Holy seething mass of humanity, Batman! Now, I really do live in a city. It’s the largest city in my state, even. Walking through Times Square made me feel like I’m from some village in the absolute middle of nowhere. I swear there were more people packed into that square than live in all of Greater Portland.
The only reason I went to Times Square is that I was seeing the Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic, so I was just a block away. At that point, you kind of have to go. I do have to say – the Times Square subway stop is way too big for its own good. I felt like I walked for a mile just trying to get out on a side that was relatively close to my final destination.
Phantom was great. I’d tried to go to some more recent shows, but every time I saw something interesting, I’d look it up, and it was closing some time earlier in September, before I would be there. After about round four of that, I gave up, and decided to channel my inner high school student, and see Phantom.
When I was in ninth and tenth grade, a group of us were obsessed with it – it was when the original cast recording came out, and we all had it memorized. I haven’t listened to it in years, and yet, I could have sung along to the whole thing. About half way through the show, I realized I was channeling my inner self from a good twenty years ago. I could have been depressed about that, but I’d already gotten the chills when the chandelier went flying off the stage at the beginning of the show, so I just went with it all, and had a ton of fun.