I have only been to 4 official theatres in my life, two of them were community theatre’s which were obligations to friends and quite frankly I expected the level of comfort and ambiance I received. The third was the old Majestic Theatre (aka the LaSalle Theatre, aka the Bank of America Theatre), a big step up from community or high school theatres, and until 7 years ago, without a doubt the best theatre I had ever set foot in. The final Theatre I went to was Minskoff Theatre. Until I went there I had never known how great a theatre experience could be.
I had gone the first time with my wife of then only 3 year to see the Fiddler on the Roof. Not being much of a theatre person myself I didn’t have a whole lot of expectations built in and was going more for my wife. The whole pageantry and experience blew me away. The sound within the theatre, not just the quality of the performance, was incredible.
A few years later when the Lion King came out in Minskoff, I did something that floored my two sisters– I volunteered to take my two nephews to the Lion King production at Minskoff, by myself, with my own money. To give some perspective, in my family I am notoriously tight-fisted and notoriously anti-social and the fact that I volunteered surprised everybody except my wife, who said “he’s only going because he loves that theatre, if it was anywhere else, he wouldn’t take them.” And she was right.
To date, I have been to Minskoff Theatre 7 times, once to see Fiddler on the Roof and 6 times to see the Lion King. Once each year and never with the same people.
As much as I hate to admit it, I am a theatre guy now, but I am not going unless it’s to Minskoff.
