&Juliet Hartford
When I was on my way to Myrtle Beach for Banana Ball the Bushnell in Hartford announced that Joey Fatone would be joining the touring cast of &Juliet for May 6-10. Of course, I had considered going May 5th the night before my flight to Tulsa… but that would have been too easy for him to have performed at, right? After switching flights around and paying far too much money I had a flight that would hopefully get me home around 2pm and a 2nd row seat to the final show of their Hartford run.
My first flight was from Tulsa to Charlotte at 7am. That went fine. But as soon as I woke up I saw that my flight from Charlotte to Hartford was already delayed an hour. Which on one hand was helpful to give me time to get to my next gate, but on the other hand if that kept up I would be cutting things close. The flight before ours at the gate was also delayed which ended up with me witnessing a LOT of rudeness between not only those flying but the gate agents. (One waved off a woman because she only spoke Spanish.) Finally our flight arrived and we boarded only to be told there still was something maintenance had to check out and sign off on – all while my app said we were delayed ANOTHER hour. (I had hoped not, we were already all boarded and ready to go – but you never know with maintenance checks.) Fortunately things seemed to be resolved quickly and we were cleared to depart and set to arrive around 45 minutes later than anticipated so I was still in good shape.
I slept pretty hard on both of the flights, only waking up when we had landed. But in Hartford we got stuck waiting for grounds crew to get us to the gate for almost 30 minutes. I just had to laugh because I was so close, yet so far. Finally we got off the plane, I got a wheelchair and then had to wait for pushers. Eventually I made it back to my car, got myself something to eat and made it to the Bushnell. Doors typically open 2 hours before showtime and I had gotten there right on time for that.
My seat for the show was great and right by where Joey had a lot of his scenes – which I didn’t do on purpose, it was just the only one up front that was left. The show seemed to have some slight tweaks from the Broadway version, but was still just as fun and entertaining. (Though I didn’t quite switch my brain from banana ball and kept thinking Shakespeare looked like Jackson Olson and Romeo like Tanner Thomas.) I also caught a lot of confetti! Yay!
After the show I had to make my way to one side of the theater to pick up toaster and then maneuver to the other side of the theater to get out of the door to get to the stage door. By the time I got out Frankie and Romeo were already signing and the barricade was a couple people deep. A few nice people around asked if I wanted to get closer but I said if they could just let me up when Joey came out I’d be good. They teased me since I had on my I <3 Joey shirt from the Broadway shows (which they were also selling at merch, but all the ushers got a kick out of me wearing it) and 4 or 5 more members of the cast came out. Only for us then to hear from a staff member “If you’re waiting for Mr. Fatone, he already left because he had to catch a flight.” Oh well, I tried – and at least I got to see him in the show!! (0-2 on post &Juliet stage doors for Joey but at least this time I didn’t find out he likes chicken more than me)
I also didn’t fall asleep during the show at all even though I was convinced that I might. But I did have a nice laugh to myself when Shakespeare commented that no one would fall asleep at his show. Try me!
The Bushnell has a really great list of shows coming through this year and next so I will likely be back for more! (The Great Gatsby, Mamma Mia!, Boop!, Hell’s Kitchen, Maybe Happy Ending, Waitress, Operation Mincemeat and The Outsiders are coming – there’s at least 3 I’d like to see!)