Monday, May 30, 2011
The most amazing thing I saw on Broadway...
I thought the highlight of my day on Saturday would be getting a ticket to Anything Goes, one of the hottest shows in town. The show was great, but the audience at this Saturday's matinee got an extra special happy ending. Let me back up...
Walking into the Stephen Sondheim Theater, I saw that all of the ushers were wearing Sailor caps. And I thought, This is perfect for Fleet Week! Because New York was overrun with sailors, and I'd seen them in the audience of every show I attended. I figured they'd feel right at home at Anything Goes.
After the show, as the curtain call was ending, Joel Grey stepped forward and stated that as it was Fleet Week and the show wanted to acknowledge all the servicemen in the audience. He asked them all to stand so that we could thank them. The audience went wild. It was so nice! Then Joel said, "Hey, Sutton, maybe we could bring one of these guys up on stage for a photo op? You want to pick someone out?" So, Sutton Foster stepped forward and pointed at a Marine in uniform in the audience. Joel Grey asked him to come up on the stage.
A moment later, he and his girlfriend came out on the stage. Joel handed him the mike and asked his name. And then he asked if he had anything to say. At which point, Captain Zubah Koweh turned and proposed to his girlfriend, Ensign Amy Sullivan, in front of over 1,000 people! Seriously, the whole audience was crying! It was wonderful. And that's a matinee I'll not be soon forgetting.
Coverage in the NY Daily News here.
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I'm such a sentimental sap - your video made me tear up too! Thanks for sharing the joy.
ReplyDeleteThat's so sweet!
ReplyDeleteBut now, after reading your post,I have the "Anything Goes" song stuck in my head, hehe.
How touching is that! I am glad he took advantage of the special opportunity to propose-they will tell that story forever.
ReplyDeleteSea World recognized military members and their families once when we were in the audience. They asked us all to stand and be acknowledged. My kids felt so proud of their dad when the crowd went wild. They remembered it too, when he was deployed and they were missing him. When I tried to explain to them that what he was doing in Afghanistan was important and that the soldiers needed him there, they talked about that day at Sea World-about how all the people cheered and how Sea World thought that military families were special enough that they let us come there for free. It didn't make them miss him any less-or really understand what he did there-but it helped that other people, not in the military or our family, saw honor in his, and our, sacrifice.