The Producers Jan 17, 2002

Yes, it's true. I actually got in to see Mel Brooks' The Producers last night. You know, the one that is selling good seats for $485 and is sold out from now till forever.

So how did I do it? Well, my aunt Ibby and I went to stand on line for cancellations or standing room at 1:20 PM. We had heard you had to get there by 2:00 in order to get in for standing room in the 8:00 show, and frankly our hopes were not what you might call "up," because there were about 30 people in line ahead of us. It turned out, though, that every single one of them was waiting for the matinee (2:00), and they. Leaving us - yes - FIRST IN LINE.

Overall, line-standing was not as bad an experience as I pictured it, owing to Ibby's friend Carolyn, who showed up at about 2:00, and a nice guy named Nick from Minnesota who was standing behind us, as well as the guy who The Producers hired to watch the line. His name was Joshua, he looked just a little older than me, and he was really friendly and funny. Yep, his job must be tons of fun.

So because of our good position in line, we got orchestra seats in the third row, on the right side. These are what are known as "Inner Circle" seats, and normally cost $485. But because they were either cancelled, or failed to sell at that exorbitant price, we got them for $100. I know, $100 is still a lot to pay for a Broadway show, but it sure as hell beats $485. Plus these are third-row seats at Broadway's hottest musical EVER.

In the same row as us were Gerald and Betty Ford. No joke! And two rows behind us was Martina Navratilova (did I spell it right?). Unbelievable.

Ah, you ask, but what about the celebrities ON the stage? How were they? Well, Nathan Lane was amazing as usual. Matthew Broderick was out on vacation, but his replacement, Jeffry Denman, did an excellent job with the part. Actually, there was not a single actor who dragged down anything noticeably. Everyone there did at least a competent job, and for the most part, they all did a great job. Actually, my favorite actor was Brad Oscar, who played Franz Liebkind, the neo-Nazi author of "Springtime for Hitler."

So, overall - an amazing, incredible, unbelievable night. If you have a day and $100 spare, I highly recommend trying it.