Alright, as promised, a little writeup about the original cast's final performance yesterday.
I just want to start off by saying that the way all of this went down was an absolute emotional roller coaster and kind of a harrowing experience (as harrowing as you can get when you're talking about having a ticket to a Broadway show, to be so perfectly clear). The show and the community of fans have become so special to me over the last 10~ or so months and I was devastated that so many of us were either forced to stay or return home because of the storm, or lost out on the final performance because we'd replaced our matinee tickets with evening tickets for the added-but-then-cancelled final show. Horrible horrible horrible all around and I hate that that was how this nearly decade-long journey had to end for them.
But all that said, the show itself was an incredibly beautiful sendoff and ultimately I was glad it was a one-show day if only because we were all a wreck afterward. And I mean that genuinely. It was like my heart had been ripped out of my chest and then put through a paper shredder and then glued back together and then thrown into the Hudson.
But anyway, there's some good conversation in this Reddit thread about some of the added/silly stuff they did so I won't go into any excruciating detail. But the highlights for me:
-The curtain coming up on Tash crying and doing a little hand heart. First standing ovation of the night.
-David struggling to start Dead in the Water and crying through it up until "I wish I was a maggot." Second standing ovation of the night.
-Any time Tash lost track of where she was after a funny/silly moment and David had to help her with her lines/blocking.
-David covering his dick after getting felt up/smacked around by Spilsbury.
-Tash crying at the end of Making a Man looking at her wedding band and her delivery of "and they'll see it there in writing that our Bill, he went down fighting, for his love, his life and his democracy."
-All of Dear Bill. Just the whole thing. Jak had to pause several times to get through parts of it and was openly weeping and we were all openly weeping and the whole thing was really really really bad in a big horrible way.
-Tash leaning in to kiss Captain Jewell after he accepted her handshake.
-Tash moving her bar stool closer to David during the scene right before Just for Tonight and holding him while they both cried in silence for a few seconds was evil. Like David was head-in-hands crying. I cannot put into words how simultaneously painful and sweet that was it's been over 24 hours and I will cry if I think about it for more than 5 seconds I'm crying right now actually!!
-Zoe: "You're on thin ice, Natasha." Tash: "Story of my life." Zoe: "Did we get the briefcase back." David: "I....no!"
-Very selfishly, when Tash looked down and smiled at our little group right after the line "you'll see forever after." That reprise at the very end is lowkey my favorite part of the show and I love her so much idk it was just very special.
-Zoe's breaking down at "and that's about it sir" and making everyone else break down.
-The bows with the VE version of Sail On Boys with the staggered entrances for the first-year covers and then new principals/covers and then the hand-off to the new principals was more beautiful than anything I could've imagined. I finally found the mental strength to rewatch it and cried all over again. Julia looks SO SO SO SO SO GOOD I was very much not prepared for her to be standing in front of me in full costume. But I'll be at their first show tomorrow and will also try to write up a little recap.
(If you have questions about anything specific hit me up, I'm happy to talk more about it but figured there are probably a lot of recaps out there already!)
