When I bought my half-price ticket at TKTS earlier this week (Monday is definitely the day to go to TKTS -- no line up 'cuz only Phantom, Chicago, and Beauty and the Beast are offered for Broadway) for The Ark I had no idea I was going to Opening Night!

But when I got to Arts 37 (450 W. 37th) I noticed most people were in fancy black dresses -- duh -- Opening Night!

The Ark also has a cool promotion. If you buy tickets at the box office and it is raining, you get them two for one! It was sunny and warm today, so I had to line up at TKTS!

The Ark was written by Micahel McLean (music), with book and lyrics by Michael McLean and Kevin Kelly.

The theater was made up like the inside of the Ark -- very elaborate with lots of wooden beams, gears and pulleys, and gangplanks from the stage right up to the balcony (where I was sitting). When you first walk in you hear a variety of animal sounds and I was sitting in the "water fowl" section.

The animals on the Ark are where the audience is sitting, so the actors look out at the animals, and occasionally talk to them (us). And, involve them in the action. Neat idea. Since it was Opening Night the first row was full of people wearing animal ears on their heads. The story goes from just as the rain is starting to when they finally reach dry land and concerns mostly the family tensions and faith issues on board the Ark.

It was an almost sung-through rock musical, and I would have to say the miking was a tad loud, since there was a lot of rock-style vocal gymnastics. The actors seemed to have powerful enough voices already, so I think the volume could have been turned down a bit. The cast was really good, and the one actress who really stood out for me was Annie Golden who played "Eliza", Noah's wife. She was very funny and had an amazing voice. She also looked incredibly familiar to me, and when I checked her bio I knew why -- she was in the movie Hair (among other things!).

The kids in the audience seemed to really enjoy the show, especially the parts that involved the animals, or made references to future pop culture items (Noah is a prophet, after all).

Congrats on opening night -- here's to a run that's longer than 40 days and 40 nights!

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