I had the most “New York” experience yesterday. I had plans to go to the gym after work and have dinner with a friend. Then in the morning, my friend texted me to say she won lottery tickets to see The Lion King on Broadway. For $30! Easy decision. I texted my friend from the gym and told her I had to cancel because… duh. I apologized profusely and told her I’d probably be pissed if I were her but… COME ON! No choice here.

A little background: My friend enters the lottery for shows all the time. I’m talking, multiple times per week. And she has won a few times, too! However, she usually wins on Mondays and Thursdays, which is when I teach Spin classes and I can’t get a sub at the last minute. Also, she has never won for The Lion King (supposedly it’s a tough one to win) and I have been wanting to see it for DECADES. Literally it’s been on Broadway for more than 20 years. I quickly replied “YES!!” to her text and Venmo-ed her $30.

I knew that security would probably check our bags, so I left my gym bag at work and just brought my wallet, keys, phone and book for the subway. It took me 27 minutes door to door from my office. So New York! I also stopped at McDonalds on the way because the show started at 7 and I knew I’d be starving by the end. I got 2 chicken selects for $2 and ate them while I waited in the box office line. Very classy with my McDonalds on the Broadway line. Luckily, I was not alone. The people behind me were also lottery winners and they were scarfing down a street meat hot dog and slice of pizza. I also smuggled pretzels and tootsie rolls in my coat pocket in a non-noisy Ziploc bag.

My friend was running late and I was worried they wouldn’t let me pick up the tickets because they were very explicit in the email confirmation about needing photo ID. My friend who has done this a lot told me to try because sometimes they don’t care. They didn’t care! I just showed them the email on my phone and they handed over the tickets.

We got to our seats 1 minute before the show started, and unfortunately the tickets were for the VERY last row. Literally no one was behind us. My experienced friend said that every other lottery she’d won were Orchestra seats, not Mezzanine and she apologized. However, the seats were smack-dab in the middle. Also, it became apparent we actually were lucky to be up above. First of all, The Lion King has two pits of drums in the upper levels, within the front pillars on either side of the stage. It was very cool to be able to see straight into the pits, and watch them do the percussion, which has been described as “the heartbeat of the show.” Also, there were a lot of musical numbers with choreography and formations that were awesome to see from above, sort of like how the Rockettes are better to watch from the sky (Thanks Macy’s Parade for teaching me this). Also, at the beginning of both acts, there were birds and actors that came out from all of the doors, even in the mezzanine!

The show was amazing, everything I expected and more. I loved how the actors were one with their costumes. Like how the zebras not only made the zebra props move like animals, but they also moved their own legs like zebras. Or what I expect zebras would move like. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one IRL. And those giraffes… on two sets of stilts?? Color me impressed. Young Simba didn’t have the best voice in the world, but he is probably 10 years old, so that in and of itself is impressive. And Rafiki? WOAH. I went to look her up after the show because I was curious about the accuracy of the language in the show, and sure enough, it’s very accurate. Tshidi Manye, who has been playing Rafiki for more than 20 YEARS is from South Africa and is featured on the original movie soundtrack. Also, throughout the show, she speaks five of the 11 official language of South Africa (English, Zulu, Sotho and Xhosa). Wtf. That is awesome.

It was such a fun experience, even from the back row. Sometimes I complain about the hot subways, or terrible service on the subways, or hot weather, or bed bugs, or sirens, but sometimes, New York is AMAZING. Who else except New Yorkers gets to decide that instead of Spin class, they are going to attend The Lion King on Broadway for $30? No one. It was a good New York day.