Shakespeare in the Park

It's been two and a half years since I left New York City, and I'm so glad to be back. I LOVE this city and I always love being back here. One of the things I miss most about NYC is the great summertime events around the city.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          One of my favorite summertime events is Shakespeare in the Park. Each summer, an annual theater festival is held in Central Park at the Delacorte Theater, where a Shakespeare play is shown to the public for free. The catch though is that you have to line up for the tickets on the morning of the show for a ridiculously long time. Tix distribution is at 1pm, but people will line up HOURS in advance. Everyone would camp out in line with blankets, books and food... much like an early morning picnic in the park, but less comfy (asphalt). I usually don't mind this wait as long as I'm waiting with other people; I see it as time to hang out. It's all part of the experience.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             This year's Shakespeare production was "Hamlet". Yesterday, I met up with Butter and Wendy Cheng bright and early just before 9am to line up (yes, a 4 hour wait!). Early, but apparently not early enough! There was already a LONG line - I counted nearly 400 people in line ahead of us! We were so far back that we were officially in the "grey zone", where our chances of getting tix were pretty iffy.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Was it worth it to wait so long when our chances were so slim? For a while, we contemplated just ditching to go for breakfast and just come back super early on another day for a better chance of getting tix. Forget about Hamlet's famous line "To be or not to be?".... "TO STAY OR NOT TO STAY?" Now that was our question! ;P                                                                                                                                                                                                       But like troopers, we decided to stay and hoped for the best. Plus the weather was beautiful so it wasn't so bad sitting out in the park. Over 4 hours later, we made it to the front of the line... but with less than 20 people ahead of us, we heard the dreaded words "We are now out of tickets"!                                                                                                             NOOOOOOOOOO!!! SO CLOSE...!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       But all hope was not lost. For the first 50 people who didn't get tickets, they gave us vouchers to get any available, unused tickets later before the show started. Luckily, we were able to score tickets that way and even got to sit together! *BIG SIGH OF RELIEF*                                                                                                                                                               Before the show, we grabbed a quick bite at the Shake Shack, a popular outdoor burgers/milkshake joint in the middle of Madison Square Park. I had the 'shroom burger (a delicious mushroom and cheese sandwich) and a CHOCOLATE SHAKE that I'd been dreaming about for the last few months since planning my trip back to NYC. Butter asked if the shake was as good as I remembered it to be. "MMMM HMMMM!!" *NOD*                                                                                                                                                                                         The play was really long (3.5 hours!) but it was good and entertaining to watch, especially since there was comedy infused with this dark drama of murder and madness. By the end of the night, as tired as we all were, it was still a lot of fun. Things luckily worked out well, and yes, it was even worth the wait.

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