Defying Gravity... and the Odds

My clock stopped today.

For two hours and 45 minutes.

It wasn’t a battery problem or anything like that.

It was more like time standing still.

That’s because, today...

... I WON THE WICKED LOTTERY!!!!!!!

Really.

After striking out on Saturday Night, I highlighted today’s matinee to give it another try.

I figured it would be my best odds, since most normal people work during the day.

Math was always my specialty.

So I dragged my abnormal butt back to the Gershwin Theater to enter the contest.

A contest that awards about 20 front row tickets to lottery winners before every show.

Sure, it costs $26.25 per ticket, if you win.

But that beats the $200+ the people paid one row behind me.

Even during working hours, there must’ve been at least 100 people who showed up to enter the drawing.

At 11:40ish, I wrote my name on a green index card.

At 12:05ish, my name was called out.

From the moment the man running the lottery mispronounced my name, everything changed.

I know that sounds really silly, borderline idiotic, but something felt really special about winning this contest.

Yes, I do realize that I did not become an instant billionaire.

And yes, I do realize that this is “just” a play.

Even if this play has been performed on Broadway nearly 3,000 times.

Even if these are still the hottest tickets in Manhattan.

Even if the tickets were in THE FRONT ROW.

However, since the script to my life turned from comedy to drama recently, I’ve been in need of a boost.

And this shot of vitamin-W might have just done the trick.

There was definitely an extra hop in my step after winning the golden ticket.

Kind of like the time my buddy Dave and I bet on a long shot at the track.

Because we liked the name.

To this day, just mention “Flying Julia”, and you’ll get a giant smile from both of us.

Even if we don’t remember how much we really won.

I’m sure over time I will forget how much I paid for today’s ticket.

But I will never forget where I sat.

For nearly three hours, “the best Broadway show of the decade” was right in front of me.

Literally.

Sure, my neck is a little sore right now, but it was worth it.

For those of you who have seen Wicked, stop drooling.

For those of you who have not, OMG.

The music, the story, the sets.

This is the most excited I have been to see a green person since The Great Gazoo.

And I was so close that I could actually hear them sing.

Without the mics.

I hate to go all Ebert on you, but.........

The brilliance of this play is taking a story that EVERYBODY has seen and finding a way to make it unique.

Even my seven-year old has seen the Wizard of Oz.

Sure, Michael Jackson tried to ease on down the road.

But what the creators of Wicked have done can be summed up in three words.

Uh-maze-ing.

They weaved in the tin man.

And the lion.

And the scarecrow.

And even Dorothy.

But this story was as fresh as the first time I saw it.

Well, that was today.

But my friend Rick has seen it six times and he told me that if it was playing in his hometown tonight, he’d go again.

I’ve been really fortunate to see a lot of Broadway plays in my life.

And ranking them would be near impossible.

But let’s just say that once you sit in the front row, there’s nowhere to go but backwards.

Now I’m not really sure how much time I have left on this lucky streak, so I made sure to buy a ticket for the next real lottery drawing.

The winner gets $14 million.

I know what I'd do with the first $200.