*photo copyright Joan Marcus

When South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone joined forces with Robert Lopez for a Broadway experiment, they had no idea what to expect. What they have created is a laugh out loud comedy that audiences in the Eugene O’neill Theater cannot get enough of. The smash hit musical has already been called the best production on the Century. This is huge for the trio as Wicked has owned Broadway since it opened in October of 2003.

We are all familiar with two young guys in white shirts, who call themselves elders, showing up at our door early in the evening or a weekend afternoon. We try to hide somewhere we cannot be seen in our house until they move on to our neighbor. The two characters in The Book of Mormon make you want to answer the door!

Elder Price, played by Andrew Rannells, is at the top of his class and will be the “perfect” example of Joe Smith if he goes to Orlando (his ideal landing spot).

Elder Cunningham has never been good at anything. Played by Josh Gad, this chubby teenager wants to succeed and seeks out the approval of his fellow missionary.

Orlando turns into Uganda and neither of the two are ready for what they venture into. They venture into hilarity and this is a show for all adults to see.

Tony Award winner Nikki M. James plays a young African girl in the jungle that the Elder’s encounter.

Maybe the most original Broadway hit in history, this show is not for all audiences as it contains many sexual overtones and language only a sailor would be used to.

This show is every bit of 5 stars.

Get your Book of Mormon tickets today at BubbasGotTickets.com.

photo by Tim Black www.BlackandWhiteServices.org

Marty Rice owns two small businesses in Mansfield, Ohio and owning a successful company in 2009 is much more difficult than it was even a few short years ago. His corrugated box company, Mr. Box Plus, has seen a dip in sales of about 11% to start the year after posting solid numbers in 2008. Most companies are experiencing similar results as America is faced with one of the toughest economic downturns in history.

Marty owns season tickets to the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Cavalier. With the tough economic times, one would think Marty has stopped attending games and sold his tickets to make up for the loss of income.

Or has he?

Marty splits a dugout suite Progressive Field with 6 other guys. He says that everyone of them is back for the 2009 season.  At a cost of $248,000 this year, Marty’s portion of the package is over $41,000. That doesn’t even include food and beverages on game day. No one especially wants to miss the dessert cart. I have personally been in the suite and win or lose; the dessert cart is a highlight of the location! The seats are so close to the field you can even spit on the on deck hitter. I know my kid tried two years ago!

Marty hasn’t given up his Cavs seats either. In fact, Marty or his clients attended all 41 Cavaliers home games in 2008-09. According to ESPN.Go.Com, the Cavaliers averaged 20,010 fans per night this season, slightly down from their 2007-08 showing of 20,465 per night. Marty says he noticed a great turnout at every Cavs game he attended, “the place was pretty much full every time,” he stated.

So, if Marty feels this way, how about the rest of America? Are fans no longer attending events because they can’t afford it? Not according to Harmon Howe, whose job it is to manage ticket partners for the world’s largest secondary market exchange, TicketNetwork Exchange™. “What’s happened is the average price of a transaction has dropped from last year by about 15%,” stated Howe, “the number of transactions has gone up substantially, about 75%.”

“Instead of going to Disney World for a week, parents are taking their children to a kid’s concert,” said Howe. Although, he really feels economic pressure has pushed down the price of a seat, he offered this, “fans don’t want to miss the opportunity to see an artist or musical group that may not tour for several years or never again.” U2 and Aerosmith are two very popular groups that fit this category and have been very profitable in the secondary market.

Carol-Ann Rudy of www.TicketNews.com supports Howe in her article written for the website on April 22, 2009. Rudy cites Broadway sales are up over $26 million versus last year at this time. Wicked continues to hold the top spot in all of secondary market ticket sales. According to the sites ranking system, the popular musical has more market share than the four shows ranked directly below the show combined!

A USA Today poll launched in March asked, “How will the economic downturn affect your sports consumption?” As of April 28th, 48% of responders say they will, “attend fewer events and watch more TV” and 36% of pollsters say the economy will have no effect at all!

So, despite an almost bare economy where company revenue is down, Marty Rice will jump into his 2005 Chrysler 300M, head up I-71 to Quicken Loans Arena and follow the Cavaliers throughout the rest of their playoff run. LeBron James is the favorite to win the MVP award and his team had the best regular season record at home this year in the NBA. According to Marty, it’s worth the money he will spend to sit in Club Section 124. Yep, Marty thinks it would be “bull” to sell his playoff tickets or any other ticket he owns at this point. He feels, “the excitement of the playoffs has overridden the economy.”

Buy Broadway tickets at BubbasGotTickets.com.

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