Customer Story

That's right theatre fans. It's time for my customer story of the week. In all the years that I have worked for Applause I have talked to thousands of customers about Broadway and other events in and around the New York City area. Therefore you would think I would have plenty of stories to tell right? This is one of my favorite ones. It was a Sunday afternoon in late July. The phones hadn't rung for awhile and by all accounts the day looked like it was going to be a long one. When out of the blue I got a call from a gentleman who was coming to New York with his girlfriend and wanted to see a Broadway show. Not only was it going to be their first time in the city but he was also planning on proposing to her while he was here. How romantic.

Anyway he wanted me to suggest a show that he could take her to see.I suggested The Phantom of The Opera. Sounds like the perfect choice right? Wrong. These were not your typical theatre people. They are from a little town in Arkansas and don't go to a lot of theatre. In fact the only show that he had ever seen was a local high school production of Shakespeare Comes To Calamity Creek. Now before you think I am making this up I am not. I looked it up and the show actually exists. So I went down the list of Broadway shows and to be honest nothing seemed to interest him. I then went to my Off-Broadway list hoping I could find something that might work.

I mentioned Our Town and he started to laugh. He told me that when he was a freshman in high school his English teacher assigned the play to his students to read during class. Well wouldn't you know it but my new friend was cast as George. Playing Emily was none other then his future girlfriend. The very girlfriend that he was bringing to New York. Until that time they had barely spoken to each other and after that they were inseparable. The rest is history. Well suffice to say we both agreed that Our Town was the perfect choice. I got him great seats to the show and for much less then he thought it was going to be. Another satisfied customer. By the way she said yes. I wonder if I'll get invited to the wedding?