the farnsworth invention

i recently found out that the farnswoth invention was going to end its run on march 2. i had really wanted to see this, and so, on saturday, march 1, i got out of bed early to brave the lines at tkts. i wanted to see the show, but not at full price. fortunately, i was there early, and by 10:15, had my ticket in my hand. zach had to work that day, so i had decided to go by myself.

the show was really good. i can see why it didn't do well- in two hours they managed to pack so much information in about the characters, the multi-layered plot, and all of the scientific information about how to build a television. i actually never thought a play about cathode ray tubes could be so interesting, but it really was.
the one big disappointment, however, was when i sat down and opened my playbill. i don't think i had ever seen that many little white sheets of paper in a playbill. all of the main characters were being played by understudies. that meant that hank azaria, who was really excited about watching, was not going to be in the show today. good thing my tickets were half price. it all turned out okay though, the understudies did a good job- with only a few trips over the amazingly fast string of lines.

the interesting part was the two older couples sitting beside me. apparently (i was listening to their conversation) the man had worked as an engineer for one of these companies, developing the television at this time. he was explaining how he had worked on the cathode ray tube, and was told to copy it from some drawings. the woman, who was his wife was like, "yeah, yeah, we've all heard this story before." i guess all stories get old once you've heard them thirty or forty times!