In New York City, the student ID is a beautiful thing. Any Fordham student can attest to the magical powers that this rectangular piece of plastic seems to possess. Don’t believe me? Test it out on a around some of Fordham Road’s colorful stores or Arthur Ave eateries (or drinkeries, if you know what I mean).
I’ve been consistently surprised by the economic influence of my student ID. It seems like the more people I show it to, the more money I save. Bam- ten percent off my vanilla latte at Palumbo’s. Bam- ten percent off my boots at Dr. Jay’s for Ladies. It actually feels like highway robbery.
As previously mentioned, my roommate Sarah and I are obsessed with this fantastic Broadway show American Idiot. Yes- the Green Day musical. It’s amazing. I can’t think of a concise way to explain how good it is, so I’ll stick to good, old-fashioned statistical evidence. I have a personal issue with seeing Broadway shows more than one time- and I have seen this particular musical FOUR TIMES. I can’t compete with Sarah though- she stands at a record seven times.
Sarah is a magician when it comes to American Idiot. I don’t know what club she belongs to, or who she follows on Twitter, or what cast member she had to blackmail, but she always finds the most amazing deals on shows. I’ve actually seen the show for free twice because my wonderful roommate has these crazy connections to some faceless external source that provides a cornucopia of discount tickets.
Which leads me to the student/wizard ID. As mentioned in the last blog, Sarah and I took a spontaneous trip into the city last week. She received one of these mystery emails, detailing a way to get $27 dollar seats with your MAGIC ID. We got to the window, asked for a specific date, and the man handed us- wait for it- fourth row orchestra seats.
For all of you out there who have never sat down in a seating arrangement of any kind, fourth row orchestra is extraordinarily close. We’re talking the kind of seats where you can catch gobs of spit from the cast members. The kind of seats where you can see the makeup that the cast is wearing. The kind of seats where you could hijack the stage and have a good 2-4 seconds up there before security gets to you. Really close. We were so close that we saw Billie Joe Armstrong (the lead singer of Green Day who wrote – and is currently starring in -the show) drop a six-inch string of drool out of his mouth during a song. We could have been hit by it if he shook his head. Glorious.
Needless to say, as HUGE American Idiot fans, we were kind of freaking out when we had these seats. The pathetic, Justin-Bieber-teenage-girl kind of freaking out. We freaked out in that way that’s slightly mortifying when you look back on it, but mainly any embarrassment is numbed by the gratification of dreams coming true.
If you can afford it- or if you are like Sarah and have some mafia-like control over Broadway- there is nothing I can recommend more than seeing a show so close up. Student rush is the way to go- most shows offer discount tickets to college students. Just go to the box office, flash that fabulous ID, and save yourself puddles of money.