Who won the tickets to 4000 Miles at Lincoln Center?

One Response to Who won the tickets to 4000 Miles at Lincoln Center?

1. christine lavin says:

   June 10, 2012 at 1:43 am

   I became addicted to “The Drowsy Chaperone” when it was on Broadway. They had a lottery for the front row every performance, so it made it easier for people like me (and there were a LOT more than just me).

   Because I’m a songwriter I became friends with some of the cast members (one recorded one of my songs on her debut album). I was heartbroken when the show closed . . . but now I am happy to see that there are new productions popping up every day (and I’ve seen quite a few — Long Island, New Jersey, Maine, upstate New York).

   A high school in New Jersey mounted a production this spring and the director was a friend of mine, so I told her one thing I noticed in the Equity and non-Equity productions I had since seen was that the criminal/pastry chefs parts were written in a way that could be easily over-acted, so it’s best not to let that happen. Then I got an idea — I asked Garth Kravitz (one of the original criminal/pastry chefs) if he could spend an afternoon with the high school kids (I was going to pay him as a gift to the director) — but he turned down any payment and spent an entire afternoon working with the kids. The director was over the moon, she’d never seen the students more excited about a project, and what he taught them that day tremendously improved the production (which was a huge success).

   Then I read on facebook how Danny Burstein (the original “Aldolpho,” who was nominated for a Tony) went to a high school in Manhattan and worked with the students there who were doing Drowsy. Again, he did it gratis — he loves the show and knew he could help all the students connect better with their characters by telling them how the Broadway cast did that.

   This weekend in Princeton, NJ a community theater production of Drowsy opened on Friday night. I found out on Thursday that my brother-in-law’s brother is playing “Underling,” the butler. I dropped a note to Danny Burstein asking he if he could wish the cast well — I did the same with Lisa Lambert, co-author of the songs (I wrote to Garth Kravitz, too, but haven’t heard back — he must be on the road or not checking his email).

   Late Thursday night I heard from “Underling” — he couldn’t believe that Danny, the original “Aldolpho,” and Lisa, co-author of the songs in the Tony-winning show, wrote to the cast of this community theater production, cheering them on, wishing them well. I suggested he read their letters to the cast just before curtain, but he said he couldn’t do that because the cast was so excited about opening night that this would be more excitement than they could possibly bear. Instead he planned to print out both letters and post them in all the dressing rooms the afternoon of opening night so the actors could discover them on their own.

   Danny Burstein closed tonight in LA’s production of “Follies” — he’s nominated for a Tony for that, which as you know is now, well, tonight. How sweet of him to write to a community theater production with all he’s got on his plate. Lisa is very busy, too, and how kind of her to write.

   To me, these are examples of the infinite ripples of good will that emanate from a wonderful show like “The Drowsy Chaperone” because of it’s terrific creators and actors, who generously give of their time because they love this show so much.

   These aren’t stories you’ll read in the newspaper, but I think these are stories theater-lovers cherish.

   I know I do.

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