How was your blizzard?

This critic, believing the breaking news floating up from further south chose to sidestep my doubleheader (matinee and evening) for New York theater this past Saturday. Hunkered down in the comfort of my son and family’s nest in the Five Towns, I watched the menacing snowstorm unfold on TV as it headed our way.

The plight, as a theater critic, that most touched my heart was the news, when all of Broadway and beyond cancelled Saturday theater performances was the sad fate of the lucky/unlucky folk who’d made the journey to New York for the weekend; long planned around the precious tickets they had for the Saturday performances of “Hamilton.”

News had just come the day before that folks were showing up at the Richard Rodgers Theater before performance time with bogus tickets. But here were people who had traveled across the country, spending such sums as “$1,500 (according to a couple from Arkansas) thrilled to be actually attending the rave show they’d been anticipating, and it seemed forever! A San Diego husband had surprised his wife with an expensive ($1,450 a pair!) Christmas gift and were making a long weekend visit to the Big Apple. For another couple it was a birthday present for a delighted wife.

When all Saturday performances were cancelled as the likelihood of a blizzard was imminent the news for all Saturday ticket holders was possibly more devastating than the more than two feet of snow that turned New York City into a shut down ski slope. Those who had purchased tickets from the box office or Ticketmaster would receive a refund — but not seats for a future performance. But there were no seats to put the 2,600 people scheduled to attend on Saturday. The shows lead producer, Jeffrey Seller delivered the sad news to that audience that “they were going to have to rebook “for a performance nine or 10 months away.”

One ticket holder, according to the New York Times, went online to seek out possible Sunday tickets to find some available — being resold for $2,500 or more —each! The Times also shared that another surprise Christmas gift from a sister were tickets — at $650 for the pair. Most ticket holders were mighty disappointed, but as the above gifter noted “It’s no one’s fault — that’s the worst part.” It’s just the weather,” said another ticket holder, unsure of what refund he might recover was less concerned about losing his money” just disappointed, “Because we wanted to have the experience of seeing Lin Manuel Miranda,” he said. Miranda is the lead in “Hamilton.”

Anyone whose been fortunate to experience “Hamilton” already knows that the musical is an incandescent treasure that delivers one of the most thrilling and memorable of theater experiences — bringing us into the fray of our nation’s founding, set to Miranda’s galvanizing score that brings America’s founding fathers alive — no holds barred or warts covered in a focus only American history scholars know in all its less than noble manifestations. And the dance energy of Miranda’s book, lyrics and score, and in Andy Blankenbuehloer’s dance in your seat choreography heightens the scalding grip of events Miranda brings into unforgettable focus :leading to the longest standing ovation in this critics memory.

Tickets, maybe not now —can be ordered at Ticketmaster.com or (877) 250-2929 with all pertinent information available at HamiltonBroadway.com.

‘Noises Off’ brings gales of laughter!
Take a brilliantly talented cast of nine super-dexterous performers and give them a comic farce that taxes not just their funny bones, but every strength of their acting experience and physical prowess. Put them on a set in a country mansion abundant in rooms, entrances and exits ripe for unexpected collisions — both physical and histrionic — and the result is the current slam/bang/how did he/she do that! revival of Michael Frayn’s 1983 hit farce “Noises Off” — played with hilarious hi-jinks by a cast who go bump in the day and night to its calamitous climax.

The plot of “Noises Off” takes us on a giddy voyage through the rambunctious production of a fictional play, “Nothing On”— mangled by everyone in the production cast and ultimately frustrating to its evermore exasperated director Farve is a delicate genre, dependent on timing, dexterity and the ability to make the absurd matter of fact, but with the Roundabout Theater Company’s bevy of talents led by altogether hilarious Andrea Martin as a veteran actress who’s a seeming novice in carrying out even the simples tasks assigned to her role. With Jeremy Harren — a jack of all trades theatrical also having helmed “Wolf hall” last season!

The evening’s pratfalls, slamming doors and not so chance encounters culminate in a catch your breath final half hour that had this critic helplessly weeping from laughter. You have to experience that emotion to know how good it feels! Go join in the frenetic fun at the American Airlines Theatre, with tickets at (212) 719-1300.