A Tale of Two TGO's

The setting:

The characters:

Ryan Prades

Jordan Peck

The story:

So about three weeks ago Ryan discovered something fantastic: Duncan Sheik, who just so happened to write the music to each and every Spring Awakening song, would be performing at Anthology in Little Italy, along with Lauren Pritchard, who just so happens to be one of the original Broadway cast members. 

We were excited to hear this news.

And I almost didn't go. :(

Because of that money thing. Darn money. It ruins everything. So I was going to tell myself no, that I needed to save up every little $20 just in case something terrible happens in the next few months or the economy really takes a nose dive. And saying no is no fun.

But then I remembered my goal this year is to have fun. And this would most definitely be fun. So, HA, economy. I get to go see some of our Spring Awakening idols.

Originally, the plan was to get the cheap $15, standing only, limited view tickets, but they were sold out online the day of. So we went ahead and splurged the extra $7 each to get a real table in the upper, upper level.

It turned out to be totally and completely worth it. We got their early enough to have our pick of the seats, and even if we'd arrived late there was still plenty of room. (Also plenty of room in the $15 section so I don't know why they weren't selling those tickets anymore, but I like the way it worked out anyway.) We ended up in seats right along the edge of the balcony, pretty much looking right down at the stage, with a spectacular view of the amazing Duncan Sheik, Lauren Pritchard, and their band.

Yeah. It was awesome.

We had a bit of a wait, so we played around with the camera a bit and took some practice pictures of the snazzy restaurant. I highly recommend going to a performance at Anthology, by the way. It's super nice, great ambiance, not at all crowded; just a really mellow place to see a show. I was actually pretty surprised it wasn't more packed for these two.

Some waiting-around-pictures:

The menus

Ryan, modeling the drinks menu

And then Ryan decided he was going to get food.

Darn him. Because then I really wanted food. And I am morally opposed to buying expensive food. Especially when I've already paid $20 to go to an event. 

But, buffalo wings...

... they are my weakness. 

And, as it turns out, Anthology makes really great buffalo wings. So I was a very happy camper by the time the band came out, followed by...

... the amazing Duncan Sheik.

(Stage pictures are pretty bad due to the lighting issues and our distance. We were close, but not close enough for pretty pictures in the dark. I mostly ended up with a lot of video of the songs, which I'll probably post sometime later.)

Duncan Sheik

Lauren Pritchard

They sang four Spring Awakening songs, and before each, Duncan tried to give a little synopsis of what was happening onstage, but, as I think we all know from personal experience, Spring Awakening is a difficult plot to explain. At one point he was just laughing at himself because it was all just coming out sounding weird. Luckily, it seems like most of the cool audience peeps had seen the musical, so no harm.

After the performance Ryan and I started wondering if they would be out and about somewhere to sign and take pictures. I'd had the brilliant idea to bring some really cool pieces of Spring Awakening memorabilia for them to sign, but was at a loss of what to bring. Ryan had the brilliant (and immediate and obvious) idea to take our Spring Awakening official companion books. Genius, that boy. 

Our first turn of fate for the night happened at the upper floor elevators, where the cellist from the band was waiting to head down. He told us that Duncan and Lauren would most likely be down at the merchandise table at some point. Awesome.

We rushed down the stairs, with books in hand, realized we'd forgotten the pen in the car, freaked momentarily, and then Ryan stole the pen from the newsletter signup on the merchandise table. Desperate times, and all.

So while Ryan browsed the T-shirts, I stayed at the foot of the stairs, ready to intercept anyone coming down or trying to head out the door. We didn't have to wait long, because one minute I was searching down the hall, and the next Duncan Sheik was standing on the second stair looking down at everyone. I beckoned Ryan back over and we were basically second in the now quickly forming line. Excellent.

It was amazing.

We gushed about how much we loved the soundtrack, and he signed our books on a page we'd picked, which had one of the songs written out in its original form. A perfect signature spot. 

XXOO's for me, peace for Ryan (in case you were wondering)

One down. One to go.

We had to wait a bit longer for Lauren to make it down. Ryan went shopping again, and I resumed the post near the stairs. After a few minutes it began getting a lot more crowded, and I could see Ryan trying to find me over all the heads. So I waved at him. And he looked like he was trying to tell me something important. So I made a face at him that meant, "I'm standing guard here so we don't miss her, ya big silly." I'm not sure how well that look translated.

A minute or so later I headed over to him, and Lauren Pritchard was standing right in front of him. (What I really want to know is how she got down those stairs without me seeing?) Turns out that's what Ryan was trying to tell me, and he'd already gotten her to sign his book, on the pre-designated page, which is a picture of the whole original cast with lots of white space for signatures. 

Lauren Pritchard is our very first original cast member signature (in case you were wondering).

And then we ran into the cellist again, and guess what? It just so happens that he played the cello in the Spring Awakening band, not only when they were on Broadway, but when they were just starting out off-Broadway, and all the way up to the closing performance on January 18. Dude.

So he got to sign the book too.

Because that's just freaking cool (in case you were wondering).

Ben Kalb? You're cool.

After that, we stood off to the side of the table just smiling goofily and declared it a good night. "We didn't get pictures," I said, "but I'm okay with it."

Pssh. I always say that. And I always know after that I really do want the pictures. Yet somehow in the moment it just doesn't seem that important.

The line for Duncan was dying down by that point, and Ryan pointed out we could get a picture now. We took awhile to decide to re-jump back into line, but finally Ryan decided he wanted the picture enough. So we became those silly fans who come back for more at the very end.

So then we were really pleased with ourselves, and as we walked to the main door (camera still in hand), ready to be officially done with the evening, who should walk right back in, but Lauren Pritchard.

As Ryan later figured out, the timing was perfect only because we decided to wait for a picture with Duncan, and because it took us so long to make that decision in the first place. Which is what made me realize that God must really like Spring Awakening, too, because I don't believe in coincidences. :)

So we also got our pictures with Lauren. 


After that we became very excitable and spent time crouching in the middle of the street trying to take pictures with the Anthology sign behind us. And then we finally got back to the car and sang along to the soundtrack all the way back to Ry and Andy's apartment. And while the rest of the household watched Lost, we sat at the dining room table downloading our pictures and video.

It was a good night.