Thread by @seananmcguire

My mother: *holds still near the Fire TV*
Me: Okay, so this is "Magic to Do" from the 1973 production, and here it is at the 2013 Tony Awards, and here it is...

Mom: Why the hell are you so obsessed with this show? And why does that man want me to look at his dick so badly?!
Me: Fosse!

Mom: IS THAT THE MAYOR FROM ZOOBALLY ZOO.
Me: Yes.
Mom: You were OBSESSED with that show. I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING NOW. EVEN HIS SPANDEX-WRAPPED DICK.

So when the PIPPIN revival was announced, I basically called my editor that same night to go THE NEXT TIME I COME TO NEW YORK WE HAVE TO SEE PIPPIN I'LL BUY PLANE TICKETS RIGHT NOW.

I am exactly the wrong age to be as obsessed with PIPPIN as I am. Too young for the original, too old for the revival. This matters not at all. I love this show like I love few others, all due to my grandmother fucking up when I was small.

(She saw "Ben Vereen" and "the guy from THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO" and thought "this is suitable for my kindergarten-age granddaughter, sure. No one realized her mistake until I'd already seen it a dozen times.)

I'm pretty chill most of the time, so my editor went "oh shit she actually wants something," and got us AMAZING seats. Third row, center. I would have done crimes to have those seats.

We got there, sat down...and I proceeded to weep silently from the start of the overture until the end of "Corner of the Sky." The actors could see me. It was mortifying. I couldn't stop.

I was THERE. I was seeing PIPPIN on BROADWAY, which was something I had never expected to happen in my lifetime.

It helps that the revival of PIPPIN was one of the most innovative, creative, thoughtful revivals I've ever seen. Their staging was transcendent. The cast was perfect.