be making it around to seeing, I do the next best thing for this constant theater loving gal that is myself. I go to the theater that the show is playing at and ask the age old question of, “Is there any chance I could get a Playbill?”. To where then the box office attendant says either one of the two following things:

#1. “Sure, here you go”. Making this gal’s heart ever so happy with a Playbill of a show I won’t be making it to seeing.

#2. ”You’ll get one when you come to the performance”. To where I say, “Okay, thanks”. Thinking in my head, “Duh! I know that. Wahhhhhh!!!! I’m not going to get around to seeing this show, that’s why I asked for a Playbill now”. Slowly crying in my head, tears for a show and a Playbill that I will never get to see nor have.

You might be thinking why? Why want a Playbill for a show that you didn’t even get to see? The answer is simple. I love everything Broadway, for now and all of time! I might not get to see a show here or there, but I still love me the chance to get a Playbill for that show. Usually, there’s not that much time to do anything before seeing a show, and going to get a Playbill for a show I know I won’t be seeing is sort of like a fun Broadway Scavenger Hunt to burn off some time before seeing a show.

I would say it’s a 50/50 chance for most theaters to give out a Playbill, if you were to ask. After all my very fortunate years as a goer of the art that is the Broadway theater scene, I have learned a few things in my time when it comes to trying to get that coveted Playbill for a show I won’t be seeing.

#1. Not every theater will give out that Playbill if you ask for one, but there are some that will happily give you one if there is one at the box office. Yay!

#2. If a celebrity is in a show for a show you’re hoping to get a Playbill from, 9 out of 10 times, that hope of getting a Playbill, will be than likely be “a no”. As most people in that scenario are probably just hoping to skip the show (to where I just say, “How dare they!”) and just make it seem like they saw the show to get an autograph and probably sell it on eBay. Tisk, tisk! Where I on the other hand, just like to collect Playbills for shows I know I won’t be getting around to seeing to add to my awesome collection of Playbills for shows I did get the fortune of being able to see. But do I tell the people at the theater this? Do I tell them I just want the Playbill cause I won’t be getting to see the show and I just simply love all things theater and I will cherish that Playbill forever and ever? Of course, not!

I just walk away, tears flowing in my Broadway theater loving mind…… At the end of the day that I call “Theater”, I always feel very and extremely fortunate to get to see all the Broadway shows I’ve seen and hope to see. I lost track of how many shows I saw years ago (my goal is to figure that out this year, cause I’m curious now at this point). That being said I am a complete “TV Nerd When In Jersey Who Turns Into A Theater Dork When In NYC”, who will always try to get that Playbill for a show I know I won’t be making it around to seeing. For I, will always love anything Broadway….even that Playbill for a show I didn’t get to see!

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